The VetsConnection Podcast
Join host Scott McLean, a veteran and also a passionate advocate for veterans' well-being. Each week Scott will bring you an episode that will feature insightful conversations with representatives from non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting veterans, as well as experts discussing programs within the Veterans Affairs (V.A.) aimed at assisting veterans with their needs. From discussing innovative therapies to highlighting community resources, this podcast sheds light on the myriad of ways veterans can find support and healing thru nonprofit organizations and also to connect nonprofits with each other in hopes of creating a network that will be beneficial to all.
The VetsConnection Podcast
Ep. 41 - Unlocking Comprehensive Support for Veterans and the Importance of Accessible Resources and Proactive Planning for Veterans and Their Families
This episode delves into the support and services available to veterans through Trusted Companies, a suite of organizations providing healthcare and legal assistance for veterans. Stephen Wolfe, CEO, emphasizes the importance of accessible resources and proactive planning for veterans and their families, ensuring they receive the care they deserve.
• Discussion on the mission and services offered by Trusted Companies for veterans
• Overview of home healthcare services provided at no cost to veterans
• Critical importance of legal documents for older veterans
• Understanding the differences between wills, trusts, and powers of attorney
• Insights into the nonprofit initiatives by Trusted Companies
• Explanation of Medicaid applications and financial support for veterans
• Opportunities for veterans to gain employment as home health aides
• Encouragement for older veterans to seek education about available resources
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McClain. My guest today is Stephen Wolfe. Stephen is the CEO of Trusted Companies and we're going to get into what Trusted Companies is all about. But first of all, welcome to the podcast, Steve.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Scott.
Speaker 1:Steve or Stephen. Either way, all right, all right.
Speaker 2:Don't call me late for dinner.
Speaker 1:There you go. There you go. Steve's a big dude. He's a big dude. Not a big dude, not big fat dude, he's like tall big dude. So that's give you a little background on him. Yeah, welcome to the one man, one mic studio and the big pink couch. What do you think of the big pink couch? Good to be here, right, right, it's a big pink couch. Yeah, oh, by the way, the one man, one mic studio, sponsored by willow and palm construction. Willow and palm Construction, located in beautiful Delray Beach, florida, willow and Palm Construction is South Florida's premier builder. From driveways to roofs to buildings, if you need it, they'll build it. So you can find them at wwwwillowandpalmcom. Do people even have to say www anymore? I don't think so. I don't even say W, I say W, www, like, does it really matter at this point?
Speaker 2:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Right, right. It's like when someone says what's your email, I just say you know, I don't know, Vets Connection Podcast at Gmail. Do I have to say com Right, these things, but people still do it. They still do it. All right, Stephen, let's get into it. What exactly is?
Speaker 2:Trusted Companies. Trusted Companies is a suite of companies that helps mainly seniors. There's Trusted Law Office, which we have an attorney in-house that owns that. There's Trusted Care Advocates, which is our nonprofit. There's Trusted Home Care Agency, Trusted Home Care Registry. There's Trusted Metarexa Pharmacy and a durable medical equipment company for walkers, wheelchairs, canes, commodes. So we try to kind of encapsulate the senior and help them with all aspects that they may run into as they age.
Speaker 1:Okay and for the listeners, I know, and you know, that this podcast is usually for nonprofits and veterans with interesting stories or veterans that work for nonprofits, et cetera. But Steve was recommended by Dr Pete from the VA, the West Palm Beach VA, and if Dr Pete recommends, well then I will give them an episode. Dr Pete's a good guy and so this episode is not a promotion for trusted companies. Although Steve is the CEO and founder, this is going to be veteran-oriented because they do a lot of stuff. They do a lot of good stuff for veterans and we're going to get into that.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to have that disclaimer that this is not a, like you know, because I get a lot of people, steve, I'll tell you a lot of people want to come on that veterans that own companies but they're not really in the veteran space. So I have to. I've had to learn how to say no. I have a hard time doing that, but you know I had a discussion and Lex right, lex reached out to me, sure, and then you and I and her had a call and and you kind of passed, as they say, passed mustard. You know what I mean. You guys do a lot for veterans, so well, that's you know.
