Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Serving Seniors' Needs: Patrick Campeau's Mission at Nurse Next Door Seaway Valley | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care

Transcript

Serving Seniors' Needs: Patrick Campeau's Mission at Nurse Next Door Seaway Valley | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Patrick Campow. He is the President and
0:20
Franchise Partner at Nurse Next Door, Seaway Valley Canada, a
0:25
company dedicated to providing Home Care Services for seniors.
0:29
Nurse Next Door's mission is to ensure seniors can stay in the
0:32
comfort of their own homes while receiving both skilled and non
0:36
skilled care. They match caregivers to each
0:39
individual's needs and offer 24/7 live support so families
0:44
feel connected and empowered. Patrick has an extensive
0:48
background in sales and leadership.
0:50
He previously worked at Cardinal Health where he received
0:53
multiple awards, including Director of the Year in both
0:57
2015 and 2016, recognizing his remarkable team leadership and
1:03
growth achievements. His experience in guiding teams
1:06
towards success has prepared him to lead Nurse Next Doors Seaway
1:10
Valley location with passion and dedication.
1:14
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1:46
All right now back to our guest today, the President and CEO of
1:49
Nurse Next Door, Seaway Valley Canada location, Patrick Campo.
1:54
I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
1:57
Good afternoon, Anthony. So Patrick, Nurse Next Door,
2:01
large, well known franchise in the home health space, First of
2:05
all, tell us about your territory and then tell us how
2:08
the inspiration for starting a Nurse Next Door franchise came
2:11
about. Yeah.
2:13
So my, my territory basically covers, I'm going to say Eastern
2:18
Ontario, which which ranges along the, the Saint Lawrence
2:23
River from from the Quebec border all the way to a little
2:27
bit West of Kingston, which would be basically midway
2:31
between the Quebec border and Toronto.
2:34
And then we work our way about one hour N towards Ottawa, but
2:39
not including Ottawa. So it's it's about a 2 hour
2:42
radius which includes a couple of nice centers, which would be
2:49
the cities of Cornwall, Brockville and Kingston
2:52
primarily. OK.
2:54
And so how did this idea all first come about You, you have a
2:57
corporate, you know, background in corporate America, big
3:00
corporation, Cardinal Health. Why did you step away from safe,
3:04
secure job like that and and start something on your own?
3:08
Yeah, I think it comes down to a need, honestly.
3:10
It's, I was with Cardinal Health for about 13 years and mostly
3:15
diving into nursing homes, always playing with seniors,
3:20
seniors health, seniors needs, but mostly facility driven and
3:27
simply felt that the need for Home Care Services was growing
3:31
and, and that's where things were going.
3:33
Basically seniors that that did want to stay in the comfort of
3:37
their home were under serviced. And not only is it a very
3:42
rewarding opportunity, but also I I think financially and and
3:46
business wise very, very there, there was something there that
3:51
was up for grabs. So more specifically, what were
3:54
you doing at Cardinal that you were kind of exposed to the
3:58
senior Care World? Yeah.
3:59
So, so we manage all the medical sales, medical supplies
4:04
basically and equipment. So anything that had to do with
4:08
everything from gloves, needles, incontinence dressings, anything
4:11
that you would see in in hospitals, nursing homes, walk
4:15
in clinics, there's a very good chance that it came from
4:19
Cardinal Health. And so we got, we got to see
4:24
volumes increase and decrease in, in key markets.
4:28
And one of them that that appeared to be growing was
4:31
definitely home care. And that was true for, for
4:35
across Canada, whether it was the Maritimes, Ontario or even
4:39
out West. I think, you know, they, they,
4:42
they say like even the, the caravans when they were created,
4:45
they, a lot of the markets follow the baby boomers.
4:48
Well, the baby boomers right now are, are sitting at home, not
4:51
wanting to leave the house that they've, you know, that they've
4:55
renovated and they've called home for so many years and they
4:58
take a lot of pride in. So if you can accommodate them
5:01
staying at home safely, that's that's kind of where the baby
5:04
boomers are right now. So the benefit of home care is,
5:08
as you said, that folks can stay in the comfort and the
5:12
familiarity of their own home. Is it also more cost effective
5:15
for folks to receive the care that they need and in that kind
5:18
of an environment? In some cases it would be
5:22
depending on. So our services range from
5:24
everything from companionship to to personal support rate up to
5:30
nursing care. And you know, in some cases we
5:33
do palliative care in the comfort of your home.
5:36
So the journey can absolutely end at home and depending on
5:42
what you need, the cost would vary.
5:45
But absolutely, I mean the conversation can get can get
5:51
into equity of your house and all that, but it's it's
5:53
certainly not a disadvantage to financially to stay in the
5:56
comfort of your home. So is it unusual for Home Care
6:03
Services like yourself to offer the skilled care as well?
6:08
No, they, they, they pretty well go hand in hand.
6:10
I think that a lot of parents, we often get approached by the
6:15
children that want Peace of Mind for mom and dad.
6:20
And all of a sudden there's often resistance that mom or dad
6:24
may not feel like they're ready or that they need it.
6:28
But we start, we often start more with a companionship
6:32
approach where we might be helping with a little bit of
6:35
laundry, meal preparation and whatnot.
6:38
And once the bond gets created and you you kind of build that
6:41
trust, all of a sudden it's much easier to start helping with
6:46
things that might be along the lines of showering and, and
6:50
things that might prevent falls later down the road.
6:54
So I understand that one of your big differentiators is the 24/7
6:59
live support. Can you walk us through how this
7:03
service has transform the client experience in your franchise?
