Family is of utmost priority to me. I was raised to respect the elders and unconditionally support my family, and following the tragic loss of my dad, creating Quarterback Care felt like the right thing to do. Leveraging my 25+ years of experience in project management and personal coaching, my wife Jess and I brought this concept to fruition. Our goal with Quarterback Care is to grant the gift of time.
First-hand experience is the best way to learn what is needed for others requiring care and managing my mom's care for over seven years was a game changer. It gave me valuable insights, such as accepting to control only what you can control, navigating the medical needs and health care system can be a full-time job and that time is a commodity we easily overlook. With more than 15 years in corporate management, combined with my strong desire to make a difference, we created Quarterback Care to grant the gift of time.
Our goal is to afford you the opportunity to cherish and spend one-on-one dedicated time with your loved ones rather than managing their care. We grant you the gift of time!
Quarterback Care 360° Concierge was inspired by and dedicated to our parents, Jessica’s mom, Joanne and Elias’ dad, Joseph.
Reactionary. That is the word I would describe my family’s experience in managing my mom's care. In 2015, we lost my dad tragically and no one was prepared for the experience and demands it would have on our family and, more specifically, my mom.
After the accident, she needed companionship and counselling as she grieved the loss of her life partner and learned to transition to a prosperous, independent life. My family learned, the hard way, that the time commitment, struggle, and energy required to find a suitable companion for her was extensive. For a while, we felt like her care was a revolving door of people that weren’t the right fit. It was certainly a difficult process to manage and we became reactionary. Additional, as adult children, we were managing our own young children, careers, and lives and it was hard to not feel guilty about falling short of meeting her needs. Time has made us wiser and, as a family, we are now able to deliver and meet her needs.
Having gone through the process of needing caregivers who could not form a personal connection with my mom, I learned the importance and necessity of customizing a plan to fulfill her needs. It is the emotional connection that is necessary to provide quality care and it will be our mission to accomplish this goal for your loved ones.
Over the course of seven years, I dealt with nine caregivers, six healthcare specialists, countless doctors' appointments, all while spending innumerable hours obsessing, worrying, caring, researching, and communicating my mom’s needs and desires. Of course, all of this was done with unconditional love for her. After a first fall in 2013, we knew that something was not right with her as many other ones followed. It started with the “missed step”, the fall in the shower, and another one walking around the kitchen island. Then came the need for a cane, followed by five different types of walkers, three kinds of wheelchairs and a litany of medical equipment, to the point like it felt like we owned a medical equipment store.
My mom had cortiobasal degeneration, a rare neurodegenerative disease. As humans, we are conditioned to find a solution and solve problems, and this was one we were unable to solve. There is no cure for cortiobasal degeneration, only symptomatic treatment and management. As the youngest of three, I became mom’s quarterback. As her primary caregiver, I’d make her meals, take her for walks, bathe her, attend her medical appointments and report back to the family. I did this while managing my full-time corporate job, stepping in where needed to fill in the gaps left by mom’s absence in the family business, building a relationship with my now husband, and trying to find my way personally as a 30-year-old.
As a child, you will do anything for your parents, but there was a point where “doing it all” becomes both mentally and physically too much. So, I recruited caregivers, coordinated activities, researched, and sourced medical experts, communicated with our family, implemented everchanging processes, programs, plans, the list was remarkably endless. I became my mom's quarterback managing all the moving parts of her life, especially as her disease continued to strip away capabilities that we take for granted. Although it was extremely rewarding to significantly support and provide for her, it was very difficult. Being caught up in the details took away my ability to spend quality time with my mom.
Looking back, a non-family quarterback overseeing my mom’s needs would have been much more ideal. With this person in place, I would have been able to be truly present with her and be in the moment to hold her hand more often, have more sit-down meals together and, overall, spend more quality time with her.