Interview with Dana Weaver
In this episode, we will uncover 3 keys:
- The Challenges of the Senior Care Industry
- The Importance of Leadership and Self-Care
- The Need for Industry Disruption and Advocacy
A Podcast Transcription
Episode 43: Unleash Your Leadership Potential: Pioneering Change in Aging Services with Dana Weaver!
Intro
Odiva Vassell (00:41):
Welcome, welcome, my fabulous Fempreneurs. I am here today with Dana Weaver, and as usual, get ready to learn something new. She works with top-level executives who are working in the senior care industry, and what a vast industry that is. So she’s going to introduce her field and tell us more about what we may need someday for ourselves in the future. Welcome, welcome, Dana.
Dana Weaver (01:24):
Thank you so much. I’m very happy to be here.
Odiva Vassell (01:27):
And so describe it for us. How can you put this in words, this industry that you work in and the type of people that you work with?
The Challenges of the Senior Care Industry
Dana Weaver (01:41):
Sure. I have worked in this industry. We like to call it a field because we’re caring for people, and industry is kind of like making widgets. And in healthcare and specifically aging, we care for people. And so we call it a field. And so it’s the aging services field. And I work with the executives or the C-suites of aging services providers, which includes nursing homes retirement communities, home health, assisted living, hospice, and attendant care groups. And so what I do is I do executive coaching with them, and I also provide leadership training for them to help them not only take their leadership to their next level, whatever that means for them, but also help them. I want to help them become disruptors in our field, because aging services has a very bad rap in most cases. And it’s amazing the stories that aren’t told and the beautiful connections that people have who work in the field with the older people who are receiving the services.
Odiva Vassell (02:54):
Wonderful. So a wide range of services in the healthcare field, and you’re providing that knowledge for leadership and support. How did you get started? What is your story?
Dana Weaver (03:11):
Well, my story is very long, but I’ll start with how I got started in the field, and that was when I was a very young little girl. My great grandmother was in a nursing home, and I grew up with her. She took care of me when I was a little girl, when I would visit her, and I just had a really good connection with her. And then she got to the point where she couldn’t take care of herself in her own home, and it was really difficult for others to take care of her. And so she moved into a local nursing home. And the first time that we went to visit, I went with my dad, and we went in to visit her and had a very nice visit, but it was not a pleasant experience. The smells were horrible, and really, the older people that were there were slumped over in their wheelchairs, and there just wasn’t a lot of life in that nursing home. And I was really touched in a bad way by that experience. I couldn’t fathom having my grandmother there. And so as we were leaving that day, I looked up at my dad, and I remember holding his hand, and I said, “Dad, why is this place like this?” And he put his head down, and he shook his head, and he said, “Honey, I have no idea, but I hope someday that maybe you could change that if you want to.” And so I took that to heart. It kind of went dormant in me for a little while. But as I got older and was able to get into the workforce, I actually started to work at an assisted living in the dietary department. And then through college, I became a nursing home administrator. And then after that, I started to work for an association of all the kinds of people that I serve today. It’s an association of nonprofit aging services providers. And I worked there for 20 years. And then just last year, I had the opportunity to go out on my own and start my own business. And I decided to continue to work with these people that I have fallen in love with and help them continue their leadership journey and help try to make a difference in the field because I’ve been working in it for so long. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. And I did not want to leave that, but I also wanted to be able to uplevel what I was doing for the field so that I could look back and know that I did make a difference.
Odiva Vassell (05:38):
Oh, fantastic! This is so wonderful, and so many times, I’m sure a lot of our listeners can relate. You go to this place, and you have this similar experience, and you want to run from it and just never turn back again. But I love the beauty of what your father said, inspiring you, sowing that seed of inspiration that you can make a difference. And then you took that, and I’m sure it wasn’t like, right away, oh, yeah, I’m ready to go back there again. But years later, you cultivated that seed, and here you are. It’s so interesting. Tell us, what are some of the needs, the typical needs of a person who is an executive in the field?
