Host Gail Zugerman talks with guest Mike Carter, the compassionate founder of Coast Family Home Care, about the essential strategies for Aging In Place. Mike Carter started his home health care business after watching his father pass away from pancreatic cancer back in the 1980s when there was no home help available. Now, his company is dedicated to helping people age with dignity and grow older in the habitat of their choice on the Central Coast of California. In this conversation, we explore practical home modifications, the truths about long-term care insurance, and how to spot critical red flags in aging parents. You’ll discover how simple modifications can keep you independent, safe, and thriving in your own space. Don’t wait for a crisis to make your home a safe haven for your next chapter.
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How to Successfully Plan for Safe Aging in Place
The Personal Journey Behind Coast Family Home Care
Welcome to the show, the show dedicated to hosting and interviewing people who are showing by example that they are growing older in a positive and productive way. Many of us have experienced having a parent or other loved one who chooses to stay in their home as they grow older. We know how complicated things can become when health issues arise. Our guest on the show is Mike Carter, who is the founder and president of Coast Family Home Care. Mike began his company in the mid-80s after becoming his dad’s primary caregiver during his battle with pancreatic cancer.
The company that he started is dedicated to helping older people age with dignity, and he leads a group of 25 to 50 caregivers, oversees approximately 1.5 million in annual revenue, and has helped many families through the critical stages of care. Mike is known for combining compassionate care with operational excellence. He is elegant too, I might add. He is also a family man, enjoys traveling and camping in his free time. As those of you who know me, you know my connection to pancreatic cancer. It was just coincidental that Mike and I are connected, and I am so glad to have him on the show today. Welcome to the show, Mike.
Thank you very much, Gail. I am glad to be here and help you any way I can in this battle against cancer and help folks stay at home.
Mike, tell us about how your personal life experience led you to becoming an advocate for aging in place. It is so interesting.
What started for me was that I grew up in northern California, close to a town called Placerville, which is an old hangtown. It was the county seat for El Dorado County, and gold was discovered there in Coloma. I grew up about four miles from that statue where John Marshall is pointing. There is gold in the American River there. In saying that, we are in a rural community. When my dad was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. You mentioned in the middle of 1983, there were no home care companies.
There was really nobody for us to reach out to in the community for anybody to take care of my father. I was living in Sacramento at the time, and it was devastating to my family. My father was the sole provider. My mom did not work. Not only was he given 90 days to live, but they still had a mortgage, and they still had bills to pay. I moved back home and took over those responsibilities for my folks, as well as my brother.
How old were you at the time this all went down?
I was 26, or 27. My brother is two years younger than me. He actually quit his job, and I continued to work while my brother was his daytime caregiver. As I said, there was just nobody in those days. It was basically if you knew a retired nurse or somebody like that, we were asking the doctor, and he did have nobody. It was just left to the family. We did not know what we were doing.
We were literally lifting him up out of bed and putting him on the potty and taking care of his personal needs and on and on like that. In that process, I just thought there has got to be a better way. We did not have a hospital bed. There was no hospice. There was none of that stuff. We just had to figure it out. That is what inspired me to start my company and help folks that cannot help themselves, especially in areas that are hard to get to.
Ninety percent of people want to stay in their own homes as they age. Let’s make sure they can do it safely.
That’s great. What is the most important thing that people who want to age in place can do for themselves or for family members who want to stay in the same home as they grow older?
Transforming Homes for Safer Independence
One of the most important things depends on their condition. Make your home suitable so you can live there comfortably. If you have ambulation issues, if you cannot walk. Let us put a plan in place, whether it is a walker or whatever. It’s those little jazzy electric vehicles that can get you around, especially if you’re having pain. Let us get that figured out so you can get from the bedroom to the living room outside and still enjoy the activities that you normally would without help. There are all kinds of different ways we can help folks in that regard. Statistically, 90% of people want to stay at home. They want to age at home, and they want to pass at home.
