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Happy Healthy Caregiver Podcast, Episode 176: Remote and Long-Distance Caregiving with Paula Muller

Paula Muller helped care for her grandmother and has a lifelong passion for technology applied to healthcare. Paula grew up in Chile and was very close to her grandmother and remains close to her mother. Her passions for family and technology came together in her product that we learn about called CareLink360.

In this episode we discuss the caregiver guilt that comes with living from a distance from those requiring care, ideas to create connection with verbal and non-verbal care recipients, methods to infuse joy and energy into life, and ways technology can be a part of a caregiver’s care team.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the full-show transcription.

 

Episode Sponsor – Rare Patient Voice

Do you want to earn cash in exchange for your opinion? Rare Patient Voice (or RPV) helps connect researchers with patients and family caregivers for over 700 diseases and conditions. For patients and caregivers, RPV provides the opportunity to voice their opinions to improve medical products and services while earning cash rewards. Rare Patient Voice – helping patients and caregivers share their voices! If you are interested, join the RPV panel at: https://rarepatientvoice.com/happyhealthycaregiver

 

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Words of Encouragement

Each episode starts with a few words of inspiration or motivation from the Happy Healthy Caregiver Jar. Create your jar by downloading the Caregiver  Jar inserts.  Enhance your jar with the Caregiver Jar refill pack.Caregiver Jar Inserts PDF

‘You don’t need to leave joy behind as you navigate your new normal.’ #CaregiverJar

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Links & Resources Mentioned

 

Stay With Me

 

 

Happy Healthy Caregiver Podcast, Episode 158: Balancing Life as a Young Carer with Ashley Bendiksen

 

 

Carelink360

Your Caregiver Relationship Contract (Spanish Edition) by Debra Hallisey

 

Just for you a daily self care journal book cover

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Favorite moments & quotes from the episode

‘‘As remote caregivers, as long-distance caregivers, I think that moral support is something we have to provide the best that we can and as much as needed.’ – @mycarelink360 Paula Muller #remotecaregiver #familycaregiver

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‘I don’t think I’ve found the magic yet in how to manage the guilt. The only thing I can do is try to be there for my loved ones as much as I can and just be the sounding board and reach out to my mom, dad and in-laws.’ -…

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‘I love technology, but technology without particular use is meaningless to me. It has to apply to something. I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to use my skills and my work to develop products and services that ended up…