Dana Weaver (06:35):
The executives in the field are looking for a couple of things. One of the most important things is they want to provide excellent, quality care to the people that they’re serving. And they also have issues with workforce. Workforce is not just an aging services issue. It’s everywhere. However, when we’re caring for people, and this goes for any area in healthcare, our employees are so important, and being able to pour into them allows them to pour into the people that we serve. So the executives have got to have a level of leadership that creates an environment where people want to work and people want to live, and then that just raises all boats.
Odiva Vassell (07:26):
Yes, and I can see what you saw with your grandmother was an area of neglect and people just getting by on the bare minimum. Can you explain for us some of the tools that you give to these executives that they implement in order to make better lives for everyone around them?
Dana Weaver (07:53):
Sure. I’ve been doing leadership training for years. I did it in my last job for years, and then now I’m bringing it into my own business. And some of the things that are really important that maybe don’t, they’re not as sexy to listen to or see on social media, but communication. Communication with people around you is so important. And if you don’t, I guess I could back up a little. We aren’t taught to communicate well. We don’t really think about how our communication lands with other people or make sure that they understand what we’re saying. And there’s a lot of reasons for that. So communication is a big thing. And then getting to the basics of what are your values as an individual? What do you value? And identifying what those are. There’s a good number of people that have, and there’s a good number of people that haven’t. So when you work with me, you get to go through those levels or the values and either recommit to them or establish them and use them to guide you as you go forward as a leader.
Odiva Vassell (09:00):
I love these things. I’m brimming over because it’s like, wow, this is like the wisdom for any relationship. The basis is communication and values. And people tell you that time and time again, you’re going into a relationship, you need to have communication skills, you need to have good communication, you need to know what your values are. But no one actually teaches how.
Dana Weaver (09:25):
Not all people do. You don’t learn it in school at all.
Odiva Vassell (09:30):
No. Yeah.
Dana Weaver (09:31):
I shouldn’t say at all. I’m sure there are some places, but that’s not the typical thing that we learn in school, is communication. We learn how to listen, and we learn how to do what we’re told.
Odiva Vassell (09:43):
Very much.
Dana Weaver (09:44):
But there’s not a lot of back and forth. Yeah.
Odiva Vassell (09:46):
And other tools.
Dana Weaver (09:49):
Some of the other tools that we work through are kind of understanding your workforce and what their desires are. Today’s workforce is a lot different than it was before the pandemic, and it’s a lot different than it was even two years ago. People are wanting more and more, and it’s not really about the generations, I don’t think. Although generations have their expectations, there are people that are my age that are expecting the same things that someone just coming into the field, our Gen Zers are expecting. And it really boils down to everyone is an individual, and everyone has unique needs, and we are no longer in the space where we can treat everyone the same and expect the same results. That creates extra work on a leader’s part and their team, however, it yields huge results. And when you’re able to get that down and you systemize it in a way that it’s natural for everyone, people want to work there, and then everything improves.
Odiva Vassell (10:54):
Tough, tough job. Tough. When leaders come to you, are they typically at the phase of feeling burnt out or overloaded, unappreciated? What does it look like?
The Importance of Leadership and Self-Care
Dana Weaver (11:12):
Such good questions, and yes to all the above. As I talk with leaders, one of the main things that they tell me, after all of the other things that we know about workforce and overwhelming regulations and all that, they say, “I’m so exhausted. I am overwhelmed by everything I have to do, and I feel like I’m not giving enough at home. And when I try to give enough at home, I’m not giving enough at work, and they’re overwhelmed, and there’s no balance, and they’re seeking that balance.” And in our field, it’s difficult to find that balance. And I don’t know that we’re ever truly going to find the balance, to be honest with you, because we are people caring for people, and that’s just the nature of caregiving. However, there are tools that they can use, and there’s things that they can do to balance that a little more. I had somebody that I was talking to recently tell me a story that broke my heart. And I was asking her some questions so that I could build my program to benefit people like her. And she told me, “You know, when I was an administrator or I was in the nursing department, I spent more time at the job. And I always sacrificed my family for the job. And now that my kids are grown, they don’t really want to have a whole lot to do with me. They have their own lives, and I wish I could go back in time and change that and spend more time with my kids and be an executive and be able to be successful in that role.” And so that particular conversation just hit me in all the fields. And really it guides me in helping executives find balance.