Speaker 2:That's why we have the nonprofit built for those people who are in need, or for veterans as well, and we also have, through the home care company, we have a VA contract to do home care for the vet. That doesn't cost them a dime, so it's not for profit from the vet to us, okay. And and also we're going to help the vet all the way around. If we have a home care patient who's a vet and he doesn't have a power of attorney, the attorney will do a pro bono for them. We're going to help them out.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:We're trying to give back and help out the vets 100%. How long has Trusty been around? I've been in business for almost 27 years. Companies have evolved over time and have layered them in. As I see a need, we create the next company to solve that problem or fix that. The VA to us is fairly new in the home care space and we actually got one of the last contracts with the VA. There's a moratorium on home care contracts in the state of Florida but we can help through. Let's say we should be able within the next two months. We're Clearwater, tampa, broward and right now, for sure, palm Beach County and Indian River County. So we're spread out a little bit across the state and we're open to help any time any vet needs any, which way they need it.
Speaker 1:And we do need that, like we do. Sure, you know, as we were talking before the podcast started, before I hit that record button, you know there's a lot of veterans out there that don't want to deal with the VA and they don't want to go through whatever they think is going to be the challenges it is to go through the VA. I know personally the VA has really done a good turnaround since my first interaction with them back in like 2000. And then my second interaction with them back in like 2018, it was a whole different place. So I do know that there has been progress, but some people avoid it and they go through a civilian company.
Speaker 2:Well, there's a lot of pieces that are still missing, right when I sat down and talked with Dr Pete and the group the coffee hour and whatnot there's parts of the legal aspect that they can get taken care of from the VA A living will, which is pull the plug or don't pull the plug, healthcare surrogate make a medical decision for me if I can't do it myself, and a power, not the power of attorney. The living will and the healthcare surrogate they'll do for them. Yeah, they won't do the power of attorney, so you need to turn somewhere for that.
Speaker 1:Why Do you know? Why?
Speaker 2:I don't know, why I think that their legal channel, I guess, is maybe they're not going to give advice, they're not going to do anything that would stretch their abilities there. So in our case we said, well, let's just give the power of attorney to the vet. It's not a big deal, come in, the attorney will handle it, the paralegals will handle it. Knock it out and it's done. What's ridiculous is that these other firms out there are charging, you know, $400 for a power turn. It's ridiculous. Yeah, okay, yeah, we're just going to give it to you. It's a few pieces of paper. You change the name on it. Let's go, you need it right.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful thing, and these are the things talk to us. We're going to tell you what do you do about your house? Maybe you live off of all your income, you don't have tons of assets, but you own a home. If you pass, that home's going through probate, which is a nightmare. It doesn't need to be, and you don't have to do some complex legal planning. We can do a ladybird deed which gives the house to the beneficiary when you die, with a step up in cost basis. It's not a big deal, but people just don't know where to turn to get this information, and that's what we want to do. We want to just spread the word, tell them what's available and what's out there.
Speaker 1:So let's kind of I have a list of things that you do, so let's see if we go down them one at a time and we can kind of so home healthcare we just talked about that, but can you give me a little more detail on how that works?
Speaker 2:Sure. So when someone's in need of private duty like activities, daily living, a lot of that's as they age, as we all age, we need care. So maybe it's going to be just with cooking a meal for them or helping them in the shower or dressing, or getting up out of the chair or the bed or that sort of thing, or just doing the laundry for them, change the bed linens, go to the grocery store, that sort of thing. That's where you need a home health aide to come in and help out. That's where you need a home health aide to come in and help out. Normally, if you were a non-vet just in the field and you wanted to go get home care, you're talking about $30 an hour today for an aide to come in.
