Episode 48 of the Senior Care Industry Netcast is live!

We were fortunate enough to have Becky Moultrie, https://assistinghands.com/41/florida/stpete on our show and she offered some great insight and #advice for other #seniorcare and #healthcare providers.

About This Episode: Meet Becky Moultrie

Assisting Hands, St. Pete, Florida (Pinellas County)

Becky Moultrie, owner of Assisting Hands Serving Pinellas County, brings decades of customer service, marketing and franchise leadership experience to the home care industry. As the former owner of Becky’s Hallmark in Madeira Beach, she knows the importance of quality customer service and meeting the demands of her clients. Having lived in this community for almost 20 years, she understands the needs of the seniors in Pinellas County. Becky realizes that caregivers are the greatest asset to a successful home care agency and empowers them with on-line and hands on training. Becky is passionate about providing seniors the services they need to remain independent and in their homes as long as possible.

When not busy at Assisting Hands, Becky spends time with her husband and four children. She’s an active member of Blessed Sacrament Church and enjoys digging in her veggie garden and playing with the kids at the beach.

Full Transcript:

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

This is Valerie VanBooven with The Senior Care Industry NetCast where leaders with three or more years in the senior care industry share their advice. Let’s get to it.

In a few sentences, tell us who you are and what you do.

Becky Moultrie:

Hi, Valerie. I’m Becky Moultrie. I’m the owner and administrator of Assisting Hands Home Care. We’re a private duty home care agency here in Pinellas County, Florida serving the greater St. Petersburg area and the beaches. We help seniors stay independent at home by sending home health aides and certified nursing assistants into the home just to give our seniors that extra help so they can be more independent.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

I know for a fact that you’ve been doing this a long time and that you do a really good job because you have some fabulous testimonials from clients and referral sources and employees. So I know people love you guys so much down there. Thank you for being such a great provider of home care services.

Becky Moultrie:

Thanks, Valerie. It is truly a blessing to be in this business and to serve our community here.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Well, so tell us what is the best thing about serving seniors and their families.

Becky Moultrie:

Oh my gosh. For me, it’s that I get to do what God made me for. Home care is a passion for me. Six and a half years ago, I experienced a job layoff and it’s like, “Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do now?” I’d been an entrepreneur before and owned my own business previously, and my business coach at that time said, “Becky, you know what? It’s time for you to be an entrepreneur again.” So I spent a lot of time in prayer, and I was in church one day and God said to me take care of my people. And I looked around church and it was all older people. And I’m like, “Okay.” I said to my husband, “David, we got to find something that takes care of our seniors,” and started looking at different business opportunities and came across Assisting Hands Home Care.

Becky Moultrie:

It’s an amazing franchise network. We’ve just been so blessed to meet amazing people in the industry. And for me, I’ve now found my passion and I love working with families. I love working with our caregivers and making a difference not only in our clients’ lives, but in our employees’ lives. And it’s really been an amazing blessing.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yes, I totally agree about that. Not just your clients’ lives, but your employees’ lives. And that is I think what keeps a home care agency running easily and well. I know that hiring is always an issue with our caregivers. We always need to be hiring more caregivers, but to keep them with you is honoring them. And they are our brave souls that are out there fighting the good fight and keeping our seniors happy and healthy. So thank you for what you do.

Becky Moultrie:

Thank you.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

What Are Your Thoughts About Online Marketing?

And I know your families, your adult children like I’m an adult child of an aging parent, they feel so much better knowing you guys are there. All right, so let’s switch gears for just a second and talk about online marketing a little bit. I ask this question every time we do an interview and it’s really just to… We were in a weird period of time in the world right now, and not able to see our referral sources as easily as we were able to. So online marketing is kind of become more important, but it’s ever-changing. You know it’s confusing. I know it’s confusing and it’s just a challenge sometimes. So what has been your thoughts or your experience with your online marketing so far? And has it changed since COVID came around?

