Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision LLC is a lifestyle technology company located in Mooresville, North Carolina. We interview vendors, clients and staff with the purpose of demystifying the capabilties of new technologies for your home or business and sometimes highlighting local content that is important to our community.
Simplifying Life Through Technology
Martin Conway from HomeWatch Caregivers
On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark and Andrew from SoundVision sit down with Martin Conway from HomeWatch Caregivers.
What if you could reach out to a professional soccer player who swapped his athletic life to serve others in the most empathetic way? Meet Martin Conway of HomeWatch Caregivers who did just that. Drawn to caregiving after witnessing his brother's battle with ALS, Martin's journey is a compelling narrative of leaving the corporate world behind to offer love, joy, and care to seniors and the disabled right at their homes. He shares his insights on how his business emerged through the COVID-19 era, how his passion for playing soccer led to him coaching, and the profound impact of personal stories and how technology aids his business in providing safe and secure care.
Imagine the power of technology that can trigger the feeling of safety and security for the elderly or disabled living alone. Heat sensors, audio reminders, and video check-ins technology has revolutionized the home care industry, and Martin Conway is at the forefront of it all. With a background in corporate med, professional soccer, and a passion for caring for others, he shares the extraordinary juncture where these paths meet, adding a layer of depth to his life story.
As a board member of four local schools and having rich experiences from his coaching career, Martin has a wealth of stories to share. We also get a peek into the world of HomeWatch Caregivers, their customized services for every individual, and the sense of empowerment it brings to their clients. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiring insights into caregiving, the transformative power of personal acknowledgement, and the role of technology. You don't want to miss it!
To learn more about HomeWatch Caregivers
https://www.homewatchcaregivers.com/mooresville/
To learn more about SoundVision:
Listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:
https://www.svavnc.com/podcast/
Check out SoundVision’s Podcast with Chef Peter Olsacher from Carolina Gourmet, as well as our other podcasts, on Apple and Spotify.
Welcome to Simplifying Life Through Technology. Joining me in the podcast room today we have our CEO, mark DiPetro, and Martin Conway from HomeWatch Caregivers.
Speaker 2:Very quick fade out there. Andrew, you have something special going on today.
Speaker 1:Life.
Speaker 2:Life Okay.
Speaker 1:I woke up on the right side of the bed Very good.
Speaker 2:We have an awesome guest today. I mean just an awesome guest. Martin is a excellent soccer coach. I'm fortunate to call him a friend, but more importantly he has got a tremendous business that serves a community and he has just expanded on that business. Martin, welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Mark, Thank you Andrew.
Speaker 1:And what a voice Holy crap, I hear an accent, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's the one I was given. I work with it. I live in Moorsville now. Originally from Scotland, I was born there, grew up in West of London in England and I've been over here since 1998. And Moorsville is home. My wife and four kids and I are very happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Very nice. So, martin, why don't you tell us a little bit about your business and a little bit about your expansion that you're going through?
Speaker 3:Thanks, andrew. So the business they operate in Moorsville is home watch caregivers of Moorsville. So fundamentally, what we do is we put certified caregivers in the home to help take care of those who are disabled and seniors maybe some folks post surgery. You know, they broke a hip, they broke an ankle. So we take care of people in the comfort of their own home. The reason that I got into this is in 2015, my younger brother passed away with ALS.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3:He was my four o'clock phone call every day. I tell this story every day. We'd call four o'clock and I would say you would not believe what I did today and he would tell me his stories and we would come as a rate on the phone and joke and laugh and do that. He got like twinge in his arm you know, like many of us do, in 2012. And then two and a half years yeah, about just under three years later, Tony passed away, took his last breath, Took me a long time to process that.
Speaker 3:Once I did.
Speaker 3:One of the beautiful things was the care that he got at the end of his life for the caregivers who saw Tony the human being, and being able to be with him as he's taken his last breath is one of the most amazing things in the world on all levels. So after I processed a lot of that, I said that's what I need to be doing is giving love and kindness to people towards their life. So I like the thing I'm trying to honor my brother on a daily basis. I believe he's on my shoulder. I can't bring him back.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately I don't have that skillset, that ability.