Speaker 2:The VA is giving in Palm Beach County 45 hours a week free to the vet. All he needs to do is be medically needy. Forget the financial side of it. He also needs to be in the system. There are a lot of older vets that turned away and do not use the VA. So let me just explain. There's two sides of this. If they're in the system and they already use the hospital or the doctor or something at the VA, then probably within two to three weeks we can have care in their house through the case manager. If they're not in the system now, they got to get an appointment, go in and see the doctor, get into the system and that may take up to three months. But that's the process and you can pick any home care company you want that's VA approved. You don't have to pick me, I'm just telling you what's out there and what's available, and that's all you know.
Speaker 1:So then we get into something you just talked about. Well again. Well, let me go back. If somebody wants to contact you about home healthcare, like hey, hey, steve, or whoever they speak to, like I heard the podcast and I'm interested in like what, how would they present that to you? How would like give them?
Speaker 2:They can contact our home care agency directly. Okay, at 561-770-6030. Contact us and say I need care.
Speaker 1:I'm a veteran. I'm a vet.
Speaker 2:I live in XYZ County or city or whatever it is, and how can you help me out? And if I'm not in that area that they're in let's say they're in the middle of the state or something Well, we're direct them, I'm going to tell them where to go and how to get it done.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So let's get into wills, trusts, deeds, living wills, healthcare surrogates and power of attorney. Now that's.
Speaker 2:That's a lot right there, but you're the resident expert, so give the people a little breakdown on that, yeah, I'm going to tell you right up front, I'm not the attorney, right, as I'm not an attorney, I cannot own the law firm, sure, but I am the registered agent of the law firm. So Amanda Chung is the attorney in the office, okay, but I work under her umbrella so I can talk about this, tell you what's going on, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Like what's the difference? A lot of people don't know the difference.
Speaker 2:Right. So here's the thing. Everyone says, well, I have a will and I'm fine. The problem is this A will goes through probate what the heck is probate, it's a pain in the ass.
Speaker 2:It's a pain in the ass. How does it get released? The courts have to release it. So it goes to the courts with the will. Now the courts open it to creditors, they advertise it. So they all state claim first, get paid first. Then they release the assets.
Speaker 2:In Florida, because we're in senior central, it's a backlog. You're talking six months to two years to get through a probate process. If you are just probating a house, that house cannot be sold until it gets through probate. Nobody's going to buy it. You're stuck. Okay, that's a will. So If you do a trust, the trust avoids that. Why? Because the trust is going to own everything you own. It's going to own your house, it's going to own your bank account, if you have a brokerage account, or it's going to be the beneficiary of your life insurance or whatever it is that you have. So when you pass away and there's no one else, the owner of those assets is still living. The trust never dies. Hence no probate. Now, whoever you've put in charge of your estate, which would be the successor trustee, now can execute, liquidate and distribute, as you've said in that trust. So it's really nothing more than a fancy will, but instead of it being the John Doe bank account. It's the John Doe revocable living trust bank account, so it never dies.
Speaker 1:It's more. It's not chaotic like probate, is not. It's all structured for you.
Speaker 2:This is how fast you get your hands on a death certificate. We can execute that trust. Yeah, there is no judges, there's no attorneys, there's no, none of that. There's no fees. It's very, very simple at the end, the upfront. The only headache of it is is that you have to retitle the assets. We'll do the house right through the courts, but they have to go. I can't go to the bank and change your bank account to your trust name. You have to do that right. So that's the only bit of headache. But we coach and direct and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:So that's a trust and then the deed puts it into the trust. If there's nothing there like like I have clients you may not need it. If you just have a house, maybe you have an IRA and you have your pension, you may not need the trust. We can do a ladybird deed, which is like adding a beneficiary to the deed. If you're leaving it to a person, your IRA already has beneficiaries on it. We don't have to do complex anything. There's always ways. We'll talk about each piece and, again, you don't have to use us to do it. We're going to educate you and then it's up to you how and which way you want to go.