7:08
Yeah. So, so Nurse Next Door and that
7:10
was one of the things even when I did my research that that was
7:13
a game changer is anybody who calls at Nurse Next Door, we
7:18
take great pride in making sure that you never get a voice
7:23
message so you will speak to a live person no matter what time
7:28
of the day. And that includes everything
7:33
from our local team to our, our Vancouver hard quarters, which
7:39
obviously serve as extra support if ever our, our entire team is,
7:46
is busy serving somebody else. But you will always speak to
7:51
somebody live. And you know, that's, that's one
7:54
of the things I think in healthcare that people when
7:57
you're reaching out, you need to be, you need to be talking to
8:00
somebody immediately. Yeah.
8:03
What other things about 'cause I there are other franchise
8:07
opportunities in this space? What else was it specifically
8:09
about Nurse Next Door that attracted you to it?
8:12
Yeah, the perfect match is, is one of our key differentiator
8:16
that again we don't just fill visits.
8:20
I guess is, is, is one of the big things if somebody is
8:25
looking like we do a skill set analysis for every client, but
8:29
we also do the exact same thing when we're recruiting a new
8:32
caregiver. So when it comes time to match
8:36
mom and dad with a caregiver, if all of a sudden mom used to like
8:41
crocheting or something like that, gardening and you have a
8:45
caregiver that, that has the exact same interest, isn't it,
8:52
Isn't it so much more easier to, to bond and to start a
8:55
conversation when all of a sudden they have mutual
8:59
interests and whatnot? So in many cases it starts with
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skill sets, but it also falls into hobbies and, and just
9:08
other, other things that they, they're comfortable with.
9:11
So that it's it's just that it becomes more natural.
9:15
Yeah. So you've obviously got some
9:16
sort of a database, a system where you can track this for,
9:19
you know, here's the hobbies and interests for your caregivers,
9:22
here's the hobbies and interests for your patients.
9:25
And you can, yeah, match them together.
9:27
Exactly. We call it the perfect match and
9:29
people are surprised because we'll often even delay the start
9:34
potentially, you know, 2-3 days to make sure we have the perfect
9:38
caregiver. And once the services starts
9:42
then everybody understands. It's like, wow, what a
9:44
difference compared to anything they've experienced before.
9:48
Now you came from corporate America where as we mentioned in
9:52
the intro, you've won multiple awards, including multiple
9:56
Director of the Year awards. Is there a key leadership
10:00
practice that you learned during that time or developed that you
10:04
have been able to bring to motivate your own team at Nurse
10:07
Next Door? That's an interesting question.
10:13
I think I, I, I, I'm a firm believer that, you know, you've
10:17
got to keep learning and, and people and personalities is
10:21
something that's always fascinated me as far as what
10:25
makes people thrive and, and, and the different types of
10:29
personalities. But if I, if we go back to a
10:33
sales team that I had at Cardinal Health, I think it's
10:35
important that you don't try to change people.
10:38
You can guide them, but you've got to work with the strength
10:41
that they bring to your team. So instead of limiting their,
10:47
their, their techniques or their styles, just work with it and,
10:53
and kind of empower them to, to become a better, a better you
10:58
instead of breaking them and, and trying to make them into
11:02
somebody they're not. So in, in your business model, I
11:08
would assume and tell me if I'm right here that you've sort of
11:12
got 2 challenges. One is to grow the business, you
11:16
need more patients that that need your services, you know, so
11:19
how do you find those patients? And then on the other side of
11:22
it, you need to find caregivers who can deliver the appropriate
11:26
level of care. So the thinking about the first
11:29
side of that equation or the this side of the equation with
11:32
the employees, what are some strategies that you found have
11:37
been successful to locate, recruit and then retain good
11:42
folks? Yeah.
11:44
So I think retention is key for sure.
11:47
And I think having a good mix of employees that like we have a a
11:54
range of people that are full time, 40 hours a week, this is
12:01
all they do. And then we have a range of
12:04
people that are very casual, they're as committed, they're
12:11
excellent, their skill set is up to par.
12:13
But for, for whatever reason, whether it's family or whether
12:17
it's something else, they, they're, they're able to offer
12:21
us 1520 hours a week And, and that works.
12:26
This is exactly what we need. And we need to make sure that
12:28
we've got a good mix in that funnel.
12:31
Because when all of a sudden you have mom that comes out of the
12:35
hospital and, and has a spike of 24 hour care that's needed, You
12:40
need to have these casual people that have the ability to jump in
12:45
and, and offer you these extra, extra hours in the same
12:49
instance. Unfortunately, if, if mom or dad
12:53
has a, has a fall or whatnot and needs to go to the hospital,
12:58
the, the hours get turned off and then all of a sudden, you
13:02
know, so, so it's very much the challenge of the industry is
13:06
that that ongoing roller coaster of clients and caregivers that
13:11
are, you know, supply and demand.
13:15
It's fun. It keeps it fun, keeps you on
13:18
your toes on Patrick. So on the other side of that
13:22
equation then you know, trying to keep that sales funnel full
13:26
with clients, what have been your most effective strategy to
13:31
to grow that side of the business?
13:34
I think a business, just a Business Network, we, we are
13:39
getting more and more like we're in our 6th year right now and
13:42
we're, we're seeing a constant flow of business professionals
13:47
that are referring us. And I think that's a true
13:50
testament of of the work that our team's been doing in in the
13:53
communities. But when you can start having
13:57
the rehab clinics and the hospital discharge planners and
14:00
what not that are referring your team, that'll automatically just
14:05
keep the funnel basically full. And there's obviously engagement
14:12
in the community and just other marketing strategies that we do.
14:18
But I think professional referrals is is definitely a key
14:22
element of our of our industry. What does the community
14:26
engagement look like? Are you just kind of going to
14:28
the different events in town and setting up a booth at the fair
14:31
and the festivals? Yeah, we take every opportunity
14:34
we can. Just recently we had an like we
14:38
have a, we work very closely with the Alzheimer's Society in
14:41
town and we're in the middle of winter right now and they had a
14:46
soups on event. So they put on at the local
14:49
community hall. A, a competition of different
14:53
local restaurants were putting on soup tasters and whatnot.