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Full Transcription

This is the whole care network helping you tell your story. One podcast at a time content presented in the following podcast is for information purposes, only views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and guest and may not represent the views and opinions of the whole care network. Always consult with your physician for any medical advice and always consult with your attorney for any legal advice. And thank you for listening to the whole care network as remote caregivers.
As long distance caregivers. I think that moral support is something that, that we have to provide uh the best that we can and as much as as as much as needed.
Caring for aging parents or other loved ones while working, raising Children and trying to live your own life, wondering how to find the time for your personal health and happiness. Well, you’re in the right place. Welcome to the Happy Healthy caregiver podcast to show where real family caregivers share how to be happy and healthy while caring for others. Now, here’s your host, Family caregiver, and certified caregiving consultant, Elizabeth Miller.
Hello and thanks for tuning in to the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, which is part of the whole care network. If this is your first time listening, welcome. This is a show produced biweekly to help family caregivers integrate self care and caregiving into their lives. Each episode has an accompanying show notes page. So if you would like more details about the topics, products and resources we speak about or to see the related photos, you’ll find the show notes by going on the website Happy Healthy caregiver. com and underneath the podcast menu, click the image or episode number for today’s show.
The link will also be in your podcast episode description on your favorite podcast platform. Do you know about the WCN University? It’s a digital course library for family caregivers. My first course is available called Six Steps to infusing self care in your caregiving life. There are also a ton of other courses in a variety of different topics, search and select what is most helpful to you right now. Learn more at WCN university.com. I’d like to take a moment to thank our episode sponsor Rare patient voice.
Do you want to earn cash in exchange for your opinion? Rare patient voice or R PV, helps connect researchers with patients and family caregivers for over 2360 diseases and conditions for patients and caregivers. R PV provides the opportunity to voice their opinions to improve medical products and services while earning cash rewards, rare patient voice, helping patients and caregivers share their voices if you’re interested, join the R PV panel by going to rare patient voice. com/happy, healthy caregiver for this episode segment of what I’m reading. I tend to like a book that helps me learn about a culture while I’m also getting wrapped up in the story in a recent read called Stay With Me by author Ayami Ade Bavo.
I’m sure I butchered this person’s name. I’m so sorry. I learned a bit about culture in Nigeria and the pressure that women can be under in marriage and motherhood. This was a heavy read as it encompasses much grief around infertility and family disappointments entering in a world with so much grief, made it difficult to want to pick up and read the book. But I had to know how it would all turn out a messy life for this particular married couple and through silent decisions that they each were making, thinking it was the best for each other.
Kind of reminded me of things that we can sometimes do in our caregiving situation. And this is also an example of how societal pressures can wreak havoc on families. I did end up giving this four out of five stars on good reads. So if you’re looking for some kind of an escape or a fun read, this really is not the book for you. But if you don’t mind an emotional story, give this one a try. Of course, I’ll link to it in the show notes page for my favorite thing that I want to share with you.
I believe in the importance of scheduling playtime or fun future activities. I’m looking forward to my daughter coming to visit, coming home to visit with some of her nu nurse friends and they’re arriving this weekend and one of my daughter’s strengths is planning a fun agenda. I’m also looking forward to an upcoming weekend with friends of ours were going to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area. One of the things that was on my 2360 list this year was to go to Dollywood, which I’ve never been to.
So seeing my 3603 list, my friends seeing it is what prompted them to invite Jason and I to come. Uh Another thing I’m looking forward to is that my son is graduating in May from college at University of Georgia and we’re going to be celebrating this big milestone. Um And pairing it with a family vacation to Costa Rica, we have found a great 2360 day package on for your company called Wing Buddy that we’re excited about. So I share all of this not to brag about my stuff that I’m looking forward to, but really just to kind of share that sometimes the anticipation of fun is part of the fun.
And so if you are deep in a caregiving season, sometimes that fun can sound like planning a fun can sound exhausting. But this is something that you can easily delegate to other people. Even one night of fun can be recharging and perhaps not only will they plan the fun, but they’ll plan the backup care that you may need as well or simply take yourself out on a date. That’s something that with me from a previous podcast guest that I had on Ashley Bendixen where she talked about dating herself.  So I’m going to share a couple of these resources, the 227 list, um a reminder on how to create one for yourself. Uh The podcast with Ashley Bendix and the Costa Rica trip that we’re planning to take. Um and maybe something there will just kind of spark something for you.
Let’s meet today’s caregiver in the spotlight. Paula Mueller helped care for her grandmother and has a lifelong passion for technology applied to healthcare. Paula grew up in Chile and was very close to her grandmother and remains close to her mother and her father.
Her passions for family and technology came together in her product that we learn about in the show called carelink 2360. And in this episode, we also discuss the caregiver guilt that comes with living from a distance from those who are requiring care. We talk about ideas to create connection with both verbal and non verbal care recipients and methods to infuse joy and energy just into your daily life and the ways technology can be part of the caregivers care team. Enjoy the show.