Speaker 2:Something that's very important, though, is the power of attorney. We don't know when something's going to happen and all of a sudden we're out of it or God forbid, a stroke or whatever it may be and you can't make decisions for yourself If you have not appointed someone. Now you got to, you have to go through guardianship, and the courts might appoint a guardian for you, and it may not be who you want. So get that power of attorney done. Say, who's going to handle your financial affairs if you can't do that, if you're knocked out from an accident? Who's going to handle your financial affairs If you can't do that? If you're knocked out from an accident? Who's going to say it's okay to fix your ankle, you got to have a healthcare surrogate and you want to be on machines for the rest of your life, like that, I don't know. Remember 20, some years ago, that Terry Shiavo case or whatever. We don't want that to happen. So these documents that need to be done and we can knock them out in no time.
Speaker 2:It's very, very simple. It's not complex. It's not like you're walking into an Armani suit law firm or something. That's not who we are. You see how I'm dressed now a pair of jeans, a t-shirt. I mean we're not high, highfalutin high power. It's not who we are. We're down to earth.
Speaker 1:So some of this, some of these things are free and some are. Veterans get a rate like a discount.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Because not everything like this can be free. I like the veteran. We have to understand that Like correct.
Speaker 2:But but the little stuff, yeah, a little. This little, that's fine, Right? If I have to go file a deed, there's a cost of filing a deed. Yes, I can't pay for that Right.
Speaker 1:I mean someone's got to put that kind of counterproductive to your business.
Speaker 2:But but you know, like I said, if we have a vet who is using the home care business, obviously we're making something on that home care. I don't mind throwing this stuff in. I want that guy helped out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, without a doubt, living wills explain all the plug.
Speaker 2:Don't pull the plug Right. Medical decision you know you can't make it for yourself. Do you want to live on that machine?
Speaker 1:no, right, okay, yeah, we talked about healthcare surrogates. It's people that will come in and now, well, no, healthcare surrogate is a medical decision.
Speaker 2:Okay, you're knocked out, you're on the operating table. They find something else wrong with you. They can't wake you up to say, hey, can we fix it. Somebody has to be, has to be able to make that decision to fix it.
Speaker 1:And that's all. That's a separate form, that's a separate separate little documents, a supporting documents.
Speaker 2:living will healthcare have to do with, you know, pulling the plug or making medical decisions? And then power of attorney is for financial decisions.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you about power of attorney. So somebody, the veteran well, because we're speaking on veterans here is older, it's a world war ii or korean war veteran and maybe they're not all like they're. The faculties aren't all there due to age or whatever. For whatever reason, how is a power of attorney? Can a power attorney be executed that way, like if they're not really?
Speaker 2:if they have lucid moments, right, and we can talk to them face to face and say do you want your son, johnny, to be your power of attorney? He's going to take care of all your financial affairs. I absolutely yes, I do, yes, I do, okay, okay, right. But if the guy's like huh what? And staring in space, no, obviously we can't do it, then that's why we want to get it done now difference, difference between power of attorney and guardianship.
Speaker 1:You mentioned guardianship.
Speaker 2:Well, if you don't have the power of attorney and the guy's out of it now we have to do guardianship to appoint a guardian for him. A lot of times we can get a family member appointed, but you're talking thousands of dollars to get through the court system to do a guardianship, whereas the power of attorney, you know our normal charge for a power of attorney and we're not selling here, but I'm just telling you we charge 150 bucks. Most attorneys are $400 for it. Okay, meanwhile, for the vet, I'm just going to give it to him and be like let's go, we need to get this done, okay.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:If they mentioned, they came off of this podcast and they heard us. I'm just giving them a power of attorney.
Speaker 1:There you go and mention the vets connection podcast. There you go? Yeah, we're going to do this podcast would pay off one way or another for the veterans. I think we talked about it, but again emphasize why these are important documents for the veteran to have because we don't know when something's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Right, health declines and we don't want it to be too late. Yeah, right, I mean. Look, I had a senior tell me one day. He said, stephen, I hope I get lucky. And I said what do you mean? You hit the lottery, or something? He said no, I hope I go to bed and don't wake up Right Because, or something. He said no, I hope I go to bed and don't wake up right because I don't want the other problems to come along with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I understand that, but not all of us are going to get lucky and we get sick and we need documents behind it. But even in that respect the getting lucky thing might leave the spouse and the family dry because, it just happened like it just happened, correct, and I I can speak firsthand of that.
