Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast w/Judy Carlson-Interview w/Barb Lotze of All Seasons Health, Comfort Keepers, & Cycling Without Age Littleton

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Barb Lotze is Patient Navigator and Volunteer Coordinator at All Seasons Health, Director of Business Development at Comfort Keepers and co-founder and Executive Director of Cycling Without Age Littleton. She enjoys sharing all these missions and core values with the community in efforts to assist older adults to age in place with dignity. Giving presentations, coordinating events, leading exercise classes, intergenerational events, baking and giving trishaw experiences are only a few creative ways she reaches out to the community.She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Prior to these missions, Barb endeavored to positively influence the youth in her community while working in youth ministry for 20 years.Barb is married and has 2 adult children. She is an avid cyclist. She also is an accomplished baker and is known for her homemade English Toffee and sweet pecans which she creates for clients, patients, passengers, volunteers and friends.Barb is co-founder and Executive Director of Cycling Without Age Littleton. She and 130 volunteers and 90 pilots power the three-wheeled cycle that transports the passengers in a cushioned seat attached to the front of the bike. Rides are given to older adults and those with challenges. Trishaw experiences give passengers the opportunity to be in nature, share their stories and enjoy WIND IN THEIR HAIR. Cycling Without Littleton is growing quickly and bringing joy to many.https://allseasonshealth.com/https://www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/colorado/south-denver/https://cwalittleton.com/**********************************************************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-w-judy-carlson-interview-w-barb-lotze-of-all-seasons-health-comfort-keepers-cycling-without-age-littleton

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. I have a very special guest that I can't wait to introduce you. you to today. She wears so many hats and impacts so many lives. I can't wait for you to hear from her. I'd like to welcome Barb Lotz to our podcast today. Thank you so very much, Judy. I appreciate being here. All right. So as we start our podcast, I love for you to tell your story. Where did you get started?

what inspired you to pursue the path you're on, and how has that brought you to where you are today? So take it away, Barb. Thank you. So I, you know, when I was raised in a family with six children and my parents continually did outreach, we were very poor, but everybody, it was very important that we did. We volunteered as a family,

and I watched my parents mentor that. And so I learned, I grew up with a grateful heart and that you just continue to give the gifts you have. And so in college, I thought I was going to be a fide teacher. And I got on a track. I don't even know how, but I had some of the most amazing professors. One in point, Anita, she just, I heard about therapeutic recreation. And I thought, what in the world is that? And soon found out that this degree had everything to do about working with people.

once they've had a life altering situation, whether it was a stroke, whether it's, we just become older and our body doesn't work like it did, whether you were born with a disability or a challenge. And so I was so passionate in college about that and could not wait to get out and explore. And it was funny because I graduated from a place in University of Wisconsin lacrosse. and the whole goal for all of us was to get to Craig Hospital in Inglewood, Colorado, because you've made it if you get there and you're working. It's so funny, that was just what we all aspired to do and be. And funny that I found myself not doing therapeutic recreation until the last 20 years of my career now.

How life does, I am in an acute care hospital in Greeley, Colorado. After my first job in Texas, I came here to help with this adaptive ski program in Winter Park. And I said, that's where I'm moving. I'm getting to Colorado. And little did I know. I thought I was going to Winter Park and it was really Colorado. Sight unseen took a job. And so I was driving closer when, oh, we're not in Kansas more.

This is not winter park. So anyway, there was an acute psych hospital. And that was really not where my gifts lie. And I found my first year like, no. and I was volunteering at the church as a youth minister, and I was passionate about that, and that is where I knew I was being called to, and so I had a career of almost 25 years as a youth minister,

and loved every minute of a passionate about it, and then as life happens, some things changed, and I was rerouted, had a couple years to figure out what I was going to do, and started working with older adults. and I say I used to work with the younger and now I work with the young. I was brought to this path unorthodoxly, and I'm just so grateful for what I get to do every single day. I told my husband, he's got a job. I have a mission.

And so I get to do what I do every day. And so I started working with older adults in the capacity. through a dental office to start with, which was interesting, and then through a agency that provides non-medical care. And so presently, I helped start a practice almost three years ago, and we provide primary palliative and hospice to patients, and home is wherever home is for them. So it's mainly with the older adults. And that's all seasons help. And at the same time that I was helping start the practice, the owner of comfort keeper asked if I'd work for him. And I told him no for a year.

