The Caring Place Hub

A paradigm shift is required to fundamentally change the caregiver culture, ecosystem, workforce deployment, job content, professional development,  and use of advanced technology to change the nature of the work and how the work is done across industry silos and with the highest professional standards met.  

Enormous public communications,  family education, coupled with the care industry’s organization and professional development, will guide professionals to achieve the desired outcomes for families who deserve a higher quality of life and care. Technology must be the enabler; the first step is the Caring Place and taking the conversations into mainstream America.

Family structures and employment conditions have evolved from the traditional approach for most families. It used to be a family member (usually a woman) who managed household responsibilities, including care for children, aging relatives, and family members with a disability.

In the latter half of the 20th century, women began to move out of the home and into the workforce. This created the beginnings of a caregiving evolution that continues today.

Social, cultural, family role, workforce, financial, and other changes combined to drive evolutionary change to the way we care for the elderly, the disabled, and children.

Globally, societies are relying on an obsolete caregiving model. As a country, we see this as a family problem and a healthcare issue. Younger, healthy working family members are expected to step up and care for their older relatives without a second thought. The healthcare system is supposed to provide medical care, and we expect that covers everything, but it doesn’t.

Without adequate services, caregivers cannot work. Without a changed care system and needs-based workplace adaptations, employers will not retain a sustainable workforce. Without change, many employees will find their health, job, careers, and family commitments impacted beyond the breaking point.

Without professional home care staff, employees will continue to rely on leaves of absence and time off the job instead of making a positive contribution to the organization’s success and building a career balanced with a healthy role of supported family caring about, not for the ones they love. Without a modernized, seamless care insurance policy, the aging family will lose their life savings, and employee-caregivers will sacrifice their own earnings to pay for aging family expenses.

Rosalynn Carter said it best: “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.” This issue touches everyone.

Our product is the Caring Place HUB and embedded Care Industry Organization and Human Performance System. It is a scalable online model with aspirations to be the most trusted destination for care industry workers, employee-caregivers, and their families to communicate, access key resources, and manage non-clinical needs. This is confidence-building across a national community pleading for a breakthrough. This is a starting point.

Communicating the emerging Care Industry’s workforce strategy, development, and deployment plans presents a view of the future of aligned healthcare and family care systems within an expanded home and local care delivery ecosystem. This Includes desired state, organizing structures, leadership, career, learning, total rewards compensation, and human performance solutions aligning national resources to an expanded wellness, work, and care ecosystem. 

Healthcare and Care Equity Priority Solutions are infused into the Caring Place Hub home care delivery infrastructure and human performance system as it impacts the Caree, family unit, and workers in the system. More research and applications are needed.

The CareWiseTM  Caring Place Hub for Care Industry Professionals and Caring Families

 Smart. Caring. Anywhere. Anytime.

The Hub will be a consumer-friendly and healthcare-secure online and integrated platform for employees, family, healthcare providers and the broader care industry (community, government, and non-governmental healthcare organizations); and offers a sophisticated mobile app that increases family’s independence in the home.

Our Mobile app powered by BrioCare already supports greater Independence in the home – used by family and professional care industry employees. It provides Data Logging, Diabetes Care, Daily Routine, Patient Education & Lifestyle Adherence and a Family / Caregiver Connection. The app offers a range of support programs, including proactive care (care routines, medication reminders, well-being updates and emergency help), companionship (24/7 engagement programs) and connection to family and friends. Cost-effective person-centered care.

When used as a wellness, work and caring system, the Caring Place EcoSystem supports daily care activities by a care professional, coordination and communications with family –  immediate access to family members at work,  and provides family care management resources such as legal, financial planners.

This initial phase offers single-stop shopping for best-in-class/certified health, telemedicine, smart home, workforce management services, employee-caregiver education, resources, and training. It would include a dashboard for smart home observation and management; conduct surveys, and analyze data (e.g. a census of employee-caregivers, demographics, time-from-the-job, etc.) using intelligent software to anticipate where the user is going and offer employers, providers, and community-based groups for continuous process and product improvement). It would include sophisticated technology to connect across external sites, internal IT corporate programs, and families can add their insurance providers to the gateway.

Currently, we offer a website with several curated resources, the aim is to take this model to scale. Every family member, care worker, employee, and employer would then have access to education, products, services, a shared calendar, and each other, securely, privately, and conveniently.

Our goal is to amalgamate resources that facilitate the family’s ability to manage the care of loved ones in less time, with fewer frustrations, and at a lower cost.

Essential to change in the care industry is education. The Caring Place Hub offers a broad platform of educations programs for employees, families, care workers, and providers. The professional development programs change the dynamics of work. Our goal is to build online education programs into the selection, performance, and ongoing performance evaluation of the care workforce across the nation to develop shared values, goals, standards, and consistent performance. All connected to the job itself.  