Speaker 1:my God rest her soul, at 69, just died in her sleep and it was, I'll just say it. It was fucking chaos for me and my brothers. But she was very young. Yeah, she was young and she had a brand new house and it was like this is up in Boston, it's Massachusetts. I don't think probate is any different anywhere else. It all takes time. Those are the. It all takes time.
Speaker 2:This is the thing. Time and money, yeah.
Speaker 1:My brothers and I experience it and it could create hostility amongst the siblings and the spouse. If there's a living spouse my mom was single at the time it can really cause a lot of internal problems and some families don't recover from that Some families and the bottom line is this Money changes people Bad. This money changes people bad money changes people. Things that happen in these situations. You know there might be a sibling that's like I want my money. I've heard this and I kind of went through it. So this is why I know this is very, very important stuff can I address that?
Speaker 2:absolutely so I wasn't going to dig too much into the weeds, but you brought this up, it's super important here. So with a will you can only say hey, this is who gets what, when, where, why and how done. Okay, but in a trust we can talk about Johnny gets 20%, jane gets 40%, the grandkids get another 40%, things like that. Right, we can separate that out. Or maybe we have a kid who is shunned from the family, let's call it whatever. So they used to say well, we have to leave a dollar. No, you don't, because then that dollar says oh, he meant $100,000. There's always a way for them to fight it. So now we turn around and say I have intentionally not provided for Johnny, for reasons known to him, or maybe not out of lack of love or affection. Johnny's just a multimillionaire and he doesn't need it, things like this. Right, but everyone will tell you I can beat a will and I can beat probate, because I'm going to put a beneficiary on everything I have and that's fine. So you pass away and Johnny and Jane are splitting everything 50-50. They each get 500,000 bucks I don't know because life insurance, whatever the number is.
Speaker 2:And what happens when all of a sudden God forbid. Johnny dies, you say, well, it goes to his kids. Read the sentence before it. It always says if a child of mine shall pre-decease me, his or her share goes to their descendants. It doesn't say anything about Johnny dying five years after you, ten years after you. Where does it go? It goes to your wonderful daughter-in-law, who we call the outlaws when Bunny comes to the play. Okay, that's one way to look at it.
Speaker 2:So now this wonderful daughter-in-law remarries another guy who's got kids and she's burning the money for everybody. That money should have been for your grandkids. The trust that we do says that money will always stay in the bloodline and it won't go to an outlaw. Now that's. If you want that I will do whatever you want said will do. But you cannot do that in a will and you cannot do that by just a beneficiary designation.
Speaker 1:You can't Right. Right, that's good information, because a lot of people don't. They don't, and I always say this you always have to think everything through to the end. That's my 32 years of law enforcement. You look at something, think it all the way through, don't stop halfway and go. That's my answer. Come with different variables, different scenarios, think it all the way through.
Speaker 2:And a lot of people don't do that we're going to turn over every rock and dig deep. We burrow down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:Because it's an emotional time and people aren't really always thinking rationally at those times. That's right.
Speaker 2:And if they already have these documents in hand but they're not sure. If it says what I'm saying, bring it in, we'll look at it. It's not going to cost you to sit down and talk to me, have a cup of coffee and we'll look at the document. We'll see if it's right, or if you want to modify it or change it, we can do it.
Speaker 1:So All right, all right, let's see. And so the nonprofit. Let's talk a little about that. That covers the trusted care advocates is correct.
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah, that was built because, I'll tell you, many years ago probably eight, 10 years ago I cared for a woman in a nursing home who had nobody. For 11 years I cared for her. I used to visit her twice a week. I'd bring her some breakfast she always wanted McDonald's or I'd send her a pizza if I couldn't be there. You know things like that Just because she had no one and I became her power of attorney and I just took to her, okay.
Speaker 2:And I realized that there are so many forgotten seniors.
