Skills in Senior Care Management with Danae Mierau at KARE

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe on your favorite podcast directory above! Learn how Danae Mierau transitioned from direct patient care to a leadership role in senior care management at KARE!

For Danae Mierau Q&A Click Here

About Leveraging Therapy Skills at KARE

Are you a physical therapist contemplating a career shift? Or perhaps you’re just curious about the versatility of your therapy skills? Danae successfully transitioned from a clinician to an administrative role and eventually into a general manager position at KARE, a tech-driven senior living support company. She began her career in acute care settings in Salt Lake City. She later moved to Colorado, where she found her passion for working with seniors, particularly in a memory care community.

KARE connects communities with providers and providers with communities, offering increased flexibility and financial independence for therapists. This platform is ideal for working moms, those looking for supplemental income, or anyone wanting to work when and where they want. The real-time payment system and the ability to trial-run potential employers make KARE a win-win for everyone involved.

Danae’s journey is a clear example that therapists possess invaluable skills that can be transferred to various industries, including management and sales roles. In this episode, we debunk the myth that therapists can’t excel in non-clinical positions, explain the invaluable skills that therapists bring to any industry, highlight the importance of networking, building relationships and working with a team that aligns with your values, and offer practical advice on how to leverage your therapist background to excel in new roles.

Are you contemplating a career shift but unsure if your investment in PT school is worth it? We tackle this crucial question and through self-assessment tips and reflections on past career steps, we emphasize the importance of understanding your strengths, preferences, and goals before making a career shift. Tune in if you’re looking to leverage your therapy skills in a new role or seeking guidance on how to navigate a career transition.

Resources

Kare Website
Danae’s Link e dIn

This show is supported by

This month’s sponsor is Engage Movement, the go-to solution for rehab professionals looking to increase their earnings without extending their work hours. Visit EngageMovement.com/rehabrebels and use the promo code REBELS to unlock your training for FREE!

Transcript of Leveraging Therapy Skills at KARE

Intro 00:01

Welcome to the Rehab Rebels podcast. Are you a rehab professional ready to transition to an alternative career? Hear inspiring stories from others just like you and learn the best ways to bridge your career gap. This podcast has you covered. Now here’s your host, doctor of physical therapy and podcaster, Tanner Welsh.

Tanner Welsch 00:21

Hi. Rehab Rebels Public service announcement. We have been posting a variety of career transition interviews this season. However, we have received some positive feedback about the business career transition interviews, so you will be seeing more of these interviews being posted. Let us know what you want to hear more of by sending me a DM on Instagram at RehabRebelsPodcast, or email me directly at Tanner at RehabRebelsorg. Take care.

00:52

Welcome back to another Rehab Rebels episode, this episode. There’s two things that are discussed in today’s episode, and that is an alternative career path, and another second thing that is discussed is a alternative income source for rehab professionals, and we’ll dive into both of those.

Today’s guest is Denae, and we’ll give a little brief bio about her and then we’ll bring her in and start the interview. Denae grew up in Chicago, Chicago land area. I’m going to have to ask you Denae grew up in Chicago, Chicago land area. I’m going to have to ask you, Denae, what you mean by Chicago land area. She attended the University of Missouri for her undergrad degree in health science and continued at the University of Missouri for her doctorate of physical therapy, and she is currently a general manager at KARE, which is the leading solution to solve the labor shortage and senior care facilities. So, Danae, welcome to the podcast.

Danae Mierau 01:49

Thank you, happy to be here.

Tanner Welsch 01:51

Let’s start with the bio. I see that it says Chicagoland area. Can you tell us a little bit about what that means?

Danae Mierau 01:57

Yeah, you know, I’m a suburban girl, grew up about an hour outside of the city. Many people don’t know where Batavia, Illinois is, but everyone knows where Chicago is, so I tend to go with the Chicagoland area able to connect with more people that are from around that area.

