EP 128 :: When Caregivers Change, Care Shouldn't :: Mike Michel
Is your fridge covered in sticky notes? Do you keep a notebook with enough highlighting that it looks like a coloring book? Or maybe your hand is covered in ink messages? You are not alone. Keeping all of your notes in order is a challenge and critical to providing accountability, continuity, and efficiency in care. Mike Michel, a former caregiver and case manager, developed Care Trainr, an app that is a modern solution for continuous caregiving and puts an end to confusing paper trails. He’s helping put the family at the center of personalized care by creating a single place to train for all in-home caregivers and helping ensure consistent, thoughtful, and purposeful care… not to mention fewer headaches. From med schedules to “no mashed peas,” there's an app for that!
Mike Michel attained a B.S degree in Health Science at Florida A&M University. Through his education in health science and physical therapy as well as his previous work with geriatric patients and in-home healthcare, Mike observed the inefficiencies that care families and their loved ones endure. Now, Mike educates families on two tenets: First, proactive care is always the best care—we don't have to wait until we need care to set standards for how we are cared for. Second, when caregivers change, care shouldn't.
In 2016, Mike Michel was providing care for his boss, Doc, when he noticed inefficiencies in the organization and the quality of his care. Doc’s care was provided for by his family and managed by two different agencies. Mike noticed Doc’s care suffering due to a lack of accountability, continuity, and efficiency in his care. “In 30 days, Doc would see 1-2 new caregivers a week or returning caregivers that would need to be reoriented to his care,” Mike stated it would take an hour to retrain each caregiver. With his education in health science and physical therapy and his previous work with geriatric patients and home healthcare, Mike realized he had all the tools to help Doc’s family improve his care. Mike became Doc’s case manager and took over the tasks of training caregivers, setting up doctor’s appointments, and transcribing information provided by the care providers for the family. Mike worked seven days a week for Doc ensuring he received the best available care. While taking care of Doc, Mike realized the family’s issues with caregivers, organization, efficiency, and continuity were common problems for family caregivers. It was a problem he wanted to solve. Mike wanted a way to help family caregivers provide the best level of care they could, keep track of care notes, and provide a more efficient way for family caregivers to train care providers.
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