14:57
And we sponsored kind of a water station and greeted people.
15:01
And as they picked up their tray with the soups, a nurse next
15:04
door station was there handing out water bottles and just
15:07
thanking the seniors for coming. A few of the seniors weren't
15:11
able to come. They didn't have a ride and so
15:14
we made our nurse next door vehicles available to go and
15:17
pick them up and just just being engaged in the community and and
15:21
closing that gap where seniors may not be available to, to
15:25
attend certain events goes a long way.
15:28
And then you talked about, you know, some of the, I'll call
15:32
them sort of related professional organizations that
15:35
are sending folks your way, you know, folks that are dealing
15:37
with seniors that are coming out of one type of care and needing
15:42
home health care. What is it about you and your
15:46
Nurse Next Door franchise that makes them want to send these
15:48
folks to you rather than somewhere else?
15:50
What are you guys doing that's different?
15:52
We always say yes, and that's an internal when they call you,
15:57
they need it now whether it's a hospital discharge planner or or
16:01
a family member, when they call, they need you to be able to put
16:07
a team in place yesterday. And if you delay or if you, if
16:12
it takes you a week to have caregivers in place for mom,
16:17
you've missed the opportunity and you've created some anxiety.
16:20
And so we we move mountains to always being able to say yes.
16:27
And that's unusual. I mean, it would seem to me that
16:29
most businesses, you know, would want to say yes to as many
16:32
customer opportunities, but maybe it's easier to say no to
16:36
the challenging ones. Is that what I'm hearing?
16:38
Exactly. That's exactly it.
16:40
So, yeah, it's from a business perspective, you would think
16:44
that everybody would say yes, but by the time they they line
16:47
everything up and, and, and everything is ready, you know,
16:51
the need is gone. So unfortunately they've missed
16:55
the opportunity. What advice would you give to
17:00
others who are looking to advance their career in this
17:04
field? I think serve the Need is the
17:09
biggest thing that I like to say.
17:11
There's too many people that try to read the book and figure out
17:16
the special formula. Every community is actually
17:20
slightly different. And so you just got to pay
17:24
attention to what's in front of you and, and serve serve the
17:28
need. In some cases it may be more
17:32
post op in other communities, it might be more advanced dementia.
17:39
Just pay attention to what's in front of you and, and, and be
17:41
human. Don't be a robot 'cause this is
17:45
definitely a business that's people to people and and
17:50
families need to feel like you genuinely care.
17:54
And so if if you if you do and they can feel it, then the rest
17:59
will just snowball in front of you.
18:02
So you've been around for six years in your location, you
18:07
you've grown nicely. What, how often are you actually
18:11
interacting with either the patients or with the the
18:14
patients families? Like are are you a first point
18:18
of contact or do you you kind of have a team that handles that?
18:21
Yeah, so at this point, I still try to make a point of it, but
18:26
we have a nursing manager, we have a, you know, we have a
18:30
scheduler in place. And so I'm going to say the team
18:33
is is self-sufficient or, or, or really works well without me.
18:41
But I think it's important to keep a pulse on what's going on
18:45
and just making sure that you're getting the positive feedback
18:50
that you're we've been hearing for six years and that we don't
18:53
lose sight of that. So coming from Cardinal, you had
18:59
at least some familiarity with this industry, but you had not
19:03
run or overseen an actual home care service operation.
19:09
Was the support that you received from Nurse Next Door
19:13
enough to sort of, you know, fill in all the gaps, you know,
19:18
for for someone new coming into the space?
19:20
Or were there other mentors or other people who helped you
19:25
during those early years kind of find your way?
19:28
Yeah, I think what's nice about the, the franchise system is
19:32
exactly that you, you get to, you get to have some really deep
19:38
conversations with other franchise partners, especially
19:42
in the early stages where you might be in, in the middle of
19:45
the grind and and things are are not working as easily as you
19:49
expected and whatnot. So you can you can call a
19:52
neighbor, a franchise neighbor, you can call somebody that that
19:56
might be a similar size or or age than than you are and.
20:00
Kind of pick their brain as far as you know what I'm, I'm really
20:03
having a tough week this week. I've just lost two clients.
20:07
You know, I, I don't think it's anything that we've done.
20:10
One's passed away, the other one moved back to, to with their
20:15
children and in different province.
20:17
And, and so, but it, it's just, you know, things that you need
20:21
to bounce off somebody, you need a sounding board to make sure
20:24
that you're, you know, am I losing my sanity here or, or is
20:28
this just part of the industry? And so I think the, you know, we
20:33
call it the system, just the, the, the, the network of
20:36
franchise partners within Nurse next door is, is absolutely
20:41
priceless. I think that's where the true
20:43
value is. I'm so happy to hear you say
20:46
that. You know, in talking with a lot
20:47
of business owners, whether it's in a franchise system or not,
20:51
think something I hear over and over again is the value of
20:55
having a network of people that you can kind of go to as a
20:59
sounding board for advice, for introductions.
21:03
And I think for folks that are not in a franchise or not part
21:08
of a very supportive franchise system, that could be
21:13
challenging to find that group of people to network with and
21:17
sort of, you know, in a safe space.
21:20
And so when you're part of a, a franchise group like Nurse next
21:24
door, where people are very supportive, very commutative,
21:27
very connected, it's great because they know your business
21:32
inside it out. You know, I've been in
21:34
masterminds before where there maybe nobody else has the same
21:39
business model as me. And that can be helpful because
21:42
we get to sort of exchange different kinds of ideas.
21:44
But man, the power of being able to talk to somebody who knows
21:48
your business model inside and out, it has just got to be
21:51
amazing. Exactly.
