Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast with Judy Carlson-Interview with Christine Nagelhout, Senior Placement Specialist and Owner of Transitions Sen

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Christine Nagelhout is a Chicago native who has lived in Colorado for over half of her life, a place she now calls home. She attended University of Northern Colorado for her BA in Kinesiology, minor in Biology and also obtained her certification as a Certified Athletic Trainer. She attended Northern Illinois University for her MS Ed, with emphasis in Sport Management. Her job experience is diverse, including orthopedics, osteopathy, and most recently over 27+ years in outpatient physical therapy as part of the clinical staff. She acquired her Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) designation in 2020 and is the Owner of Transitions Senior Care, LLC.Christine specializes in Senior Placement, advocating for her clients and families as they navigate finding appropriate next level care communities including Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care. She is a female owned business and covers the Denver Metro area for Senior Placement. Christine offers this no-cost service to her clients as well as many vetted resources to support her clients throughout their journey.Christine’s personal philosophy is that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, treated the way I want my own family treated.www.TransitionsSeniorCare.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-nagelhout-905549124/*********************************************************Judy is the CEO & Founder of the Judy Carlson Financial Group. She helps her clients design, build, and implement fully integrated and coordinated financial plans from today through life expectancy and legacy.She is an Independent Fiduciary and Comprehensive Financial Planner who specializes in Wealth Decumulation Strategies. Judy is a CPA, Investment Advisor Representative, Life and Health Insurance Licensed, and Long-Term Care Certified.Judy’s mission is to educate and empower her clients with an all-inclusive financial plan that encourages and motivates them to pursue their lifetime financial goals and dreams.Learn More: https://judycarlson.com/Investment Adviser Representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Adviser.The Inspired Impact Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast-with-judy-carlson-interview-with-christine-nagelhout-senior-placement-specialist-and-owner-of-transitions-senior-care

Welcome to the Inspired Impact Podcast, where dedicated female professionals share how they inspire impact every day. Authentic stories, passionate commitment, lives transformed. I'm your host, Judy Carlson. Welcome to today's episode of the Inspired Impact Podcast. You are going to love our guest today. She inspires me in Spertsin. so many ways. And she's a person who recently started her own business, but not without a lot of thought and work and preparation beforehand. I'm excited to introduce you to Christine Nagelhow.

Welcome, Christine. Thank you for having me today, Judy. All right. So before we can dive into your most recent business where you're a solopreneur, we got to start at the beginning. So why don't you start by telling us a little bit about your journey, where you started, what inspired you to pursue the path you're on now? And I know you're already making a huge impact in your field. But I'd love our listeners to hear about that from you. That sounds great. I will start at the beginning of my journey.

About 33 years ago, I pursued a career as a certified athletic trainer. I start my story with that because it has really impacted. where I'm at today. But I have, in the traditional sense, worked in that field for about 32 years now. Most of that career was spent in outpatient physical therapy where I was part of clinical staff and helping older adults and younger adults and everyone in between get return to life, return to play, and work in the rehabilitation center to really allow their goals to be met. but having said that, my new journey started around 2018.

My father was living alone at the time. We had lost my mom about four years prior to that. And he was very hesitant to make any big changes, wanted to stay at home. But unfortunately started having some health changes. He had a couple falls in the home and we were concerned about him being alone. And I think that really finally impacted him to make a decision. to move forward, looking at independent living options in the Chicago suburban area. And luckily, we were connected with a woman in that area, and she was a certified senior advisor, which at the time

I had never had any exposure to. But what she did is take my dad and interview him. And she also interviewed the family. I'm one of five kids. So there was a lot of opinions on what my dad needed. but took all that information and streamline the process for my father, found an independent living community, he moved in, said it was the best decision he had ever made after being there about six months and why didn't I do this earlier? But really just took us from start to finish with great follow-up and good communication and found appropriate independent living for my father. And it just impacted me at that time. I was in a place in my career. career where I was open to maybe other ideas thinking, boy, physical therapy is in its name,

very physical and can take a toll on people providing those services at some point. And knowing that I'd probably make a change at some point. But that being said, I reached out to Julianne after the process and just started picking her brain about, you know, what she does. And her background was in nursing and she was looking for a change. so that caretaking nature was something that I very much so resonated with. And she encouraged me if I was truly serious about looking at getting into the senior placement world to look into getting my accreditation and certified senior advisor accreditation.