Welcome Paula to the Happy Healthy Caregiver Podcast. Happy to be here, Elizabeth. Thank you so much for the invitation. Uh I’m very excited. Uh Yes. Uh I know about the Happy Healthy caregiver from the health care network and uh our friend Chris and uh how, how valuable the network is and how valuable your show is in the news. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Well, we, we, you know, I believe in mindset, like how mindset is so important and caregiving. And um when I transitioned care from um me being the primary caregiver for mom to my sister, Susie, I created this jar for her, which has like 100 and 50 different quotes and sayings and things that really lifted me up and resonated and would love to get your thoughts on one of these today, Paula to kick off our show on the right foot here.
Um So it says you don’t need to leave joy behind as you navigate your new normal. Yes. Um Very good. Actually, I was thinking about um one you, you, you asked me in preparation for this show. Uh What is a caregiver tip? And I thought joy, you have to laugh. Uh laugh is, is a good medicine and, and laughing with your loved ones. And that bring me so many memories of me, my mom, my grandma, we grew together and uh we, we, we were the three going everywhere.
Uh when I was growing up in Chile. And uh and we, we laughed a lot. I mean, cup of teas and afternoons and laughing and remembering sort of reminiscent and joy I think is, is, is important. Is it a good therapy? It makes you feel good and, and it resonate and it vibrate and the good vibe. Stay with you even after uh the moment that you enjoy. Yeah, you can just see it in your face for those that are watching the, the video of the podcast that um it does it, the reminisce like people just light up like when you start talking about family and talking about the laughter and the joy because, you know, we talk a lot about the, the, the sadder things that happen in caregiving.
But it’s, it’s not all bad. Like there’s a lot of really cool stuff that happens and these are, these are our lives, these are our family members and you know, we, we, we have to laugh sometimes to um to kind of is a, as a mechanism and as a tool really to, to thrive in our caregiving season because it’s contagious like it is contagious. If you start laughing, your care recipient is going to start laughing and absolutely. Absolutely. And it’s just remembering the good times to this uh that, that, that brings you the positive energy and it makes you put everything in perspective, right?
Because things are not easy. Uh But we don’t have to just uh for, for nobody is easy. Um Everyone has their own challenges. But if we, if we lean on each other and if we laugh together, uh that, that brings you the energy to, to put everything as I said in perspective and, and move on and, and, and, and really reaffirm what you are doing because you’re doing it for, for love. It’s self care. Laughter is self care because you’ve mentioned the keyword, like one of my definition of self care is something that’s going to bring you peace of mind.
But energy, you mentioned energy that energizes you like you feel much different after a laughing spell or it than, than you than you did before. So there’s something that’s chemically happening to do that. But let’s talk about your caregiving journey, Paula like take us back a little bit and tell us about like why, why this space, this care economy, space is important to you and, and how it all initiated with your grandmother. Yeah, I mean, the thing is as I was mentioning before, we were very close, my mom, my grandmother and myself and, and really the the the first direct experience that I had as a caregiver was with, with my grandmother, even though I was living here in the US already and she was living in Brazil.
But uh I, I felt I traveled many times to and, and I was very uh uh for uh fortunate to be able to travel and, and be with her and, and spend time with her through her older years when she was, uh, she, she, she died of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, uh, so at the end, it was very difficult for her to, to take care of herself. Uh, but still we, we make the effort to do trips together when she was able. But in between, I, I had my, my scare moments because she was some um the trips going, um a little bit of an hour away from the home was uh was a little bit too much for her.
So she was a little bit fading out and I was just scared. How, how do I take care of her in the middle, in the middle of the road? Uh But what did you do? Tell us about more the travel memories that you had and some of the challenges from that and maybe some of the reward as well. Yes, I mean, the reward was that, that she wanted to do it. She wanted to spend time with me and I wanted to spend time with her. Uh The challenges was how do you care from a fragile older person?
Uh When I didn’t have the medical experience of how to take care of her. So, um even though we had those challenges, like I was saying, and we, we were going to, to a market that she loved to uh uh a pottery, pottery market. She love it. Uh That was something that we were doing before and she wanted to repeat that experience and I wanted to give her that experience to uh repeat something that she loved to do. But uh but it was a challenge as I said because of her health.
Um and, and just, you know, as, as with an older adult, you, you have, they, they, they have the, the willingness to do more but uh sometimes health doesn’t allow you to do more. So how to pace the, the trip with the energy with the excitement and, and at the end, coming back home, um save in one piece, right? But it was all worth it because because at the end of the day, it was her joy, it was my joy. Um And I, I was very fortunate that I was able to spend her last hours before she passed away with her.
Um Even though it was extremely sad that, that, that she, uh but I was, I felt that at ease that I was able to see and spend time even though she wasn’t speaking at that time. But still we, we were able to pray together and listen to music and it was just, it’s incredible the energy of, of just being with her and sharing all the love that we had for so many years, I love that you bring up the ways that you can communicate with your loved one with them being nonverbal that there’s more the communication than just words coming out of your mouth.
