Why choose a senior placement company

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0:48 To a scam. Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen show for anyone who wants to protect themselves and their loved ones from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on K four HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and her guests will provide valuable insights and practical tips on how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. And now here is your host, Joyce Petrowski. Good morning, everybody, my name is Brian Watson, community outreach specialist for Rose Resources Outreach to safeguard the elderly. And today I'm filling in again for Joyce Petrowski, our founder.

1:32 Joyce will be back next week. And today on let's talk about scams, We're taking a little different twist. We're gonna do a little more education today. And today's topic is why choose a senior placement company? And I have someone that I've got to know over the last few years, Kevin Mullis. I consider him a friend. We've helped each other out on a variety of different things. Kevin Mollis has been working with senior in the Tucson area since twenty ten. He owns and operates Mollis Senior Placement. Today he is going to educate us what it means when we talk about senior placement. So let's bring Kevin on. Hi, Brian Maritan, Kevin, thanks for.

2:20 Joining us, Thank you, thanks for having me. All right, let's start out. Why did you start Mollis's Senior Placement? Well, I started it, like you had just mentioned. I've been in the senior industry since twenty ten, so I was working with seniors already and then also my father developed Alzheimer's and that just really put a lot on my plate to deal with. And when he when he finally passed away, he had no Alzheimer's for nine years. When he passed away a few years ago, it was I had a choice to make. I can I can. I've been reading this add a hard book about Alzheimer's and senior care, and now he's passed away. So I can just close the book and move on with my wife and kids and my life and jobs and everything.

3:16 Or I can keep the book open and use everything I just went through and learned. About to help other people. And so that's really what started the idea of doing placement to help other people. You know, I first heard you three years ago at this networking event in Tucson that is called Senior Spotlight, and a lot of people watching today might be familiar with it. It's a great way where we can share information and ideas and business tips and just everyone's in the business and in this group to help each other out because we have a passion for helping out older adults. And I remember you sharing about your father and I thought it was incredibly moving. It was veryotional. You know when you cared for what did you learn about the whole you know, caretaking and industry or business wherever you want to call it, when you were interacting with your father's health decline.

4:15 Sure, yeah, I'm I'm glad you remember that presentation. I remember it too. I was there at the center. Yeah, it was that was close to near the end of my father's life and so he was on hospice and things were wrapping up and his condition was pretty bad at the time. But yeah, so like so from twenty ten until about two thousand, I don't know, it doesn't matter, four three something like that. No, no, no, I'm sorry, twenty fourteen or thirteen whatever. Just for a few years, I had I got married, I had kids, and I was working in the healthcare field. And then around thirteen or fourteen, my dad was diagnosed with also and so suddenly it made sense among me and my siblings that I would be the person that kind of it's the point man for it, because I've got connections in the health industry. So it fell on me, and I mean it didn't just fall on me. I took it up too.

5:16 But one of the things that really struck me was so I've got a family, a relatively young new family. I've got my job in. The healthcare field, and now I've got my dad who required a lot of care. Now I was the point person. I wasn't the caregiver. I didn't do hands on care for him, but I did manage his affairs. I did have to do work with VA benefits, get his social security, manage all of his bank accounts, sell his house, which is. Back in Georgia where we grew up. And it was just a whole lot of work. And it just struck me how overwhelming it is. It's a lot to manage someone else's affairs. And I was, you know, I became power of attorney and so I had and eventually became legal guardian with the you know, PEMA, county courts and everything. But it was just really, really overwhelming.

6:16 It was a lot to do all text applications, guardianship, all these things just take a lot of time. And I was working in the healthcare industry. I had access to nurses, I could talk to daily, social workers, I could talk to daily. I had lots of support, and I was still overwhelmed and overburdened. It was a lot, and so when I try to think about the average twosonan who is not in the healthcare field and they don't know the first thing. About their healthcare field. They're a school teacher, or they work at raytheon or whatever car mechanic, whatever it is, and now they've got to navigate the healthcare field with no support. It's just I can't imagine what they're going through. So I just know it was hard for me, and I want to help people who are going through it as well because I learned a lot in my career and in my experience with my dad.

