Companies play an important role in providing support for employees who provide care for aging loved ones in their off-work hours – an employee segment representing 30% of every company’s workforce. The demand for “caregiver support” is growing across all life stages – from birth to end of life, and companies are rising to the occasion.

Recorded on 12-22-22, this episode is part of our Workplace Caregivers Support  Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Jim McCann, Founder and CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC. (parent company of Harry & David, which is leading the group’s employee caregiver support initiatives), and is actively creating a caregiver-friendly workplace at all 15+ companies under its umbrella, with an Employee Resource Group and specific benefits to support the needs of its employee caregivers.

Wendy Whittington MD, MMM, Chief Care Officer, Cariloop, a caregiver support platform with a mission to relieve the stress and anxiety felt by all caregivers by helping them to navigate  the often difficult journey through a complex healthcare landscape. Cariloop’s outsourced care services to corporations are delivered through its digital platform and concierge coaching service.

Special thanks to Frances West for joining this important discussion. Frances is an Accessibility Expert, Founder, FrancesWestCo and Author: Authentic Inclusion™ Drives Disruptive Innovation, a C-suite oriented cultural and digital transformation leadership bestseller selected by CES and SXSW as one of the 2019 Technology Business Book of the Year.

Great overview of the expanding attention to this special area of corporate benefits!

Boomer Tech Talk website episode link

LinkedIn Show Post

Hosted by: Linda Sherman and Debbie Howard

Please follow our 2 podcasts. This Rethinking Aging Club Podcast and News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club. Our News for the Ages podcasts are published weekly on Wednesday, the day after they are recorded.

We are catching up with publishing Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by early 2025.

Listen to all of our Caregiving shows on the Rethinking Aging Club podcasts!

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Steve Farber from Health Hive discussed a virtual platform for coordinating care, emphasizing its free access for individuals and enterprise integration for revenue. HealthHive is a Public Benefit Corp.

Howard Tischler explained EverSafe, a service protecting seniors from financial exploitation.
 
Costin Tuculescu introduced OnScreen, a TV-based video calling solution for older adults. Thank you to Costin for also joining our CES 2025 Highlights podcast on 2-27-25.

JJ Elliott Hill and Natalie talked about their new podcast "Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver.” Their website includes a caregiving product portal. Thank you to Natalie for also joining our Caregiver Friendly Products podcast on 11-14-24.

Steve Gurney shared information about his Positive Aging Source Book and Community, focusing on solo aging and influential senior serving professionals. Thank you to Steve for also joining our Community Building podcast on 3-23-23.

Recorded on December 15, 2022, this episode is part of our Project Updates Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Stephen Farber, CEO and Co-Founder, HealthHive, PBC

Natalie Elliott Handy and JJ Elliott Hill, Hosts, Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver

Howard Tischler, Co-Founder and CEO, EverSafe

Costin Tuculescu, CEO, ONSCREEN

Steve Gurney, Founder, Positive Aging Community

Debbie Howard’s summary of this show.

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page with additional information about the speakers.

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Debbie Howard,  Michael Phillips  and Benjamin Surmi Thank you to Benjamin Surmi for joining our Falls Prevention and the Fitness and Wellness podcast on 9-19-24 as speaker.

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of May 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Elizabeth Magallon Fleury shared her business, Life's Encore Planning, which helps families navigate caregiving and aging. 

Delon Canterbury is a geriatric pharmacist. GeriatRx is a Telehealth Concierge Deprescribing consulting service helping patients, providers, and senior facing businesses. Delon highlighted the importance of pharmacogenomics.

Joyce Waterhouse PhD talked about the company she founded Inlet Health; and MedTech 24/7 Lobby, a long lasting House on Clubhouse that she co-hosts with Sussi Bianco and others. Inlet Health app allows users to input their meal or photograph it. The app analyzes heart rate and provides insights on the effects of food on heart rate over time.

Jane Babcock, a volunteer Veterans Benefits Educator emphasized the importance of understanding VA benefits for veterans and their caregivers. 

