Serving as the caregiver for a senior in the last stage of life changed Mike Michel’s professional path.
“The last six years of his life were the most inspirational of mine,” said Michel, 33, founder of CareTrainr, an app that helps families and professionals train and onboard new home care caregivers.
Michel, of Tallahassee, FL, who launched CareTrainr last February, credits his decision to start his company to the experience of caring for a well-respected, local radiologist, who had dementia and needed 24-hour care. In his role, first as the doctor’s caregiver and then as his case manager, Michel encountered firsthand the frustration of having to teach a revolving carousel of caregivers.
“What happened was [the doctor] would have multiple people come out,” Michel relayed. “It was not unusual to see seven different people in a month. I would constantly have to repeat information to people — this is how you do it.”
There is a disconnect between what the family expects of the caregiver and what the caregiver actually knows, he explained.
“The problem was families didn’t feel they should tell people what to do,” Michel said. “Aides come in and say I don’t want to get it wrong … But what people don’t know, when aides get their training … agencies hire them on, just like that. They send them out. Families say these aides should know what to do.”
CareTrainr, which offers training videos in addition to a profile of the patient, calendar and live notes to facilitate the transfer of information, aims to smooth out these transitions.
Plight of family caregiver
Besides getting the app off the ground, Michel is passionate about helping to make life better for the approximately 53 million unpaid caregivers in the United States.
“I made this to empower family members,” he said. “Most software is dedicated to companies. They are all leaving the one essential person out.”
As @TheCaregiverGuy on Twitter, Michel tweets often with a mix of information, education and humor about the benefits of his app and how caregivers can better take care of themselves.
Life lessons
In addition to the seed of the idea for his company, Michel gathered life lessons from his former patient, who died two years ago. Among these was “Do what you do with a purpose,” Michel explained.
Michel was working toward his degree in health sciences with a concentration in prephysical therapy at Florida A and M in Tallahassee when he met the doctor. The first encounter, which was not particularly pleasant, took place at a skilled nursing facility where Michel went to perform some community service hours.
“He said get the f— out,” Michel explained.
Then, two weeks later, in his side job as a physical therapy technician, MIchel was sent to a home. Guess whose?
“From there it was a different experience,” Michel said. “It was a fairy tale story from there.”
After graduating from the university, Michel stayed with the doctor, eventually becoming the case manager. He opted not to go to grad school to pursue caregiving and, eventually, the app. With the app, he wants to help his fellow caregivers. Again, he draws on a lesson from his former patient: If something isn’t working, change it.
“We can control our whole destiny as caregivers,” he said.
Editor’s note: Home Sweet Home is a feature appearing Mondays in McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. The story focuses on a heartwarming, entertaining or quirky happening affecting the world of home care. If you have a topic that might be worthy of the spotlight in Home Sweet Home, please email Liza Berger at [email protected].