Um, and, and that probably was a lot of trial and error for you. And it’s also like the mitigating the travel where she wanted to go to different places and you knowing kind of what was more realistic and what she could handle and finding, I’m sure creative ways that you could infuse some of that same type of experience. But in a safer way, in a safer way is important is important. Yeah, I mean, it, it can’t give any, it is so much of, of a balancing act of, of keeping your loved ones safe.
But at the same time trying to, uh, share experiences. I mean, uh, and, and, and just, uh, you, you do things um for them that are, that, you know, are important is you, you know, your loved ones uh through the shared experiences. So with that you can relate and you, and, and, and, and things, um, you can make those special moments that I mean, ii I wasn’t living with her and I, I was, it was a trip of once a year, probably twice a year at the most.
Yeah, we made the most that we were able to do with that. Yeah. And you show up, I mean, showing up in caregiving is not necessarily about being right next to somebody, um, that there’s a lot of things that you can do as a remote caregiver and a remote support for your mother to help support her and caring for grandma. Like, what, what were some of those things Paula like when you weren’t present physically um with her next to grandma? Like, what are some of the things that you did to help support from a distance?
So always, always being in touch. This is very important and I experienced that a lot with my mom right now because my mom is the primary caregiver for my father. So, so now um I see her where she needs the most that uh constant reinforcement and talking and, and, and knowing that I’m, I’m there with her and I listen to her and without judgment, that is very important because her mental health is what, what I’m worried the most because she’s at the level when my father this 24 7 hours that you live with someone that you, that you, that you feel that you have the responsibilities of everything that you, you have to take care of the bills, the repairs in the house and the care of your loved one.
So um it’s a as remote caregivers, as long distance caregivers. I think that moral support is something that, that we have to provide um the best that we can and as much as, as, as much as needed to the to, to, to the other one. Yeah, you’re, you’re part of the care team and you are um going back to that word ener energy, your conversations with your mom and listening to her about what is going on and being that sounding board for her is energizing her like it is allowing her to kind of get back into that day to day ring of duties and, and make it sustainable for her.
And I’m sure that, you know, without a doubt, I know that you would be there in a heartbeat if some, if she needed you um in a, in a bigger way, talk about that a little bit as um Paula, as you know, you shared with me, you know, your roots um from Chile and being Latino and that it’s not a question, right? Of whether or not you’re gonna show up and care for your loved ones. How does your culture, how does the way that you were raised?
Kind of inform caregiving? Yeah, I mean, I mean, that was a, that was something that, as you said, it is not a question. I mean, ii I hear stories from my grandmother taking care of her own mother when she was older and she had to go and live with her and her Children. And uh it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy but, but it wasn’t a question. I mean, my mom, mom needed to me and the same happened with my mom, my mom never questioned uh my grandmother uh even though we, we are originally from, from Chile, but my grandmother uh the pioneer and forward looking woman and independent that she was, uh she decided on her sixties.
I’m going to re invent, re invent myself and I’m going to go and live in Brazil. Ok. Grandma wants to do that. She, she, she does it. Uh So she uh here last year she lived in Brazil but for my mom, it wasn’t a question. Uh my grandmother needed help. She wasn’t doing well. As I mentioned, she had several condition, but the most critical was was Parkinson. And through the Parkinson’s, she developed Alzheimer’s. But uh so my mom um just was spending months some time um taking care of my, my grandmother and making sure that she would have the care that she needed.
And um I, I have mentioned that before my mom, um you know, I realized from, from from both of them here, given is not only the medical care or, or the house, household chores, but it’s also been the advocate how many times my mom was very feisty with the doctors and even in a language that she didn’t manage, she was really making sure that the doctors understood what my grandmother needed and in several scare situation, um she just was making that my grandmother was feeling the best possible and recovering from many situations where others would have say.
Um no, this is not working. But uh so being the advocate for your loved one is something that I learned from them that you just not accept no for an answer. You just keep moving forward and fighting for your loved one. So, so that is remarkable. And I learned that from both of them. It’s I think that, you know, you, you are an advocate because you are the expert in your loved one. Like they, they might know the, you know, the ins and outs of a certain condition.
But how does that apply? How is the loved one going to adopt? What’s, how are they going to respond down to the foods that they like? And, and what makes them comfortable? All of that is, is our expertise, right? As, as family caregivers. And I love that you shared, you know, about the Latino culture and you know, do you think that growing up that with that mindset that you are gonna, you know, be there for your loved ones? Does it make you less resentful of the role when it comes to be?
That’s a very good question. That’s a very good question. I, it really depends. Um And I say for me is, is, is, is, is not a question and I, and I will jump into that and, and to be honest, Elizabeth, I, I feel a little bit of guilt that I’m not there because I’m so far away. But um if necessary, um I wouldn’t doubt to jump into the role. However, I’m very fortunate in the time of my life where I am. But if I see a younger Latino, a younger woman and, and she’s, she’s in the same with the same dilemma that I had that I would have.