Becky Moultrie:

Yeah, we’ve actually adapted. The one thing I learned in doing this business is I can’t do it all myself. I’m very much a want to do as much as I can myself, but what I’ve learned is I have to have a good team around me. Be that phenomenal office staff to phenomenal caregivers to I’ve got to have all the support systems. So just like you hire a CPA to do your taxes and just like you hire an attorney to do your will and your estate planning, you need to hire a social media expert to do your online marketing if you’re going to do it right. So that’s where we’ve loved using your group, Valerie, because as COVID started here, we really had to think, “Okay, what are we going to do to stand out?” And that’s where we went in and we fixed our Google business page and we revamped our reviews. And I tell you what. Where we’re getting leads right now is from online. People are finding us on Google and I’m like, “Yay, it’s working.”

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. Thank you for those kind words, but I agree with you that you have a calling and that your home care business is what you’re good at. This is your expertise and you need to focus on that. And it is like hiring a CPA. If you hire out, have someone… And I also say, “We’re not the only game in town.” There’s other people that can do your SEO, but having someone who has experience in that senior care market helps I think…

Becky Moultrie:

Oh, absolutely.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

… only because it’s a different animal. It’s not a plumber, a roofer, a lawyer. It’s just a very time for families and a very fragile time so the kind of social media that you use is different than… It can’t be all advertisements. Anyway, thank you. Yes, and you guys have done a great job. And like I said, your reviews have just… They blow my mind. They’re just so amazing. I think another one just came in and they’re just so… People love you, your clients love you, your referral sources…

Becky Moultrie:

We love them and you know what? God is love. And that’s what this is all about. This is our calling. Our vision statement is do good with love and God is love. And that radiates in the feedback we get from our families.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yep, it sure does. I can attest to that. All right, so let’s go back to senior care and senior care industry. I would imagine that in your career in your lifetime there have been people or organizations that you thought, “Man, they do a great job,” or they’ve just made a difference to you.

Who are those people that have made a difference for you or organizations?

Becky Moultrie:

Okay. Well, I thought a lot about that question and the one that has made the most difference during COVID here has been Loving Pets.

Loving Pets are animatronic cats and dogs that people can get. And they’re absolutely amazing. If you go to our website and you look at our services, there’s a link there to Loving Pets and actually a discount code if somebody wants to buy one. But here in the state of Florida, the Department of Elder Affairs and the Livable Florida campaign joined together with the Alzheimer’s Association. The Alzheimer’s Association made a grant to the state of Florida and said, “If you have home-bound seniors with any kind of dementia, they don’t have to have a formal diagnosis, but if they have some kind of cognitive impairment, we want to give them something to help them deal with the isolation of COVID.”

Becky Moultrie:

They said you can either pick an MP3 player with different music genres available, or you can request an animatronic cat or dog. Well, we put that out at the beginning of COVID when we found out about it and we ordered dozens of cats and dogs for people. And the response I have gotten from families has been amazing. I was in one of my clients homes on Monday night and walked in and she had puppy sitting there. And she was so funny. She’s Spanish-speaking but she speaks some English. And in her broken English she said to me, “He’s not real but I like him because I can’t have real dog.” In other cases, we’ve seen clients that have come out of their shell that maybe they’re agitated, they’re sundowning at the end of the day, and you bring that pet out and there’s something about pet therapy that is just so soothing.

Becky Moultrie:

So for our seniors that it may be too much to have a real dog or cat or their pet that they had for many years has passed and it’s just too much for them to take the dog out for a walk, the difference that these animatronic pets have made in our seniors lives is just absolutely spectacular.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

That is so… I remember us talking about this and that you have… Now, can anybody order those nationwide or is it just so in Florida?

Becky Moultrie:

In Florida, it was a grant where they’re being shipped out at no charge to the family, but otherwise, anybody can go through our website or they can go to Loving Pets. But if you go to assistinghands.com/pinellas and in our Services click the Loving Pets link, they can go to the link for the page and you can get a 10% discount when you go through our page.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

So what we’ll do is when we post your interview, what we’ll do is we’ll put a link where we talk about this. It will be all transcribed. Everybody will be able to read about it so I’ll make sure we put a link directly to that page…

Becky Moultrie:

Perfect.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

… with this, because you know what? I was thinking… We thought about this and didn’t do anything about it at the time, but my dad is in a nursing home but he would probably love that.

