January 20, 2025 • 11 mins
What if aging could be a journey of empowerment and support, not just a phase of life? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we welcome Morgan Van Dyke and Annie DiCenzo from Assisting Hands Home Care. Inspired by Annie’s heartfelt story of her family’s dedication to her grandmother, we explore how Assisting Hands is transforming the home care landscape. Discover how their services help individuals embrace aging safely at home or in senior communities, and learn why home care isn’t just for those nearing life’s end but is essential for anyone needing a helping hand with daily tasks. Morgan clarifies the often-misunderstood differences between home health care and home care, and we uncover why many prefer to age within familiar surroundings, even as long-term care policies lag behind.
Beyond the realm of home care, this episode salutes the remarkable contributions of local women who enrich our communities. We shine a light on their efforts as good neighbors and urge our listeners to champion these women and the local businesses they support by nominating them for a feature on our podcast. By doing so, we celebrate community spirit and foster an environment where appreciation and engagement thrive. Tune in to understand the vital role of home care services and the importance of acknowledging and supporting our community’s unsung heroes.
Assisting Hands Ft Myers
Annie DiCenzo & Morgan VanDyke
1850 Boy Scout Dr, #103
Fort Myers, FL 33907
(239) 337-4263
License Number 299992935
assistinghands.com
Assisting Senior Citizens in Lee County-Facebook
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, cabo, jimSchaller.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome, good Neighbors, to episode number 227
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today we have Good NeighborsMorgan Van Dyke and Annie
DiCenzo.
I almost got it.
I got'm so close From AssistingHands Home Care Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hi, hi, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely Pleasure to get to know people within the
community and share theirstories with our listeners.
So, without further ado, whydon't we start off by sharing a
little bit about what you guysdo at Assisting Hands?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Okay, well, we are a private duty home care that
assists people to age safely intheir home.
So we go wherever the personcalls home whether that's
actually a house or whether it'sin one of the senior
communities, and we help themwith their normal activities of
daily living like bathing,dressing, toileting and
(01:02):
ambulating safely.
We offer light housekeepingservices, meal prep and
assistance running errands orgetting to appointments.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Very good.
So let's back up our storieshere a little bit.
How did you guys get involvedin this industry?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Um, so this is Annie.
My husband and I purchasedAssisting Hands in 2021.
And what really led us to thiswas growing up.
My grandmother ended up movingin with my family I think I was
about 13 or 14 at the time andyou know I watched my mom kind
(01:40):
of take her through thecontinuum of care.
So grandma lived with us for afew years.
She ended up moving into anindependent living, then
assisted living, then she endedup in skilled nursing and my mom
was just always so stressed allthe time, you know, bringing
meals to my grandma and takingmy grandma to appointments.
(02:03):
On taking my grandma toappointments, and you know, at
the time there really wasn'tanything quite like this that
you know, I was really aware of.
Of course, that was 20 someyears ago and so, like when we
were presented with theopportunity to purchase
assisting hands, it felt likesuch a natural fit and a way to
be able to give back to familiesand, like you know, especially
thinking with my mom in mind,who was sandwiched between a
(02:24):
teenage kid that was probablynot real helpful at the time and
my grandmother that had needsthat were growing.
You know, a service like this Ithink would have been.
It would have helped my momquite a bit, right, so that she
could maybe unwind and just havea little bit of time to herself
instead of always feeling likejust jammed up with things to do
(02:44):
and I think we're about thesame age.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We kind of grew up in the same era, so I had the same
scenario where my grandmothertook in my great-grandmother and
she was.
She lived with them all thetime.
I think that was the way backthen.
Right, right, it's just, andit's changed now, thank goodness
, for we've got some help outhere for people like you, from
yourself.
So let's talk about challenges,whether personally or
(03:07):
professionally, and getting abusiness like this up and
running.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You know, I think the biggest challenge for me was
just learning all the the lawsthat are in place for licensing,
but then also just the nuancesand then overcoming perceptions
that people have with home care.