Speaker 2:You know kids passed away or they never had kids, or they didn't have a good relationship with their kids for whatever reason, and they end up either in their home or in a nursing home or somewhere and they're stuck, so someone has to care for them, Right, stuck, so someone has to care for them, right. So trusted care advocates is we'll send volunteers into the nursing home, or if someone can't afford a home health aid, I'll get somebody in there just to at least get them clean and do the laundry for them, to give them the legal documents maybe that are necessary so they don't fall apart. And a lot of that comes pro bono through the law office. That's how the trusted care advocates does it, and then the home care company. You know how does it get funded. We have clients who have no one and say you know what? I need a good charity and I would love to. So they put a little bit in or they go. Or there's grants from the VA. There's actually grants, Absolutely so when there's money like we went over.
Speaker 1:some of the legal documents are at no charge, right, and you'll determine that when the veteran calls you the home healthcare we covered that right. That, uh, and this is this, can all if you've listened, if you're listening to the podcast, we're going to give you Steve's information or or the the company's information, and if you're a veteran, you could call and so say you heard it on the vets connection podcast, right?
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. I'll tell you, on top of all this, what people don't understand Special code.
Speaker 1:Vets Connection podcast. That's all I gotta say.
Speaker 2:Say Scott, we got it, that's good. You know? An add-on to all this also what the law firm does that a lot of people don't believe they can qualify for. Believe it or not, the state of Florida is the only state that I can shelter assets and qualify someone for Medicaid benefits. So that's a thing, it's a big thing.
Speaker 1:That's a thing, right. So the VA, you know, okay, if you're 40%, you can be covered by the VA medically, and it's up to a certain extent. And so there's people that are like, well, if you have VA coverage, you don't really need Medicaid because the VA is for the rest of your life. And then there's people that are like, well, if you have VA coverage, you don't really need Medicaid because the VA is for the rest of your life. And then there's the veterans that are like 30%, that will be on Medicaid, you know, and that's their disability rating, right, right For those veterans. And there are veterans that don't want to use the VA and they want to go with Medicaid.
Speaker 2:So it's well we'll couple the two of them, because I only do the Medicaid for long-term care, right, okay, okay. But if the VA is giving you 45 hours of care, that may not be enough, right, you know. So you get six hours a day roughly for the week. That's okay, but maybe you need eight or ten hours. Yeah Well, the VA is going to pay for another two to six hours a day on top of that. I mean the Medicaid will.
Speaker 1:Medicaid will. Yeah, so you got the.
Speaker 2:VA for 45, and then you have maybe another 20, 30 hours out of Medicaid. So we combine those two. Now these people can get an eight or 10-hour shift a day. We're talking about a vet who's, you know, not doing well.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:This isn't for the 40-year-old, the 50 year old, this is more the guy who needs. I mean, he's, he's older now he's getting there, you know. Yeah, they need the help.
Speaker 1:So so let's see the Medicaid applications you help.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when you do a Medicaid application it's got to be done through law office, on the umbrella of the law office. Ok, all of our home care is Medicaid approved. So when we do Medicaid for someone, we can place the care Medicaid pays us directly. There's no money out of their pocket. Now, in qualifying for Medicaid, people think I can't qualify. Yes, you can. The house is exempt. I can make the IRA exempt. I got a guy with a million dollar IRA and he's on Medicaid, right, okay, there's a way to do that. Yeah, if there's cash and assets, we can shelter them. Only in the state of Florida Can we shelter them legally and avoid the five-year look back. That's the key.
Speaker 1:Legally, this is all above board. We're not talking about anything that's, you know, like shady, because, well, I don't think that would be good to announce that on a podcast.
Speaker 2:Everything that I do goes through the legal department of the state of Florida. When we do Medicaid We've been doing it for over 20 years I have a Medicaid specialist, the attorney, the paralegals. It is completely, completely above board street.
Speaker 1:Right, let me see. I have a full outline on how to handle the what-ifs in life via the legal docs at Medicaid, and how to structure their affairs. This is all covered. This is what you guys will do.