Becky Moultrie:

What a great gift you could send him. The pets are… I want to say the cats are like $90 and the dogs are $110. For a hundred dollar gift for an adult child to send their parent that… You can send mom flowers, you can send dad a game or a puzzle or something, but this is something that’s going to last as long as they’re alive.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. Very cool.

Becky Moultrie:

It’s an amazing gift.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Neat. Okay, so we’ll definitely check that out again. That’s so cool. My dad would love that. All right.

What piece of advice would you give to other senior care providers?

Becky Moultrie:

This is the hardest business, the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. This is not an easy game because we’re talking about people’s lives and we’re taking care of people and they’re very fragile and that’s why we’re in the home. So I would say don’t take it personal. Somebody gave me really good advice. They said use the QTIP theory. QTIP stands for quit taking it personal. So as much as you take it personal and you want to do everything you can for families, you’ve got to step back and be a professional. But at the same token, I would say surround yourselves with good people. My first three years in business were so harrowing and so stressful because I took everything personal. And when somebody would call off, it’s such a stressful thing but surround yourself with a good team so that you’re not the only one absorbing all that stress. Get good office staff going. Get great on-call people. Get a phenomenal scheduler, and spread that responsibility out across a great team. And I would say it’s a phenomenal business once you get your team in place.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yes. Delegating and spreading that stress, I don’t want to say that everybody has to be stressed all the time, but spreading it out so that everybody can jump in and help when needed.

Becky Moultrie:

Right.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Definitely much better than taking it all on yourself. And it is hard at the beginning because you may not be able to afford to hire help right away. I would agree. It’s like milestones. The one-year mark, the three-year mark, the five-year mark. You finally start getting those pieces into place. And it’s true, those first five years are really critical to any business. But in home care, I’ve got to say, we see that over and over again. The first five years are super critical time to get it together.

Becky Moultrie:

Right. And with COVID, that made it a little bit more challenging, but I can say that base structure we put together in those first five years, because we hit, we just celebrated our sixth-year anniversary… If we hadn’t had that solid rock foundation there, I don’t think we could have made it through COVID.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. It is been rough for so many. And I’m so glad that you guys came out on the other side in a positive way. And I know there’s still ways to go. Everybody’s…

Becky Moultrie:

We’re not done yet. We’re on the COVID-coaster and it’s an up and down ride and there’s some high climbs and there’s some quick falls, but you get through it and at the end of the day you smile and say, “Okay, let’s do it again.”

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

When You Have a Win, How Do You Celebrate?

Yes. We survived another day. All right. Last question. This is one that always stumps everybody. Not always, but when you have a win, it could be anything in life, it could be a marriage, a celebration, graduation, how do you like to celebrate, or clients, you know their families just at peace with what’s now in place, all the services you provide?

Becky Moultrie:

Number one, I thank God. I try to remember that every time. My other two are food and flowers. We love to celebrate with food in the office. And then for myself personally, I love flowers. I’m a gardener. My husband’s a beekeeper. So flowers are very important to us and I love to wear flowers. I love to go buy a new plant for the garden or maybe go buy myself something with flowers on it, because not only does it make me happy… There you go. You got yours on today, Valerie. It makes other people happy. So spread the joy.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah, I love that. A beekeeper. We need more beekeepers for sure. That’s awesome.

Becky Moultrie:

We do. It makes the world a sweeter place.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

It sure does. That’s so nice. All right. Well, thank you so much for doing this interview and taking the time out of your day. We appreciate it, because it’s all about sharing the wisdom and sharing your passion and what you do for folks. And I think you’ve done a great job so thank you so much.

Becky Moultrie:

Thank you, Valerie. We love what you do and thank you for making our business shine just a little bit brighter out there. It’s amazing. Thank you.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Thanks.