Speaker 3:I want to honor him and just bring more love and joy into the world, especially in that community where people just need love. There's so much isolation out there, so much loneliness, and so just trying to do good and give people that companionship and that, fundamentally, that safety. So that's the role that we provide and we've been doing it for two years in Moorsville. We're happy.
Speaker 2:Literally, your life changed and your wife's going to change, clearly because of the event, which is awful, but it changed the course of your life. What were you going to do before this change happened? And you started with the care of elder folks and stay at home folks.
Speaker 3:Thanks for the question. At that point in time, when Tony was diagnosed, I worked for a big corporation in the healthcare pharmaceutical industry. I was on that track, managing bigger teams, taking care of bigger geographies.
Speaker 3:I was in that corporate world and I learned so much in that world and there's lots and lots of good. When Tony's diagnosis happened, I would sit in meetings and the corporate meetings and it was numbers and it was projections and it wasn't people. There was people behind the numbers but it wasn't people. And I'm trying to reconcile listening to someone say, well, we need to grow by X percent each month, and my brother's over here and he's having a caregiver get the saliva out of his mouth because he can't do that.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:There's a caregiver feeding him his soft food or feeding him a drink, because he doesn't have the ability to grab it, because his hands no longer work. Oh my God, and this is someone who was 6'2", so just, I really really struggled with reconciling that. So that was the track and the path. I was on, I was honestly unable to reconcile the two worlds, so I had to have good conscience that I can't do this corporate stuff anymore. It's just not working for me anymore.
Speaker 2:So that was what I was doing and that was the change and that was why and I would guess that COVID was very changing for the business. It would feel like that, because of what COVID was and people not being able to get out, that made your business even more important and what you had to do from safety issues and that sort of thing, is that kind of what happened.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, that's what happened. Yeah, I came in. I opened the office in Moorsville in September of 2021. So we were about 16, 18 months into the COVID time, if you like.
Speaker 1:If.
Speaker 3:I'm using February or March of 2020 as the origin. So we came in at that point and, yeah, there was lots of anxiety around caregivers and lots of people saying you know, I need this sort of caregiver or that sort of caregiver. So I kind of came in on the back end. But fundamentally, people want to be cared for in their own home. People want to remain independent.
Speaker 3:So our job, going in, is to see okay, what are you patient? What do we need to do to help keep you safe and engage in your own home? And I love that it's customized, it's based on this individual, you know. So, yeah, we had to make some changes with COVID and allowances and we honor the individual. It's their home, it's their rules, but they want to sit and watch guns smoke and you know, have macaroni and cheese.
Speaker 2:You were saying that the other day.
Speaker 3:You know that's great. We got caregivers to go in. They make them breakfast, they clean up, they run to the store. They may change them, help brush their teeth the personal care side of things. And we got three or four who just want to sit and watch guns smoke and that's their home, it's their life, it takes them back. It's beautiful. You're just connecting with an individual.
Speaker 1:Sure right.
Speaker 3:And that's a huge part of what we do is just individual in their own home. So COVID changed a few things for us. We continue to work through it but ultimately honor the individual. It's their home. What kind of care plan do we create for you and then we execute on that?
Speaker 2:I guess some of our listeners might say well, why are we having Martin in here? I mean, what does this have to do with Sound Vision or with us? And one of the things again, Martin and I have gotten to be really good friends here over the last couple of years and we'll talk about how that came to be in a little bit. But on a much, much less important level, we do a similar thing. You know, we're going in, we're improving customers' lives. In fact, our tagline is simplifying life through technology, and so we're improving customers' lives and making them more comfortable in their own home or place of business. So in that sense we're similar.
Speaker 2:I'm in no way comparing what we do to what you do. It's so much less important than what you do, but we are similar, and so I thought that our customers, some of which are a little older, a lot of which have older family members, would like to know that these kind of services exist right here. I think everyone would probably guess that Charlotte would have it, but not necessarily right here in Moorsville. So that was the catalyst for my thought of having you in today. However, you have expanded, as Andrew said a little bit ago, and you want to talk about that.