Paula Muller PhD introduced Sociavi (which has been renamed CareLink360), a physical product with software solution to help older adults stay connected and combat loneliness.

Some words from the late Gary Barg.

Recorded on December 8, 2022, this episode is part of our Project Updates Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Elizabeth Magallon Fleury, CAPS, Business Owner, Life's Encore Planning

DeLon Canterbury, PharmD, BCGP, CEO, GeriatRx

Joyce Waterhouse, PhD, Founder and CEO, Inlet Health; Co-Host, MedTech 24/7 Lobby on Clubhouse 

Jane Babcock, Volunteer - Veterans Benefits Educator

Paula Muller, Ph.D., DSA-NC, CDC, CADDCT, CDP; Founder and Chief Clinical Officer, CareLink360 (formerly named Sociavi)

Debbie Howard’s summary of this show.

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Debbie Howard and Steve Ewell

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of May 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Benjamin Surmi highlighted the loss of 400,000 nurses since the pandemic, with a need for 1.5 million more by 2028. We always love having Benjamin on the Rethinking Aging Club podcasts. He is a regular on our News for the Ages. Here is our NFTA 3-11-25.

Carol Fujiyoshi noted a 27% turnover rate in some hospitals and challenges in recruiting and retaining nurses on Kauai. Thank you to Carol Fujiyoshi for also joining our Bone Health podcast on 10-17-24. 

Bradley Schurman emphasized the broader labor market issues, including the shift to flexible work environments. Linda noted that Bradley Schurman is being quoted everywhere demographics comes up because of his Super Age demographics book (it continues today in 2025). Thank you to Bradley Schurman for also joining our 5-5-22 Rethinking Aging Club Podcast - Authors along with Kerry Hannon, Debbie Howard and Robert Newman.

Noah Kusz introduced Kevala, a software solution aimed at improving scheduling and resource management in senior care, reducing double bookings and increasing fill rates.

Our discussion underscored the need for innovative technologies and flexible work policies to address the nursing shortage.

Recorded on November 17, 2022, this episode is part of our Future of Work Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Benjamin Surmi, Social Gerontologist; Director Culture and Education, and Innovation Lab, Koelsch Communities

Carol Fujiyoshi MD, FACOG, Chief of Staff and Head of OB/Gyn Dept, Wilcox Hospital (Hawaii Pacific)

Bradley Schurman, Author, The Super Age - Decoding Our Demographic Destiny,  Consultant, Human Change, Co-Founder, New Rules Media

Noah Kusz, Co-Founder and CRO, Kevala

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman and Michael Phillips

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of May 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

As part of our recognition of National Family Caregivers Month (NFCM), we delve into a variety of products that support caregivers - while improving life for care receivers.

We learned about easy-to-change sheets that save time and improve efficiency, fashion forward adaptive clothing, an innovative design for hearing aids that greatly improves ease of fit, a rollator that encourages greater flexibility by providing usability in restrooms, and lip protection for cancer prevention.

Recorded on November 10, 2022, this episode is part of our Caregiver Friendly Products Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Maxwell Cohen, Founder and CEO, PeelAways, CEO and Founder,
Know Startups (launched Dec 2023)

Jimmy Zollo, Co-Founder and CEO, Joe & Bella

Jeffrey Szmanda, Founder and President, Each Ear

Lesli Jenkins Wang, Founder and President, Free2Go Mobility

Linda Sherman, Chief Marketing Officer/Investor, Miracle of the Sea

Debbie Howard’s summary of this show.

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Debbie Howard, Gary Barg (RIP August 2024) and Steve Ewell

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of March 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Steve Ewell described the five winners for the CTA Foundation's Accessibility contest. 

Mary Furlong discussed the Washington, DC What’s Next Longevity Innovation Summit that was coming December 7-8, 2022 as well as her two podcasts. 

Amy Stapleton shared updates on her Chatables free app. She was building narrative-driven interactive voice experiences and talking virtual characters to address loneliness and isolation among aging adults. Update: Amy closed this out in Dec. 2023. Opus Research is lucky to have her back. 