21:54
The, the other thing that I find is challenging, just almost as
21:56
a, as a side note, but I, I, I find so many people are afraid
22:02
to peel back the layers of the young and, and, and be genuine
22:06
in their conversations. Like from business owner to
22:08
business owner, it's OK to say I'm doing well in these areas,
22:12
but you know what, heck, I'm really struggling here and, and
22:16
I know we're not in the same industry, but what are your
22:18
thoughts on, on how I could get out of this or, or how can I
22:22
improve this, this area of my business there?
22:26
There's still a lot of people that I find just wanna portray
22:31
the fact that, you know, their business is perfect.
22:34
Everything's going well and you know, it's OK to show a little
22:38
bit of vulnerability. And I find people usually
22:41
connect to you a lot a lot better and, and they they feel
22:45
you're, you're a lot more genuine when you can be you're
22:48
human, right. Yeah, I'm actually glad that you
22:51
brought this up, Patrick, because I think this is
22:53
important. And I would love to hear more
22:54
about your own experiences, because you're exactly right.
22:57
When people are from the outside looking in, they say, oh, you
23:00
know, Patrick's got this big territory, he's got this
23:03
successful business, he's been around for six years.
23:05
He employs all these people. He has all these clients.
23:07
Wow, That must be really nice. But they don't see is what's
23:10
going on, you know, behind the curtain.
23:12
What they don't see is all the things that you had to go
23:16
through to get here. What, what do you think are some
23:19
examples of things that you could share with people that
23:22
might shine a little bit of a light and, and, you know, give
23:25
them encouragement because I, I think, you know, a lot of times
23:28
folks are, are going through their own thing and they're
23:30
like, well, I've just hit my third brick wall and must be the
23:33
universe's sign of telling me that this thing just isn't going
23:36
to work out. What?
23:38
What would you say to something like that?
23:40
Yeah, I, I think right from the beginning and I mean every book
23:43
that you read, they, they always say takes five years to get a
23:46
business truly up and running. And, and by the time you, you
23:51
adjust and just make the tweaks that are necessary.
23:54
But I, I got into this business as a, as a sales and marketing
23:59
person, knowing farewell that you got to surround yourself
24:03
with areas that you're not. So my first hire needed to be
24:09
an, a nurse, a nursing manager, a nurse of some of some aspect
24:14
to bring that to the, to the table.
24:17
Our territory is, is quite geographically challenging.
24:22
So at one point in the first year, I had actually hired in
24:26
the furthest in the western part of my territory so that I would
24:30
cover the east and then she had the West and all that to say
24:36
that there was a total disconnect there.
24:38
And it just, it ended up being more challenging than anything
24:42
else. And so you kind of scrap that
24:44
plan and we ended up driving. It was just a challenge of
24:49
always being on the road for the wrong reasons, it seems.
24:52
So we ended up adjusting a few things and we ended up with more
24:58
of your traditional head office, if you will, in our hometown
25:02
where the nurses is in is local, the scheduler is local and
25:07
whatnot. But while you build your team,
25:11
you need caregivers and, and the challenge that you referred to
25:14
earlier is the the right number of clients and the right number
25:18
of caregivers. It is never at a sweet spot.
25:22
So if you get, if you're going to grow, you've got to accept
25:29
clients that you may not have enough caregivers for.
25:31
So then Patrick jumps in and does the clients that perhaps
25:38
don't have like have the lowest amount of skill sets?
25:43
Anything that was companionship, Patrick took care of just so
25:47
that the other caregivers could could facilitate.
25:49
So that there's a lot of long hours that just you become the
25:53
buffer is basically what it comes down to.
25:57
Have you grown to the point now where maybe you're not needed in
26:00
that kind of a role as much? A lot less.
26:03
A lot less, which is, yeah. And I would say magically that
26:07
that happened around the five year mark.
26:09
So if somebody was to ask me again, I would echo the five
26:13
year model. You know, at year 3 and 4, you
26:17
get discouraged and you say, heck, I've been doing this for a
26:20
long time. Why am I still get, you know,
26:23
needing to jump in and and then magically at year five it it,
26:27
it's almost like everything fell into place.
26:30
There's still the business operation that is ongoing and
26:34
you know, you're going to get some challenges on a regular
26:37
base. But yeah, my my role as far as
26:40
jumping in, I would say is we've got things in place pretty good
26:44
now. So what do you think in your
26:46
specific case, Patrick was so magical about that Year 5?
26:50
Was it just that you finally had all your systems and processes
26:53
ironed out? Was it that you finally got to a
26:55
certain scale of clients to, you know, care provider ratio?
27:00
Was it something else? Yeah, I think it's a combination
27:03
of scale, Scale for sure. I think scale would probably my
27:07
first answer where you were able to kind of dilute and, and it,
27:13
it made it so much easier to schedule because you're at a
27:15
level where you have enough caregivers, enough clients that
27:19
even if you, you lost one or gained 1, you were able to just
27:23
redistribute the the caseload to other people.
27:28
You know, you mentioned how a lot of books that you've read
27:31
have sort of talked about that five year mark.
27:33
Whether it is a book that specifically mentions that five
27:36
year mark or not. What is one book that you would
27:40
recommend for listeners who are looking to advance themselves,
27:44
their careers, their businesses? I, I I love, love, love the one
27:49
minute manager. The one minute manager applies
27:53
to everybody, whether you're a student, whether you're a
27:57
business person, whether you're a, a Baker, I feel that you're
28:03
in life, you're gonna run into whether it's a customer across
28:06
the counter or an employee, you can either let it let it bug you
28:12
and, and, and a week later, it's still, you know, you wish you
28:15
would have told the person how you felt.
28:17
And one minute manager just basically, you address it,
28:21
you're honest. If you have the person's best
28:24
interests at heart, you say it, you deal with it, and you move
28:27
on. The other person may not have
28:30
that approach and may be hurt, may be offended, but once your
28:34
reputation is built that you have everybody's genuine best
28:38
interests at heart, then it's very easy to have those
28:43
conversations. So the general gist of that book
28:45
is deal with, discuss whatever it is that has come up now in
28:51
the present moment so that it doesn't linger, it doesn't
28:54
fester, and everybody can address it and move on.