Speaker 3:I'd love to mention it. We've been open in Moorsville since September of 2021. And we will always have a home in Moorsville. Moorsville is home. We're not going anywhere. About six months ago, because of the trends that we were seeing and the progress we were making and the reputation we were trying to build, that was approached about expanding into Mecklenburg County and taking over the Charlotte office. So we recently expanded down to Charlotte. So we now have an office down there in the university area and the last two or three weeks been transitioning down there and trying to run both shops.
Speaker 3:But it's very new, it's very new. It's kind of overwhelming, honestly, at times, because again I go back to my brother. I'm trying to honor my brother. That's this and part of me. I spoke to Mark a few months ago. Part of me was really nervous about this and then part of me is like you know.
Speaker 3:This is what's meant to be. This is a gift that's been handed in front of you. Do. I think I can do it Absolutely. We've got a great team down there and, as a wise man told me, if the facts line up, it's not a leap of faith. It's a leap of facts, so I'm going to run with that.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the expansion is great because, like you guys said, this is such a personal and helpful resource, and so I feel like the more places you can give this to people, I think that's only a positive thing for the community.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks, I believe so too. There's some challenges, obviously, when you deal with humans. But at the same time, I think it's about trust, and I want to know that the person that we're putting in a home can be trusted to do the right thing for that individual and represent me and the organization, and the organization is about just bringing kindness and safety to people and keeping folks engaged Because, honestly, andrew, the amount of folks I've seen just isolated in their homes in the last two years is overwhelming.
Speaker 3:There's people who just family are no longer around or there's some family issue and you call a Ms Charlene at 2 o'clock on a Wednesday. That's her phone call for the week. That's her phone call for the week. That's outside of medical appointments. That's the one interaction that she has with somebody. So we sit and we chat and we've got a team who call up and we talk about our kids and the weather and whatever they want to talk about. Just see the person acknowledge their human, acknowledge their existence. So often I think that we just look past people. I don't think there's ill intent, I think we're busy, we're in our own world and I need to go do this. Same time there's people out there who don't get the eye contact, they don't get the interpersonal communication with that touch point each week. So I'm delighted at the expansion. It's overwhelming right now with all the different systems, but again, it's a leap of fact. As my friend over here told me, it's not a leap of faith. So one day at a time, here we go.
Speaker 2:I want to ask about the Sort of audio visual automation part of the business which we talked about kind of pre coming on air. But before I do that, give us kind of an idea of your scale, like how many people do you care for currently? What kind of capacity do you think you have? That kind of thing?
Speaker 3:Okay, I can break them down. So in Morsow we have about 30 to 35 active caregivers currently out working today Caring for somewhere between 50 and 60 people. You know. We'll see somebody in the morning from 7 to 10 and someone 10, 30 to 2 so that's the scale right now in Morsville.
Speaker 3:I like to grow, but again, every single person who comes in, I'm conscious of the why we're doing this and this is about trust. So if we don't just hire someone off the street and throw them out there, we need to have the eyeball conversation, see that heart and we go through a big verification process. So that's us in Morsville. In Charlotte, we have about 120 patients that we actively care for. We have about between 1995 active caregivers at this point. So that's where we are now.
Speaker 3:But it sounds like you could have more people that you could care for with your current staff 100% and I'm just getting my hands around the Charlotte office, but absolutely we have capacity to care for folks. Again, you need quality caregivers in there. So, we have a great relationship with Mitchell Community College. I'm over there I work with the team over there in the class of teaching the CNA's. I'm in there often because I believe in local and I want to help those Nurses aids with that program.
Speaker 1:So we try and work with.
Speaker 3:Mitchell. We've have lots of folks come through that Mitchell program who then come work with us and then we help them on into nursing school. So we want to be a good community partner, so very close to Mitchell and grateful to their team. So we have capacity. But at the same time if we don't have capacity I'm not slow to say listen, right now we can't serve that because I'm not gonna put someone in who I wouldn't want taking care of my parents.
Speaker 2:sure, let's talk about the audio video portion of it. What technology I shouldn't use audio video, I should say technology. Thank you, andrew, keep me in check kind of how does technology play into your world? It?