Um I can feel that even though you know, that that is your responsibility, you may be resentful because you are leaving behind so many things that you didn’t experience. I, I’ve been very fortunate with my life. Um It hasn’t been easy for nobody is, but I have had the fortune to have AAA rich and, and with wonderful experience life abroad, I’m a person, I’m a positive person uh to see the things uh half full instead of half empty. Um, I don’t know if, if, if I was in my twenties and I have to be a caregiver and then give up all the profession or a career probably would be a different answer.
Different story. Yeah. Different. And, you know, I appreciate you bringing up the caregiver guilt because I think that no matter whose situation, like the guilt creeps up. Right? Like it’s, it’s just a natural thing that we want to be all these things to all these different people. How do you, how do you manage the guilt? How do you mitigate it? What do you do when those feelings kind of come up? Is there something that you say to yourself? Is there something that you do? Like what works for you?
Well, I, I don’t think II I found that the magic the magic, uh, in, in how to manage the guilt. The only thing that I can, that I can do is I try to be there for my loved ones as much as I can and, and, and just be, as I said, the sounding board and reach out to my mom, reach out to my dad, uh, reach out to my in laws with my husband, my in laws. They live in Switzerland. So, from both my husband and I both are long distance caregivers.
Wow, Paula. Yeah, like that’s, I mean, what I tell people as caregivers and myself sometimes too is that the guilt is a natural feeling and we can learn to um mitigate it, but I say, replace the guilt with another G word and that’s grace. Like give yourself grace for what, you know, the sheer volume of things and that are, that are on your plate and you know, you’ve got these relationships to consider but you have other relationships to consider and other callings that you are um are, are out there which we’re gonna definitely, definitely get to that.
I’m curious though as a remote caregiver for both your in-laws and your parents now, like, is there some kind of a expectation that you set with your in-laws and your parents about like, how often you’re gonna visit or how often you’re gonna communicate or what kinds of like, do they know? Or is it just kind of it unfolds as it. Ow. Oh, no, there’s no, there’s no expectations. Uh, it’s just that you always feel that you’re close to both of them and the time that we spent together we try to make the most out of it.
And, uh, so I think there, there, well, I don’t, I don’t have an answer to be honest but it, it’s just the situation that I’ve been, uh, to be honest, most of my adult really living abroad is a longer time in my life than living with my parents. So you’re figuring it out, you’re figuring it out. And then like I say that because I live in Georgia, my mom, not out of international, but mom lived in Michigan with my sister. And more so for my sister’s case than my mom’s case.
Like I, you know, sometimes I could feel her stress level coming up and her wanting us to like be there in a second. And I had to kind of manage that a little bit with being a full time work person and raising kids. Like, so what ended up do, working for our situation is that I manage expectations to say I will come up once a quarter, let’s communicate about when you want me to come. Once a quarter. I can either relieve you, you so that you can go visit your kids or do something you want to do or, you know, work side by side with you or whatever you need that to look like.
And my sister, my younger sister and I would do different trips. So then that was like more people kind of helping. And that seemed to work. So that then she kind of had this, my sister, this ex older sister expectation of when we were coming and that relief was coming. And I just say that because I don’t know if that will help somebody in a, in a remote caregiving situation. But we didn’t start with that. It just kind of came because it helped me feel less guilty too that I knew I had a trip planned.
I knew I was doing my role. I knew I could also be that communicator for my sister and that remote cheerleader for her um to help give her that energy that she needed to kind of do um do everything. Well, I want to switch gears with you for a moment. So you are a smart human being, Paula, like I was reading your bio, you’ve got a MS and biomedical engineering from Chile um working with visually impaired analysis work in Switzerland. Now that makes sense of your in-laws being there which help people prevent epileptic attacks.
A phd, you’ve done postdoc work at Rutgers and Parkinson’s patients and I can go on and on and on, which is, which is amazing. And you clearly have a passion for using technology to help the health care industry and the care economy that we’re living in why is this work important to you? Well, it, it has been always important um in, I love technology but technology without particular use is, is meaningless to me. Um, it has to, it has to apply to something. And that’s, um, again, I’ve been very fortunate that, that to have the opportunity to use my skills and, and my work um to, to develop products and services that ended up in people’s hands now, uh a long time ago, nine years ago or so, uh I decided I, I wasn’t happy in my, in my previous company wasn’t, wasn’t working.
So I said I’m going to jump into the entrepreneurial world uh without knowing anything. So I always say it was like me jumping on, on January 1st in the Cold Hudson River naked without knowing anything. You know, what if you would have known all that you might not have done it. I hear you, you know, but the, the realization at that time was, was clear, I mean, my, my, my life as, as, as we have been talking uh being a long distance caregiver, I was very concerned about how to stay in touch with my loved ones.
And at the same time, I noticed that there was this technology gap between all the adults and the rest of us using smartphones and, and, and even uh and, and, and we are so easily we can stay in touch with, with the chat with, with the text but many older adults, uh who are not. So they, they start feeling that they are invisible that they are not being part of the conversation. They are second hand uh receptors of, of the news because someone have to tell them otherwise they, they don’t know what is going on with the rest.