And then it hit me, what does comfort keepers do? They have, what are people's goals of care? We provide a caregiver in the home. So if someone's goals of care are to age in place, we can help them do that with dignity and respect. And so, you know, a year ago, I decided, well, I could do both full time. And then I started a nonprofit in 2019,

which is cycling without age Littleton. we give people rides on a three-wheeled bike with a passenger seat in the front. And so all three of the things connect so well of the agencies, if you will, that I'm involved with. And every day my life is so positively impacted by the adults, the people that I supposedly am impacting their lives, they have even more influence and positive effect on my life. And I'm just so privileged to be on the journey with all of my patients and clients. and passengers. Passengers on the trishaws, right, Barb?

Yes. How did you come to start that company in 2019? What inspired you? So my friends started the first chapter, and it's called Cycling Without Age, and we have Littleton as our chapter, but he was the first chapter in Lakewood. It's an international organization,

and I was bike racing at the time, and so it was one of my fellow racers, and he started this chapter and said, you have to see this whole model. This is unreal. People that no longer can ride a bike, we get to pilot them. We get to give them rides. And so I volunteered for a year over in Lakewood and quickly decided, no, we need to do this different because the international paradigm is that a facility owns these bikes, a bike,

and only the residents get to ride. And my whole education and grief was all that you include everybody. And there's people all around us that need assistance, not just older adults, not just people with challenges, but how can we really reach out to those that cannot have the freedom of riding a bike that cannot get wind in their hair alone? And so a loss, I just, I got with another gentleman and we started cycling without age Littleton in 2019 and said, we're going to do it different. our model is that everybody is invited. And so we have, last year, gave over 2,400 rides, and we've done over 2,800 this year, 130 volunteers and eight tri-shaws later.

I'm just amazed with just what great people come together to inspire and impact each other's lives. So wait, 130 volunteers for the cycling without age. Right, that's my nonprofit. So what can people do to volunteer, Barb? They are pilots. We peddle the bikes. They're electric assist bikes.

And then I also have Grant Rider. We have a fundraising committee. We have birthday celebrations. We celebrate veterans. We do this whole, we did 95 birthdays. It's a whole thing with homemade desserts. And we get people together. We get the community singing for people they don't even know.

We just get human beings being good to each other. together. So there's lots of different opportunities within the nonprofit organization. So tell me again how many trishaws you have. We have eight trishaws. And give me a little bit of $1,000 each. They come from Copenhagen. And we do not take tips. We do not, none of no one's paid. We do this all based on donations. Okay. Where are the donations coming from?

Yeah. Passengers often want to give a tip. We say we don't take tips, but we take donations. Okay. I've been really, really fortunate. Comfort Keeper's owner, in fact, he is one of my volunteers. That's how our relationship began. He volunteers two to four times a month.

What other owner? like really puts their money where their mouth is so to speak that and he's become our biggest financial donor and so he gives his time, talent, finances and when I knew of his heart and I worked with Maria, I said, I want to work with you as he is his director of business development. And I don't even have to recruit people see us down the Platte River and they want to be a part of it. They say, I see the passengers and their joy. I want to be part of that joy. I want to be part of bringing good. good things to our community.

I'm sorry, I get really choked up because I've witnessed that myself. And it's, it's quite, it touches your heart when you see those aging adults that, you know, need help getting into the tri-shaw. And then the joy on their faces is just transformational. When I always like to, when I give talks about what we do with the tri-shaw or any of the agencies I'm with, I always, I tell people. people close your eyes and think for a moment. If you rode a bike as a young person, think of what that feeling was.

I think, and I have people shout out what, and it's like, freedom. I didn't have to need a ride from my parents. I got to explore. I got, you know, it brings so much to us from our child. Those of us that have been privileged enough to have a bike, that again, we kind of forget about that or we miss that. We long for that as we age. And I had one of our passengers, she's a frequent.

liar, if you will. And she, her husband, she just said, she wrote me this most beautiful email and just said, as an older adult, many times I feel dismissed. People don't understand at 85 that I can't do the things I want to do that I always love to do. And you and your organization give me that respect back. You give me that opportunity back that I matter, that I'm out here. And just because I can't physically do it, you give me a way to do it and you show that we're not just aging people like throw by the wayside because you're an older adult, but that you're important. And we want you to be part of who we are and in the community and involved. Wow, bringing so much worth to those individuals. Barb, I'm curious because the older baby boomers right now born in 1946 are like 78 and 79.

and there's thousands of them coming after them that are going to quickly be in their 80s. And so bulk of them, 70s and 80s. I mean, talk about what you think that time in our communities and economies and older adults. What does that look like from your viewpoint? Well, you know, 80% of my volunteers are retired and the mean age is 65 to 75. And what I'm finding is that older adult group, they're in amazing shape. They bike 50 to 100 to hundreds of miles a week. I mean, it's a strict vetting program that I have.