You know there's a lot ofeducation that's involved with
(03:33):
it.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So let's talk about some of those, because the myths
or misconceptions are alwaysbig of what people think about
the industry.
Can we clear some of those upfor our listeners?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Conceptions are always big of what people think
about the industry.
Can we clear some of those upfor our listeners?
Yeah, I would say.
For me one of the biggest onesis that home care is just for
people that are like on theirdeathbed and that's really far
from the truth.
We have some clients that, likeyou know, they're not able to
really get out a whole lot.
And you know, do things.
And we've got one client thatjust wants to go to the driving
range once a week.
You know, do things.
(04:03):
And we've got one client thatjust wants to go to the driving
range once a week.
You know, like, how cool isthat?
Nothing wrong with that, right?
Yeah, they're getting out andbeing active and that's
important.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
That's the important thing.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, and Morgan, from a more medical perspective,
I know that she sees a lot ofyou know misconceptions as well.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, I think one of the big ones is that people tend
to lump home health care inwith home care and while we do
work together to kind of keeppeople safe in their home, there
is a big difference between thetypes of services that we offer
.
Where home health is morenursing, pt, ot, with short
visits to address specificmedical issues, and a lot of
(04:38):
times it's short term and usedafter some kind of
hospitalization, with shortvisits to address specific
medical issues, and a lot oftimes it's short-term and used
after some kind ofhospitalization.
Whereas home care is longerperiods, anywhere from four to
24 hours, and it's a CNA or ahome health assistant that is
coming in to help you with thoseactivities of daily living.
It's usually more of along-term thing and a lot of
(05:01):
times it is triggered by one ofthose hospitalizations.
But one of our big goals ispreventing the hospitalizations
or the readmissions.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Absolutely, and that's the important part.
So we notice anything changing,evolving trending within the
industry lately.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know, I would say like lately it seems like there
have been maybe fewer peoplethat have chosen to go to more
of a skilled environment, likethey're wanting to stay at home
longer.
I think that would be one ofthe big things that I've noticed
definitely.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I've also noticed that and we're trying to do some
education on it as well is thatpeople seem to hesitate to
trigger those long-term carepolicies and a lot of times we
get calls from people who couldhave been using our services for
quite some time.
Don't know if the hesitationthere is.
You know that they thinkthey're going to run out of
money or what have you, which isvery, very rare.
(05:59):
That rarely happens.
So we try to do a lot ofeducation to let people know
that you know as soon as youhave that need, go ahead and
trigger that policy, and itreally is going to make your
life a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Absolutely yeah, there's help available.
Make sure you're accessing it.
So are both of you guys fromSouthwest Florida originally.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, neither of us are actually.
I'm originally from Maryland.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Okay, and Annie.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Been kind of all over the place.
I've lived in Denver,minneapolis and Atlanta prior to
this.
Denver, minneapolis and Atlantaprior to this.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Wow, what brought you guys to Southwest Florida
besides the beautiful weather?
Well, it's been a little coldlately but still warmer than
negative three Right Well for me.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I originally took a travel nurse contract down here
for six months with Cape CoralHospital just to kind of test
the waters and see how we likedFlorida and we absolutely loved
it.
So after my contract was up Itook a job with Lee Health and I
was floating between all fourof the Lee hospitals in the area
, just kind of filling in theirstaffing needs with any of their
(07:07):
med surge units.
And then I actually took sometime off to take care of my own
family, which has gotten whatkind of got me onto the home
care side of things and saw theneed for you know a strong
support system when people aretrying to age in place, and so
that's what I try to do for myclients is be that support for
them and offer them all thedifferent resources you know
that are available, cause thereare so many but a lot of them
(07:29):
just don't know where to findthem.
They don't know where to start.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
And it's funny how the personalexperiences kind of create and
evolve into I don't want to saycareers, but opportunities for
us to help others as well too.
So I commend both of you fordoing that, so outside of work.