So that, that’s what I wanted to, to, to, to, to address and that’s how the my company um evolve and, and we learning about all the adults and uh the senior living space and therefore caregiving, it’s, it’s all tied together. Uh That’s how I start uh educating myself and realizing how, how prevalent is dementia and Alzheimer’s and, and, and diseases uh mental diseases as well. So, the product evolved in this uh tool that helps caregivers connect with their loved ones, but also help them to, to care um to help him in the care plan in the care management um at the distance and, and, and also close by.
So, um that’s what I’m so passionate because it’s, it is my life with my family and, and I see that is so much needed for so many other caregivers. I mean, the care economy is something that is growing and aging is something that is growing is not changing. And, and, and dementia really, the the highest risk of developing dementia is age and our population worldwide is aging quite significant. But we don’t have to consider that this is uh something that even though we don’t have a cure, we can live with that and, and help our loved ones live the best that they can and also help our caregivers manage and, and, and, and basically relate and find the good moments, the joy that we were talking at the beginning.
Even with the challenges of dementia, there’s nothing I like more than like a personal story of like something that you’ve a lived experience and you’ve taking this, you know, knowledge that you have in your and all your smart, smart brains and really put that to make changes for folks in the care economy. And um and so your product is called Care Link 360. And we’re going to link to that in the show notes for sure, so that people can and and tell us a little bit more about it.
Like what, what does Care Link 000 do specifically? Thank you. Thank you. So basically what, what we have developed is the whole platform and it consists on, on one hand, the older adult receive a dedicated device that looks like a picture frame and then the family members and care providers install an app in their smartphone. And from the app, we can make the link to that, they can communicate with the screen of their loved ones. We call the digital health companion DXC. The idea of the digital health companion is that it’s a super simple device for the older adults to use, it doesn’t require user name, password.
It doesn’t uh it’s a dedicated device so it doesn’t uh they are not going to get confused. Uh They are not going to go and start buying things in Amazon because it doesn’t have a, a web browser is really a close, secure encrypted and private system with your loved one will be in contact with only the persons that he needs, he or she needs to be in contact. Amazing. So the, so it’s very seamless for the older adult, like there’s not a lot of gadgets like you said, it looks like a picture frame.
So let’s say I’m the caregiver and I’ve got the app and not care like 360 I’m calling, you know, my in laws in Mexico, they live in Mexico. What um what would happen on their end? Like what happens on the so on their end. So from the app, you just press the button, you make the the video connection with the and you just show up on the screen. They don’t have to do. Absolutely. I like exactly. Uh you just show up so they, they don’t have to do absolutely anything.
And then from the app, you can send them pictures that are going to immediately show up. So by default, this device is always connected. Uh but by default, this device shows all the pictures in, in a slide show that of your loved one. So they always, they always are going to be seeing the latest pictures that, which are the memories, right? Which bring you joy. Like it always is kind of connected. I love that because I’ve sent that as a gift to many relatives, just the picture frame part of it, you know, and my mom and my dad would watch it like it was television and it would just like they would eat breakfast in the morning and they would watch the, I just love this frame so much they would say and I could email pictures to the frame.
And so I’m sure it’s something. Now you’re doing it through with this app. It’s so amazing. And then they have this connection um where they don’t have to worry about. Uh And, and it’s only for certain people. So I know we’re gonna work together on getting a discount for the happy healthy caregiver community. I’m gonna link to the discount page. We’ll add that when it’s available. Hopefully by the time the end of this, the show publishes. But for, for now, we can’t tell it to you. So you’re gonna have to go to the show notes page to check it out.
Um And you know, you’re speaking my language with this whole tech being, technology, being a part of the care team. So, uh I just had an opportunity recently with another client of mine to go to the Nashville market on the news segments. And that was my whole segment on this news, local news is sharing about how technology can really be a part of the caregivers care team because there’s not enough human beings to help. Like I just read a stat for a long time. It was 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day.
But I just read in a ARP magazine that it is now 12,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day. And you know, it does technology can be overwhelming for them and we need extra hands and ways that we can feel that peace of mind again, that comfort level that we can be there without being there. So, IV to you Paula for like picking waves in this space and like, I love that companies like you are doing that because we can’t wait, right. We can’t wait for someone up there to kind of figure it out.
It is these entrepreneurs who have a passion who have a story that are, that are making it happen. Yes. Thank you. Thank you Elizabeth. Yeah, I mean, you are absolutely right. We have to find ways to simplify really is to extend my, my concept was to extend your outreach. You, of course, you’re going to be there. But what do you do when you cannot? I mean, the pictures like you said are so valuable. The same thing my in laws are saying they are in touch with what is happening, opening with their grandchildren.
With us, with the, with their other Children. Uh because the pictures are just there and, and they, it just give them comfort. They, they are because they know what is happening, right? They know where they are spending the, the holidays and, and, and it’s for, for us also, when we, when we have a video conference with them through Carlin 360 it’s an opportunity to share, they always ask it, where were you with these new pictures that just arrived and an opportunity to, to, to talk, to find a common, a common of discussion.
