Celebrating 35 Years of Excellence!

Susy Elder Murphy:
We have three different programs. The primary one is the care management and that's always going to be the bread and butter of our company. Care management is really a unique profession. When you go to sell your house, you hire a real estate agent and they're the expert that guides you. You go to do your taxes, you hire a CPA. So when you're trying to figure out what are your options when you're an older person, hiring an expert and aging life care manager is really the person who can help you sort through those decisions.

Kate O.:
My dad had been having memory problems for a number of years and he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Then a few months later, my mother died suddenly. She was really his caregiver, so all of a sudden we had to sort of figure out what next?

Susy Elder Murphy:
Kate was trying to care for her dad from a long distance and it quickly became apparent that he needed more care than she could provide from a distance. So we first spoke by phone a number of times about what his needs were and what kind of community would work for her and her lifestyle here.

Kate O.:
Hello, how are you doing today? Dad had agreed to come to Maryland. He thought that it made a lot of sense. But when he first got here, we got off the plane, we sat in traffic, we got here and he didn't want to stay even a night. That was pretty difficult for me to deal with. I was so exhausted emotionally and physically at that point. The next day, I met with our care manager. In fact, she came to my house. She reassured me that this is very normal and that you just want to take things day by day, hour by hour. That was huge, huge help.
Our care manager, Brie, is truly our partner in problem solving. Whenever something comes up that we have a question about, she's there. She works with seniors all the time and has for a long time. So we know that if we're wondering about it, we can talk to her and she's bringing all of that experience to bear. That lets you be the daughter, as opposed to having to be the one who manages all the medicine and everything else that comes along with it. It's true, it makes a huge, huge difference. Enjoy your time out with Scott.

Speaker 3:
Bye-bye Kate.

Kate O.:
See you later.

Susy Elder Murphy:
In the early mid eighties is really when the whole idea of care management began. The first assisted livings were being built and attorneys were working with people and they didn't know how to guide them. Attorney Ron Landsman had met Debra and Ron said, "I really think you could help some of my clients out. I really need somebody who can visit them regularly or advocate for them or help me understand what they need." So in November 1988 she went out on her own, formed her company.

Ed Levy:
The company started as a company of one and the office was a desk in our home office.

Susy Elder Murphy:
And she'd been doing it for about five years when she and I met, and it really grew from there. The summer of 2012, Debra had gone on a really wonderful vacation with her husband, Ed.

Ed Levy:
It was July 3rd when we got home and she went back to work the next day. The office manager knew that something was wrong and said to Debbie, "You have to go to your doctor." Then the neurosurgeon told us the news, which was the worst possible news, which was stage four glioblastoma.

Susy Elder Murphy:
She very much wanted this company that she had started to continue. She wanted our clients to continue to be served and she had these employees who were counting on her for their jobs. So fortunately I was poised, after having worked with her for 20 years, to be able to take it on and continue it in her honor and in her memory.

Kate O.:
Before my mother died, my dad, he was still driving. So he was still doing most of the errands. He was out every day gardening. So it was very important for him to be able to get out.

Susy Elder Murphy:
We decided to start a concierge companion program. So the folks who needed a little help to engage in an activity that they really love, but they don't really have to have a nurse or a social worker. Would feel like they're out with a friend or doing it with a friend.

Kate O.:
Scott is phenomenal. He is dad's angel and he comes twice a week and he takes dad out. Scott actually grew up here. So he knows all sorts of places.

Susy Elder Murphy:
The two of them both love books. That's something that brings them very close together. Often they'll go to Politics and Prose together. They'll sit in the cafe with their books and their cups of tea and chat. It gives Eugene a sense that he's out on his own. He doesn't need his daughter in order to have a social life and in order to be active.

Karen:
Here mom, here's a glass of water.

Speaker 6:
It's just Karen and I. Karen's my only daughter. Both Karen's brother and her father died quite a few years ago.

Susy Elder Murphy:
The well senior program is to really encourage people to think ahead and also for those people who don't have family nearby or don't have family to have someone who they know when something goes wrong they can call us and we'll be there to help them.

Speaker 6:
Jane is my care manager. She checks on me every year. Heaven knows I don't know what we would've done without her because I've been hospitalized five times since I came here and my daughter needed all of the help she could get with maneuvering the system. One of the most important things she told my daughter was, "When your mother is discharged, be sure to check her medicine." Boy was she right about that because I think every time I discharge, there was a mix up in my medicine.
It's really a source of comfort to know there's somebody that's there that is on my side. Karen needed somebody to hold her hands and ensure her. Seeing my daughter being taken care of let me just take care of my own problems and work and get better and stronger, which I did. I am really thankful for the organization and I know I will continue to be thankful.

Susy Elder Murphy:
We've been doing it for over 30 years. So we bring all of that experience to your situation and really are able to help provide the confidence that we can help you through this.

Kate O.:
I just don't know what we would be doing without them and it's such a huge resource because they know. They've done this so many times.

Ed Levy:
It makes me happy every time I think about it, to think that this is still Debbie's company being run the way that she would want it to be run by this magnificent group of people.

Susy Elder Murphy:
Once you hire a company, then we always say you're not alone with this. We're here with you through this process and we'll be with you to the end, which we are.