And I did. I actually pursued that in 2019. I took a virtual class. It was self-paced. I was still working full-time at the physical therapy clinic that I was employed at and decided this was a step I was going to take toward changing my career. I took my exam, a certification exam in February of 2020, and luckily passed that with a lot of hard work and got my CSA designation. And then in March, the world kind of stopped in 2020, as we all have felt the end. impact of. So that year, looking back, actually had a bit of some blessings in the middle of it where my clinic closed down that I was full time at and I was able to really concentrate on building my business. All those starter things that come around when you are opening a business, getting a website put together and business cards and a logo and just started calling and talking to community folks and other people who were serving the senior demographic.

And luckily, I was able to get a lot of that in place that year. And then following, I started placing actually in 2021 and continued working at my clinic just up until last December of 2023, where I fully retired and went full time here in 2024 as a certified senior advisor in the Denver metro area. Oh, wow. You are prepared, woman. So how did you come up with your name of your company? I came up with the name by looking, well, I thought on it a lot, but, you know, everyone goes through life's transitions. And I was looking to transition from a work and a job that I have had for a very long time. I was 17 years at this last clinic, but I had been an athletic trainer for so long, and I'm like, I'm looking for a transition. And then I started thinking, my dad's going to transition from home into a community-style living. And I'm like, everyone's transitioning.

So it just, that word just stuck with me. And I decided on transition senior care, knowing that life is full of transitions. And this is just one more in a long line of them as we go through our lives. So when someone approaches you or calls you or reaches out, is it the senior that is going to do the transition? Is it their children or who mostly reaches out to you, Christine? You know, it varies over the last three years of placement that I've actively been working. I'd say a majority is probably adult children. Having said that, this year I've had a lot.

a lot of the older adults themselves reaching out. So I am open to talking to whoever reaches out, finding out more about what their care needs are and things of that nature. But, you know, a lot of times there's just concern that, you know, my dad had a fall. My mom had a stroke. My mom broke her hip and now she can't go home because she lives alone and she has stairs, you know. But sometimes, and I've seen this a lot this year, I've had still very independent older adults reach out and say, you know, we are planning for the future and we want to start

looking and get situated so that if we ever need help, we're already in a great place that can provide those care provisions. And so that's been a great, proactive planning is one of my key terms in my business. I love those calls where people just are planning ahead and getting ready from what might come, you know. That's a great theme that describes how you got ready for your transatlantic. transition senior care business, proactive planning over four years, Christine. Yes.

It's just amazing. So if someone does reach out to you, tell us a little bit about what the process looks like from that point forward for you. Sure. Sure. Absolutely. What I do is I start either with a phone call scheduled. We do Zoom calls or I meet them in person.

I really give that option to the client or the adult child, whoever I'm speaking with, to gather information. And that first call is really important in that not only are they giving me the facts of what's going on, but I'm also asking them, tell me your story, tell me what's happened that you made this phone call today. Because generally there's either a trauma event health-wise or there's a thought process that's changing or there's a loss of a spouse. And those are very common things that I see. The first call and meeting is usually at least 45 minutes, sometimes over an hour, depending on how much they want to share and how the conversation goes.

But just asking these pertinent questions. But after that gathering of information, within which I actually talk about, within the state of Colorado, placement specialists have a disclosure that they need to share with their clientele, and it is a state regulation. My disclosures for my business are one that we don't charge any kind of fee for service. It is a situation where I am an independent contractor with communities throughout the Denver metro area. So after a person moves into a community and is there for a length of time, I am reimbursed a percentage of first month's cost as an independent contractor by the community. So I do not charge any kind of fee to my clients, which I find is

very well received and pretty low risk as far as gathering information and getting this information without that financial commitment. The other disclosure is that I don't work for any one community in the Denver metro area. And it's very important to know that because, you know, there's a lot of can be a lot of questions around, well, you're trying to make everyone move into the same community to receive whatever you know, your agreed terms are. And that's not the case. I work all the way up to Broomfield,

down to the Castle Rock Monument Area. And I want to gather that information geographically as well as the health concerns and financial concerns for folks that fits their needs. So I really do my due diligence when I'm working with my clients, allowing them to know what those disclosures are and then moving forward. Taking that information and really putting together a plan of communities that check the most boxes for these folks.

