Care Across America
"Care Across America, an Approved Senior Network® Podcast"—your go-to source for engaging conversations and practical insights from home care and senior care experts across the United States. Each episode will spotlight industry professionals, and their referral networks, sharing impactful stories, proven strategies, and innovative solutions in senior care. This podcast is perfect for professionals, adult children of aging parents, and family members struggling with senior care choices and care.
Care Across America
From IT and Teaching to Home Care: Serving Seniors and Veterans in Jacksonville
What happens when an IT professional and a teacher decide to reinvent home care? Matthew and Tracy Hardy of Assisting Hands South Jacksonville share their remarkable journey of building a care agency that breaks industry norms by eliminating minimum hours requirements, deposits, and long-term contracts.
The Hardys approach home care with a dual mission: serving clients with compassion while creating a supportive environment for caregivers. As Matt explains, "We came into this business with a heart to serve not only the clients but the caregivers as well." This philosophy manifests in innovative programs like their online caregiver community board, financial assistance initiatives, and recognition programs that foster a positive workplace culture.
Their service model addresses the needs of what Matt calls the "sandwich generation" – adults balancing careers, children, and aging parents. When these overwhelmed family members reach out, the Assisting Hands team listens carefully, offering solutions that allow adult children to step back into family roles rather than caregiver responsibilities. From helping centenarians age in place to providing specialized care for veterans, their approach emphasizes flexibility and personalization.
Perhaps most notable is their dedication to veteran care. Matt passionately educates veterans about free home care benefits many don't realize they qualify for, explaining that "the government actually sets aside money for every veteran and most of it just sits there unused." Through community outreach and education, they help veterans and surviving spouses navigate complex benefit systems to access crucial support services.
Ready to discover how the right home care could transform your family's caregiving experience? Listen to this enlightening conversation that reveals how compassion, flexibility, and mission-driven service are reshaping elder care in Northeast Florida.
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My name is Matthew Hardy. I'm the owner of Assisting Hands South Jacksonville. We serve Clay County and Duval County in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaker 2:Thanks for being on Care Across America and tell us how long have you guys been in this business? What made you get started?
Speaker 1:So we got our license a little over two years ago and we were both working full-time professional jobs. I was in IT and my wife was a full-time teacher, and we both had a desire to do something where we had an opportunity to serve the public. She was doing it already. I felt like I was not, and so she joined me in this endeavor. We came into this business with a heart to serve not only the clients but the caregivers as well. Seeing caregivers being treated as a commodity or as a number, we felt there was a large opportunity to serve both sides of the equation.
Speaker 2:And you know what I know, being a teacher, that is a hard job, right, and so this is also a very challenging role that you both have taken on. So tell me a little bit about your roles within the company. What does Tracy do versus what do you do, or do you divide things up?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we divide things up somewhat. I am the CEO, so I do a lot of the marketing myself, going out, a lot of the outside work, making connections, doing the networking, do a lot of some of the payroll and some of the bookkeeping kind of stuff, and she is the COO but also handles scheduling, interfacing with the caregivers and joins me when she can outside and we get to do some marketing stuff together, which is fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's always great to be able to have lunch together and go do, go see some folks that you're probably getting very familiar with by this time.
Speaker 1:So that's great.
Speaker 2:So you share some of the roles and I get it, and you also both wear a lot of hats. It sounds like still, yeah, we're young in the company, so we're wearing a lot of hats, for sure. But you know what? There's never going to be enough home care agencies to take care of the number of seniors who could really use a little help around the house. So tell us in the years that you've been doing this, when someone calls the office and they are an overwhelmed adult child, probably somebody my age in their 50s, who has a mom or dad in their 70s, what is it like? What happens when someone calls the office?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think overwhelmed is often the right word, for when they finally reach out for help, they've usually reached some kind of crisis point or breaking point, and so we understand that. So the first thing our front desk person does who's Megan? She's very great at listening, so a lot of what the call is listening. We're trying to get the information we need and gather the relevant details, of course, but just kind of get a feel for what the situation is, what is going on. Oftentimes, like you said, we're dealing with that sandwich generation, where maybe they have some high school age kids still, and they're dealing with parents who are aging, they're working full time still, trying to make decisions for mom and dad they've never had to make before, and so it is an overwhelming process. And so every step of the way, we try to go in with that understanding that we're there to provide solutions and offer solutions that would enable them to step back into their role as child instead of caregiver.