Tanner Welsch 02:13

Makes sense. I imagine it can get kind of complicated in some of those big huge metropolitan areas about. Chicago covers a lot of little suburb areas. So yeah, for sure let’s dive in here and just kind of get into the nitty gritty with if you could give us just a real short, brief background of after you graduated PT school, what were some of the positions that you held, and then we’ll get on to one of the first major questions, which is you know what was the first sense of awareness that things weren’t quite right in the traditional rehab career model treating patients. Right in the traditional rehab career model treating patients.

Danae Mierau 02:44

So right out of school I started in acute care in Salt Lake City, working primarily in the ICU, really really enjoyed my time there, working obviously with critically ill patients. And then my husband and I decided to move to Colorado and there is where I really kind of decided where in PT I wanted to practice, which was with seniors, and so I became a rehab director at a senior living community. It was all memory care, so standalone memory care, 76 bed community and that population I just fell in love with. It’s a challenge, right, because they’re not remembering necessarily you know they’re not going to do the home exercise program because they don’t remember but just seeing the impact that I and the rehab team could make, not only with that resident but teaching the caregivers how to transfer residents and patients the best and the safest decreasing falls, I just fell in love not only with that population but senior living as a whole.

03:50

And I think you know there wasn’t necessarily a single moment where I realized being a practicing clinician wasn’t for me. It was more that I fell in love with senior living as a whole and wanted to make a bigger impact on that community specifically, but also the industry. And so looking kind of around. I didn’t see necessarily a leadership path with therapy that I was inclined to go after. But I started watching the behavior and the daily tasks and the challenges that the administrator of the community went through every day and I thought to myself and I told her that day is I appreciate that you’re here doing your job, but I want your job someday I? That was the career path that in that moment I had decided I was going to go after.

Tanner Welsch 04:45

Was there a decisive moment that you had the? Ok, I’m going to transition to this over here and I believe the next role jump for you, the next career jump, was with care as a manager. How did all that transpire? How did you go from this rehab director role into you know, this manager role for care?

Danae Mierau 05:05

When I was the rehab director, the community had, quite honestly, been through a rough patch kind of turnover of leadership caregivers census was lower, but we had the opportunity to build that and when I was the rehab director we definitely turned the community around. So revenue was improving, we had more patients and residents on caseload and while it wasn’t the rehab company’s fault, like after a year, I was expecting a larger raise or increased leadership opportunity, and I think we all see that with the continued challenges with reimbursement decreasing Again, not only did I want more financial freedom and opportunity, but I also wanted increased leadership opportunity and so the opportunity to become the admin and manage a team of 50 individuals that, quite frankly, are very different, right, like, managing a caregiver is a lot different than managing a dining director, which is a lot different than managing your sales manager, and I wanted to take that leap and that challenge of managing a dynamic group of people. So I took the leap and became the administrator for 15 months and I’m very proud of every single one of those months. For anyone that has been an admin or interacted with an admin, it is a 24-7 job. You know if someone calls off, you’re the caregiver working night shift. You’re working the double on Christmas day.

06:32

And, while I loved that and it taught me so much in that 15 months, my husband and I started to talk about wanting to start a family and he, quite frankly, was well, I’m not going to be a single parent.

06:44

And I was like that is very fair, that’s a legit concern. And so I actually reached out to my previous boss at the rehab company that I had worked for and said, hey, this has been a great experience, but is there anything at the rehab company, a leadership position? I’m looking and she goes well. I’m no longer at the rehab company. I’m happy. I’m looking and she goes well. I’m no longer at the rehab company. I’m happy to connect you with the CEO, but I’m at this amazing company called KARE. Really, it went back to my network and reaching out to her name is Laura for increased opportunity, and that is what got me to KARE, and I know we’ll dive into KARE in a little bit, but that was how I got where I was, how I took the leap of faith and then again going back to your network of who you know in the industry when something isn’t working for your life or for your career.