Looking at, like I mentioned, their health care concerns, their financial concerns, and their geographic concerns. Those are the three big items that go into making that information sheet for my clients. I do give that to them next step after we've talked. It usually takes a day or two to get some information together on communities, what their current availability are, what their pricing is, the amenities that they offer. And I put it together on what I call community fact sheet. One note that I like people to know is that I do not share any personal information with communities until I get permission from my family. So as far as the calls after a tour where the communities are checking in, checking in, checking in,

they're not going to get those. I'm going to get those emails and calls, and I field that from my family until they make a decision that they want to share their personal information. So, and I'm very protective of that. After we get that information, we do a follow-up call. We break down the information. They ask questions. I get answers if we don't have them up front, get feedback.

And then we schedule touring. We go through the touring process, really, until the family feels like they have found a good match and are ready to move forward. At that time, I work with the community to get resources for the family if they need a moving company or if they need help downsizing and packing, things of that nature to really prepare for the move. And then I do a follow-up within my business. After they move forward, I do a one week, a one month, and a three-month. and I say that that's how my model works, but sometimes I follow up every week with certain people or, you know, more frequently. And I have some that still reach out to me a year later and just to check in and let me know how things are going. And so that relational part of what I do is really

important to me. And it's how I built my business. Wow. You mentioned the word community regularly. Tell us what the scope of all those communities might be for a family. Right. Well, there are different options for communities. It's a broad term when we're looking at a very specific level of care for folks. But across the board, there are independent living communities, there are assisted living communities, and there are memory care communities. And then there are skilled nursing communities. Under each umbrella of each of those divisions, there are different options for independent living. Sometimes it's along with other levels of care in the same building. So you can have independent building coupled with assisted living and memory care. Or you can have a freestanding

independent living community where everyone's there is on that same level. There's also a model called boarding care where you have smaller individual kind of home settings where there's common spaces that residents share and you'll see a smaller population there sometimes i think they range from what i've seen from anywhere six clients up to you know 22 clients and the model is a home where the rooms are set around the outskirts of the home kind of border it and then the inside has common spaces where everyone um eats dinners together and has living room and family room spaces and that type of thing. Assistant living is a little different in that along with just a place to live and the amenities, there is care concerns. And the community takes a big part in doing

an assessment to figure out what that person needs to have, you know, success in their next stage of life, meeting them where they're at with their health care concerns. But that also means for the families that you have these two buckets of costs. You have your rental cost that it comes with meals and amenities and things that are included. And then you have your care costs. So when someone has a need to, you know, get escorts down to meals or they need help with the activities of daily living, like dressing or showering, you know, transfers, those are important things to get support with. So there's different types of assisted living. Sometimes they are freestanding.

Sometimes they're in that continuum of care with independent and memory care. But that's kind of how that structure works. And then memory care, the same thing. It could be one of three levels of care within the continuum or it can be a freestanding building. There are boarding care, smaller communities that host memory care residents. And it's really dependent upon what the client. wants, what the family needs, the kind of support they're looking for. Are they looking for a more intimate type of living environment or would they prefer more population? So there's a chance of people

connecting with more residents. So skilled nursing is its own entity. That is for a person who needs a lot more care in that maybe with transfers. It's two-person assist to move this person or they need a or lift or they have, you know, health concerns that cannot be supported within the standard communities, if you will, from assisted living. There are times with that. And each of these levels comes with their own costs. So financial concerns are a big consideration for families also. So when you're doing your initial assessment, you're discerning at that time. what type of services they might need, what communities perhaps might work best for the family. That's a lot to figure out, it seems to me.

I'm kind of naive on it, but how do you know like an independent living? There is several of them, but then they continue to age and maybe they need to move to assisted living or a continuum of care facility or that's so much to negotiate, Christine. You really got, yeah, it truly is. And, you know, I think that's where the relational part of really understanding what the family's desires are. And everyone has their own thoughts on what's best, right? The senior has their own thoughts and ideas if they have that discernment, but also their adult children. Sometimes things are really important to them and maybe not so much for their, you know, parent or aunt or uncle or grandparent that they're placing.