I know you guys are time's alittle demanding, but when you
do get a moment, what do youguys enjoy doing outside of work
(07:52):
?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Go for it.
Well, we both have kids, so I'msure Annie will agree that they
keep us very, very busy.
But aside from that, I myselfam an artist, so I do a lot of
painting, really any kind ofarts and craft type thing.
But that's kind of how I helpmyself decompress at the end of
the week.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And Annie.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Spending time outside .
Any chance that I can.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Right.
That's why we live down here tobe able to enjoy the outdoors
Because we can be outside.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So.
Is there one thing you wish ourlisteners knew about assisting
hands?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
that they might not be too familiar with.
Well, for me I'd say thatassisting hands.
Really we strive not just to beyour home care but to support
you with all of the differentchallenges that come with aging.
And when you become our clientyou really become like a part of
our family and we're going totry to help you navigate all of
the amazing local resources thatare out there, and we really
(08:53):
pride ourselves on kind of goingabove and beyond to make your
experience caring for your lovedone as easy and as smooth as
possible.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Absolutely Very good, very good.
So how would our listeners goabout contacting you if they
wanted to learn more or had somequestions?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I would say, give us a call.
Our phone number is239-337-4263.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
We also have a Facebook page called Assisting
Senior Citizens in Lee County,and the idea behind that group
is that we've tried to create aspace that local seniors can
come and ask questions and findthose resources.
A lot of our partner communitypartners have joined so they're
there to help offer insight onanything from you know who can
(09:37):
come to my house and cut my hairor who can help me write a will
or find a good senior community, so that's a great place to
come and ask those questions too.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I model it after the moms groups where you're looking
for a orthodontist for your kid.
We figured that seniors havesimilar needs.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's a great idea.
I love that.
I love that.
I'll have to check that out.
Any last words for ourlisteners today.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
You know if.
If there's any doubt that youneed care, you know reach out
and start the process, whetherit's with us or somebody else.
But I think a lot of theregrets that people have is not
getting help sooner and I thinkthat you can really help your
quality of life if you feel thatyou're starting to need
assistance.
(10:23):
You don't have to be interrible shape to need a little
bit of extra help.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
And I would echo that .
We get a lot of calls frompeople in kind of crisis mode
and you don't have to wait forthat crisis to reach out, learn
about the services and kind ofhelp.
Put a plan in place for whenthe time does come, when you
need it.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Very good, very good Ladies, it's been a pleasure
getting to know you.
Thank you for what you do forthe community.
Thank you for what you do forthe community.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Thank you for being such good neighbors and I hope
to see you out in the communitysoon.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast, estero.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPEstero.
com.
That's GNPEstero.
com, or call 239-296-2621.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, cabo, jimSchaller.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome, good Neighbors, to episode number 227
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today we have Good NeighborsMorgan Van Dyke and Annie
DiCenzo.
I almost got it.
I got'm so close From AssistingHands Home Care Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hi, hi, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely Pleasure to get to know people within the
community and share theirstories with our listeners.
So, without further ado, whydon't we start off by sharing a
little bit about what you guysdo at Assisting Hands?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Okay, well, we are a private duty home care that
assists people to age safely intheir home.
So we go wherever the personcalls home whether that's
actually a house or whether it'sin one of the senior
communities, and we help themwith their normal activities of
daily living like bathing,dressing, toileting and
(01:02):
ambulating safely.
We offer light housekeepingservices, meal prep and
assistance running errands orgetting to appointments.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Very good.
So let's back up our storieshere a little bit.
How did you guys get involvedin this industry?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Um, so this is Annie.
My husband and I purchasedAssisting Hands in 2021.
And what really led us to thiswas growing up.
My grandmother ended up movingin with my family I think I was
about 13 or 14 at the time andyou know I watched my mom kind
(01:40):
of take her through thecontinuum of care.
So grandma lived with us for afew years.
She ended up moving into anindependent living, then
assisted living, then she endedup in skilled nursing and my mom
was just always so stressed allthe time, you know, bringing
meals to my grandma and takingmy grandma to appointments.