Odiva Vassell (12:59):
Wow. I pause because I’m thinking how I can relate to that. We didn’t talk about this, but my mom, she’s retired now, but she was an RN and an administrator of senior care.
Dana Weaver (13:23):
That’s fantastic. Thanks to her.
Odiva Vassell (13:27):
Yes. And it’s such a self-sacrificing job. I mean, it’s supposed to be a job, but it’s so much more that when we become a teacher or anything in the healthcare field, there’s so much self-sacrificing. And I remember as a kid trying to logically comprehend why Christmas wasn’t Christmas for her. It was another workday that she needed to be there. And other people might call in sick or find a way to get out of that responsibility, but she had to be there. And sometimes 48-hour shifts were part of the norm. So I can really relate to what you’re saying of the sacrifice, and I’m sure our listeners can relate that when it comes to working and balance, it’s quite the juggling act. I don’t know if you have the answers, but where can we begin to find some more balance in our lives?
Dana Weaver (14:43):
The first thing that we can do, honestly, is to take a step back and realize that we only have one life. We have one life. We don’t get to do it over. We can reinvent ourselves as many times as we want during the life that we have. But if we’re sacrificing for someone else’s life, are we sure that other people are going to sacrifice for ours when we get older? We need to be able to realize that we are just as important as everybody else that we’re serving, we’re working with. They’re important, we’re important. And if we don’t understand that and we constantly sacrifice of ourselves and our families and just our own mental health and spiritual health, we aren’t going to be able to show up in a way that people need us to. And it’s a two-way street. People were made for connection. We don’t do very well all by ourselves. And so it’s really important for leaders to focus on themselves, not put themselves so far before everyone that you don’t get the work done, obviously, but putting yourself first and giving yourself that time, those little moments in the day where you can just recharge there’s simple things that you can do, like breathing techniques and different things like that. But kind of going back to what I was saying earlier we are not helping other people if we’re not helping ourselves. And if we don’t show self-compassion for ourselves, our staff or our team are not going to show self-compassion for themselves or the people that they serve. And we need to be that guide, that coach, that example for people to follow.
Odiva Vassell (16:38):
I love what you’re saying about this feeds right into the self-care movement that is coming now. And you said, take a step back and realize you only have one life to live. That’s tremendous. Taking a step back is hard because when you live a life and you’re a nurturer and you are so caught up in other people’s drama and dilemmas, and you want to be the safety net for them twenty-four seven, you can lose yourself and completely forget yourself. But you said, take a step back, and this life is short. If nothing else, it can be short. But realizing that you need to build up yourself and care for yourself. And then that trickles down through all the levels of the administration, the workers, and the patients or the people that you serve.
Dana Weaver (17:51):
And if I could add one thing to that, it also trickles down to our families if we’re not teaching them to care for themselves. When things get overwhelming, how are they going to be able to manage life going forward? Because everything’s changing. AI is disrupting everything, and it’s going to be a completely different world in a few years. And if we aren’t taking care of ourselves, it’s going to overwhelm us.
Odiva Vassell (18:16):
And I’ve heard you say this word disrupt. You want to disrupt the field. I feel like you want to disrupt the world and really have an impact, and I am 100% a supporter of that. Tell me more about the disrupt.