Over the past decade, CareWise Solutions has developed proprietary resources for companies to stabilize their workforce, develop greater social responsibility, and reach out to communities. We also have programs for families, including the Aging-at-Home App, powered by BrioCare.

By taking the Caring Place Hub to scale, adding many more resources, it is our belief that millions of people around the world will receive better care and remain more connected with their families and communities. Knowledge-based supports provided to families, the care workforce, and providers will increase the system’s effectiveness, improve the professionalism of every person in the system, reduce stress, paperwork, and increase care outcomes. We are making time to care through state-of-the-art virtual and high-touch care management approaches triaged across employed families, people who need care in the home, and professionals. This model is not matched anywhere in the industry with proprietary intellectual property.

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The CareWise HUB directly impacts the lives of:

· Care Workers – Developing professional skills and ability to perform job responsibilities between the home, family, varied care agencies, and insurance providers

· Family Caregivers – Maintaining their health, jobs, income, and family relationships, improving care management for the family in need, and making more time every day. 

· Those Receiving Care – children, aging, people with disabilities to increase the quality of life, increased independence in their home and local environment, reducing feelings of being a burden to family and others.

·  Employers of Family Caregivers – Developing a stable workforce, supporting long-term employer and employee relationships.    

Steeped in 25 years of transformational leadership in a global, Fortune 50 corporation, Jeannette offers alternative paths to the current economic, human capital, and digital ecosystem employee caregiving models for work and care across America.

Jeannette introduces and builds on several themes that focus on improving the human caregiver experience and building “longevity-of-care” solutions. These achieve many outcomes, including support for the employee-caregiver job of choice retention and assistance for employers to build and sustain a viable workforce to reach its engagement and productivity goals. This is achieved as employee-caregivers are enabled by a seamless, national caregiver system with shared values, policies, labor, insurance, healthcare, community services, and public health operations… all operating in a coordinated, collaborative ecosystem of care.

Jeannette has been building a network of support. We are introducing the CareWise model in insurance, skilled care, and healthcare institutions. We have input from employees and existing care workers in the home. We have been presenters at the Internet of Things (IoT) Revolution conference, presented and participated in  Rutgers’s Business School Institute for Social Innovation, taught over 1000 international students about the wellness, work, and care challenges in their United Nations Sustainable Goal Development Effort.

We have been active on all social media and regularly connect with over 10,000 LinkedIn Connections and transmit thousands of emails to stakeholders. Our Blogs have positioned CareWise Solutions as the premier source for solid work and care performance-enhancing solutions. We are professionals in human development and building high-performing businesses.     

Jeannette is conducting CareWise Seminars and forming Executive Collaboratives to build partnerships across private employers in all related industries. We have relationships and hold memberships with the Association of Aging, AARP, ARC, National Alliance of Caregiving, Rosalyn Carter Foundation, Future of Work thought Leaders across the country. Jeannette is also the mom of two daughters with developmental disabilities and serves in leadership capacities in New Jersey.

CareWise™ Solutions has convened a global team bringing innovative solutions in a new marketplace- a work-life and caring ecosystem. CareWise™ Solutions for employers and employee-caregivers is our specialty. We are involved with the entire care system. Our BrioCare partners work hand-in-glove in skilled facilities, building operational solutions for the nursing team, residents, and families.

We are a modest entrepreneurial group living and working in the United States, South America, India, Pakistan, Australia, the Philippines, and the UK. Most members of our team bring personal experience in the dual role of being a caregiver and earning a living. That definitely increases our sensitivity and makes our words much more than just talk. We know that you need solutions!

We believe our goals align well with those of the Solve Care Economy Challenge. Our focus has been on unpaid carers supporting elderly adults and people with disabilities, but our model, at scale, will support all carers.

We believe that the piece of the puzzle unique to our solutions is the employment aspect of a caregiver’s life. We bring this specialized element of the solution, and an overarching ecosystem to make a difference in the core issues globally.

We believe Solve is positioned to make a national and global impact in areas such as:

1.     Professional public relations and communications leadership – Industry leaders need partnerships/support.

2.     Technology partnerships with IoT, apps and IT leaders to improve performance between the family unit, care and healthcare professionals, product and service providers in insurance, benefits, local and federal participants in the care industry. 

3.     Individual and Team Performance Development in the delivery chain between the family unit, the person in need of care, and professional care providers. Applying AI and machine learning to change the way work is done and continuous learning.

4.     Corporate Hub Trials in diverse locations, care organizations, and employer companies. Additional Trials:

a.     An underserved community, employing front line workers in a public company

b.     Technology business – Millennial employee-caregiver

c.      Cross-industry participants in the care value chain to the consumer and family unit

5.     University leadership – Launch a data gathering and proposal process to understand and improve the wellness, work, and care conditions in the home (consumer-based) and proposals for breakthroughs.