7:07 Well, thanks for sharing that. Now let's get into the meat of why you're here. How does senior placement work. I'm not familiar with it. I have a vague idea, but I'd love to hear from someone who's in the business. Yeah, so placement is in the big picture. Placement is essentially someone being kind of a mediator and a matchmaker. So I meet with people. My goal is to find well for people come to me. You know that they reach out to me on my website or through a friend or whatever they reach out. They reach out to me for help. My goal is to listen to them, find out what their needs are, and then ultimately find a good match for them as far as senior living goes.

7:52 So that's the overview. If I were to break it down a little bit more, I do a lot of listening because that's uh. I've got some sales background, and that's the main thing I learned in my sales experience is. You can you can talk, talk, talk all day. Long, but if you're not listening to what they need, then you're missing the whole point. You've got to know what they're what they're looking for, Why did they come, Why did they come to me for help? They're trying to find the best fit for their loved one or themselves, and so I need to listen and understand their story. Everyone's got a different story, even if it's there's similarities. Everyone's is like fingerprints. Everyone's got their own little special stories, their dynamics, their preferences. Everything is so different for each person in each situation, and it changes with time too, So so listen and mostly well, I prefer to meet with them in person, preferably at their house is ideal because you can learn a lot about someone from their living situation. Like I'm looking at your background right there, Brian, and I've learned a lot about you right now, just during this time. I'm just kidding, But so I gather information primarily about their care needs. You know, do they have cognitive deficits, do they need memory care? Do they just need people that are going to help them with their activities of daily living? And really activities of daily living is the primary thing that I'm listening for. Which activities of activities of daily living or ADLs are what

9:26 they need help with or are they just looking for an independent living place where they can kind of downsize and you know, so there's there's just a whole range of things that I can be helping them with, but primarily their care needs. What their preferences are, Like I want to make sure I live on the northwest side of town, or I really want to live by my granddaughter who lives in the foothills, or whatever it is. What are their preferences. Do they want a small adult care home that feels like someone's you know, a home feel, or do they want a big community that has lots of resources and options for them, a lot of people that So with all their preferences, and then of course, what can they afford what are their resources? Do we need to get elder law attorney involved to help them manage their money.

10:10 There's just so many different things that I'm listening for. And then once I've gathered all this information, so here's here are that they are with all their preferences, and then here's all the senior living and so I just match them up with help here's the perfect fit, and then. I've got them, you know, I got them. I mean I've got a good fit for them. And so then once I match up and give them options, I usually limit it to three options, the best three that I think would work for them, usually with like, this is my first choice for you, but these are my recommendations. This is their story, this is their their game of golf. I'm just the caddy advising them, you know.

10:51 So they're the one making the choices. And so if we can go tour together, I'll go tour with them. I can help ask questions with the community that they may have not thought to ask. I can even remind the salesperson of the community to say some things about their community that they may have forgotten to say too. But just kind of be an intermediary because I know their story now more than the community does, and so I can help make sure that they understand the community better and so they can tour it, learn about it. And then ultimately it's their decision. If they have other suggestions or other things that I missed, they can, we can go to another place, you know, But the ultimate choice is theirs. They make the choice, they move in, and then that's pretty much the end of my story, although I do follow up with them occasionally just to see how things are going to make sure that I did find the best fit for them, not just in the immediate term, but in the long term as well.

11:48 So yeah, that's it, essentially, to boil it back down. A matchmaker, a match seniors with senior living. I like the Caddy analogy. That's a good thing. Yeah, how much does how much does senior placement cost? Senior placement costs zero dollars to the senior and their family. It's free to them. They don't call it. It doesn't cost them anything. So if you reach out to me, I'm going to not charge you a thing. I'm going to first give you a disclosure form to sign saying that you understand that it's free to me. But then I'm anticipating your next question, how is it free? How do I get paid? How do I have a business if I don't take money? Well, so I get paid by the community. So I have contracts all over town with multiple there's like four hundred and fifty different senior living options in town, and I've got contracts all over town with a wide variety of senior living communities. And so if you move into a community that I recommend, then they pay me a finder's fee, like a referral fee, and that keeps free to the client, which is from my experience that I mentioned earlier where.