The Need for Industry Disruption and Advocacy
Dana Weaver (18:34):
The disrupt. Well, disruption. The disruption. So it kind of goes back to my time working with nursing homes. Honestly, and working with nursing homes. There were a couple of things that just were constant. One was a ton of regulations, and it was hard to meet all of them, and there were new ones coming out every time, but they weren’t really getting rid of the old ones. So you were meeting old expectations and new expectations, and then you weren’t getting paid enough because a lot of people these days haven’t saved enough money because healthcare has gone so sky-high that they can’t afford to care for themselves. So they’re getting supplementary income or Medicaid to pay for their care, and that reimbursement doesn’t stay. It doesn’t keep up with what the needs are. And so for every dollar of care, for example, maybe it pays 80% of that or 90% of that, and eventually, there’s a deficit there, more people that you care for. And so those are the things that people have been dealing with for years, and I want to find a way to disrupt it because it’s not ultimately serving our seniors. If you look back to the pandemic and nursing homes were shut down. So were assisted living. So were several other things. I mean, they were just shut down. We saw the pictures of people staring into windows, trying to talk to each other. Couples who’ve been married for 50 and 60 years not able to have an embrace or kiss each other. They saw each other through the window, and people became isolated, and people became depressed. And that wasn’t because the nursing homes chose to do that. That was because the regulations required them to do that. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required them to do that. And the nursing homes took the bad rap. And so I want to disrupt CMS. I want them to realize the people that we’re taking care of are real people, and it could be them someday. If I could, if I can help disrupt that somehow. Somehow. And I know people will help me, and I know there are people that are going ahead of me. There’s tons of people that want to do this. We’re going to make that change, and we’ve got to do it in my lifetime.
Odiva Vassell (21:06):
Wonderful. Yes. Powerful. And if people can remember that they are, hopefully, God spares their lives, they are going to be in that circumstance someday, and they may be in an assisted living space or nursing home or have a caregiver or some situation where they are not the decision-maker anymore? So they want to think twice about making these laws that hurt people instead of providing the healing and support.
Dana Weaver (21:56):
Yeah, exactly. I would say not all of the regulations are bad. They’re there for a reason, and they’re there to keep people safe. It’s just that there were regulations that were created, and then they just kept getting built on top of each other. And that is what caused so much structure to happen in the nursing home instead of allowing people to be people and continue living their personhood like they did before they got there.
Odiva Vassell (22:29):
Do you feel the bottom line, especially when we get into politics because you can’t really separate this field from politics and lawmakers? Do you feel the bottom line plays a big impact on the decisions that are made?
Dana Weaver (22:49):
I do. I think that something that has become really prevalent over the past, I don’t know, five, maybe a little longer years, is corporations are buying companies that own nursing homes. And so they’re trying to get money to their shareholders. Because when you buy stocks into a company, you expect a return, right. When they invest in nursing homes, you might get your money, but it’s on the back of an older person because they try to skimp. Skimp isn’t the right word. They want to be as efficient as they can. Actually, Skimp is the right word, but I’m trying to be a little more politically correct. They try to be as efficient as they can so that they can make the return for their shareholders and still have this company. And it’s not just nursing homes, it’s other senior care, it’s other healthcare programs out there. But when the bottom line becomes the ultimate thing that you’re focused on and just continuing to get more and more revenue, it does hurt the people that you’re serving. And I come from the not-for-profit world, where the money, for the most part, the money that is made within those organizations gets plowed back into the organizations. It doesn’t mean they’re not making a profit, but it does mean that the money that they’re making goes back to the organization and not to somebody that’s a shareholder. And so coming from that perspective, I feel that is the way that healthcare should be. It’s just not the way it is. And when we talk about politics, I don’t know that it’s a political platform, necessarily, because every president that comes into power or gets elected, it doesn’t matter who they are, what side of the aisle they’re on, and what their ideals are. Most of them put nursing homes on the back burner. Most of them put elder care on the back burner, and then they deal with it when they have to, just because that’s not the sexy thing, right? There’s other things that we can argue about on TV, so it’s not so political at the national level, but it does get a little bit political at a state level because you have to advocate for the reimbursement in the Medicaid. I’m getting very technical, but.