Speaker 2:This is the outline of the map of what's coming right. So when I sit with someone, we say you know what do you have? You have this in place, that in place, or you have nothing, that's fine, whatever. Then we talk about what do the assets look like? What's the income look like, what's the family dynamic, what's going on? And then we'll say, well, what if this happens? What if that happens? What if I end up here? What if this with my kids? We'll go through every what if that's out there, because you've seen them all, yeah. And then how do we tackle those? How do we solve those? Or how do we ward that off? Look, you're not qualifying for Medicaid today. If you're walking in the office and everything's fine, that's okay. But if you have a roadmap for it and you have someone to call or you can tell your kids, contact us if you're out of it, now, you've got the roadmap, you've got the directions, that's all it is.
Speaker 1:Right, what's the qualifying age for Medicaid?
Speaker 2:62. 62. Yeah, or older. Or I have some that have been younger, but they have to have a formal disability and they're in a nursing home.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I mean you have early onset Alzheimer's, Some guys in the late 50s, I mean it happens.
Speaker 1:So if somebody walks in and they're 62 and they're like, hey, I have VA health care and I have Blue Cross Blue Shield from my old job, you know.
Speaker 2:But I need more care.
Speaker 1:But I would like more care. Still eligible for Medicaid 100%, all right. And the veteran, as far as this goes, is what is the charge? Is there a charge for all that? What's the just as far as this goes? Is there a charge for all that? Just so they know.
Speaker 2:Right. And if there is, there is no, yeah. If there's nothing that needs to be done except the application, meaning there's nothing that has to be explained. We're not moving money around. There are no assets. Maybe they just live off of a good pension and they have a house. Yeah, you know I have to do nothing else and they want to use our home care company. I'm not going to charge them.
Speaker 2:We'll push the application through for nothing, don't worry about it, right now, if the guy comes in, he's got a half a million, a million bucks in assets around and I have to move and shake and shuffle.
Speaker 1:There's obviously there're going to say Scott or the Vets Connection podcast.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:This is not a promotion, by the way. This is the code. You always see the type in code. You know I'm a winner.
Speaker 2:That's your code into the speakeasy. Okay, Exactly.
Speaker 1:And you know there might be veterans and there are a lot of veterans that want to get that covered fast. So I'm 60 like I'm 61. So next week, next year, I might walk into your office say, hey, I just want to do the application for medicare.
Speaker 2:Well, you will get that ball, you won't need it because for medicaid though for medicaid yeah we wouldn't do it unless it was a crisis oh okay, see, there you go you do it at crisis. Oh, for medicaid, for medicaid. Okay, you do that at crisis, we don't need to do anything, but we will do the legal documents in advance, because when a crisis occurs, you may not be able to do it yourself. Right, our power of attorney allows whoever you have appointed to do all of that for you, okay?
Speaker 1:okay, and that would be whoever it doesn't spouse or sibling or child or whatever correct. You mentioned in our conversation possible job opportunities.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's talk a little about that so we tried at one point it's a little difficult to put this together we were trying to do vets assisting vets.
Speaker 2:So, if there's a way to, I would love to be able to have veterans who want to become home health aides or certified nurses assistants and go out and help the other vet. So there's a job there for them for sure. Okay, there is a course that they have to take. It's a 40 or 70 hour course. Not that big of a deal, right, it's a few hundred bucks. Not that big of a deal, right, it's a few hundred bucks. But then they become a CNA or an HHA, which is a certified nurse's assistant or a home health aid, and we have worked like crazy for them. So they go out to the house and they're going to help the guy with the, with a shower or dressing, or cooking a meal for them, or doing his laundry, change it, or just hanging out keeping them company while he's struggling you know, a lot of times they don't need help in the shower or help, but they need someone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it, they need someone there. So if there's a vet that's interested, a guy that doesn't have a job, he's interested in wanting to help out and do something like that, we can help him get certified and then he can work and he doesn't even have to work for just us.
Speaker 1:I mean, once you can help him get certified and then he can work and he doesn't even have to work for just us, I mean once you have your CNA and HHA, you can work for any home care company out there, right, right, and you guys are willing to help them out with that, which is big, absolutely. Which is big because there's a lot of companies that are just like, oh, you don't have that certification yet, when you get it, come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, we're going to direct them and say this is where you go.