Sometimes it can be a struggle for people to, to find those connections uh and ways to kind of have that conversation again. It’s like non verbal too, like just by seeing it. I know even the, the picture frame element, the digital picture frame element. Um when my mom moved in an assisted living community, like having that connection with the professional caregivers and the staff that would come in and they would see it. And that would provide this connection between like a perfect stranger seeing that because even though those strangers can’t call your folks through that, but they can still see what’s being visually displayed on there and can act through that. Exactly.
No, it, it, it, it, the pictures that are are great. And then in addition, um through the Carlin 360 app, you can send them reminders an alert. So um if, if a doctor’s appointment, a medication reminder, exercises, fluid. Um, and we have introduced, uh, the last, uh, six months, um, a lot of features including, uh, what we call well being checkups. So you can ask them, how did you sleep last night? How are you doing today? And they just answer on the screen. They have two buttons. Yes.
No. And then you immediately get notified on the Carlin 360 app. Um, what was the answer or? So we can get polls, we can get surveys for them. And always the concept is extremely simple for them to use. And, um, I’m very excited about other future that, that we incorporated, that we’re partnering with a fabulous content providers. So we are pushing to the device that digital health companion videos, sing alongs uh videos, uh, reading books that we converted into videos that they can follow. And we have a bunch of new content that we are incorporated, uh, that even the family members from the companion app, the Carlin and companion app, they can start remotely so your app can become the remote control for your loved one in order to make it super simple for them.
I love it. I love it all. Keep going, Paula. That’s amazing. And I know like we also have a connection of, you know, the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast is part of the whole care network and, you know, um, and care 360 is involved with the whole care network and particularly like the whole care network radio. So we have um so talk a little bit about that and some of the things that are coming out, this is super excited because the Hawker uh the Hulker Network Radio, it has also an app.
So from the app, you can uh you can listen to the music that is, uh but also all the podcasts, you can even download the podcast and then from the app, the whole care network radio app. Uh you can also access the information of all the uh contents that is in the H care network, the, the uh the content of the podcast and, and all the members of the whole care. So you have these resources available from the app and then um is uh we’re going to be expanding uh on the radio with uh uh multiple content.
So it’s not only um the Caregiving podcast that you have access but also curated music and, and other other other shows. So it’s been a whole uh syndicated network of programs and content. Um a much more. Yes. And music is such a trigger too. Like, I mean, obviously the podcasts are amazing. We know that like there’s not just mine with all my fellow podcasters. I think we, we are a great collection of content that he said. But the music music is also an, an initiator of memories and um and things and they make you feel calm and all of that.
So, uh a lot of good pairing there, I can see that you’ve been busy on partnerships and getting, getting different things going. How do, how do you take care of Paula Paula? Like, what do you, I mean, you’re a busy lady. You’re a remote caregiver. Um You’re changing the world with technology in this care economy. Like what do you do to take care of you? So, I, um again, I, I’m very fortunate to have a wonderful partner and husband and, and, and, uh, both of us, uh, we enjoy outdoors going bicycles.
So our trips is, uh, and, and, and I’m not, no, no, a sport person. But, uh, so the compromise was, uh to have a tandem. So we go bicycle in a bicycle for two. And that’s, uh, that’s again, the trip is, is the opportunity to have memories and, and, and be together and enjoy something, uh, that we do together. So you do like a destination trip and then some type of tandem bike ride in that. I tried that one time tandem with my, um, my son in Mackinaw Island in Michigan.
They said you can bike around the island and it’s not easy. I was, um, I was on the back though. He was having to, I feel like the person in the front has got to do like a lot of the work. Um, and then I was like taking pictures and I was keeping my feet moving. But um, so fun. I love that you guys do that together too because I think that helps with like built in accountability. It’s a two fur, you’re spending time together, uh and traveling and all of that stuff.
So I think that that has contributed to the length of our marriage that we, that we are able to be together with. What do you mean? Tell me more? Well, the thing is, I think in, in marriage, you have to find joy being together and, and, and I think the fact that we, we have that commonality that we can share experiences in some, sometimes it can be a little bit challenging because going up a hill on a tandem is not always really easy and both of them have to pedal in the same way.
Uh Yes, doing that for, for it. It is kind of a um analogy for life, right? An analogy for caregiving is the tandem tandem bike ride. My husband and I are, um, we’d be, we’ve been married 27 years and we are just joined a pickleball league. So we are doing a pickleball league here locally in Atlanta and we have our first match together, like he’s played separately and I played separately with different people on our team, but we played together this weekend. So that’ll be um exciting to see that.
I think there’s finding ways that of things that you can do together, um is, is is great. It’s a great, great thing. All right, we’re going to get your thoughts on a couple of that just for your daily self care journal. I’ve got some prompts picked out for you Paula. So, let’s see what your thoughts are. Um, what was your favorite activity to do as a child? Oh, gosh. Um, ok. Uh, the, the, so, you know, uh I always remember that when I was growing up. Uh uh, so as a girl, you’re supposed to do girl things.