13:05 I was overwhelmed. Just having another bill that I have to pay just adds to the overwhelming feeling. You know. So I had a placement agent helped me with my dad and it was a huge help and I was very grateful for it, and especially the fact that I didn't have to pay or anything. So is there a downside to using a senior placement company? Well, I like to think that there are way more positives than downsides. But I would say that. The danger or the warning signs that you should look out for when using a placement agent would be someone who is primarily motivated by money, making their next paycheck, even up selling you that kind of thing. Like I mentioned, I had a background in sales. I used to sell appliances at sears. Anyone remember that story. It was a big deal long time ago. But yeah, but yeah, I used to rattle off all this information about washers and dryers, and then one time someone got upset with me and just said, just tell me what I need to buy.

14:11 Don't give me all this encyclopedic information about all these washers and dryers. And so I try to, like I said before, just emphasize listening and hearing their specific needs and desires and focusing in on that and matching it up. So a bad to answer your question, a bad placement agent would be someone who just talks more than listens, someone who seems to be motivated more by money. And there are also unethical practices out there. There are people who pay referral sources for referrals. There's just different ethical gray areas. Placement is an industry in Arizona.

14:55 That's not. What's the word I'm looking for regular to thank you word? Not regulated? So it's well, it's it's actually getting more and more regulated. There's a law coming on the books in September twelfth. I think that is adding more regulations to placement agents, including that they need to be insured, they need to follow certain processes and procedures. And that kind of thing. But the good placement agents have. Already been following those rules all along, so it's no big deal for the For the good ones like me, yeah, So I would just say to answer your question, the main thing is if you can find someone who seems genuinely interested in helping you or your loved one get into senior living, then you've got the right person. If they're if they seem like their focuses on matching you up, well, then you've got the right person if you feel and it's a very very human interaction, a very human feel that you know, Google algorithms and things just aren't as as helpful in this space as they are with just.

16:05 The human interaction. And so if you meet someone and you have good feeling about them, you're probably you're probably with a good person. If you have any kind of check in your heart or in your mind that something's not right, I would go check out other options and see if you have better feelings. So if you were gonna use the senior placement service, one of the questions would probably be good to ask is how many communities do you have a relationship with, because if someone only had a small handful, that would limit the choices sure to you and your loved one. Right, Well, that's a good point. Yeah, So yeah, I said, there's four hundred and fifty or so different options out there, more or less depending on how you define it. I guess because there are boarding homes and all kinds of other options too. But yeah, I mean I have placed people where I don't have tracks, and I establish a relationship with them in the process of finding the good fit for them. But yeah, I cast my net wide when it comes to different senior living communities, and I try to have a good relationship with all of them.

17:13 I try to charge them on. The low end of referral fees so that they don't feel like they're being gouged by me and that they want to work with me. So yeah, it's you want someone who's been around a while. Usually the longer the longer I do this, the more and more relationships I establish. So longevity is it can be a good indication of a good placement agent as well. Not always. Some people can be doing bad things for long periods of time too. So yeah, I feel like I forgot your last question, though now. You answered, I did answer.

17:53 Can you share any placement horror stories that you've heard of where people have been taking advantage of just real life, real world warning signs that took place. Taken advantage of buy a placement agent. Yes, yeah, well, I mean I kind of alluded to some of them before, just people who are focused more on money. I mean, there are people who do high volumes of placement and they don't always have time to give full attention to every client. And I mean, I don't know that that's a horror story, but I would want someone who's dealing with my mom or dad or myself.

18:35 To give me full attention, you know, and not just be. Sliding them through like a you know, cattle in a whatever, cattle feeder whatever, I don't know cattle terms. So the horror story. So, I think probably the worst types of things that I've heard are when so I mentioned that it's a very personal interaction. I'm dealing with someone's very intimate I mean, I'm going into their home usually I'm meeting with people, you know, shaking hands, looking them in the eyes, even possibly helping them get to the bathroom if they need to.