Tanner Welsch

07:34

For sure. I think you’re super fortunate to have that happen, that your previous supervisor had made this jump, was able to talk to you about her transition, her experience, and then there’s doors opened up for you to jump on board too, so I think that’s great. Yeah, never underestimate your network. I’m actually going to finish up the miniseries. There’s a transition journey miniseries that I started and the last episode is actually about networking and groups and subgroups and all that. So we’re going to deep dive into that and that episode. Be sure to check it out. But now’s an appropriate time to dive into KARE. Tell us in a nutshell what is KARE, what services do they offer and who may be a good fit working with KARE?

Danae Mierau 08:16

Yeah. So KARE is a labor marketplace and our goal is two sides to it One place and our goal is two sides to it. One that labor marketplace is specifically for senior living. So when we talk senior living, I’m talking assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities, and our goal is to connect communities with providers and providers with communities. We’ve been around for about four years now, primarily working in the nursing world, so providing CNA, LPN, RN, MedTech positions for those providers, and it’s really exciting.

08:56

In the last few months we have launched into the therapy space. So KARE right now is in 38 states. We’ve launched therapy in three states, and so virtually what it is is communities post open shifts on the KARE platform and then we have our KARE heroes. That’s all of the providers nurses, therapists, med techs and they’re able to apply to work shifts when and where they would like. For the providers, for therapists, this is perfect for maybe working moms or maybe someone that’s just looking to make some supplemental income. We know, with therapists, right, there’s not many salaried positions out there anymore, so if census drops, you don’t have patients to treat, your income goes down, and so this is a great way to to treat your income goes down, and so this is a great way to one offer increased flexibility. Two work when and where you want. There’s a certain patient population or certain area you want to work. But three offer that financial independence and more control over what you’re bringing in for yourself, your family, whatever your financial goals are.

Tanner Welsch 10:02

For sure. It sounds like a real win-win for everybody involved. Definitely a way to have supplemental income, additional income streams, and you guys have an app you can get on and look the shifts locations. So if you’re going to use the platform and take on a shift, the therapist is not employed directly through KARE. Is that right?

Danae Mierau 10:25

Correct. So that provider is a 1099 contractor. When you say that, people ask do I have liability insurance malpractice? And the answer is yes, KARE does cover that for any provider using the KARE platform to pick up those shifts. So it’s not an increased cost on the therapist or burden or stress, but yes, that individual is a 1099 contractor.

10:47

We often see that right around the holidays people tend to work more shifts, pick up more shifts because there’s increased financial needs. Also, we see, you know if you’re a parent, people don’t work a whole lot in the summer, but then when their kids go back to school they pick up more shifts and so, again, it really is what you want to make it and also it’s increased visibility of future or potential employers. The beauty of KARE is there’s no fee for these communities to hire any of our providers full-time, part-time, PRN. So if you’re also looking for a new full-time position in the rehab space and in senior living, it’s a great way to go. Try three, five, 10 communities and see where you fit with that leadership team, the resident population, to make the best decision for yourself.

Tanner Welsch 11:38

I love that. A trial run to see if you’re a good fit yeah, I didn’t really think about that before. Also, the pay isn’t it instantaneous or something like that? You get paid really quickly per session.

Danae Mierau 12:06

So it’s similar to a home health model. As far as payment goes, the community actually sets that per session rate, so we don’t set the rates because a Denver Colorado looks a lot different from an Atlanta Georgia. We coach them on what we’re seeing as being competitive session rates, but again they’re paid per session, not per hour, and then, similar to Uber, after a therapist shift is completed, the community rates them on a one to five star rating and as long as that therapist gets a four or five star rating, as soon as that community clicks verify on that shift, they are paid in real time. Now, on the flip side, if they don’t perform as well or there were some concerns, that therapist obviously is still going to get paid for their time and their work, they just have to wait seven to 10 business days. But it’s a way that we ensure quality care to our communities but also incentivize that quality care by paying therapists, nurses, CNAs in real time.