But, uh, and my brother was getting the mech canoes and, and the pieces that, that you can build things together. So, what I enjoyed was, you see, my, my, my, my brothers to real things. Yeah, like his Tinker toys and Lincoln logs and Legos and model trains. And, yeah, they were like, that was more interesting. Uh That’s, well, that says a lot about the things that you still like to build and, um, and invent to these, to this day. How do you unwind before bedtime? Do you have like a ritual that you do before you go to bed?
Uh, no, I don’t but III I do watch television. Um, so that’s sort of a, what kind of television? I’m curious. Oh, I get, so I, we have a, we, we, well, actually we don’t have a television but we have a subscription to Netflix. So, um, just something, um, a serious, um, drama that sort of entertaining. Not particularly thoughtful. I mean, just, just entertaining. That does that take my mind out of, out of the day and just put it in pause, park it for the night so that you can get a good night’s sleep.
That’s so good. Um, let’s see here. What’s a, what’s your latest kind of quick and healthy, semi healthy go to meal. Could be for a breakfast, lunch or dinner. But like, what’s something that you’re like, I can count on this to be nourishing and energizing. Um, you can either make it or buy, it doesn’t matter to me. Oh, wow, that’s a good, well, I like a lot of vegetables. So, vegetables is something that I, that I like a lot. So, always carrots. Red traditions are always part of salads, are part of the diet.
Um, and we, we, we usually make, uh, the, our, our dinners, um, and always a mixture of, of, of vegetables and, and, and, uh, fruits and that, that’s sort of what we always try to incorporate in our diet. Sounds colorful and yummy. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then, I mean, we, we, we try to mix it sort of have fish and, and, and sort of, uh, meat and, and not too much, but just the, the mix of, of things try to, to, to have a, uh, as healthy as we can.
But, uh, but that’s that sort of our, our, our diet trying to make it value with, with, with vegetables and I love um OK, this is not a trick question, but I gotta ask you like, how do you, for you, your self care? How do you incorporate technology into your healthy habits? Oh, gosh. Are there tech tools that you use to be healthy and happy? Oh, well, uh technology uh in, in the sense that uh music is always something that is in the background. So, so having access to podcasts or uh um yes, just having access uh going for a walk and, and listening to music or listening to a podcast.
Those are the things that II I really do. You have a favorite podcast that you is kind of, you subscribe to that you enjoy listening to for your health and happiness. Yeah, I mean, one of the podcast that I enjoy, um and he’s a sort of how I built this with Guy Ross. That’s, that’s something that I always enjoy uh listening to stories of another entrepreneurs, how they uh and the other one that is, I believe from, from a similar uh uh uh programming is business wars.
Uh And it, I find it always fascinating when they tell the story through several chapters of uh two companies. So Knight and Adidas and the fight that they had all those years and how, how they, they keep, keep, they keep competing. Uh I just find fascinated the stories, how companies came to be, grow, maintain and sometimes they disappear for a while and then uh reemerge. So, yeah, I just find it entertaining and energizing for you. I’m sure as an entrepreneur to kind of listen to that and be like, OK, I can, I can keep doing this.
Other people have done this and you found your community there is there. Um So any parting words kind of things that you want to leave caregivers with Paula and how do people learn more about um the carelink 360 keep in touch with you? Thank you. Thank you. I think, I think the important thing is um to think about and I’ve been reflecting a lot lately about how, how you understand what the other person is going through as a caregiver as also as a care recipient that you can put yourself what you are loved one is going through to when they need care.
And also that uh the people that surround you understand where you are coming from. Um I think many times we, we put ourselves and we don’t reflect on what the, what the other is feeling. And I think um just reflecting on that um again, as a care recipient and as a caregiver, um if we just uh think a little bit one minute before we react, um I think we’re all going to have a better life and we’ll be able to manage um the challenges a little bit better and, and have less misunderstanding with others. Yeah.
Well said well said and how do people keep in touch? Sure, please uh go to my carelink three sixty. com and you will find all the information uh about us and how to contact us. So my carelink three sixty. com, we will link to it. I’m a fan, Paula. I love this product. I love that. You know, I, I knew about it when it was early kind of on and to see where you have taken it and the things that is being added on to it and how it can be such a gift for um a mutual gift for a caregiver and their care recipient.
Like amazing. So I um I, I appreciate you so much and I value our friendship. Me too. Me too. Elizabeth. Thank you so much for this opportunity. And uh yeah, I’m looking forward to, to uh learning about all the people that are interested and, and day care economy and how I can, I can support. No, I know they’re going to be in good hands. Thank you so much, Paula.
Thanks for joining us today on the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast on the whole care network. As always show notes that a company today’s episode can be found on my website Happy Healthy caregiver.com. Just look under the podcast menu for today’s episode image and that will take you to the page with the links and information we spoke about today. You’ll also find other resources on the website along with links to purchase the just for you daily self care journal. When you purchase from my website, you’ll get a signed copy and for a limited time free shipping. If you’ve enjoyed what you heard today, consider subscribing to the show on your podcast platform. It really helps other family caregivers find the podcast and you’ll automatically receive our biweekly shows in your podcast listening queue.  Maybe while you’re subscribing, consider leaving a five star rating and review or just simply talk it up on your social channels. Let’s stay connected. I’m on Instagram and Facebook as Happy healthy caregiver. And until we meet again, please take care of you.
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