19:19 I mean, it's just very human. And in that situation when when there are people like me, placement agents helping seniors with needs, sometimes the lines get blurred between the professional I'm here to help you find a place, and I'm here to help and interject myself. Into your life. You know. So I see placement agents who have worked their way into being power of attorney or fiduciary and managing their money and working themselves into their wills and that kind of thing. Those would be red lines that I would never cross. I've got to be sources that do fiduciary and you know, I mean worst case scenarios public fiduciaries. But I'm not going to get into any placement agent who's crossing those lines.

20:12 That's a that's just a red flag that I would If you know of a loved one whose placement agent is managing their money, they've gone too far. No, I appreciate you. I appreciate you sharing that. So that question was definitely on the negative side. I want to focus on positive. Yeah, what is the most rewarding part of your job. Yeah, well, I mean I meet all these wonderful people with wonderful stories. I mean sad stories of course too, but there are wonderful people out there. I love it when the families come together. I have been part of family interventions where the family is all gathered together and sat down with grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and said, we've got to have a talk about this. We think you need to move out of your home and into a senior living community, and here's Kevin.

21:05 To give you the details about it, or or. Sometimes they just kind of say, Kevin, we're all here, take it away, and then I'm the one that does the intervention. But you know, anyway, but the idea of the family coming together does support their loved one. It's a beautiful thing. I love that. But generally speaking, I think the thing. That is a more regular occurrence for me is when someone comes to me and need and I don't know, four out of five times they've waited and waited and pushed things off, and now it's an emergency and so usually there's a crisis environment that I'm walking into.

21:46 And I give them direction. Okay, first we need to work on the altechs application, or first we need to see what your view benefits are, or first we need to clarify what's going on with your bank accounts so we know what you have. To work with. They clarify it. I'm not getting into their bank accounts like I mentioned earlier, but taking a chaotic mess and giving them direction and something something to go on. I mean, many times. People come to me and they're just frazzled and don't even know what to do. Like I've got clearly there's work to do. I just don't even know where to start. And I'm like, well, let's eat this elephant one bite at a time, and let's start here at the. Trunk, you know, or whatever it is, and.

22:28 And we just go a little by little and find a path forward. And then when I give them options for senior living and we go on a tour, and many times they're resistant to even consider it because they're just picturing, you know, one flew over the cuckoo's nest or some you know, a crazy house kind of like that, and they don't even they're not even interested in the idea of moving out of their home that they've been in for years, but then they go and tour these communities and they start to realize, hey, there are a lot of posit it was in these places. And then I always look for this one when we tour a place and I could just see all the tumblers in the lock fall into place, and I can just see it.

23:13 I call it the magic. When I see the magic happen, that's such a good feeling. It's almost like I can hear a little thing when it happens, you know, it's just you can tell I found a place, this is a path forward. If I go this way, everything will be better than it has been. And I just looked for that magic, and it's so rewarding, like I was a part of helping them find. A better path forward. I really I really enjoy that. Oh that's great. Yeah. A few years ago, Yeah, a couple of years ago, I was at an expo, that Loving Life expo in Tucson, and this couple came up and started chatting with me at my booth that we had for Rose and they told me that they lived in a senior living community.

23:56 And the first thing that jumped out to me is they seemed very young, almost too young. To move into a senior community and you know, they're married and still really active, drive travel, And I said, aren't you guys a little aren't you guys a little aren't you guys a little you know, young? And they're like, no, we wanted to move in on our terms and we wanted to you know, enjoy this community. So that got me thinking here with the question for you, when should people start the process a few years before they're ready to move into a community, or you know, or or you know, at that crisis mode or somewhere in between.

24:38 Yeah, well that all three of those categories that you just mentioned. I deal with them regularly. My favorite ones are the ones that you just mentioned that plan ahead and are forward thinking and trying to do things on their terms. I would highly recommend that. In fact, are you still there? Oh okay, sorry, I'm just going to plug in my I need to plug in my battery, So I'm gonna just okay for a second, I'm listening. Okay, I'll keep going. Yeah. So, the uh, the forward thinking people, the planners ahead they are, they are going to do things on their terms. They're going to be able to sell their house or whatever and get the best dollar for it. They're going to move in their timing, they're going to enjoy the move while they're younger and able to handle the move better.