Tanner Welsch 13:04

I love that. It sounds a lot like Luna, except Luna covers more of the home health sector, but there’s a lot of similarities here. They have a platform you get on, you get to pick up shifts in the area. It’s really great for supplemental income or however you want to use it within your circumstances and what you got going on in your life. So I think this is awesome because it just adds another opportunity for rehab professionals to explore if they want to explore it, and I think it’s great.

Danae Mierau 13:31

Our senior vice president met with one of the leaders at Luna because we are doing some similar things just in different spaces and so they met to see. You know how we can make each other better and strategies that we’re using to benefit the rehab profession as a whole and also make those therapists feel more whole as well.

Tanner Welsch 13:57

Absolutely. I think that’s great butting heads, feeling like we’re competing directly with each other. What would you say are some practical, maybe not obvious, skills that made you a great fit for the role that you’re in now?

Danae Mierau 14:09

Number one I would say is the ability to manage people. I think as therapists sometimes we get tunnel vision on treating impairments and, yes, we see that person, but you forget how many people you’re actually managing when you’re a therapist. So, as a PT or an OT or PTA, whatever type of therapist, you are right. You’re managing doctor’s orders. You’re managing, especially in senior living, the case manager Are they contemplating hospice care? You’re teaching the caregivers so that all the work that you did in your hour session is carried through their entire plan of care. So you’re interacting. And then the families, of course, especially in senior living, right, a lot of those older adults have five to seven children with completely different expectations of therapy or their care, and so you’re managing a bigger team than I think often we realize.

15:05

And the ability to manage and motivate people is so extremely powerful and can be applied to really any job or any industry. So that’s, I would say, number one. And then number two I would say therapists are disciplined, right, and we’re learners. Sometimes I hear therapists that are maybe contemplating this career change of like. Well, I don’t know that industry or I don’t know that role. I’m like, are you disciplined and are you willing to learn, are you willing to put the work in? And if you made it through PT school or OT school or SLP school, you are disciplined and you had to learn a lot. And so, again, don’t underestimate your ability to learn something new, because it’s probably going to be actually easier than you think when you realize how many skills and your knowledge that you can apply to that new position.

Tanner Welsch 15:51

For sure, and something else within the industry is, we’re often really adaptable and flexible because we have to be in work with what we have and sometimes, more often than not, we get into situations where things aren’t going to go as planned, because something comes up, or the patient’s sick or whatever the case is, and you got to adapt your plan right there, on the spot, and roll with it.

Danae Mierau 16:12

And you know, a lot of therapists say too I hear this often and I even say this about myself sometimes well, I’m not a sales person, I can’t sell. I’m like, well, you have to sell yourself and sell what you’re doing for that patient in order for them to come back. Three times a week, I probably work with people that have a stronger background in business development and sales, but naturally, you’re selling your profession and you’re selling what you can do for that person each and every day in order to get them to come back. Not that I’m looking for a fully sales role or anything like that, but there are a lot of therapists that end up being really, really strong at that.

Tanner Welsch 16:46

That’s very true. Let’s dive into what’s your typical day, maybe three top bullet points about your responsibilities for the manager role that you’re in.

Danae Mierau 16:56

So I manage our West slash, midwest region, and so I oversee operations in seven of our states, and I have a wonderful team of four leaders, the regional account managers, and so I oversee their performance. What are they struggling with? Did a state pass a new piece of compliance that we need to work through? And so, again, overseeing business development. So how many communities are using us? How many providers are we onboarding each month? How many of them are active and have had the opportunity to work a shift on the KARE platform?

17:34

Also, managing the compliance piece we know that senior living you’ll see it in the news a lot right, the compliance world is ever changing.