Speaker 2:Yes, we hear that a lot.
Speaker 2:It's so nice as an adult child for me to be able to go to a mom and dad's house and not be worried about doing the load of laundry when I can just sit and visit with them for a while or maybe sort their mail with them but there's someone else that can do a little bit of meal prep or maybe change the bed linen, or maybe they helped mom get a shower this morning.
Speaker 2:Those are the kinds of things that, as a daughter, I appreciate and it takes a lot of stress and worry off of me because now I can just visit or I can go out to dinner with them or whatever they're capable of doing, bring dinner in, as opposed to worrying about grocery shopping maybe or something, or putting the food away. So that's a tremendous help and stress reliever, stress reliever. And so when someone calls your office and they talk to Megan, and then you guys obviously do that in-home or living room visit, if you can, and sit and talk to everybody. And what kinds of services do a lot of your clients request? Is it related to, maybe, memory loss issues or mobility issues like Parkinson's disease? What kinds of things are you seeing most in your practice?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's really a pretty wide mix of what we go out for. We don't have a minimum number of hours, so there are people we go out and all we do is give them a bath, and there are people who we care for 24-7. There are fully paralyzed people we care for. There are people who just need help because they suffer from PTSD and we're able to help them under the VA program. So we see quite a range of experience. Yes, the dementia is very prevalent. We see a lot of help with the memory, cognitive kind of issues and the later stage of that turns physical. Of course we see some Parkinson's. We see mobility and then just aging in place. We have two clients over 100 right now. Both of them are actually pretty spry and it's pretty fun to visit with them. They're some of my favorite to go talk to. It's a wide range of cases really that we're able to help with.
Speaker 2:That's really nice. It sounds like you do have 24-7 care is a big job and then just somebody who needs a bath or maybe a tuck-in or get up in the morning. It's nice that you don't have a minimum hour amount of hours, because most home care agencies do require some minimum, but it's nice that you guys have been able to do that for now and be able to just do those baths. Probably. What would you say? A bath is probably two hours at least.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's generally an hour and a half to two hours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just because it's a lot Just making sure everything's set up and tidy and all finished and everybody's dressed and ready to go. So that's really nice. Sometimes that's really all people need is to get their day moving or get cleaned up a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's an option for us. We know it's an extra burden on scheduling on Tracy, but we found a way where the caregivers enjoy it. We're able to put it on the front end or back end of a shift for them. They get paid a little bit more for it and then it lets us just do our mission of being able to serve as many people as we can.
Speaker 2:And that's great. It is a really hard thing to do just to say no minimum hours. That's why most don't. But if your caregivers are able to work in a specific location where they can jump over to somebody else's house and help them here and there, that's great. And as long as you guys can do that, I'm sure the caregivers appreciate that too. Extra pay, extra hours and you mentioned that you really wanted to serve the caregivers appreciate that too. Extra pay, extra hours and you mentioned that you really wanted to serve the caregivers and tell us about that your wish to make sure they have a good place to work in, a healthy environment and all those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we want to be God honoring in everything we do and part of that is how we treat our employees and we want them to feel supported in whatever they're going through, even if it's personal matters. So we have people bring issues and invite us into their lives. We have a community online where we have a sharing board where they can share needs with each other. We're looking at starting a caregiver care program for caring for each other, where they can present even financial needs and the business will help fund some of those. We have a lot of programs that are above and beyond the normal for engaging caregivers and doing some extra benefits and trying to recognize above and beyond service. And so, yeah, we try to go the extra mile, not just to be competitive in the marketplace or reduce turnover, those kinds of things. We do it because we think it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 2:That is an excellent. I'm so glad to hear you say that. I think everybody wants to take care of their caregivers. But when I hear you say you have special programs or even a chat board set up where everybody can share, that's different and that's that makes your environment a great place to work. I know everybody's not together all the time and you're by yourself when you're out there in home care which some people love, and that's fine. You're with the clients, but it's not like you see each other every single day. So being able to communicate and talk to each other and help each other online on their phones because I would imagine most of the caregivers are on their phones and if they feel supported, they will stay, and if they feel supported that they have an issue, it doesn't make you mad, it makes you want to help them, right, that is great, and everybody wants a supporting and kind environment at work and so that sounds like an awesome thing that you guys are doing Really pay matters.