25:25 The people who are in the middle are usually under pressure from their family or friends to to make adjustments because things are not looking good. They're not on a good trajectory, they're falling more frequently that kind of thing in their home, and and they are usually resistant, but the family is kind of insisting. And then there's the crisis mode, which is way more common where people are just like, no, I'm going to live here forever. I'm just going to live here till I die. There's you know, that's their attitude and their mindset and their hope, and honestly it's it's a little bit driven from my perspective and experience on denial. Just like, I don't want to deal with that stuff. It's too hard.

26:06 I want to stay in my house. I want to be independent, even though you're not independent, and you know that kind of thing. So I would highly recommend that you start if you're I mean, there are communities out there that are fifty five plus and not just. You know, like Saddlebrook or places like that. But there are places that that have you know, are more like apartments for seniors, you know, those kind of things, which is a wonderful place just to be with like minded people who are in the same phase of their life where they're they're downsizing and they're starting to think about what happens when I need more resources available. Now I've got people around, you know, a senior living community, even if it's independent living fifty five plus, is going to tend to have resources available for people who are starting to have increased care needs. So I think it's a wonderful thing to start planning ahead. That's a highly recommended thing that I would say is plan ahead, look at look ahead, don't be afraid of the future. It's less scary if you face it rather than let it sneak up on you.

27:17 All right, So people listening today, include myself, are like, all right, senior placement is a great idea. But then the question is, you know where do I start. We have a lot of people up in the Phoenix area, so there'd be a lot of choices up there. So let's say you were someone in the Phoenix area, because if I was in Tucson, i'd hire you Kevin. If I was up in Phoenix, I don't know anybody if you had to look for a senior placement up in Markopa County, how would you how would you select your company? Well, I was talking about the good placement agents. I was talking about the people who follow good ethical practices.

27:59 There is a trade organization called NPR National Placement and Referral Alliance that has a chapter in Phoenix called Passers and a chapter in Tucson called SOPRA. And I'm on the board of the Tucson chapter. But anyone who is a member of this NPR organization agrees to a set of ethical standards and best practices. So they have already agreed to these practices. They have agreed among those practices and ethics is to place the client's needs above all else.

28:40 That's the highest priority, is the client taking care of the client. So anyone who's part of the NPR and you can go to I'm pretty sure it's NPR Alliance dot org is the website, but or SOPRA soa PR dot org. Pretty sure you can go to those websites for the Tucson area or Pastors p A s R S dot org. I think I don't know, but just go to an npr A dot org or NPR Alliance dot org and and they will and you can find different placement agents, and you know that anyone in that organization has agreed to these standards.

29:22 The ones who are not in those in that organization. Maybe they agree to those standards, and maybe they don't, you know, maybe they just don't like the NPR or they just don't want to work on their own, but they have high ethical standards and they're a great person. There there are those out there. So but I just to me, that is an easy way. If I was gonna if I had a friend from I grew up in Georgia, I mentioned if I had a friend in Savannah, where I grew up who wanted direction about placement, I would first thing I would do would be to go to npr a's website and find a local agent through their website. That would a certain level of confidence in them.

30:02 So but generally speaking, though, you can ask for other people that you might know in the medical field. If you've got a doctor anyone else that is in the medical field, ask them, have you heard of this guy? What do you know about this person? And hopefully they can. They can give you a good recommendation. Yeah. Who else? Who else works at Mulla Senior Placement? Mmmm? Well, my lovely wife, Rachel. She is She was actually interviewed by you related to a scam situation a while ago. But she helps me a lot big picture stuff, keeps me on track. And then I also have her name is Rachel. I also have a contracted employee that's not the right term, a ten ninety nine contractor, I think that's better.

30:53 Who is a social worker. His name is Chad. He works with me as well. So he's been working longer than I have in the senior industry and he as a social worker, he can do a lot of things that are not as easy for me, help with all text applications and things like that. So yeah, yeah, that's the team right there, Kevin, Rachel and Chad. That's awesome. How how do people get more information about your company? Yeah? Well so Mullis is my last name, Rachel's last name. It's a family business. Our kids. Our kids help too. I should have mentioned them. Zach and Hannah. They they've helped me once in a while as well. We did a little skit once and they were the old people, you know. But so Mulis Senior Placement dot Com is the website. Info at Mullissenior Placement dot Com is the email, or you can call our text and my phone number five two zero three, one zero four nine four seven and all that time on my website too, So that's how you can reach out to me. Or you can also find me on mpra's website.