28:57
Is that? Immediately.
28:58
Yeah, yeah. There's situations where
29:00
obviously if you're in a room with, with, with people that
29:04
shouldn't be part of this conversation, it might require
29:07
that you, you know, you excuse yourself or whatnot, but but
29:10
deal with it as soon as possible.
29:14
What is one tool, piece of software, or framework that's
29:18
contributed greatly to your own success, Patrick?
29:24
Software. It's an interesting one.
29:30
Maybe it's a CRM, maybe it's A to do list checker, or maybe
29:33
it's a timer. Yeah, I, I, I'm, I mean, I, I
29:41
mean, I, I use an iPhone and I mean I'm a, I'm a very, I'm a
29:45
fan of the To Do List. So, and that's basically in my
29:49
notes. That's, that's where we drop
29:51
them. We operate with Google Chat, so
29:55
amongst the leadership team. So we create tasks amongst each
29:58
other. And so I can assign tasks that
30:00
way. And again, you know, life is
30:05
about tasks and I think we've become, whether it's a text
30:11
message or whether it's an e-mail, I think we are over
30:14
pinged even as we're talking, right?
30:17
Your, your phone lights up and you just, so if you can create a
30:22
task and just drop it, the next person might want to tackle it
30:27
first thing in the morning 'cause they're more of a morning
30:29
person or they may be an evening person.
30:32
But just drop the task, trust that it's going to get done.
30:35
And then that way you can kind of take it off your list and
30:39
know that the person who's responsible will will execute in
30:44
due time. So we actually used Google chats
30:48
with a few of its functions and it seems to work really well.
30:51
You can. Currently, there's four of us in
30:54
that leadership team and we assign it to ourselves, we
30:58
assign it to other people, and it seems to be flowing quite
31:02
nicely. And so Google chats, when you
31:04
assign it to somebody, are you like attaching a date to it and
31:08
it pops up in their calendar or how's that working?
31:10
It's a flowing list and, and you can sort it by obviously I go
31:14
in, in the morning and I can sort it by what are my tasks?
31:17
And you can flag it as a high priority if something's urgent,
31:22
but you basically tackle your tasks once it's completed, it
31:26
gets strick off and it stays visible, but it goes down to the
31:30
bottom. So you, you're, you can always
31:32
have visibility to what's pending and what got completed.
31:36
So as somebody else completes it too, if I'm very worried about,
31:41
you know, putting water back in the aquarium, I can go back the
31:45
next morning and see that Anthony put water in the
31:47
aquarium and it's and it's been, it's stricken off.
31:51
Yeah, I know. For me, my CRM is critical.
31:55
Whether I am assigning a task for someone else on my team to
31:58
do that day, the next day, somewhere in the OR Often times
32:03
it's just assigning a task to myself to remember to follow up
32:06
with somebody. Being able to go in there and,
32:10
you know, set the date to remind me and set the client and make
32:13
notes about, you know, what was discussed and what needs to
32:15
happen next is great because then I can drop it from my mind
32:19
for the time being and move on to what's next exactly.
32:23
Without that, it would be taking up a lot of extra space up here.
32:27
Absolutely. Let's see, Patrick, you know, in
32:31
my experience, growth often comes from some of our biggest
32:35
challenges. I'd like to hear about a serious
32:37
challenge that you've overcome. Maybe it's personal, maybe it's
32:41
professional, maybe it's a combination of the two.
32:44
What was that like going through it and what did you learn about?
32:47
Yeah, when I hear that question, I think it takes me back to.
32:51
So I've, I've got a wife and two kids.
32:54
So my wife's name is Linda. My daughter Jen is a, is 25
32:59
years old. We have a four year gap in
33:02
between. My son is 21.
33:05
My son is autistic and when he was first born developmentally,
33:12
we, we determined we could see that there was something wasn't
33:15
developing at the same speed and, and there was something
33:18
wrong. And by the time we went through
33:20
the processes and whatnot before we got the diagnosis, obviously
33:27
we did everything we could to find out.
33:29
And, but when we found out, I think it was at that point, I,
33:37
I, I determined that I wanted to do something that would not only
33:44
support him, but what would be inclusive.
33:47
And, and part of this, even at nurse next door is being able to
33:52
take care of people that are maybe a little bit more frail or
33:58
not able to take care of themselves and what not.
34:00
And, and a lot of what I do, I think from that day forward was
34:04
dedicated or Justin is extremely high functioning, but was
34:09
dedicated to Justin and just kind of building a life around
34:14
making sure that Justin could be independent once obviously we're
34:18
not around anymore. But yeah, that was.
34:24
So I imagine as parents, you know, first learning that
34:28
something is developing a little bit differently with your child
34:31
had to be challenging to come to terms with, right?
34:35
You want the best for your kids. You don't want them to struggle
34:40
unnecessarily. Like what were those, I don't
34:42
know, early weeks, months, years, like as you're sort of
34:45
coming to terms with this? Yeah, well, I, I still remember
34:49
and we still talk about it. We had taken a, a course or a
34:53
course or a class on Tuesday nights for six weeks where the
34:58
way they described it, you had to mourn the death of, of, of,
35:03
of the expectation of your child, of, of your normal child.
35:07
And when you start talking about mourning the death of your, your
35:13
expectations, like it's a bit of a slap and it's a wake up call.
35:17
And, but it, it was very, very good.
35:19
And it, it brought us to where we are today.
35:22
I think it's, yeah, it's, it definitely shakes the the
35:27
foundation of of what you because we all have hopes and
35:31
dreams and all those things, but it, it kind of realigned
35:35
everything and, and put things in perspective.