17:43

One state makes a change and then the next state next to them wants to make a similar change, and then we have the federal regulations and I mean it’s a lot to keep track of and make sure that again, we’re protecting our communities and our heroes and ensuring everybody’s compliant. We also travel quite a bit, and so we are at almost every state health care association show, leading age, national shows, and so managing the travel of not only myself but my team force of. Where are we going to begin recruiting therapists next? What communities already use us and could use the therapy support in teaching them how to use it, because it is structured. It’s the same platform but it is structured a little bit different. In training those rehab directors on how to successfully use the platform, we are still in startup mode. We’re about four years old, so no day is ever the same, which I really appreciate and love the challenge because there’s always something new to learn and tackle.

Tanner Welsch 18:49

That’s awesome. Would you call it a med tech company, like a startup health company? Or how would you categorize KARE?

Danae Mierau 18:57

Yes, we are a tech company, but if you ask any of my family and friends me saying I work for a tech company, they would just laugh. And so, because I’m not techie at all, honestly, we have a lot of clinicians, previous director of nursing rec therapists on our team and so we really are built by the industry, for the industry. Our CEO, Charles Turner. He still owns senior living communities. He’s a recovering operator, as he would call himself. I would say, yes, we are a tech company, but we are a people-driven tech company Because, again, it’s not your traditional tech company, because you’re managing two different groups of people your communities and the 50,000 providers that we have on our platform.

Tanner Welsch 19:46

For sure. I believe you said there was three states that the therapy services were in. What are those three states?

Danae Mierau 19:52

So right now we are in Colorado, the greater Denver area. We have multiple markets here that help with nursing, but again want to start where we have the most providers. So the greater Denver area is number one. Two, we are in Texas, currently in Houston and Austin, but stay tuned because in the next week or two we’ll be expanding to a few additional markets. And then, third, we’re in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tanner Welsch 20:19

Nice, what is obvious to you now that maybe you struggle to see in the moment? Comparing your role where you are now, what you’ve learned, and then comparing that to back when you were treating and or in your rehab director role.

Danae Mierau 20:33

I would say if I would just give people the sense of encouragement to try something new if you’re not happy. I think there’s a stigma or the fear of judgment. If and when you go to school for seven years for something and then someone asks, oh, what are you doing? I’m like, well, I’m a physical therapist because I still am right, I can still treat patients, my license is still active, but I’m not currently practicing and I’m doing this.

20:59

A lot of people’s eyes and jaws drop, but there are so many roles out there that I still am a therapist every day. I still use that therapist skill set every single day, and especially with KARE. I mean I’m very blessed to be with the team that I am with in the ability to continue being a therapist and helping other therapists through my career path and through my career journey and through my career journey. So just because you’re not practicing doesn’t mean, I think, that you’re not a physical therapist, you’re not an OT or whatever it may be, and that you are going to use those skills every single day, even if it’s just in a non-traditional role.

Tanner Welsch 21:38

For sure. Yeah, I want to jump back to the transition and the time frame when you know you’re leaving. I think it was. You said it was like an administrator role and jumping to KARE. Was it as simple as just you had a connection on the inside of your previous supervisor and you just applied and then boom, you got this general manager position. Or was there several other hoops to jump through, or some additional training or education? I’m sure there were some pain points along the way. That’s what I’m trying to get at.

Danae Mierau 22:08

So when I had made the decision that the admin role just wasn’t sustainable for me in my lifestyle some people it is, and that’s phenomenal, like I said, I reached out to Laura. But I also applied to multiple positions in different areas and went through some different interview processes and at that time KARE wasn’t in the therapy space but Laura had been hired gosh, I think, probably like three months before me, with the plan of hey, we don’t know when this therapy thing is going to happen, but we’re going to make it happen. And that’s a big reason why Laura did make the change over to KARE in. What intrigued me again, because I don’t want to lose my roots as a therapist, but when transitioning, especially from a community in person you’re in the community every day to a remote job, primarily, you know we’re on the road 30, 40% of the time, depending on your role at KARE. That was a transition in itself, right. Again, going back to that self-discipline of when do I start work, when do I end work. Well, work never really ends because it’s a startup and communities are open 24-7. So when a nurse doesn’t show up or when a community has a last minute shift on Christmas Eve and they’re not on the platform, are you going to be the one to step up and help them? And so, while that was, it seemed like a challenge. I thought to myself I’ve got to help this administrator because I know exactly how he or she feels, because if I don’t help them, they’re going to go work the night shift tonight and miss Christmas Eve with their family, or whatever it may be.