32:00 That's beautiful. All right, here's your alibi. You get to share anything that I didn't ask you about. I'll give you the last word today, Kevin. Yeah, you told me you're going to give me the last word, and I didn't put much thought into that. So I don't know what else to say that I haven't said. I think I would just kind of summarize everything. A placement agent is a wonderful resource. Here's something I didn't touch on. So not only maybe I touched on a little bit, but so not only do I have the connections in the senior living industry, I know adult care homes, big communities that have hundreds of people and everything in between. So I'm also connected in the healthcare industry with hospice, home health, home care, elder law, attorneys, movers, realtors, reverse mortgage, just a whole plethora of anything related to senior living, moving into senior living, and anything adjacent to it.

33:01 So a huge resource that's available to you for free, So don't hesitate to reach out and ask me questions. So, but I would just again emphasize, look for someone who's prioritizing your needs or your loved one's needs, whoever it is that's considering moving and. Go with them. And there's a certain level of trust that you need to put in them. But also keep your eyes just like when you're dealing with scams, keep your eyes wide open and think while you're still talking to them. Don't get lulled into a comfort level and stop thinking for yourself. You know, if you have something in your mind that's saying something doesn't feel right, pull back, give yourself a moment to think and go for a second opinion or something.

33:47 You know. There are lots of placement agents out there to choose from, and I would just go with the ones that make you feel comfortable and at ease and feel like you're being heard as well. And I just realized I was talking about scams. I didn't tie in placement with scams, I come across people. I currently have three clients who are dealing with scams. I've got one who he's like a high up financial guy, so you'd think he'd be smart with money, but he invested in a timeshare in Mexico and it seems like it's been a scam. And Brian, you seem to know about a common time share in Mexico scam. And he's been chasing this money to get it back for a long time, and it sounds like it's probably time for him to let it go. But anyway, that seems to be a common scam. There's also a lady got called by the publisher's clearinghouse and said that she won, but in order to get her winnings, she has to pay the taxes up front, you know. And then I've got another lady who is in a romance scam.

34:52 So I don't really understand what's in it for her. She must be I don't know what she's getting out of it, but other than I guess love and attention or perceived love and attention. But she just keeps dumping her and her husband's money into this scam continuously to the point where they got kicked out of their house for nonpayment or you know, foreclosed on, and it just things keep falling apart and she doesn't stop paying the romance scammer. So I am bumping up against you all the time, and I'm reaching out to you as one of my many resources, and you've been a huge help. So I really appreciate that. Brian, I always feel like I can talk to you.

35:34 I appreciate it. So Kevin, thanks for coming on today. I've learned so much because honestly, it was an area I was really naive about. There were things I didn't know, but everything you said makes complete sense. And I knew you'd be the perfect person to bring on because I've known you for three years and I see you everywhere. You're involved in the community, and people know you and respect you, and you could tell you I can. You just know someone's in it for the right reason. So my mom just found her place. But when it comes comes time for my dad, I know I need to reach out to you because doing it on your own is a lot of work. So thanks Keviin for coming on. Everybody out there, I appreciate you. Everyone tuning in to let's talk about scams today. Please sign up for our monthly email newsletter. Go to Rosadvocacy dot org and sign up.

36:27 Joyce will be back next week. I really appreciate you everyone tuning in. I hope you learned a lot just like I did. And just you know, be safe out there. Move slow, never respond quickly. The scammers are out there after us, and we need to be in control and protect ourselves and our love loved ones. So see you all next week, Thank you very much. Well that's all the knowledge for this episode. Tune in every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on kfour HD Radio at KFOURHD dot com. Joyce explores a variety of knowledge, so you have the power to make scam protection your healthy habit. And until then, feel free to reach out to Joyce and let's talk about scams.