Introduced by Benjamin Surmi, Julia Le Brun Billant explained Famileo, a tool encouraging intergenerational communication through personalized paper newsletters delivered to senior living communities. Originated in France and launching in the USA.

V Nguyen explained Hello Robot, a lightweight robot designed to support everyday activities, particularly for people with disabilities. 

Debbie Howard reported on the Carter Group AgeTech Conference in Tokyo October 26, 2022. Keren Etkin and Professor Kenichi Mogi were keynotes.

Recorded on November 3, 2022, this episode is part of our Project Updates Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Steve Ewell, Executive Director, CTA Foundation; VP CTA, since 2024, building on CTA’s Accessibility and AgeTech Working Group; CTA hosts CES.

Mary Furlong, Longevity Innovation Expert, Mary Furlong & Associates

Amy Stapleton, Co-Founder and CEO, Chatables at time of show recording; currently Senior Analyst for Opus Research

Julia Le Brun Billant, Country Manager,  Famileo 

V Nguyen, OTD, OTR/L, OT Clinical Research Lead,  Hello Robot 

Debbie Howard, Chairman, CarterJMRN (Japan Market Resource Network) 

Debbie Howard’s summary of this show.

Resources:

Watch for Amy Stapleton’s articles published on Opus Research like this one 3-24-25 on OpenAI speech models.
They also get picked up on MuckRack

Mary Furlong referred to Lauri Orlov’s public reports on AgeInPlaceTech 

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page with mentioned resources links

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Debbie Howard, Benjamin Surrmi and Steve Ewell

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

October is Physical Therapy Month and October 27th is World Occupational Therapy Day. We honored these topics with a discussion of products and training.

Michael Phillips from AARP spoke about the importance of Digital Skills Training in the fields of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy during our introduction.

Brett Adler won the Amazon Alexa skills challenge for his product Voice PT, which guides physical therapy patients.

Carol Chiang discussed her virtual consultations for aging in place, emphasizing the importance of digital skills training for occupational therapists.

Nancy introduced Comfort Linen, which helps people with Parkinson's and those in pain with bed mobility.

Mark Evin highlighted Ludica Health’s interactive rehabilitation technology.

Benjamin Surmi from Koelsch Community shared plans to integrate on-site physical therapy and digital skills training for residents and staff.

Recorded on October 27, 2022, this episode is part of our PT and OT Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Carol Chiang OTR/L, CAPS, ECHM, CHAMP, Founder, EvolvingHomes; In 2024 became  - Co-Founder, Partner and Director Corp Development and Innovation at IIX Care

Nancy McGovern, Principal Owner, Comfort Linen

Mark Evin, Co-Founder and CEO, Jintronix, Ludica Health

Benjamin Surmi, Social Gerontologist, Director of Education and Culture, and Innovation Lab, Koelsch Communities

Brett Adler, Co-Founder, VoicePT

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Steve Ewell and Michael Phillips

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of May 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

This Rethinking Aging Club Podcast episode focused on end-of-life planning and grief support. 

Marisa Renee Lee shared her book "Grief is Love," emphasizing the importance of continuing bonds with the deceased. 

Jim Parker, editor of Hospice News, explained hospice care, highlighting its benefits and the need for advanced care planning. 

Kilie Crowley from Solace Cremation explained their transparent pricing and support services. 

Emily Cummin from Untangle emphasized the emotional and practical support needed after loss, noting the average 420 hours required to administer an estate.

Kathy Koenig shared insights from her grief counseling work, stressing the importance of early planning and understanding hospice care variations.