Speaker 2:But when it comes to whether it's a toxic environment or a wonderful supportive environment, that's what makes people stay. Yeah, yeah, and it comes from the top down. So you guys are a great example of that. So thank you for doing that. Do you want to talk a little bit about? You mentioned veterans. Do you want to talk a little bit about your services for veterans?
Speaker 1:Yeah, really that's one of my favorite things we get to do is provide free care for veterans. So many of them qualify and don't realize it. I try to talk to every veteran. I see all the guys who wear the Vietnam veteran era hats out for breakfast or whatever. And Assistance are separate programs but through the Home Health Aid program we're able to provide free in-home care to veterans. Basically, as long as they need some help with something like bathing or grooming, dressing, meal prep, those kind of things your typical activities of daily living they can qualify through their local VA.
Speaker 1:We encourage every veteran and we try to get this message out there to sign up with the VA and go at least once a year have a primary care there. They don't have to be your only primary care, but it just gets you in the system and it's another layer of protection. So when you need to spin up services, instead of six weeks to three months it can be a matter of just a week or two.
Speaker 2:That's great, that is awesome, and so if someone is interested in knowing more about that, they can call your office and you can point them in the right direction.
Speaker 1:We love it. Yeah, we love it. I go out and speak often. I'm often asked to go out and speak to independent living facilities and assisted living facilities in the area, just about the different veteran programs and what's out there. And, like I said, the requirements for service is not retirement, it's 18 months and you can qualify. So people don't realize what's out there. And the other thing we like to tell people is that there's money set aside for them if they're a veteran. Often these guys are very honorable and just feel like I don't want to take money from someone down the street who might need it more. And we remind them that the government actually sets aside money for every veteran and most of it just sits there unused.
Speaker 2:Yes, you're exactly right. And the VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit is another program that has been around for years and years and although the paperwork's a little more complicated, but once they can get all the things together that they need, there's people all over the area. I'm sure you know exactly who can help them get that process started, and I think it can be a little confusing at times, but once you have somebody to talk to that can help you get that paperwork in order and make sure you have all the right stuff, then it's a really nice. And spouses, surviving spouses of veterans so if you know a widow or widower of someone who is a veteran, it's pretty easy to qualify. Once you meet that criteria, even that surviving spouse can get services. So it's all kinds of options out there for veterans.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you're spreading the word in your area, because that is much needed. Yeah, that's great. Spreading the word in your area because that's much needed yeah, that's great. So is there anything else with assisting hands that you'd like to talk about or tell us about that you guys specialize in or that you've been doing or seeing out in your community? Just anything we might have missed?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I said, I think what sets us apart is what we say no to, which is we have no deposits, no long-term contracts, no minimums. We try to be as flexible as we can to meet as many people as we can, so we try to. Like I said, one of our goals is we know private pay out of your pocket in home care is not cheap, and if you're going to require 16 hours a week, you're going to exclude a lot of people, and if you're going to require 16 hours a week, you're going to exclude a lot of people. And so one of our ideals is to be able to provide this service, because we believe it's a great service and it's valuable and we see the difference that it makes. So we want to be able to provide it to as many people as we can, which is why we continue to add payer sources and we, when we keep fighting off the urge to have all those things that all the other agencies have, which are those minimums and deposits and things, and because we want this service to be recognized for what it is.
Speaker 1:So many people don't even know that this kind of service exists out there. We run into people all the time. Oh, I wish I had known about this when, five years ago. Yeah, we try to get the word out there and we try to do it with excellence and everything that we do. We try to do it with compassion and everything that we do and, like I said, we just want to help as many people as we can.
Speaker 2:Matt, it sounds like you and Tracy definitely have your hearts in the right place, and with that will come success, and being helpful and a servant to others is really pretty amazing. So thank you for what you do and thank you for serving the folks that you serve in. It's the sort of the South Jacksonville area, right, that's your, you said it, but that's your territory, right? And? And we want to hear more from you and we want to know more updates about all the things that you guys are up to. So thank you for talking with me today.
Speaker 1:It's a privilege, thank you.