We do that as well as anybody. Whether it involves equipment, Hoyer lifts, or some of the technology. I have had bedbound people with Lou Gehrig’s disease where they actually have a track on the ceiling, and it comes down, and you have the Hoyer lift, the harness, and you can lift them up. It looks like a garage door opener, and it takes them from point A to point B. I had a customer where we put him on the toilet, and then we tracked him over to the shower. After we got his morning routine, taking care of his hygiene, his breakfast, and a shower, we put him in his electric chair, and he went out in the garage and fooled around on the workbench all day. That kept him happy.
Is that the type of situation people are living alone, or do they have help? It sounds like you’re talking more about having somebody have the functional ability that they need to just get even with the function of everyday life.
A bad fall can change an older adult’s life in a second. Throw rugs are a major hazard—get rid of them today.
People are home. His wife was home. What I am saying is that it gives you independence. This is what keeps people from getting depressed. They are no longer themselves. They are no longer the Mike Carter man that can walk all over and lift everything and mow the lawn and all that stuff. When they lose that, if you do not have a solution for them, then here comes the depression, and they’re just sitting, and the attitude is not good, and they just see no hope. We provide hope. You can do this.
This might live up to the name of your show, Aging with Gusto. It is all up here. This is right here between the ears. Let us be positive about this and let us make this work. First thing I ask folks. Where is your pain at? I just turned a very youthful 70, and I have got pain from whether you’ve torn a rotator cuff or it’s a hip or whatever. Let us not get down about it. Let us manage it with gusto, with enthusiasm, and let us enjoy the rest of our life and our grandkids and all that stuff.
What are some easier fixes for people? For example, my husband and I recently did a bathroom renovation, and we put in skid-free floors for the shower and for the actual bathroom floor that are really lovely and nice. What are some other simple fixes that you can recommend?
Essential Bathroom and Kitchen Safety Upgrades
That’s a good one. Statistically, two places in the home where falls happen the most are the bathrooms and the kitchen. Being a numbers guy and being in sales years before, that is where that is all going on. Absolutely, the rugs are horrific. Especially if you’re in a walker stage and you’re scooting around, a rug or throw rug will take you down in a heartbeat. Get rid of those. I like the hardwood, and I like the tile when you’re scooting around with a walker. Always use your walker.
Always, always, always. Especially with the females, the bone density gets weaker and weaker, and falling and breaking a hip can be horrific. You can go to the hospital, and there are a lot of numbers out there that a lot of these folks do not come home because they get into the hospital, and you’re over 80 and you broke a hip. What you see is here comes a heart attack or something else, the body, the trauma, and that leads to other things. Keeping them upright, not falling, is paramount, paramount.
That is why you have hospital beds where people can raise them up and down. They can get out of bed safer, transfer easier, those things. The proper chairs, the right height of things, especially if you’re having trouble getting up, they have those chairs that will actually lift you now, and those little solutions to get you up into your walker. That is to be independent. Now, if you have got folks there that can help you get up, like with caregivers and stuff, absolutely utilize their help for sure. You can still help yourself and stay independent if you have the right attitude and want to do that.
Navigating the Realities of Long-Term Care Insurance
Let us pivot a little bit, Mike, and talk a little bit to our audiences about the pros and cons of long-term care insurance.
Pros and cons of long-term care insurance. I would say the pro is obviously the benefit, the dollar amount. They help people tremendously. You talk about saving for a rainy day. Those folks that have invested in long-term care insurance, this has literally saved their future to stay home, especially if the care is advanced. When I’m saying advanced, eight hours plus a day, where they need somebody to do everything for them. It’s wonderful if you have that financial ability to take care of it, because we know insurance does not really do it except for long-term care. Now the con, I would say from our experience, it depends on the companies. A lot of them have 90-day activation requirements.
What does that mean?
That they will not start paying for care till after 90 days from the time you initiate the policy. The caveat there is they want you to have care in place for 90 days. They want you to have a caregiver, and then their coverage will start, and then they will start paying the benefit. I’ve seen them anywhere from 30 to 90. Adding to the con is that a lot of the kids do not even know that the folks have these policies.
Staying at home is often much healthier for those with memory challenges than being confined in a facility.