Speaker 3:plays into a fair amount currently, but I think the future is exceptionally bright and exciting and a little bit overwhelming for me. Currently. We have lots of families that we care for where the son of the daughter lives in Tennessee or California and they want to make sure that mum, dad, is being taken care of so we video-conference them in.
Speaker 3:We obviously have the life alert buttons and stuff like that, but I think what I'm seeing and hearing all recently is the heat sensor. So if mum falls down or is still for too long, there's technology that captures that and can send a notification to the emergency services or the designated point of contact.
Speaker 3:That stuff is monumental because again the amount of isolation is out there, the overall cost to the human, to the economics, the medical cost, the emotional, you know yeah that to me is just a wide open world right now, because, again, the number of people who are living alone, who are isolated and they can only get a certain amount of care each week, they're in that home for 160 hours a week by themselves. We may go in there for six or eight, they're by themselves. So the technology that's out there to try and capture the falls, they're still for too long. The audio reminders that hates medication time.
Speaker 3:You have to take X, y and Z or the video check-in so we can just sense the individual is healthy as alertness. Okay, that to me is a wide open world and I see it fundamentally changing part of what we do over the next 10 or 15 years. That's exciting.
Speaker 2:I would think that that would be a nice offering. It clearly not everybody needs it Some people there may be a cost factor to it as well but as a Supplemental offering it sounds like it would certainly provide value for the customer and, in some cases, safety and security, like you were talking about. So it definitely seems like that could be something to add to your services 100%, and I don't actually see that as being a cost prohibitive issue.
Speaker 3:Be honest with you I don't, I don't because, you can go in and someone say listen, we have a caregiver in here X number of hours a day and will also provide this technology pending their approval. It will make sure that we can capture anything. Basically, we can be alerted and you can be alerted if something happens to mom, dad. Yeah so I think that's if we're trying to truly care for the individual. You know, with some of the challenges are out there, I think that's how I see it, kind of the audio visual technology world impacting the caregiving world.
Speaker 1:Upgrade your home with sound vision. Your one-stop destination for cutting-edge home automation, from lighting design, indoor and outdoor audio video systems, security systems, network optimization and shading solutions. Our experienced team ensures seamless installations and talk to your service. We're dedicated to enhancing your lifestyle through technology.
Speaker 2:One of the reasons I know that Martin, as a business person, is going to be successful is he's very compassionate. I think you can tell that from our discussion. What you probably can't tell from our discussion so far is he is incredibly Competitive. He's very, very competitive. I have seen the competitiveness Martin and I met on the soccer pitch or a soccer field.
Speaker 2:It was how many years ago now two and a half Okay, and I was actually introduced to Martin by another soccer coach in the area who I think we were going to your place at the time and he said oh yeah, they got a new guy. Oh, and he's a beep, beep and, but like he's going to be really good. He seems like a good guy and I think he's really going to uplift the program. So Martin is actually. Should we talk about your other role? Is it official role? Is it director of the board?
Speaker 3:I sit on the board of directors for four local schools that we have two schools in Cabarras County and two in Iredale County.
Speaker 2:So I thought it was just Langtree.
Speaker 3:Is it? No, it's for school up in Troutman and then two over in Cabarras County. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:See, I didn't even know that. So you were on the board of directors of four schools four schools in addition to two companies and for the last two and a half years was also the soccer coach over at Langtree, a high school team. So we met on the soccer pitch and normally up until two and a half years ago, when you would go to play Langtree, it was kind of like the day off, and so I was unprepared for what I was going to see two and a half years ago. I was not unprepared after that. So tell us about your soccer background too, because that's really cool. You didn't just walk out on the pitch at Langtree. How'd you get into?
Speaker 1:coaching.
Speaker 3:Thanks a lot. Mark is very kind. I grew up in England, as I said, and I grew up in a soccer family. We can chat more about that some other time maybe, but soccer was all I wanted to do from the age of four until about to what am I now? 47? I'm about 47. That's all I wanted to do. I left high school early. I was fortunate to play professional soccer for two years in England.
Speaker 1:Oh wow For a team called.