6.     A thought leadership forum to develop the values and aspirations of world-class wellness work and care in a consumer environment to serve as guiding principles for national evolution into the Care Economy.

We are applying to the MIT Solve community for help to support care workers as they pursue safe and secure work (as paid caregivers or in other careers as they volunteer to care for loved ones.)  We believe employed caregivers, families, and employers deserve to be treated with respect to preserve dignity as the world cares for those who need it most.

Our innovative solution is a strategy based on a blend of transformational business leadership skills applied to an emerging (worldwide) care economy, with wisdom to identify the root cause of the problem and the courage to step into conversations that others dare not discover.

Discussing a Caring Place Hub seems pedestrian, but it is a smart approach to overcome barriers to change. CareWise Solutions addresses the unmanaged problem of human beings classified as “the backbone of healthcare delivery in the United States, contributing the economic value of services” that exceeds the value of Walmart without skills, salary, or choice.

This human resource is already employed in their own jobs, and the “care industry” turns its head away from real solutions for its own reasons. We surmise it does so for financial protection. The Care Industry astutely keeps the burden of non-institutional care on the backs of employers and employees. The labor market is misaligned. Our nation cannot sustain a viable workforce if 50% of its employees are  (silently) working in the care industry.

This void in labor market leadership also exists in what should be a robust care economy workforce. The leadership should be introducing progressive technologies to change the way work is done and connect the dots between the vast numbers of participants in the value chain. The goal should be to deliver care to the end consumer - as people who we love need support in their lives due to physical, neurodiverse brains, emotional or mental health frailties.

CareWise Solutions has embedded the solutions to our well-researched “problems” and presents solutions as part of Caring Place Hub. We exercise the performance standards of introducing information, creating understanding, and equipping our users to take appropriate action. That action includes upgraded language, coaching, communications tools, and learning experiences that feel like a natural way of living, working, and caring. Absent a Care Economy roadmap, our solutions evolve while we lay a roadmap to 2025 and beyond.

The Caring Place HUB  System is innovative because it expects that the CareWise strategy and content, in parallel with a technology strategy, will change the way care at home is performed. It will provide the foundations for care institutions to educate, communicate, and improve activities of daily living for families in institutions. Focused on enhanced care performance in the home and relieving employee-caregiver burdens, this system will, over time, improve the performance of almost 50 million (or more) people who are providing “informal care” to family. It will also be a foundation for paid, skilled care workers in the home to build their skills in managing care and supporting advanced activities of daily living.

Communications between and across varied participants will be based on a common language and assumptions – not myths of a bygone era. (Some of the myths outlined here: https://carewisesolutions.org/the-3-waves-of-care-2/)

Caring Place’s professional framework aspires to build performance tools into the education system. Curating and amalgamating resources and connecting the individuals in a field where this is critical and incredibly difficult. There is no current infrastructure or overarching ecosystem to bring together the answers and those asking the questions. The Caring Place HUB model, when taken to scale, is an innovative solution to provide the foundation for this infrastructure.

In the next year, CareWise Solutions plans to build upon the current pilot project. We are unable to scale the project due to financial and human capital constraints.

Funding for a Caring Place Virtual Hub will move the vision and Phase I designs to provide high-value products and services for the end consumer (Caree and Family) and their trusted partners - care providers in the home and care institutions.

We aspire to engage 100+ employers in the private sector and 50 skilled facility employers with an initial grant in 2022/2023. Jeannette is an experienced senior executive and has the ability to recruit and mobilize senior leaders across the nation. We can move as quickly as funding allows. We have the model, and the nation does not have the time to wait. We are late to the gate in educating and equipping families for a higher quality of life and care.

The CareWise Caring Place HUB (Metaphor)  impacts the UN Sustainability goals:

(1) No Poverty – by allowing employees to stay on the job

(3) Good Health and Well-being – by providing better care for carees and their professional and volunteer caregivers

(4) Quality Education – training for employers, employees, families, and the care industry on how to support those who require care without sacrificing themselves

(5) Gender Equality – Most caregivers are women

(8) Decent Work and Economic Growth – by allowing everyone to work and care more naturally. Over 80% of family caregivers are employed.

(9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – Developing an infrastructure for the care economy, which is currently left without anyone overseeing the industry.

(10) Reduced Inequality – Caregiving concerns impact underserved communities, black and brown communities, and immigrants at a higher rate and greater effect than others.

(11) Sustainable Cities and Communities – The HUB curates and amalgamates the services available in a community, encouraging companies to be more socially responsible.

FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES DISCRIMINATION (FRD)

Employers and team leaders must take discrimination against employee-caregivers seriously. This is an increasingly important area of employment discrimination litigation, with a reported increase in cases of over 269% over the last decade (to 2015).

CareWise Solutions Inc. understands that employers struggle to understand the legal requirements and adjust to the workplace realities relating to their employee-caregivers. 

We suggest that FRD remains a bottom-line threat until FRD training for team leaders is implemented, and a clear picture emerges as to why it happens, how it can be reduced, what policies are needed, what constitutes an effective complaints procedure, and avoiding any workplace stigmatization of employee-caregivers.

With 25 years of experience in one of the largest corporations in the world, I learned early in my career that people do not like to talk about change, they want to talk about improving performance. My proven methods typically start with communications, communications, and equipping managers and employees with tools to engage on the best solutions; more communication.  Next, we introduce solutions in language,  job, and individual performance tools, coaching, and more communication.  Next,  enabling technology, and solid operations plans will shift "why change"  conversions to "how do I do this"?  

Shortly thereafter, the system changes the initial plans evolve, more resources are mobilized every day because "it" is what's needed, the methods are adaptable and outcomes prove that the shift is worth it.  

The Caring Place HUB model has the potential, at scale, to provide the foundation for transformational change in the care industry. With resources at their fingertips, and the ability to communicate directly, family members, employees, corporations, care industry workers, and others can build the overarching ecosystem required for people to work and care more naturally.

We are happy to provide a more in-depth analysis of our theory of change as required.

At present, we have 4 core technologies that power the Caring Place HUB solution.

1)     The Human Performance System: Shared values, practices, language, understanding of the emerging hybrid care industry, job opportunities and upgraded professional roles, including performance measures and opportunities for career advancement. (Our programs do this)

2)     National Communications System to shift the paradigm of use of social media outlets to serve as an advanced platform for education, supports and connectivity of participants and professionals in the Care Economy. We have tried with extensive investments in social media - the mythology and lack of interest have prevailed. A public relations/communications plan must be embedded in all technology outlets. 

3)     Websites – Two websites with curated, amalgamated resources. Website #1, CareWise Solutions-org, offers free educational resources to employees and their employers. Website #2, CareWise Solutions-com, is the home of the Caring Place HUB. Individuals and organizations access proprietary and vetted resources focused mainly on supporting employed family caregivers and the companies where they work. These resources include training and education for executives, team leaders, and employed caregivers. We currently mostly use webinars and eBook series to educate. The next step will be to create online courses from these materials and short “Public Service Announcement” type videos, suitable for social media, designed to support the cultural and expectational shift. The goal is to use the website model and scale it into an app suitable for use by all those in the care industry and combine it with the aging-in-place app outlined below.

4)     Aging-in-Place App – The Aging-in-Place App, powered by BrioCare, helps families stay connected and engaged. Easy to set up and use, it incorporates the latest voice technology. The app, used both by the caree and their family caregiver(s), saves money by lowering the burden of an in-home caregiver. This app is currently undergoing a trial in a skilled care facility where staff, residents, and family all connect. We are integrating education as a mainstream feature of this app.

CareWise™ Solutions is committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity. While we are a modest team of freelancers who are virtual and represent 6 countries from the United States, South America, Central Asia, and the Pacific Rim, we care about our shared values that make us a successful team.

We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard. We make sure that cross-cultural beliefs are respected in language and actions. We listen to everyone who joins our community and tries to accommodate all suggestions.

The CareWise™ Solutions operating policy demonstrates our values in the way we work and in all of our daily business relationships. This commitment is demonstrated in very practical ways, such as representing a diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education, or disability in all of our products and services, such as coursework and materials on our website. We represent our values in our media publications and conversations.

We are applying for grants to build better solutions that meet the needs of People of Color in lower-income jobs and people who are being forced out of their jobs because they are challenged with more hours of caregiving work in the home. Jeannette’s (Founder) daughters are ethnic minorities, and  1/3 of her immediate relatives are multiracial. We represent the interests of people with disabilities, women, and minorities (People of Color) in every presentation and product. It is in our DNA.

As we grow, we believe that our core commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity will inspire customer loyalty and motivate other businesses to do the same.

Subscription for the Caring Place Hub

Product and Service for Education

Consulting - Thought Leadership 

Forming relationships with PEO's to sell products direct to businesses

Google ads are funded with $10,000 per month to advertise products

Pay for Service Fees for online education

Building partnerships with other businesses in the Care Industry (improve product and service delivery)  

Donations to 501 (c ) (3) Organization for more Socially Responsible Work

Sustained donations and grants, sold products and consulting services, and facilitated virtual and in-person events.

Self-funded $400,000   (refinanced my home)

Now that the nation is close to understanding the problem, we pray that we will see investments in our mutual success.