And we, you have to go through two trainings. I mean, it's serious stuff because we take very serious what we do. but I'm finding a number of the folks that are used to, well, when I was 25, I thought 75 was old, right? And at 62, I'm going, wow, 75's pretty young. Yeah. I'm finding that I think what I see different is, I mean, I have some 80, 83-year-old pilots that they do ride the Rockies. They do the triple bypass. I mean, they are in extraordinary shape.

So I'm seeing that's hopeful to me, that I'm saying, but we also have the reality that this is not going to continue our whole life. So I joke with kids when they're on the path. And I say, I point to the passenger and I say to the child, you keep riding your bike because when I'm that age, I want you to be here. I want you riding me. And let's have the whole circle of life. And really one of the other very, very exciting parts of it is like River Point is one of our home bases for five of our Trishaws. I have 20 now volunteers that have come from that are frequent passengers. They're so grateful what we're doing that they've either become a volunteer with cycling

without age Lillacin or a volunteer with the hospice, the all-season practice. And one needed head surgery needed comfort keepers. And now she goes to the health fairs and she talks about comfort keepers if you need them short term or long term. I mean, I have just seen every part of what I do. every, I'm so privileged to the three different entities or hats that I wear, they all connect so beautifully with each other. And then out of that, our patients, our passengers, become volunteers. Wow. And I give presentations often in the community about aging well and finishing strong. And

one of my big focuses is that we all need purpose. We all need some kind of purpose. And so we are not just giving joy, but giving purpose and everybody's helping everybody out. And it is not more called to do as good human beings. Man, I think about, you know, juggling three balls, which most of us can't do. And you got three amazing businesses and practices and nonprofits that you're keeping in the air all the time. And yet they're all intertwined. And the people you serve are literally crossing paths with all of those all of the time and generating worth and joy for those individuals. Yeah, and that's one of the reasons we started all seasons because we see how it is for people to navigate the health care system right now. And so I'm patient navigator and volunteer coordinating. People are like,

what does that mean? Well, you know, daughter, sons, patients, clients, they just have a hard time like okay I can't get a call back from my doctor I don't know oh I how do I get transportation to the doctor and we just said we can do this different we can do it better we were not going to be perfect but we want to provide the care of excellence so we said we are going to do the continuum care so we being that we our doc our nurse practitioners go to your home so you do get in a sick waiting room you don't have to worry about calling your doctor because if you can't get a hold of our doctor who gives you their cell phone you can call me as the patient navigator I will get the doctor.

I know where to find the docs. They're in another home. And you get an appointment that's not like 10 minutes in-out. You don't know what PA you have. No, it's us. You build a relationship. We see you in your environment. The doctor can treat that.

I can't tell you how all that helps the doctor treat. Seeing the person in the environment. They can't make up that everything's great. And they spend the time they need. And then they educate. So as the, say, Alzheimer's or ALSHA, or Parkinson's or just the normal aging process continues, we can educate you that.

What does that look like? Kind of like you do, Judy, financially. You help educate people that, okay, this is what you look like. This is what we look like right now. What do we want our finances? What do we want our goals of care for what's our A, B, and C plan? And you help people do that financially. We help people do that physically and health-wise that.

How do we help you be in the best trajectory path possible? to help you be the best version of yourself and help you live as healthy with an enhanced lifestyle as possible. So we started this practice to say we can educate because we're all at some point in our life going to need palliative and hospice. We know taxes and death are two certain things we have in our life. And so we say let's not be afraid of it. Let's embrace it. Let's educate ourselves. And let's help the person be fully themselves.

So while our docs are amazing, our nurse practitioners, they provide the medical. I help provide other mediums. So when they say, Ethel is really lonely and she's in her home and she's really isolated. Well, can I get a tritia over there? Can I get a therapeutic pony? Can I get her pet therapist there? How about our therapeutic musician? How about I have volunteers that do one-on-one?

We have just a whole resource of what? What does this person need to help them be healthier and whole? And something that just happened. We had a primary patient. And this brings me tears. He just died last week unexpectedly. He wasn't on the hospice. I walked into his house three years ago.

And I kid you not, it was filthy. He had cigarettes all over. He had dog feces. He had an alcoholic. He used to be an aerospace engineer. And I just left that house crying, going, how are we going to help him? What can we do? And I'm telling you.