Odiva Vassell (25:21):
No, This is what I’ve seen and what I understand, and I am so glad that here today, we are not just talking about the problem. We’re talking about the solution. And you have seen the way that it works of reimbursing and putting the money back into the system. And that’s something to really think about when you check those boxes on the state level and how we can continue to implement programs like this, whether they’d be nonprofit, to put that money back into the system because someday all of us might need it. And our parents, we do not want our parents to be in this kind of grimy, for lack of a better word, situation where they’re being neglected. And one other thing that occurred to me is that I noticed that if one healthcare, what’s the word, what is the word now for centers where elder people are cared for? Is it?
Dana Weaver (26:40):
Nursing home.
Odiva Vassell (26:41):
Nursing home. Okay.
Dana Weaver (26:42):
I mean, there are so many different options out there today, way more than my grandmother.
Odiva Vassell (26:47):
I remember that the one my mom worked at kept changing the name, like every year. The conditions didn’t change, but the name kept changing. And I was just noticing that as conditions go down in one nursing home, the others tend to follow, like prices going up and the level of service going down, because it’s almost like, well, if they can get away with the bare minimum, then we can too. And as you said, the priority is what the shareholders or stockholders are getting. Wow.
Dana Weaver (27:32):
And I will say you’ve got that pretty right, especially if you’ve got a lot of for-profit or corporation-owned is really what I’m talking about. There are a lot of people who own nursing homes that are families, and they do a fantastic job. There’s good and bad on every side. But what I really want to put out there, because I work with all of these people, is nobody goes into this field wanting to do a bad job for an older person. That is not anybody’s initial motivation. And for the most part, it’s not anybody’s motivation as they go throughout their career. They want to do good, but then the system creates all of this going on. I’m not sure what word I’m looking for, but.
Odiva Vassell (28:22):
Blockages, just for the moment.
Dana Weaver (28:24):
Yeah. Also, there aren’t bad, bad people out there that are just trying to hurt older people. I mean, there are some, but for the most part, I don’t run into them. I run into great people who want to do the best. It’s just that the system has set them up either for failure or the system has set them to a place where they have to be as efficient as they can so that they can keep the doors open to serve older people. So I don’t want anybody watching this to think that. I think that the for-profits are horrible because that’s not true because they’re not horrible. There’s good people that work in them and that serve in them. It’s just the way the system is set up that helps to make shareholders money that doesn’t celebrate the older person.
Odiva Vassell (29:09):
Okay, well, this is just part of the awareness, and we can think more now about what we can do to move forward in the solution. And I am very inspired by the people that come to you. Do they come to you on their own as individuals? Can they come as individuals to learn these leadership skills, or are they sent by their company? How does it usually work?
Dana Weaver (29:41):
Most of the time right now, since I’ve started my business, and I’m just a little under a year old, so I don’t have a ton of experience on my own yet, but most of the people are coming on their own, and they’re saying, I want something different. Can you help? And so that’s where we start, and that’s where we work. I want to show up as a leader differently because I want to make a bigger impact. But I can work with companies, and I am kind of in talks with a couple of companies about possibly doing executive coaching within their company and bringing what I know and my experience to them, and we’ll see where that goes. But it’s still early days, so really, anybody I can do, individuals or companies.
Odiva Vassell (30:30):
And the great part is that these skills, these leadership skills, are going to translate into a better life for them. Once they have that balance between work and family life, which everyone desires and needs, this is going to be a beautiful thing. And everyone benefits.
Dana Weaver (30:54):
Definitely.
Odiva Vassell (30:57):
Thank you so much for joining me today, Dana.
Dana Weaver (31:02):
Thank you for having me. This has been a joy.
Conclusion
In summary, Dana Weaver’s insightful talk highlights the problems in senior care and offers hope for improvement. She urges for better leadership and care for the elderly, emphasizing the need for change in how things are done. By listening to her advice and making small changes, we can make a big difference in the lives of seniors. Let’s join together in making these positive changes happen!