Speaker 3:Redding. I spent some time at Crystal Palace, some time at Brighton, who are more famous now. I never made it close to the first team, so let's make that sure that's clear. But I spent some time at those clubs and then I signed an apprentice professional contract at Redding in England. So that's my background it's amazing. Long story, short injuries. I was a teenager, so I knew everything, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:The hard work and the effort they get to there. That kind of has to continue. So that was a if I could go back and tell myself that I would do that. So I ended up having to go back to junior college in the UK. I left high school early, as I said, because I knew everything. Is that a finish, exactly? And then I had a chance to come over to the US and attend college. So that's my soccer background. I love watching the games on the weekend. I got three daughters and a son. One of my daughters loves soccer. My son loves it. The other three ladies in the house want nothing to do with it. So nothing to do with it.
Speaker 2:I don't understand that at all. I don't have that in my house at all.
Speaker 3:You don't want to watch 22 men run around on a field 3,000 miles away. What is wrong with you? It's the red team. So that's my background. I just love it. I love the game. If I could choose to spend a couple of hours, I would go watch a game. I mean, Mark and I drove up to a couple of hours north of here a year ago to watch a game.
Speaker 2:We did.
Speaker 3:And it was kind of a scout mission. But I love that stuff the intricacies, the working together. You try and hide your weaknesses and where can we expose your team? I love the chess game that's going on and then trying to get the most out of the young men or young women on the team. It's a huge challenge and something that just energizes me. So that's the background.
Speaker 2:And you can see the passion just in how he lit up right there. Just talking about that, I don't want to go on too long about it, but I will say that the soccer community in the Lake Norman area it's a big deal here if you're not involved and to find quality coaches and, more importantly, people that really give into the younger person, that care about that person. It really goes back to home. Watch caregivers, I mean it's the same thing. In that case you're caring about an elderly person. But I mean how much loneliness and challenges do young men and women? Obviously, but we're coaching young men. So that's why I bring that up.
Speaker 2:The young men need at that age and direction and while there's a lot of good soccer coaches, there's not a ton of guys that do that part of it and Martin does that part of it and you could see that when we would compete against you guys, it wasn't. Yes, you were prepared. Yes, the kids knew where to be tactically, which was a whole nother level, but they cared. He knows that one of their young men and I happened to have a little interaction in one game. Actually he had more interaction with me but Was like oh my god, I'm so sorry. No, no, like he was so passionate, like you know, his delivery maybe could have been better, but I don't care, I'm talking to yes.
Speaker 2:He wanted to win so bad and the kids were just really, really Complementary of you. They all loved you. Really giving back is so important and that's just shown throughout my interaction with you over the last two and a half years. Your company now, and it's just another little part where you were very successful in something and you're giving that back. That's just really special. So really another reason I want to have you in here, yeah, so let's go to the fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Can you tell me about a cherished memory in your caregiving industry?
Speaker 3:We care for a man. About six months ago His family reached out and said he was in hospice, he needed some care. He was refusing caps to go into a home, even though that's where they thought he should probably be. He was adamant. I was 91, 92 hospice was involved, as I said. So we went in and Struck up a relationship. We cared for him. He actually graduated from hospice. They kicked him out because he was doing so well.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah yeah, that's one of my favorite memories. And then we worked with him for about six months, cared for him and again, it's all just a personality match. So on that particular occasion we got the match of the caregivers. Really, we got that match perfect and this man passed away. I think about six or eight weeks ago. I got a note from the family just saying we just want to thank you and your team because you made the law. You made the last six or seven months of his life before he graduated.
Speaker 3:You made that special out in the stay at home. His great memories about you know what's in this show the lasagna that Vera made you know oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Run into the store to get some dumb-dums or whatever it was that he shouldn't have been having. You know, like his little treat, those sort of things, those notes. We just know that you've touched another human being and help because we came from the same place. I believe we're going to the same place but our journey in between and we saw and respected that man and his family and that trust that they put in us. We deliver on the trust and for that note, that just meant an awful lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we want to run a business, but knowing that you're putting good energy and love out into the world and people are out there who are Proud and thankful for what you do, that's energizing to me. So that is my final way, my my most favorite memory.