35:39
Was it the fact that you were using a word as dramatic as
35:43
death that's sort of like, like that kind of on its own, sort of
35:48
like, wait a minute, he's not dead, he just needs some extra
35:52
help. Is is that kind of?
35:54
I think so. I think so, yeah, it's, it's
35:57
exactly that. It's like, OK, he's not gone.
36:00
So why are we using dramatic words like that?
36:03
But it's, you know, a couple of weeks into it, it was more the
36:07
expectations. And it's not that you've got him
36:10
classified as a, as a lawyer, doctor, all these, you know,
36:14
traditional careers. But it it's just you've got
36:19
expectations that you you had to kind of put that away and just
36:24
live in the moment with what he was able to give you today.
36:28
It was a very emotional kind of couple of years to just realign
36:32
and set the bar at the proper level, I guess.
36:39
When you were going through those difficult couple of years,
36:42
were there people or groups or other things that you were able
36:47
to lean on that that kind of helped you through that process?
36:51
Yeah, there was, there's a good, there's a good network of autism
36:58
society in, in, in the area, in the community.
37:01
And again, when you're going through things, I, I think
37:06
whether it's business or anything else, again, I, I, I'm
37:08
a firm believer that people need to acknowledge their, their
37:12
challenges and reach out for help.
37:14
Because you can bet your last dollar that somebody is going
37:18
through the exact same challenge.
37:20
And when you can start talking about it and, and realize that
37:23
somebody else is living the same experience, then not only do you
37:27
have somebody to shoulder you, but you, there's a good
37:30
probability that you'll be able to come up with mutual
37:34
solutions. And all of a sudden, you, you,
37:36
you lift yourselves to A, to a better day together instead of
37:41
just being by kind of in your own corner struggling.
37:45
What was the name of the group that you guys were able to join
37:50
or or lean on for assistance? Yeah, it was.
37:53
It was called the Autism Autism Club in, in in Cornwall.
37:58
So yeah. And, and it, it seems like this
38:03
whole experience kind of opened up a more permanent place in
38:08
your heart for helping folks that can't help themselves.
38:13
It seems like, you know, you're using sort of this this same
38:17
warmth and desire to help people in in your nurse next door
38:21
business now. I think it definitely sparked
38:23
something. And I mean, it's got to be in
38:25
your nature. But yeah, it definitely sparked
38:29
something almost as a as a life mission, I'm going to say.
38:32
But at the same time, I think it's like you said earlier, I
38:38
think nothing comes easily and you got to stay focused and you
38:43
got to be committed. I think that's the biggest
38:45
thing. You got to be committed because
38:48
if you give up after the second or third kind of challenge,
38:53
you're going to, you're never going to get to the finish line.
38:55
And you know, it always looks easier when you're outside
39:00
looking in, but you got to get through the grind period.
39:04
You got it through the, you know, And if you keep your, if
39:10
you keep your focus, you'll get there.
39:12
Were there any periods during those first couple of years that
39:15
you open the nurse next door business where you thought this
39:19
isn't worth it, this isn't going anywhere, this isn't going to
39:22
work? What was I thinking?
39:24
I should pack it in and find something else.
39:26
Yeah, absolutely. I, I, I I'd be lying if I didn't
39:29
say yes. Yeah, I think year 2, year 2,
39:33
year three, I think it's it's we were talking about the five year
39:36
plan earlier. I think year 2 is when you feel
39:39
like I've been doing this long enough, I should be doing better
39:43
by now. I should be things should be
39:46
easier. I'm way I'm working way too hard
39:49
for for what? For the payoff or like yeah.
39:54
So year 2 to year three I feel were the darkest periods.
40:01
You had, you know, you get little victories, but then you
40:03
get the grind again and, and, and then then you start a, you
40:09
start building your team and then you start celebrating the
40:12
victories, you start sharing the the challenges with somebody
40:16
else and it just starts getting easier from there.
40:20
Yeah. Before you were able to kind of
40:22
build the team and you had sort of like you're built in support
40:27
group, I'm going to call it, you know, where you guys kind of,
40:29
you know, celebrate the successes as well as like, you
40:33
know, this is a bummer kind of, you know, you know, go through
40:37
the struggle together in in those real early days, who were
40:40
you able to to lean on for help? Where did you go when, like, you
40:44
know, you were really struggling with things?
40:47
Yeah, I tried really hard to not take it home too much as much as
40:51
the family always becomes kind of the the automatic sounding
40:55
board. But I think that's where the a
40:58
few of the other franchise partners really become the
41:02
they've they've they've been through it, they're living it
41:04
themselves depending on the stage that they're at in, in the
41:09
in their process. But they definitely have been
41:11
through a similar journey and you know some of them you
41:17
connect with more than others and you can really have some
41:21
some nice deep conversations with them and they can help you
41:24
through it. That's so great.
41:26
I've said it before and I'm glad we brought it up again.
41:28
It's so great that you've got that built in support system
41:31
right there in the franchise network.
41:34
Patrick, are there any particular daily practices that
41:37
have been particularly helpful for you, habits, rituals, things
41:42
that get you centered that you know kind of bring you back to
41:46
to home plate? What do you do?
41:49
So I'm an early riser, so I I believe in getting up at 5:00 in
41:54
the morning. So I do 20 minutes of exercise
41:57
every morning. And I had gotten away from that
42:03
only because the nature of Home Care Services if, if something's
42:07
going to explode, it's usually in the morning, you're going to
42:09
wake up at your usual 5:00 and that's when you have 3 sick
42:14
calls and, and one visit that's not happening.
42:16
And, and so I found that for a few years, I let these events
42:23
hijack my, my morning routine and I lost a little bit of my,
42:30
my personal health. And like just it, it just
42:32
became, I could see myself spiraling.
42:35
And so again, I think it's important that I used to do an
42:40
hour. Now I do 20 minutes condensed
42:42
and it just gets the blood flowing and whatnot.
