Taylor Settles grew up in the panhandle of Texas.  Tired of wind and bad weather, he made a move to the Dallas area, and never left.  When Taylor was younger, his grandparents’ struggles with both Parkinsons and cancer made an indelible imprint on his life’s perspective.   Coupled with his wife’s career in home health, and a mother-in-law who worked in healthcare for 30 plus years, it was almost inevitable that Taylor would also work in the healthcare field.  Today he is Customer Service Representative  for Health Care Providers of Texas.  Taylor loves his work because he is able to provide a broad range of services to his clients, from durable medical equipment to home health services to hospice.  Taylor can be reached at 214-228-4098 or 972-735-0821, or via email at tsettles@hscpoftexas.com.

Stephen Stockdale was born and raised in Maryland.  After graduating from high school, he joined the Coast Guard.  Later he went to school in New Orleans, ultimately graduating with a marketing degree.  Like so many college grads, he immediately put his marketing degree to work doing something completely unrelated (information technology).  In 2005, Stephen began working in real estate.  After having one of his retail properties vandalized, he installed a wireless camera system so that he could watch over the property from his smart phone.  One day one of Stephen’s friends was telling him about his mother, shom while alone in her apartment, had fallen down causing a painful break in both her hip and shoulder.  She lay there for three hours before she was able to crawl to an emergency button across the room.  His friend commented “If I had only known…”  This event spawned the idea to use the technology he had developed for his real estate business in the homes of seniors or disabled individuals, so that family members could “know”, in a secure and private way, that their loved ones were safe – anywhere, anytime.  Today, Stephen is the Owner of Safe N Sight, a company that provides state-of-the-art, secure monitoring for many applications, including helping seniors stay safe in their homes!  Contact Stephen via the phone at (404) 386-9099, email him at stephen@vectra3.com, or visit them on the web at www.safensight.com.

Special thanks to Griswold Special Care, A Tradition in Home Care Excellence since 1982, for hosting today’s show!

Dallas has had it’s share of icy weather this year, and Alex Nameth was ready for it!  Originally from Detroit, he has 40 years of experience with winter driving.  Attending Michigan State University, Alex received a degree in Social Work in 1972.  Upon graduation, he was lured into the burgeoning information technology industry, where he worked in sales for 30 years for IBM, Digital Equipment Corp and Novell.  Like many of our guests, Alex was personally impacted by the availability of care for seniors.  His father was diagnosed with Alzheimers, and needed assistance.   After moving him to an assisted living community in Dallas, Alex realized his father needed more socialization, and there was a distinct gap in the availability of services.  Though his father passed about 18 months ago, Alex felt compelled to fill a need in the local community providing a variety of daytime services to serniors.  Today Alex and Barb Nameth own Friends Place of Mckinney, an Adult Day Services community in McKinney, Texas.  To arrange a tour, or get more information, call Alex at (972) 569-9000, or visit them on the web at www.friendsplaceads.com. 

Thomas Price, MD is an assistant professor of medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.  He graduted the University of Miami School of Medicine in 200.  Board certified in both Internal medicine and Geriatric medicine, Dr. Price serves as the Chief of Medicine of the Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital.  He also serves as the Associate Director of Emory’s Fellowship training program in Geriatric Medicine.  His practice is primarily in post-hospitalization rehabilitation and in-hospital consultation in both medicine and geriatrics. 

Dr. Price serves as the Director of Emory University’s Taskforce Against the Mistreatment of Elders (TAME) and Medical Director of DeKalb County’s elder mistreatment investigation team (VALARI).  He is active in researching preventive strategies against elder abuse and financial exploitation, and is a Practice Change Fellow of the John A. Hartford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies.

Special thanks to Griswold Special Care, A Tradition in Home Care Excellence since 1982, for hosting today’s show!

Karolyn Sorensen, like so many of our guests, was nudged into senior care by a personal experience with a family member.  She received a degree in Gerontology from the University of North Texas.  today she is the Executive Director of Town Village North Dallas, an exceptional Senior Living experience offering options for both independent living and personalized assisted living.  Karolyn is joined by her associates, Teri Lock, the Director of Sales and Marketing, and Tracey Bruce, the Business Development Coordinator.  This terrific tiro is part of what makes Town Village North such an exceptional experience!  Teri is a midwesterner, having received a Political Science degree from Northing Illinois University, and a Masters in Counseling from Indiana University.  After spending a good bit of her career in non-profit management serving families and children, she was introduced to the senior services world.  Tracey is a rare Dallas native.  She attended the University of Texas at Arlington, earning a social work degree.  She also started her career in the non-profit sector.  She’s thrilled to be working with Karolyn and Teri at Town Village.  They tell us that one of the most compelling features of Town Village is its award-winning food service, specifically designed for seniors, from both a nutrition and a taste perspective.  Find out for yourself by scheduling a tour by calling Teri at 972-866-7575.  You can also visit them on the web here.

Though Karen McIntyre was born in Tampa, she considers herself an Atlanta native, having lived in Atlanta for 40 years!  Karen is a registered nurse, and has an Associates degree in Nursing, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Kennesaw State College.  She spent much of her career in hospital nursing and home health.  Back in the 1990s, Karen began to see that there was little care management available to patients free of charge.  She began a door to door campaign to the assisted living facilities to get them to pay a “finders fee” so that she could provide the senior placement service to her patients for free.  Since then, this industry has taken off.  Karen took her business in a slightly different direction.  She started helping veterans and spouses of veterans apply for the aid they were entitled to from the Veterans Administration.  Karen and her husband, Jay, subsequently founded Veterans Information Services, Inc.  As Karen points out in the interview, there are many programs available to veterans and their surviving spouses for both those who are service-connected and for many war-time veterans and their surviving spouses who are not service-connected, but who have a financial need.  Today Karen is a VA-accredited agent specializing in education for professionals wanting to assist eligible veterans in obtaining their benefits.  In addition to the training, she also offers a software solution that makes the application process very simple.  Karen points out that last year, there were over 23 million veterans and less than 400,000 were actually receiving non-service-connected pension benefits.  Her advice, “get some assistance from someone who knows how to navigate the application process”.  To learn more, call 866-869-2777, or visit them on the web at www.info4vets.com.

Special thanks to Griswold Special Care, A Tradition in Home Care Excellence since 1982, for hosting today’s show!

Due to the snow and ice in Atlanta this week, the Business Radio X studios were closed.  Eugeria! Radio will be back next Wednesday, January 19, with another terrific edition of the show.  Thank you for bearing with us!