(02:03):
On taking my grandma toappointments, and you know, at
the time there really wasn'tanything quite like this that
you know, I was really aware of.
Of course, that was 20 someyears ago and so, like when we
were presented with theopportunity to purchase
assisting hands, it felt likesuch a natural fit and a way to
be able to give back to familiesand, like you know, especially
thinking with my mom in mind,who was sandwiched between a
(02:24):
teenage kid that was probablynot real helpful at the time and
my grandmother that had needsthat were growing.
You know, a service like this Ithink would have been.
It would have helped my momquite a bit, right, so that she
could maybe unwind and just havea little bit of time to herself
instead of always feeling likejust jammed up with things to do
(02:44):
and I think we're about thesame age.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We kind of grew up in the same era, so I had the same
scenario where my grandmothertook in my great-grandmother and
she was.
She lived with them all thetime.
I think that was the way backthen.
Right, right, it's just, andit's changed now, thank goodness
, for we've got some help outhere for people like you, from
yourself.
So let's talk about challenges,whether personally or
(03:07):
professionally, and getting abusiness like this up and
running.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You know, I think the biggest challenge for me was
just learning all the the lawsthat are in place for licensing,
but then also just the nuancesand then overcoming perceptions
that people have with home care.
You know there's a lot ofeducation that's involved with
(03:33):
it.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So let's talk about some of those, because the myths
or misconceptions are alwaysbig of what people think about
the industry.
Can we clear some of those upfor our listeners?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Conceptions are always big of what people think
about the industry.
Can we clear some of those upfor our listeners?
Yeah, I would say.
For me one of the biggest onesis that home care is just for
people that are like on theirdeathbed and that's really far
from the truth.
We have some clients that, likeyou know, they're not able to
really get out a whole lot.
And you know, do things.
And we've got one client thatjust wants to go to the driving
range once a week.
You know, do things.
(04:03):
And we've got one client thatjust wants to go to the driving
range once a week.
You know, like, how cool isthat?
Nothing wrong with that, right?
Yeah, they're getting out andbeing active and that's
important.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
That's the important thing.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, and Morgan, from a more medical perspective,
I know that she sees a lot ofyou know misconceptions as well.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, I think one of the big ones is that people tend
to lump home health care inwith home care and while we do
work together to kind of keeppeople safe in their home, there
is a big difference between thetypes of services that we offer
.
Where home health is morenursing, pt, ot, with short
visits to address specificmedical issues, and a lot of
(04:38):
times it's short term and usedafter some kind of
hospitalization, with shortvisits to address specific
medical issues, and a lot oftimes it's short-term and used
after some kind ofhospitalization.
Whereas home care is longerperiods, anywhere from four to
24 hours, and it's a CNA or ahome health assistant that is
coming in to help you with thoseactivities of daily living.
It's usually more of along-term thing and a lot of
(05:01):
times it is triggered by one ofthose hospitalizations.
But one of our big goals ispreventing the hospitalizations
or the readmissions.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Absolutely, and that's the important part.
So we notice anything changing,evolving trending within the
industry lately.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know, I would say like lately it seems like there
have been maybe fewer peoplethat have chosen to go to more
of a skilled environment, likethey're wanting to stay at home
longer.
I think that would be one ofthe big things that I've noticed
definitely.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I've also noticed that and we're trying to do some
education on it as well is thatpeople seem to hesitate to
trigger those long-term carepolicies and a lot of times we
get calls from people who couldhave been using our services for
quite some time.
Don't know if the hesitationthere is.
You know that they thinkthey're going to run out of
money or what have you, which isvery, very rare.
(05:59):
That rarely happens.
So we try to do a lot ofeducation to let people know
that you know as soon as youhave that need, go ahead and
trigger that policy, and itreally is going to make your
life a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Absolutely yeah, there's help available.
Make sure you're accessing it.
So are both of you guys fromSouthwest Florida originally.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, neither of us are actually.