Our nurse practitioner surrounded him with compassion, good medical care. She got two of our staff people, her daughter. Every week they were calling him. They would go over and walk the dog. He has been sober for six months, had a heart attack two days ago and died, but he died living a better version of himself and feeling loved and in relationship. and our team did that. And it's like, that is why we started.

That is why we do what we do. And he wouldn't hire someone like comfort keepers. He couldn't get himself to that point. So our nurse practitioner's husband befriended him. And I mean, that's why we don't want to be corporate run. We want to do this. We want our heart to lead us and do what is humanly the best for each other. Wow.

So it's just, I get to do things like that every single day. And I'm like, I can't pick one experience. It's just, I'm so profoundly, just so grateful that I'm, we only hire people that want a mission and not a job. And so we are finding the dynamics of making sure for all three entities that we hire really well because we want to do it differently. Right. And we think we're blessing their lives and then our lives are the ones that end up

blessed. Exactly. Exactly. Like when you met with Judy, and I know this is, I know this isn't part of what you've asked me question-wise, but when you've met with a couple of my patients and how you have helped them see like this is maybe changes that could be made now so that your goals of care can be realized. So even, so what I've had, I always say we want to be part of people's, their whole being physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and I've added financial to that because you've showed me with some of the tools you work with that we can really help the person because if they're worried about what's it going to look like in three years and they don't have anything tangible, that's going to not

help their psyche or their mental. And so I just love partnering with people like you, like the resources in our community that we care. This is not just a job. We all, yes, need to put food on the table. But at the end of the day, it's about how can we positively impact and in fact each other's lives. Yeah, you've definitely brought visibility and the heart that goes with it to the aging adults. And you're right. They're not aware of potential financial tools that could help them, you know, realize their goals of care. And that's all I want for them. That's it.

That's why I love working with you. You're so focused on that and the other resources like the Expo, just that your listeners would know I run two expos a year. And it's for older adults to come to learn other resources in the community. And so, yeah, on top of the three positions, I do presentations and I knew Expos, but I think it's so important that people, I get to a point and if we haven't planned or thought about all of a sudden, I get daughters and sons going, all of a sudden, mom turned 85.

When did that happen? And I get it. I mean, at 62, I'm like, when did that happen? But if we can resource each other and I only have people come to my expo that are, that, that, that I know how, what their heart is and how they, how they do life? I like to say a spiritual director, you tell me that. How do you do life? I select, hand select who I want to come. It's not just because they're going to pay a table fee.

It's because I want them to be people that are truly trusted and vested in the community, vested in older adults. So it's just such a privilege to be on the journey with people that are like-minded and philosophy of really to help each of us on the journey. So now you've talked about volunteers through all seasons help. So if someone was interested in that facet of volunteering, what would that look like for them? Right. So I have a number of volunteers that do one-on-one. So I have some one-offs like music and pony and dog, but I have folks that will sit with someone one-on-one. And we use that for a primary patient and hospice and palliative because people sometimes

they might have had an experience with family and it's too close. Like hospice, they lost someone recently, but they want to make a difference. They want to be companions on the journey. So we have plenty of primary patients that they don't have family or their family lives out of state. And so, gosh, Ethel, if she could have a visit twice a month or once a week, oh my goodness, what that does. And if we met or we've learned anything in COVID 2020, I hope we've learned and we saw

the isolation out there. Well, guess what? Those of us able body and mind, we've been back to what we do. There's still people in facilities, people in their homes that are so isolated that it's our call as other good human beings to help break that isolation barrier.

And we do that through the tri-show. We do that through one-on-one voluntary through all the different modalities and people. But the bottom line, it comes down to us, be willing to take our time, our talent, which can be just, Talent is listening. Talent is just being present, not just, but merely being present to someone.

That's one of the biggest gifts we can give. So I have a number of volunteers, and I have more and more requests from daughters and clients and family members that just really could utilize some more companion and company. So I can utilize, I tell people, if you're, wherever you're versed in your talent, either through cycling that age or all CISC. and tell, I can find a place for you. And if you want to make a little income of your great caregiver, I can get you hired at Comber Keepers. So I can help everybody on every end. That's why we call you the energizer bunny, right, Barb? Well, it's just been amazing. I had a bad bike accident, as you know, the end of June. And I have been doing pool therapy. And so something that's taken, has been a horrible spot in my

