Editor’s note: Home Sweet Home is a new regular feature appearing in McKnight’s Home Care Daily. The story will focus 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 Diane Eastabrook at [email protected].
When Enriched Life Home Care Services started its podcast in May of 2020, it was hoping to serve a few people with helpful information. Little did the Livonia, MI-based home care agency know that the podcast would resonate with throngs of people throughout the United States.
Just one year into its run, All Home Care Matters, which, its website says, is “devoted to discussing all things home care,” has generated over 20,000 subscribers and is closing in on 1 million views. That is according to Lance Slatton, a case manager with Enriched Life Home Care Services who helped create the podcast and moderates the episodes.
“It’s doing good for someone somewhere. That’s the only goal,” Slatton told McKnight’s Home Care Daily.
A quick glance at the podcast topics makes it easy to see why people in places including Washington, D.C., New York and Illinois are tuning in. The podcast has covered everything from “Understanding Parkinson’s Disease” to “The Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.” In a recent episode, Paul VerHoeve, CEO, Mission Health Care, in California, talked to Slatton about “Why Americans Are Still Confused About Home Healthcare.”
The purpose of the podcasts, Slatton emphasizes, is not to be a marketing tool but to provide information to families.
“We are more regional than national,” he noted of his agency. “Unless [the podcast] catches a listener in Livonia, in Wayne County, it’s not going to benefit the company side. What the purpose was to reach the people who need the information, who need the support, so they know they have a place to go to get the information and they are not alone.”
Enriched Life Home Care Services is used to providing community outreach. Prior to the pandemic, it hosted New Year’s Eve parties for senior centers, bringing in musicians, face painters and even an Elvis impersonator in one instance. It also would loan out medical supplies and equipment to families.
The idea of a podcast struck Slatton when he heard one in January 2020 hosted by a local home care company. With the pandemic putting a damper on New Year’s Eve parties, support groups and other activities, the timing was right, Slatton and others felt, to launch one of their own.
“There was a lot more put into it because the other activities had ceased because of COVID,” Slatton said. “It was another way to give back and do something.”
The first episode aired on the subject of “Online Resources for Families and Caregivers.”
Slatton recognizes that there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about home health, home care and other topics. He is thrilled to help provide people critical knowledge they may not find elsewhere. Most recently, the company launched shorter, condensed episodes that offer tips on a particular subject, such as bedsores. No doubt there are many more interesting —and informative — episodes to come.
“I love helping people,” Slatton said.
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