42:46
I revised my tasks from anybody else that's that's dropped in my
42:51
bucket, if you will, in the morning.
42:52
I get organized and yeah, get going from there.
42:57
What does that exercise look like?
42:58
Is it like intense cardio? Is it just like some slow
43:01
walking around the neighborhood? A combination of treadmill,
43:06
treadmill and I actually do some Pilates as much as some of my I
43:11
used to play hockey and some of my buddies tease me that that's
43:14
more of a, a, a female exercise, but it really works the core and
43:20
yeah, it, it does the trick. It's condensed.
43:22
It's it's almost like a yeah, it's a boot camp.
43:28
Almost where? It's been a long time, but I, I
43:31
did Pilates for a little while there and you're right, like
43:34
that's, that's some great core workout stuff there.
43:37
Yeah, so I do 20 minutes of it now.
43:40
Get in, get out. Gets the blood flowing.
43:42
I go back upstairs, have my cup of coffee, jump in the shower
43:47
and get the day going. Your head is refreshed, your
43:50
blood is flowing. And yeah, you're you're, you're
43:52
ready to conquer the world. Yeah.
43:55
You know, Patrick, sometimes our mistakes, what seem like
43:59
mistakes in the moment, end up becoming our greatest teachers.
44:03
Is there a moment in your career that at the moment seemed like a
44:07
set back, but now, as you look in the rearview mirror, actually
44:11
helped to propel you forward? Well, I mean, you want to talk
44:25
about a A39, A 360 when I went to school, graduated from high
44:31
school, went to school. Here's a little bit of just my
44:34
journey, but went to school in architecture.
44:36
That's what I believed I wanted to do.
44:40
So for anybody listening and when you, you talk about
44:43
regrouping and changing directions graduated and one of
44:47
my first job was space planning for Canada Post for all their
44:51
cubicles and office spaces. So we would reorganize their
44:55
they're different areas and whatnot.
44:57
One of our large clients ended up being the, the health unit,
45:02
the Easton Ontario health unit. And at one point I built a great
45:06
relationship with the, the the purchaser And she had lost one
45:12
of her salesperson who was in healthcare.
45:15
And she says, Patrick, you know, I know you've got no healthcare
45:18
experience and whatnot, but I think with your personality and
45:21
your, your customer service skills, you should apply for
45:24
that. And so from architecture space
45:27
planning, that moment swayed me ninety 180° into healthcare as a
45:33
very entry level medical sales, basically sales Rep for a small
45:40
area. And, and from there was my entry
45:44
into healthcare and then a couple of steps and curves and
45:48
what not. Later I became director of sales
45:52
for Cardinal Health. And then here we are at Nurse
45:55
next door. But the journey is never
45:57
straight. And I mean, I think to your
45:59
point, it's, I think you, you've got to, you've got to embrace
46:04
those. Why is this happening?
46:08
And just there, there's a reason for it.
46:10
And just yeah, take the curve and and keep going.
46:15
As you know, you look in the rearview mirror and you can sort
46:18
of connect the dots on, you know, how you got to where you
46:22
are. It's like, oh, OK, the path
46:24
makes sense in the moment where you're faced with that fork in
46:28
the road. It's very confusing and
46:30
daunting. I don't like, I went to school
46:32
for this and this is what I like.
46:34
Why? Why, Why would I consider going
46:36
off this way? What, what, what drew you that
46:39
way? Were you just not happy here?
46:41
Did you just There was something in your gut that was tugging
46:44
you? Yeah, I, I, I think I had a lot
46:46
of respect for this lady. We had built a great
46:49
relationship, a great rapport, a great working relationship.
46:53
And she felt, I mean, she had sold me on the company and the,
46:58
the potential as a career and, and whatnot.
47:02
And I mean, healthcare was definitely something that, I
47:05
mean, has always been of interest to me.
47:09
But yeah, I just, I, I, I had done a little bit of research
47:14
slowly and, and then off we went.
47:16
And when I got the position, then I, I just felt it was meant
47:19
to be. And being a, being a very
47:22
committed person, I, I think that's, that's just genuinely
47:25
who I am. Then it was like, if we're going
47:27
healthcare, then we're going to go all in healthcare and let's
47:31
see where this takes us. Well, I think that's the way to
47:33
do it. If you're going to do it, go all
47:34
the way. No dipping the toes in the
47:36
water, right? Yeah, yeah.
47:38
You know, and something else you said, Patrick, and I think
47:40
we've, we've mentioned this a couple of times in all our
47:42
conversations, things, you know, life doesn't go in a straight
47:44
line. And I think that, you know,
47:47
innovation requires courage. Is there a time where you tried
47:52
something different in your business?
47:55
And whether it worked or not, what did that experience teach
47:59
you? Yeah.
48:02
Well, we tried actually through the the COVID year and whatnot,
48:06
we tried to go more virtual on a few of our services, just
48:11
whether it was medication prompting and calling mom from,
48:16
you know, from, from our office and, and just to remind her that
48:19
it's 7:00. And so there's a couple of our
48:21
services that we had tried to go virtual just to see if we could
48:25
capitalize and help more people in, in less time and eliminate
48:30
the travelling and, and no FaceTime where everybody was so
48:34
nervous about masks and, and whatnot.
48:36
And we quickly realized that this, this whole business is
48:41
about people and, and even the seniors, whether they, they have
48:47
dementia and they don't recognize you, They, they, they
48:50
enjoy speaking to you and they enjoy having somebody in their
48:53
house. So, yeah, it wasn't about
48:56
efficiencies. It wasn't about, you know,
49:00
trying to we're in the business of people and.
49:05
It's not just a box you can check, right?
49:07
You've got to be there. They they need your
49:08
companionship, they need you there in person.
49:11
Yeah. So that was something that we
49:13
had tried just because that's where everybody was.