23:45

When I was hired at Tara, I was a regional account manager, so I only oversaw our operations in Colorado and I would say the biggest challenge but also what I appreciated is every market that we’re in is so completely different. So, yes, there were some SOPs that I could follow to learn, but it was really up to me to learn our current customers, to learn the market, to learn the legislation that would affect how we run our business, because, again, what we do here versus Oklahoma is drastically different. And so the challenge of not really having a structured game plan of here’s how you build your market, here’s how you make your customers happy, the challenge of really having to teach yourself and just go get it was a challenge, but I really enjoyed that, so I found it fun. And then again, about six months in, is when I transitioned to the general manager role to oversee a team in multiple states.

Tanner Welsch 24:47

Cool, like looking at the past. You know five, maybe even 10 years. What would you have done differently, knowing what you know now, if you could go back five or 10 years? Is there anything that you would have changed?

Danae Mierau 24:59

You know I don’t think I would change much of anything. I really am happy with the path that I’ve taken and the confidence to take those steps. I’m not saying I never doubted myself. I would say the moment that I doubted myself probably the most in all of this transition and looking back, was making that initial jump from rehab director clinician to the admin role. I remember the first family when they announced that I was going to be the next admin. This family member walked up to me and she’s you are so young, can you do this job? And I thought to myself, what did I do? Right, like that’s internally what I’m thinking. What did I do? And I said yep, because I’ve got the courage and the energy to get the job done. And I just walked away. I mean I didn’t know what else to say to this woman. So again, like I don’t regret or I wouldn’t change anything.

25:58

But that doesn’t mean that every transition was just perfect. And I never doubted myself because there were days and nights that I did. I mean running a senior living community and laying down at night and thinking there are 60 people whose lives depend on me. Running this community successfully can get to you mentally and emotionally. And then, to be quite frank, the jump from admin to care was pretty easy because I was so excited to be with a company that was going to help fix the number one problem of why I couldn’t and why a lot of admins or DONs or communities struggled daily, and the opportunity to be with a company that impacts that daily, it just clicked. It just yeah, this is a no-brainer.

Tanner Welsch 26:43

It’s a perfect fit for you. I mean, yeah, I don’t think they could have picked anybody better to really see what the other side you know like being from an administrator role or maybe a DON, what that’s like because you were in the administrator role, you know what it’s like. This is something I think that’s a topic that is interesting, and I’m curious what your thoughts are. Do you feel that you would be where you are today without your PT experience? Or do you think you really needed your PT background to land the role and be where you are now? And the reason why I ask this is there’s some students that have reached out that have been.

27:17

Is this worth it, this poor return on investment and the amount of debt we got to go in and to the overall rehab field in general with the schooling is it worth it? And so Martin thanks for this question. He asked if I already know I’m going to go non-clinical, do I need to basically become a physical therapist, a rehab professional, to do that? And so that’s where this really stems from is. Do you feel like you would be where you are now if you didn’t have the PT education and the PT experience?

Danae Mierau 27:45

Fabulous question and this question is super easy to answer. I truly believe I would not be where I’m at today without the clinical education and also practicing for four and a half, five years. You lose track of time, but about that amount of time? Because no matter where you end up from a career and professional standpoint, you have to work with people and so I think, seeing as a therapist, right, you see people in pain, you see people when they’re vulnerable, when they’re not at their best, and that passion and compassion behind the therapist mentality is huge in whatever role you end up taking.