But one thing that really does help me with that kind of navigating of appropriate communities is to bring in help from the community themselves and talking to the people that we're working with when we're touring, getting their feedback on, you know, just knowing this issue or, you know, knowing what they've said during the touring process itself helps me. me to kind of, oh, they really didn't like this, this, you know, giant continuum of care building. Or maybe we've talked a lot about it and they don't want mom to have to move. There are some continuum of care communities where they can go in as independent and they get to stay in their own apartment.

And there's a certain model of communities that have that licensing. There are some where you physically have to move to another part of the building or another floor where care is provided. So, you know, just talking through and kind of mentioning different options and getting feedback from everyone who's involved in making that decision has been key to more successful placements. And I'm imagining that as it was for me when my dad had passed away and my mom was living alone, all of a sudden when she falls out of her wheelchair in the middle of the night and gashes her leg and her dinner is still in the oven, I'm faced with something I didn't know what to do, period. I didn't know what I didn't know. And navigating that path for the first time

when there's been an incident like that, that's hard. Absolutely. I find that I get these calls where that type of situation happened or my mom was on the floor for two days because she lives alone and no one knew. I had just called her earlier that day before she fell, and then I didn't call her again. And, you know, I think what I've found as I've been building my business and creating these relationships is really gathering other professionals within this industry who provide some kind of resource for folks

so that they can be better supported, maybe in an environment like your mom where she's alone, you know, either having an emergency penalty, or, you know, they now use Alexa's and some of the voice command type of, you know, technology where they can just call out and ask them to dial a number or, you know, call 911, et cetera, where, you know, we haven't had those in the past. So I think technology is changing. But the resources and the people that I've met have created this really lovely model for me as far as being able to support my families, even if they're not quite ready for a community, but saying, hey, your mom's alone, you know, these are some considerations.

This might make her more secure or, you know, at least have access to you if she falls and gashes her leg and lands on the floor. You know, she's able to reach out to somebody. So it is a challenge, and I tell people all the time, you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes you're faced with these huge health issues and you're not sure what direction to turn. So being able to be a resource for my families is part of how I've built my business for sure. It's interesting in my business as I look at the aging population. I think the oldest baby boomers right now are like 79-ish, and they keep marching down the road quickly after that. And I don't know that as a community, as a population, that we've really hit the wall.

yet because when the baby boomers are in their mid to late 80s, how are we going to manage all of this when there's so many more coming down the road every single year after the oldest ones are aging and passing away? It's a huge swell. Absolutely. It's going to be an even bigger swell, I think, in the coming decade and beyond because of so many people. aging, right? And so I think, you know, developing more technology and resources so that people can be better supported, even in their home environment, whatever that might look like. They might be in a condo. They might be in a home of 50 plus years. They may be in a community, but creating, you know, better support for these folks and allowing them to be safer in place wherever their desire is.

is going to be a big challenge, but also something that I see that can really maybe help to some degree with what's coming. Absolutely. I just see so many, like, I don't know if you call them preventative measures, but you mentioned, you know, the emergency pendant. I mean, that's come across my email even. It's like, whoa, what, you got to be kidding me. But I think that those are, you know, are going to be part of commonplace. I think you're right. The next decade is going to be very interesting. I'm excited to see how it's all going to play out

and how the baby boomers are all going to move through this part of their lives together. Well, and luckily, we've seen advancements with, like, Apple Watch and Google Watches and where you can voice command into the watch. And, you know, these Alexa units that are. now in pretty much, you know, most homes where people are using them for other purposes, but to have that more accessible communication, I think we're going to see more and more technology kind of ramp up, you know. Well, yeah, I mean, even if you're living in an independent unit, you still are in your unit

by yourself. Absolutely. A majority of the 24 hours every day, so anything can happen, even in an independent living. Yeah, I always tell my. families, you know, they, they were explaining, oh, my mom's fallen, you know, three times. And I'm like, well, just because she moves into a community doesn't mean she's not going to fall anymore. But what it does mean is that there's potentially more oversight and they're doing daily checks. You know, either they push a button or they have to click their door or, and if they don't do those,

those things, that someone is checking on them. And that's not always the case when they're living independently in a home or an apartment complex or something that's not designated as such. Yeah, I would think that would bring a lot more peace of mind to the adult children knowing that there are those checks on their parent. Absolutely. Do you have like a specific story or experience where you just know for sure you made such a huge difference in someone's life that you can share? I sure do.