Speaker 1:Well, I just love what you said earlier. Something that's so important in this world is Acknowledgement, and I think that's so special alone just to do that for people who are in a very vulnerable state.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely goes across the spectrum.
Speaker 1:Right, we're all humans, yeah, just see them acknowledge be respectful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, move along.
Speaker 2:So what's your favorite soccer memory over the last two and a half years? Not your extensive experience, just your recent experience.
Speaker 3:You spoke earlier about trying to be a good person for these young men. We had a game last year. It was a playoff game and we won the game handily. It was almost like every single time we shot at the goal. It went in, and every other time the opposition team tried to do something, nothing worked. It was almost too extreme, so we could do nothing wrong on that day. Like the soccer gods were outside, this other team could do nothing, right whatever happened.
Speaker 2:It was one of those.
Speaker 3:It was one of those.
Speaker 2:Sorry about that, steve.
Speaker 3:So my favorite memory is actually after that game. The game was called five minutes into the second half because we had scored eight or ninth, whatever it was. So the game was mercyed. My team didn't even cheer after the game. We didn't cheer, we didn't jump up and down, we weren't high-fiving, weren't doing has stands. You know what we did? They went down and they shook their hands and they hugged the members on the other team. It was so devastated. It wasn't one of those where you're dancing in the end zone and to me the winds and the losses like just see the person again. So do I want to win? Absolutely I do. But end of the day I want these young men and young women on the team to be good or through. They see in the mirror and I want to look Back at the end of their days and say I'm glad we did that. So my favorite memory is the response to that win, where we were respectful and we saw the individuals and there was no big jumping up and down, no whoop, none of that nonsense.
Speaker 3:It was, let's just be good humans. So that is my final way, my favorite memory, and I'm so grateful to the young men on the team for actually Doing the right thing, because those young men had a heart and they follow through, so that's my favorite memory.
Speaker 2:That is very cool, so great. Last but not least, what about music? Who is your favorite band, artist, concert event, something like that.
Speaker 3:I grew up in West London in the mid 90s, so Oasis were the thing at that time. It was a big Oasis fan. Okay, I'm a big Oasis fan and whenever I hear on the radio which you don't, often hear in these days.
Speaker 3:But whenever I do it just takes me back to again that 17, 18 year old version of me that knew everything, got the long brown hair. You know the pale skin. You know you've seen the British look right, you've seen it. I was kind of the stereotypical guy there, so I like the whoo.
Speaker 1:I I love those guy Eminence Front one of my favorite songs I can jam to that song.
Speaker 3:I'm rocking the dad wagon out there in the Honda Odyssey with the who. So those are my two right now, and then my wife and I have four young kids, so I usually take the twins to school in the morning, so they are listening to. Whoever these new people are, I don't know, I'm kind of styles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yeah T.
Speaker 3:Swift. They're into Swift and Demi Lovato to a point, although the videos can get a bit sketchy. I'm not a fan of that, but a bit. Man, yeah, right, so that's me. Oasis the who. I like Bob Dylan, but now, with the kids getting exposed to all this other music.
Speaker 1:You love Taylor Swift and actually.
Speaker 3:I'm a fan of Taylor Swift. My wife and daughter went to one of the concerts in Nashville, had a great time, and now Taylor, I think she's doing the movie, where she's getting more people to come and watch the movie concert Like she's a junior.
Speaker 1:So Taylor, an anxious cousin waiting every day for that movie.
Speaker 2:We just want to know if the whole thing with Travis Kelsey is social driven, legit like I smell a stunt. Well, this has been fantastic, Martin, thank you for sharing some time with us. Thank you for enlightening our audience to some of the services that you guys offer, and I guess, before we go, definitely want to make sure someone wants to get in touch with you. What's the best way to do that?
Speaker 3:Online homewatchcaregiverscom slash Moorsville. They can call us and we'll chat with them and listen and help out in any way we can. So thank you both for the opportunity to come in. It's been wonderful and I appreciate the chance to chat.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for joining us. You can learn more about Soundvision at soundvisionlakenormancom. You can follow us on Twitter at soundvisionlkn. Find us on Instagram and Facebook at soundvisionlc.
.png)