28:28

Again, as an admin of a community, I had the passion and compassion for the residents and the patients and the staff. Yes, I treat this patient or resident for one hour. They have eight to 12 hours with this individual that has dementia and behaviors. I mean that is a lot right. So that exposure to working with people when they’re not feeling their best is huge. And again, this is nothing against your traditional business, sales, educated, individual but I think sometimes they miss that piece or not miss. But therapists have a stronger sense of that and so, again, no matter where you’re at, you’re going to be working with people going through really demanding education in school and getting through that allows you to have that in future when you’re, when you’re trying to learn something else. And so, yeah, I really I don’t think I would be where, where I’m at today, without being a therapist first and still.

Tanner Welsch 29:30

Perfect. Thanks for sharing that insight. What do you love most about your new reality?

Danae Mierau 29:34

Oh, there’s so much I love. I think with therapy every patient or resident was different. It does get a little bit repetitive and there’s a lot of jobs out there that get repetitive and some people like that routine. I am naturally a routine person but I love, with KARE, that there’s always a new challenge, there’s always a new battle, there’s always a new avenue that we’re trying to grow. That keeps me mentally, emotionally driven and engaged in the company and the organization, and then I just really love the mission behind what we’re doing.

30:10

I will always work for a company or do something. I have to be driven by the mission. I’m not someone that can work for a company that you just go in, do your job and leave. That’s just not me. KARE’s is mission driven for our providers, for the therapists, but for the communities too, and so getting to be a part of that is fun. And I also just have the best team of four lovely women Not that men aren’t great at all, that’s not what I’m saying but we just have an energy and spirit about ourselves that we will do whatever it takes to impact our customers and our providers the best that we can. We just work so well together and it’s fun to work with my team every day.

Tanner Welsch 30:52

I love that. You found a really great match. Sounds like your values and ethics and core personality, who you are, that resonates with the business that you’re working for, with KARE and, on top of the team. Huge difference I mean when you’re working with a group of people that you really vibe with and you guys are like in sync and synergy is going versus not huge difference day to day and it’ll wear on you. If it’s not so I totally understand and can relate. What would you share with rehab professionals who may be struggling or feel stuck in traditional clinical rehab career and they’re looking to do something different? What kind of advice or tips or insights would you share with them?

Danae Mierau 31:32

I’m a list maker and I am a very visual person. I like writing things in journals or on notepads versus the computer. You know computers like you can open another tab, you can get distracted, and so if a rehab professional is thinking that they potentially want to do something different, I would tell them get a notepad out and get a pen out, play some of your favorite music and start with a list of two things or you know two different lists. One is what are my strengths that are not related to direct resident care, I follow protocols really well or I’m a very adaptable and then make a list of what you genuinely like to do. Do you like to be an individual contributor or do you like working on a team and leading teams? Do you think you maybe want to try working remote, or are you someone that needs to get up, get dressed in X and go interact with your team in person every single day? So I would start with those two lists.

32:30

I think that’s very insightful and can guide people into the role type that they may be interested in or good at. If you start by just like looking at jobs, I think you can get stuck. It’s a big process and it’s a lot to think through, but I think, if you go back to those two lists and this is an activity I did again when I had decided I want to be an admin, and then I did the same thing when the admin thing wasn’t working out Okay, I really love my job, but what about? It needs to change to make me a happier person and not just achieve my career goals, because I was achieving my career goals, but I wasn’t achieving my personal goals of wanting to be a mom, and so what needed to change? And so those two lists both time I did a transition really helped guide my decision making.