49:15
I mean everybody was kind of scratching their head as far as
49:17
what it things were going to look like.
49:19
And so that was our trial and to a certain degree it it made it
49:24
confirmed what we were doing and brought us back to our
49:28
foundation almost. And I love that because I mean,
49:31
sometimes we try something new, different, innovative, and it
49:33
works. And it's a, you know, great
49:35
improvement to either efficiency or just the quality of service,
49:40
the whatever it is. And then sometimes we try
49:43
something and it doesn't work and it just reaffirms that, hey,
49:46
what we were already doing that that was the right model and
49:50
that's helpful too. Exactly.
49:52
Exactly. Patrick, what's something that
49:55
you wish more people knew about your industry?
50:00
Just that it's available. I think we're still the best
50:02
kept secret. It's it's crazy how six years
50:05
later, and I mean, I, I take a lot of pride in how involved we
50:09
are in the community. And I mean, we drive pink cars,
50:15
you know, we're, we're everywhere.
50:16
You can't miss us. And when families finally need
50:21
us, all of a sudden it's like we didn't know you existed.
50:24
So I think there's people are very much in their silos.
50:29
And I think education is still something that needs to get out
50:34
there. And we're trying our darnest to
50:36
get it out there. But people need to know that
50:40
they, they can certainly stay at home.
50:44
You know, doctors can do house visits there.
50:47
There's more and more services that'll come to your house.
50:51
So it's, it's something that I, I'm passionate about the, you
50:55
know, at this point. And the more I find out, the
50:57
more I, I believe I can influence some of these
51:00
solutions. And but yeah, education on just
51:04
making this awareness for, for what's available to these
51:08
people. So when I was growing up, the
51:11
pink cars had to do with Mary Kay.
51:14
I don't know if that was a, a thing up in Canada as well.
51:17
I didn't realize nurse next door.
51:19
I obviously I see the branding. You know, your, your website,
51:22
nursenextdoor.com, lots of pink colors in, in the branding, But
51:26
I, I didn't realize that you're you, you and your team.
51:29
You you drive pink cars around town, huh?
51:30
Yeah, yeah. And boy, I mean, it's a, it's a,
51:33
it's a mobile sign, right? I mean, half our calls come in
51:36
either because they've seen the car or so it's it's very
51:40
efficient. I mean, it started if, if you
51:43
look at the story of how nurse next door started, it wasn't
51:46
even 2 nurses, but it John and Kent, they, they, they found a
51:51
need and they, they wanted to get away from the kind of the
51:54
loom and gloom. See, aging is, is sad and is,
51:59
you know, limiting of what you're able to do and you're
52:01
sore hip and you can't walk and you're half blind.
52:04
And so they they wanted to celebrate aging and they, and
52:08
that's how it started is they wanted the kind of the party car
52:12
and. Fun, bright, lively colors.
52:15
Exactly. I like that.
52:16
And you're saying like half the calls that you get are folks
52:18
that that saw the car? Yeah, there's a lot of them.
52:21
I mean, the exact number may not be half, but I mean between the
52:24
the Internet and whatever else. But I mean, people do notice the
52:27
car and yeah, it's, it's very, very effective.
52:32
I like that. It's fun.
52:33
It's a fun color, right? And you got to drive a car
52:36
around anyways. Why not make it be a, you know,
52:38
a free billboard, so to speak? Absolutely.
52:41
Patrick, I've just got one more question for you today.
52:43
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things for everyone
52:46
listening today. I know that you love today's
52:47
content because Patrick has been an amazing guest.
52:50
Please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app so you
52:53
continue to get more great content like this.
52:56
I'm also going to let folks know, Patrick, the best way to
52:58
get in touch with you, and we'll include a link to your LinkedIn
53:01
profile in the show notes. Folks can also reach out to you
53:05
via e-mail, and your e-mail is patrick.campau@nursenextdoor.com.
53:10
So Patrick is PATRIC k.campaucampeau@nursenextdoor.com.
53:19
So last question for you, Patrick.
53:21
As you look to the future, what exciting changes do you see
53:25
either coming for your industry at large or for your particular
53:28
business that you're most excited about?
53:31
I think just branching out, I think the the traditional home
53:36
care model that people know is the bread and butter or is the
53:42
foundation of what home care is all about.
53:44
But I think there's so much more that can be attached to it.
53:47
So that's what we're exploring right now.
53:51
You've already got people coming into the house, you've already
53:53
got people helping. So what else can we do while
53:56
we're there? Seniors are vulnerable.
53:59
So if they already trust Tracy that's coming in, What else
54:02
could Tracy do while she's there?
54:05
You know, to help mom, to help dad.
54:08
So it's just kind of expanding a few branches to our to our trunk
54:13
to see how how else we can support seniors in their home.
54:17
I think there's, we're just scratching the surface.
54:19
So I think there's a, there's a lot more that we can do.
54:23
Any thoughts on what direction you might take that?
54:26
What are some of those extra services?
54:28
Or is that still kind of in the brainstorming mode?
54:30
Yeah, I mean, there's everything from we we've discussed, I mean
54:35
hearing aids, I mean there's eyewear, there's, there's so
54:39
many services that seniors need. It's not even just a like a a
54:45
desire. It's they need it.
54:46
So yeah, there's, there's a lot of them.
54:50
It just has to make sense and the and the skill set's got to
54:52
be align with the people that we're sending in.
54:56
So it's, yeah, it's work in progress, I guess.
54:59
OK, fair enough. Well, Patrick, I want to be the
55:02
first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your
55:04
story with us today. I really appreciate it.
55:07
This was great and I invite people to reach out if life is
55:11
about more than business. So if if we can help other
55:13
people, reach out and be more than happy to help.
55:18
That's terrific. Generous offer.
55:20
Well, folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired
55:22
Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
55:24
today.