I'm originally from Maryland.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Okay, and Annie.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Been kind of all over the place.
I've lived in Denver,minneapolis and Atlanta prior to
this.
Denver, minneapolis and Atlantaprior to this.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Wow, what brought you guys to Southwest Florida
besides the beautiful weather?
Well, it's been a little coldlately but still warmer than
negative three Right Well for me.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I originally took a travel nurse contract down here
for six months with Cape CoralHospital just to kind of test
the waters and see how we likedFlorida and we absolutely loved
it.
So after my contract was up Itook a job with Lee Health and I
was floating between all fourof the Lee hospitals in the area
, just kind of filling in theirstaffing needs with any of their
(07:07):
med surge units.
And then I actually took sometime off to take care of my own
family, which has gotten whatkind of got me onto the home
care side of things and saw theneed for you know a strong
support system when people aretrying to age in place, and so
that's what I try to do for myclients is be that support for
them and offer them all thedifferent resources you know
that are available, cause thereare so many but a lot of them
(07:29):
just don't know where to findthem.
They don't know where to start.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
And it's funny how the personalexperiences kind of create and
evolve into I don't want to saycareers, but opportunities for
us to help others as well too.
So I commend both of you fordoing that, so outside of work.
I know you guys are time's alittle demanding, but when you
do get a moment, what do youguys enjoy doing outside of work
(07:52):
?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Go for it.
Well, we both have kids, so I'msure Annie will agree that they
keep us very, very busy.
But aside from that, I myselfam an artist, so I do a lot of
painting, really any kind ofarts and craft type thing.
But that's kind of how I helpmyself decompress at the end of
the week.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And Annie.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Spending time outside .
Any chance that I can.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Right.
That's why we live down here tobe able to enjoy the outdoors
Because we can be outside.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So.
Is there one thing you wish ourlisteners knew about assisting
hands?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
that they might not be too familiar with.
Well, for me I'd say thatassisting hands.
Really we strive not just to beyour home care but to support
you with all of the differentchallenges that come with aging.
And when you become our clientyou really become like a part of
our family and we're going totry to help you navigate all of
the amazing local resources thatare out there, and we really
(08:53):
pride ourselves on kind of goingabove and beyond to make your
experience caring for your lovedone as easy and as smooth as
possible.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Absolutely Very good, very good.
So how would our listeners goabout contacting you if they
wanted to learn more or had somequestions?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I would say, give us a call.
Our phone number is239-337-4263.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
We also have a Facebook page called Assisting
Senior Citizens in Lee County,and the idea behind that group
is that we've tried to create aspace that local seniors can
come and ask questions and findthose resources.
A lot of our partner communitypartners have joined so they're
there to help offer insight onanything from you know who can
(09:37):
come to my house and cut my hairor who can help me write a will
or find a good senior community, so that's a great place to
come and ask those questions too.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I model it after the moms groups where you're looking
for a orthodontist for your kid.
We figured that seniors havesimilar needs.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's a great idea.
I love that.
I love that.
I'll have to check that out.
Any last words for ourlisteners today.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
You know if.
If there's any doubt that youneed care, you know reach out
and start the process, whetherit's with us or somebody else.
But I think a lot of theregrets that people have is not
getting help sooner and I thinkthat you can really help your
quality of life if you feel thatyou're starting to need
assistance.
(10:23):
You don't have to be interrible shape to need a little
bit of extra help.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
And I would echo that .
We get a lot of calls frompeople in kind of crisis mode
and you don't have to wait forthat crisis to reach out, learn
about the services and kind ofhelp.
Put a plan in place for whenthe time does come, when you
need it.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Very good, very good Ladies, it's been a pleasure
getting to know you.
Thank you for what you do forthe community.
Thank you for what you do forthe community.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Thank you for being such good neighbors and I hope
to see you out in the communitysoon.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast, estero.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPEstero.
com.
That's GNPEstero.
com, or call 239-296-2621.
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