Speaker 1:This is how you get it. This is what you do.
Speaker 2:And some of it's online. Some of it you have to be there, you take the test. It's not like rocket science.
Speaker 1:Right, you just got to put the work in, put the hours in and get that stuff done and then come back and say, hey, and you'll be like all right.
Speaker 2:And then the nice thing about this is you pick the work you want or don't take it Right. Oh, this guy's four hours a day, I'll take it, but I only want three days a week, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right, I think we covered a lot. Is there anything else you want to do? You think we missed anything, that you want to rehash anything?
Speaker 2:You know, I just think that the vet so many times sits back, doesn't know where to turn, thinks about the V and then says I don't know and then they go.
Speaker 2:But I don't want to go out there because I don't want to go sit down and talk to some high power law firm. You know, just sit down with us and talk, just become educated. That's what it is. We educate our kids when they're little. As they grow up, right, the senior needs to be reeducated on what's available and what they're missing. So come in, get educated and use me or don't use me, it's okay. Do it however you want to do it, but get the education. It's free from us, right, why not?
Speaker 1:And so now the big question how can they get in touch with you, steve, or your company?
Speaker 2:Sure. So the main office number they can get a hold of is 561-998-6039. It's 561-998-6039. Or just look us up trustedcompaniesvip. Trustedcompaniesvipcompaniesvip, and all the companies will be on there. You can scroll across and tap into them and see them as each one of the websites and then any number that's.
Speaker 1:You see, you will get a hold of me if it's on that site if you're a veteran and you're listening to this in, in any of these situations uh happening, or you see them happening. Well, give them a call, give them a push on the online, do something, but yeah, don't sit back and make sure you tell them you heard us on the podcast. That's right. Vets connection podcast scott.
Speaker 2:Either or or both scott, I really appreciate the time today.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me dude, thank you very much. This was extremely informative and I love so. When I do these interviews, we do kind of a talk prior to and people want to be on for whatever reason, and so I kind of listen to them. But you never know what you're going to get when the podcast starts. And I've been fortunate so far. I've done a good screening and I kind of got this was a little outside the ballpark because, again, I don't do for-profit companies, but after you and I talked, I was like you know what, yeah, this is good, this is going to be informative. And see, I'll tell you, it met and exceeded my expectation on what we were going to talk about informative-wise. And maybe there's going to come a time I don't know, maybe five months from now I might have you back on, or if there's ever a topic that you know, I think, hey, let's get back into that. I'll definitely bring you back on because it was very informative. I'm glad.
Speaker 2:That's what it's all about. It's education and information. There's no sales pitch here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and you reached out. You sat down with a veterans group. There's these groups that gather. There's different veterans groups around South Florida and I know around the country that get together and it's good. You know, there's a lot of camaraderie in these groups and some go for coffee, some go for lunch. That's how Steve got introduced to me in the podcast, was he took his time to go out and talk to this group of veterans at their coffee meet, you know. And, like I said, if Dr Pete was impressed then, well then I said okay, yeah, you're going to get through the gate. You made it through the gate. And again, steve, this was a really really good and informative episode. And again, steve, this was a really really good and informative episode. And one more time how can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Trustedcompaniesvip or 561-998-6039. Call us. We'll be able to get anything taken care of for you. We'll help you out.
Speaker 1:All right, and if you need it, use it. Here it is, it's right there and well. Again, steve, thank you very much and, as I always say, we built another bridge today. This is a very informative bridge, and I say I build these bridges because I think there's a lot is why I started this podcast is to get other organizations to work with each other, get veterans to cross that bridge over to you know, your company or that helps them, or another nonprofit. I think today was a very informative episode and, as I would say also, listen to the end is a good public service announcement concerning 988 and 211. And it's very informative for the veterans, the veterans family members and civilians in general. And if you like this podcast, share it. Tell a friend about it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for listening for 38 minutes, but I think if you listen this long, I think you liked it. So, again, as I always say, you'll hear me next Monday with the new episode. Thank you very much. All right, steve.