Recorded on October 20, 2022, this episode is part of our Ending Well Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Marisa Renee Lee, Author, Grief is Love, all about Marisa Renee Lee

Jim Parker, Senior Editor, Hospice News and Palliative Care News

Kilie Crowley, Death Doula. At time of show: Outreach Director, Solace Cremation (acquired by Foundation Partners Group 11-2-22, congratulations)
Currently: Community Liaison, Gracious Care Hospice and Customer account liaison, Barbara Karnes Books

Emily Cummin, Founder and CEO, Untangle app and community

Kathy Koenig, M.S. NCC, Master Caregiver Coach and Certified Grief Coach,  The Caregiver Connection

Resources:
Jim’s Article: Hospice News 10-3-22 CMMI working on payment models that include palliative care 

Curbed May 2022, Disrupting the Funeral (includes Solace) contributed by Benjamin Surmi  

Resources mentioned by Emily Cummin:
Lantern
Cake
Everplans

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman and Michael Phillips

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of August 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Streaming Film Entertainment and Edutainment is one of our favorite topics. This episode included the challenges and successes in producing films that address aging issues, such as Sky Bergman's "Lives Well Lived" and Susie Singer Carter’s latest project. 

Joe Hausch discussed Photavia’s mission to create inclusive edutainment for seniors, highlighting their partnerships with Tranquility Lifestyle Solutions (TLS) and SaltboxTV. 

Michael Phillips emphasized the evolving media habits post-COVID, noting the increased use of streaming services. 

The discussion also touched on the need for better representation and inclusion in the film industry, as highlighted by Nancy Schreiber.

Recorded on October 13, 2022, this episode is part of our Streaming Film Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Susie Singer Carter, latest film project: No Country for Old People; Writer/Director/Producer/Actress, Go Girl Media
Love Conquers Alz Podcast

Sky Bergman, Documentary Filmmaker, Sky Bergman Productions - Lives Well Lived

Marc Peterson, Assistant Director, Warner Bros. Television - B Positive

Nancy Schreiber, ASC, Director of Photography, Nancy Schreiber

Joe Hausch, President and CEO, PHOTAVIA; Hausch Design Agency

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Michael Phillips, and Steve Ewell

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

We are catching up with publishing historical Rethinking Aging Club podcasts, and hope to be current by the end of June 2025.

New episodes on both of our podcasts are usually published the day after they are recorded.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman

Michael Phillips discussed the "Fly Like an Eagle" report, highlighting that online training for older adults is twice as effective in combating social isolation than just providing broadband access. 

Benjamin Surmi introduced Lindsay DeLong who shared her journey from creating YouTube videos to building a community on Instagram to provide occupational therapy tips and tools with EquipMeOT. Lindsay explained the importance of destigmatizing medical equipment and adaptive tools through fun and engaging content.

Julian Harcourt from Grayafro Marketing emphasized the importance of inclusive marketing to older consumers. 

Jean Anne Booth introduced the Kanega Watch, a voice-activated medical alert device with high daily wear rates.

Maria Mortati discussed her Memory Care Experience Station for dementia patients, emphasizing multi-sensory engagement and staff involvement.

Frances West inquired about the use of virtual reality for dementia patients, and Maria explained the challenges and potential of VR.

Doug Sullivan shared his insights on remote patient monitoring (RPM) and the future of innovative health plans.

Recorded on October 6, 2022, this episode is part of our Project Updates Series. Speakers are listed in their order of appearance.

Benjamin Surmi, Social Gerontologist; Director of Education and Culture, and Innovation Lab, Koelsch Communities 

Lindsay DeLong, Co-Founder, EquipMeOT

Julian Harcourt, Marketing Director, Greyafro Marketing;
Marketing Director, Cosmos Tours since July 2023

Jean Anne Booth, CEO, UnaliWear - Kanega Watch
Also currently:
Austin Chapter Women Presidents Organization (WPO)
Member, Post Exit Founders (PEF) Community

Maria Mortati, Owner, Maria Mortati Experience Design

Doug Sullivan, RN, CCM, Case Management Nurse working in tech, RPM-CCM ;  UM Manager/Case Management Leader, Kaiser Permanente since 2024

Debbie Howard’s summary of this show.

BoomerTechTalk.com episode page

LinkedIn Show Post

Co-Hosts: Linda Sherman, Debbie Howard, Steve Ewell, Michael Phillips and Frances West ​​

We continue to record new Rethinking Aging Club podcasts live on Thursdays. How to join live.

Please follow both of our podcasts including News for the Ages by Rethinking Aging Club.

Music: Solemnity written and performed by Richard Sherman