When they find them, and they call them, they’re a little frustrated to learn that they have got to wait 90 days before the help kicks in or the benefit kicks in. They have to pay out of pocket for that 90 days, and they’re upset about that. They think that it should start immediately, and some do start immediately, but obviously the premium is higher. They’re easy to deal with, and they pay us in our agency. That process is very professional, and dealing with the agents and everything, very professional.
Now I know you believe in being proactive with the issue of aging and personal care. You talked a little bit about mobility. What about cognitive challenges for people that are wanting to age in place? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Facing Cognitive Declines and Memory Challenges
Those folks can be a little more challenging. We’re talking about memory issues. Sometimes people wait too long before they call in for help. That is a challenge. A lot of the cognitive folks are in denial about their decline, and they can be fussy, and they can be challenging. They’re very important from the standpoint that they can be unsafe, they can take off, they can wander the neighborhoods, they can get lost. They most certainly repeat a lot. In addition, you have to have an excellent caregiver who is very patient and understanding and just goes along with that same question all day long. Staying at home for them is so much better than a memory unit. I’ve been in so many memory units. These rooms are small. They’re confined. When I mean confined, they’re locked in.
Mike, let me ask you something. Does Coast Family Home Care provide caregivers for people who have memory issues?
When laundry piles up and food expires, your parents are silently asking for help. Learn to spot the red flags.
Absolutely. A big part of our book is memory care. You bet. Folks that are physically fine, but they do not remember yesterday.
How could a concerned family member figure out the best type of care that may be needed for home care? Do you offer a blueprint for families? What would be the most important things for family members to be aware of in order to make sure it’s a good fit for their loved one?
Are you talking about the caregiver or the business itself?
What kind of care?
How to Spot the Red Flags of Neglect
I would say. When your folks stop taking care of themselves, when their clothes are dirty, when they’re not taking showers as they should be, and you see a bunch of dead stuff in the refrigerator, the lawn has not been mowed for several weeks, and bills are not being paid like they used to be, your folks are screaming for help. Regardless of what they’re telling you, “I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I just called so-and-so. He’ll do the lawn.” They’re going to forget to call the guy because they have not called in two months.
The food thing is the expiration date. You’ll just notice the refrigerator. There are a lot of red flags, just like what I just explained. When you see those, it’s time they need help. They need somebody in there to look after them and get the laundry done. You’ll notice the dishes will not be done, and there is no fresh food, no anything, no produce, and they may be living on pudding cups. I’ve seen cookies.
Let me ask you, Mike. Does your business, do you expand nationally, or do you have a certain geographic area where?
Professional Standards in the Modern Home Care Sector
I’m on the Central Coast of California, and we’re plenty big enough. We cover the entire Central Coast, and in my prior life, I was a regional sales manager for a major paint company, and I certainly do not want that responsibility again. What we have now is just perfect, and that’s why I named it Coast. If you want to continue and go up the coast to Washington and all that like that, you’re all set up. Here we are in Santa Maria, California. I’m in between Santa Barbara and San Luis. Beautiful communities, more of a retirement community. A lot of folks leave the big city, LA and San Francisco, and come to the Central Coast to retire. It is a hotbed for home care, at least for my company.
That’s great. I am out of questions, Mike, unless you have any other nuggets of wisdom in your area to talk about.
Aging with gusto is all about attitude. Let’s manage physical pain with enthusiasm and keep enjoying life.
I would just say that our business, home care and aging with gusto, I am so glad it’s on everyone’s radar now. When I first started sixteen years ago, we weren’t even licensed. There was no oversight by the state, and on and on like that. We progressed to where we’re getting a lot of respect from the medical community, and we’re getting referred from them. They really see the benefit of folks getting cared for at home as opposed to leaving the hospital and falling again and right back in the hospital. We hope to keep people in their home safely with respect.
What if somebody from the Central Coast wanted to contact you? What is the best way?
They can go to our website, CoastFamilyHomeCare.com, or they can just call the office, area code 805-934-0600, and they’ll talk to either Shirley, Gloria, or Mike. The three of us are in the office, and we would love to help them.
Thank you so much. This has been interesting. Keep on doing what you’re doing. It’s all good.
I appreciate you.
Thanks. Bye Mike.
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