life for four months. I have met such a beautiful community in the pool, the therapeutic pool, over the Buck Center. It is this community of older adults. I love. I just love them all. And a couple of them have non-employees and a couple of them clients and just all of them are good friends. And so no matter where we're at, no matter how difficult spot in our life, there's just a bright light. There's joy that we can bring to each other, no matter where we're at or what we're dealing with. Right. And you bring that charismatic and energetic light with you wherever you go, Barb. Oh, thank you. So we chatted a little bit before the podcast about being a female all these years. And you got kind of a different take on it. I'd love to hear that. Yeah. So when you ask me the question about,

you know, has there been a challenge from a female perspective as a female professional? And I'm happy report that I really haven't sensed that in the youth ministry I did and then working with the older adults through hospice, all that we do. But I have noticed something that's become pretty apparent. So I have my degree in therapeutic recreation, which people look at you and go, what is that underwater basket weaving? What do you got going there? Because I find a lot of facilities and whatnot. Well, they think anyone off the street can be hired for an activity director and clearly I do not like that viewpoint because our cognitive and physical being comprehensively make us.

And so it's really much more strategy and much more putting activities together in a thoughtful, profound, intuitive way. But that said on the side, so I give that, so that's my degree, right? And so I'll go in facilities. I'll be with my patients and clients and I'll start speaking and they'll kind of stop me and go, oh, so you're a social worker by a degree. And I'll say no. And then say, oh, an RN.

And I'll say no. And then I tell them. And I almost, sometimes I see them physically back up or just go, oh. And all of a sudden, I feel like I'm taking down a step or two, which has been, you know, at first I let it bother me. And I've been in the field years and years now over 20 some years with older adults. And what I've learned is I just, I just be me. I just show the compassion, the love, the care, the education that I have learned not by school,

but I've learned by being on the journey with people. And I feel like I could have a social work degree and not to devaluate what they do and the masters they get, but I have been so educated by the time and experience that I've put in that I feel like that shouldn't be judged because I don't have those initials. I feel like I do a really good job and very professional and with such passion and love. And like I say to people that we hire at both of our practices that we want to hire, well, especially comfort givers, we hire, we say we hire heart. We can train anything. Now all seasons, it's more medical, so obviously you have to have the degree.

But really it starts with heart. If this is a place that you want to share your passion, your love, your comfort. compassion, we want you. And that's first and foremost. And then we'll find out the rest of you. Because I just think that's what's missing a lot in our healthcare industry from when I hear from my patients and families that are trying to navigate that. You know, I just, that that and communication. Those are the two hitches in the giddy up, if you will, that people really are seeing that.

And I say, okay, we just, we have to be heart filled and we have to. be doing this for the reason of advancing another person to be the best versions of themselves. Wow. Well, this has been very thought-provoking and very heartfelt, Barb. So you've shared so much. What do our listeners, what can they do if they're interested in connecting, being a volunteer, maybe even they're a daughter or a son with an aging parent who needs your services? how do we find you and all of these things that you've got going on?

Right. And even though there's a lot going on, people are surprised when they call me and then I'll do a kind of consulting session. If you don't go, well, how much does that cost? It doesn't. That's just part of who we do. That's part of as our practice with all seasons comfort keepers and cycling without age is we have to give back to our community.

So I'm happy to sit with daughters and sons to help them navigate, whether they use us with all seasons or comfort keepers or not, we just want their parents to have good care. We want them to have a positive trajectory. So it's really calling my cell phone or emailing me. And so I don't know if you want me to give the information or how that. Yeah, sure. If you want to give it now to our listeners and then, of course, all of that information will be in the show notes when we publish your podcast. Okay, so yeah, again, my name is Barbara Lotez L-O-T-Z-E and Patient Navigator with All Seasons, Health and Comfort Keepers, and my number is 7-2-0-2-3-1-6-248. And I'm not a 9-to-5 or Monday through Friday, so generally you'll get a fall in the evening or on a weekend.

Yes, I know that. personally. I like this, Judy, my husband's favorite saying, because I had no idea when I took on these three adventures that they'd all be blossoming at the same time. And so he's retired two years. So he often says to be, who is my, when I walk in the door at six or seven,

who is my new roommate and where did my wife go? So he's very patient and he's a volunteer on the journey as well. He's by marriage. Oh, that's wonderful. Well, he sounds very supportive. You're lucky to have him. Yes, well, I appreciate you, Judy, for allowing me this opportunity to be, you know, speaking to your listeners and just sharing the good news. That's all we're about, and you're one of them.

So you're an amazing lady and you're inspiring many. So thanks for your time today, Barb. I'm sure this is going to be a joy for our listeners. Thank you. And thanks to you for what you do every day. too, Judy. You really change life. So thank you. You're welcome. Thanks so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast. To listen to past episodes, please visit theinspiredimpactpodcast.com.