I was thinking through all the placements I've done in the last three years and still one stands out as a pretty life, life-changing incident. It was actually two men that I got connected with through a social worker. They happen to be foster brothers. Interesting story. The older foster brother, his family adopted the younger foster brother when he was six years old. And the older brother was nine. and they grew up together in their home and then went on their way with their own lives. And one was military and one became a journalist.

It has some fantastic, fantastic stories of his experience as a journalist. And anyway, I met these two men. And interestingly enough, in the condo that they actually owned for about 10 years, it was not well kept. It was almost on the verge of some hoarding where you're walking around stacks of things to get from one place to the other. They were sharing this one-bedroom apartment in their adult years as they went into their retirement. One of the gentlemen was on meals on wheels, getting food provided because of the difficulty with cooking and that type of thing. And I met with them and the social worker and, you know, that she was.

She's like, they really need to move from here. The building itself is falling apart. It was not well managed. There was a lot of issues structurally. And so we were able to get these gentlemen into a community that offered the assisted living level of care. One of them needed it more than the other. And it worked out where the community worked with me and allowed these two brothers to move into a smaller unit together. It was actually about the same size as their current living environment, but it was not full of all their stuff, right?

So they went through their downsizing, and we were able to measure out furniture and place things so that it was strategic for them to live a little bit easier. Meals were provided for both of these folks, and they had care if they needed it. and it actually ended up being this really awesome placement. It was one of the hardest placements I've done to this day. And Judy, the funny thing is it was my first placement as a certified senior advisor. I mean, to a point where on move day, I was over there still helping them pack. And I moved the clients and their cat in my car with them to the new community because they needed help, right? And so, yeah, it was just that it was a really challenging placement.

But I learned a lot from that. And I really felt good as they moved into this, this clean, well-structured environment with more provisions for them to just thrive and have some socialization with other people that are in their demographic, as well as just having hot meals provided for them. You know, and it really, I think it was life-changing for them. And it certainly was, you know, in my scope of business over the last four years, it still impacts me when I think about, you know, how challenging it was from the beginning to the end of that move. Wow. And the fact that today, these years later, you're so emmeshed, embedded, inserted, you know, ear to the ground in this whole senior aging, living business. and the resources that you can provide and the communities that you're familiar with. And I mean, I just stand in awe at someone like you who can put that all together in such a cohesive, efficient, very easy to communicate manner for these families. Wow, Christina, you have such a big heart and I see where it started with this first placement with these,

these two gentlemen. Wow. Yeah, it is a challenge and every family's different, right? Their needs are different. They need different resources. They've had different health concerns. So it's like a puzzle that you're putting together, but how can I provide them with things that are going to be, like you said, life-changing or life-altering?

How can I give them the tools they need to, you know, continue living and continue thriving in their later years? for sure. So there may be people listening who are adult children, or there may be seniors listening who have never wanted to admit that they may need to make a move at some point in their lives. So how do they access all of these wonderful resources you provide, Christine? Well, they make a phone call and we have a conversation. And through that conversation, I can kind of disartain what they need. And I actually have become, and have always had this,

I call it my superpower of connection of people. So, you know, and really by listening and taking notes and finding out how they can be supported, I'm able to provide those resources for them. And it really is just as simple as calling me and having a conversation. And I just love helping people. I want them to be well supported and taken care of. So tell me your phone number, and we can get that in the recording here. Okay.

My number is 720-2-2-60-0687. And is an email address something you'd like to share? That would be fine too. My email address for my business is Transitions. So T-R-A-N-S-I-T-I-O-N-S. Then the letter S, the letter C, 2-2-0-0 at gmail.com. Transitions, S-C-2020 at gmail.com.

2020 is that famous year when you got everything started coming together from you, huh? It could be. your website address? www. www. Transition Senior Care All spelled out.com. Wonderful.

Wow, Christine. This has been such a great journey through your story and where you've come from and what you've built. And I am just thrilled to have the opportunity to interview you today

and hear your story. So thank you so much for joining us. Well, I so appreciate the opportunity, Judy. And hopefully we can continue just giving out resources for people so they can live well. That's right. Yep. Thank you, my dear. All right. Take care. Thanks so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast. To listen to past episodes, please visit theinspiredimpactpodcast.com.