Tanner Welsch 33:18

I love that I had my input here too with the skills list. Great idea For me personally and I feel in general sometimes it’s hard to figure out what your powers are, your strengths, your superpowers, what do you want to call them skills? And so a great way to get insight around that is asking really close friends, family members, what are the skills that I have? And they usually know right away and they may have never said this to you, but they often will be able to pick it out and tell you. Another angle to look at it may be what do people come to you for? If they have an issue or problem and they’re coming to you to solve it, what does that seem to be over time? Also, something I’ve heard about is taking some personality assessments and figuring out what roles fit best with that particular personality type. And I agree with you with do you like working with people or not?

34:07

I’m working in the home health space. If you never worked in the home health space, you probably don’t know this, but it actually is pretty lonely. I used to work in skilled nursing facilities in the hospital, and so you have communities, cnas, nurses, all these people you work with, and that’s great. I love that, but when you’re out in the home health field it’s just you and the patient and then the rest is phone calls to the home health agencies, the nurses, the patients. I mean, there really is no one-on-one with your team. And I think would be definitely a big shift if you were going to go to a team environment to maybe just all virtual Follow question on that for you. I assume you guys have group meetings and things like that or you collaborate online, possibly virtually. Do you feel that that substitutes for the in-person team interaction or not really?

Danae Mierau 34:53

I would say not really. I think I would struggle if we didn’t have our travel seasons where we get to interact in. Those days are extremely, extremely long and beneficial and very fun, but exhausting, right, you’re up early and then there’s the after conference events, but that interaction is what fuels you for when you’re remote. A lot of times our team you’re traveling five to seven weeks, or five out of seven weeks, or eight out of 10 weeks, but then you have this break where you’re not, and so, personally, I use that travel season to fuel my need for being with my team in person. But I will be honest, there’s one of my team members that I actually have never met in person and we get along great right, like I know a lot about her and about her life, but I look forward to the next time that we’ll get to travel together so I get to meet her in person.

Tanner Welsch 35:45

Absolutely. There’s something about that. You know the in-person interactions that the virtual can’t really substitute for. So yeah, I was curious what your experience was with that.

Danae Mierau 35:55

Yeah, and I’m blessed we have four total team members in Colorado. They all decide to live up north, so I’m the straggler down south, but we do occasionally get to meet up and also, like I, go to quite a few networking groups. So while it’s not in person with my team, that is how I fuel my need for that in person human interaction. And I go visit our communities too. When we have providers working at a community, like bringing them Coke, zero and Crumble or you know, and the admins, like dropping off Starbucks, because that will make anyone’s day when you’re an admin and you’ve already been there for a million hours, and so, again, there’s ways to definitely, at least in my role, get that human interaction and not just be behind a screen all day.

Tanner Welsch 36:42

Absolutely, and taking those opportunities to build those relationships and cultivate and foster them for sure, 100%. Danae, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your career journey and educating us about KARE and the opportunities KARE has for the rehab profession. So thank you so much.

Danae Mierau 36:59

No, thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure and I hope it helps people out there take the leap of faith. If that’s what they’re looking for, or maybe they’re looking for that non-traditional therapy route. If we’re not in a state that you’re currently living in, just give us a little time and KARE will be there, I promise. Again happy to chat about KARE with anyone that is looking to again continue to maintain that clinical role, but they’re looking for that financial freedom or flexibility or whatever their life currently needs.

Tanner Welsch 37:29

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Denae, take care. So I want to take a moment here and inject some more value into this episode around one of the topics that we touched on. They stem from a couple of questions that were asked directly to me from a PT student, martin. Thank you, martin, for taking the time to send me these questions, and the two questions are is staying in PT school worth it if you may go non-clinical anyway? And a follow-up question is what advice do you have for students considering going into PT school or current PT students? Is it worth the time and money for somewhat weak returns on that investment? I think these are really two great questions and I want to share my experience and knowledge and what I’ve gained from interviewing guests as well. Let’s talk about the first question is, you know, pt school worth it or is rehab school worth it if you may go non-clinical anyway? The answer is it really depends.