Molly & Angela: 00:00 You’re listening to the live happier, longer podcast, episode nine. Welcome to the live happier, longer podcast. We’re your hosts, molly watts, and Angela McDade we are here to help you build the habits of the happier, longer life starting NOW.
Molly & Angela: 00:28 Hey Angela. Hey, how are ya? I’m grand. Excellent. I am grand aren’t you. That’s such a Scottish thing to say, I’m grand. It’s actually an Irish thing. Is it? Yeah, you’re not Irish. Ah, well, I lived there for a bit, but yeah, it’s a very Irish thing. It, it usually is grand so, don’t ask me why, but there’s usually a so at the end of it. Grand so. Oh, okay. I’m going to have to try that. I am grand as well because I am very excited today about our podcast guest. Yes, she’s super. Super Cool. Yeah. Beth Rosellini, she is a dentist ,first and foremost trained as a dentist and then she went from working in nursing homes and care facilities with, as a dentist with elderly elderly clients and then she moved to work with her brother in a med tech company and that was also kind of geared towards the neurological. Yeah. And so between her dentistry and working with that group of people and then working in the med tech company, it just gave her a whole insight into that group of people in what their needs might be. But moreover she really put her whole thing together after a Tony Robbins event. You can speak to that. Yeah. That was what was so fun because I reached out to Beth because I said we both have that background of being inspired from a live Tony Robbins event. She considers herself an old person whisperer, which I love. And so really just wanted to learn more about the passion that she has and why she’s building the business that she is building. It’s incredible. I can’t wait to talk with her more about it. It’s called senior delight box, but we won’t go into that now. Let’s talk with Beth Rosellini.
Molly & Angela: 02:23 Hey Beth. Hi Beth.
Beth Rosselini: 02:25 Hi there. Thank you so much for having me. Good to see you guys.
Molly & Angela: 02:28 Oh, we’re so excited to talk with you today. There’s a million reasons that we’ve found a collaborative discussion between us and I love what you’re doing. I love what you are doing. It’s such great idea.
Beth Rosselini: 02:42 That feeling is mutual. So I think that’s why we’ll have a really fun conversation today cause we definitely share a lot of the same mission statements and all those kinds of things. So I’m really happy to connect with you guys today.
Molly & Angela: 02:53 Yeah. Awesome. So we just gave a brief introduction prior to talking with you about your background. You are first, you were first and foremost you are a trained dentist and so talk to us a little bit about how that started your passion for helping the aging population.
Beth Rosselini: 03:16 Yes. So the background. I’m actually a fourth generation dentist and my dad treats patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. So he kind of introduced me to that while I was still in dental school. When I graduated, I went into traditional private practice, but then I realized that there was such a need in nursing homes and assisted living facilities that I could have a bigger impact than working on the typical patient in private practice who comes in and says, you know, I want this one tooth a little bit wider so that my teeth are perfectly squared. That’s great. I’m so happy that there are dentists out there that do that, but it was really tremendous to go into a nursing home and get a patient out of pain ,restore their smile and see tears of joy when they say, I haven’t had a smile to be proud of in years or someone who’s been on a feeding too because they haven’t had teeth and to restore function so that they can speak and chew and improve their nutritional situation. It’s a really, really rewarding. So I gravitated to that over a couple of years and kind of did a similar model to my dad who was working in the Dallas area. I did in central Texas and Austin and San Antonio and Houston and it was very challenging but super rewarding and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.
Molly & Angela: 04:42 Yeah, I bet. So you said fourth generation, so that means your grandfather too.
Beth Rosselini: 04:47 My great grandfather, my grandfather who have both since passed and then my dad and my sister and they’re both still in practice and actually that’s how my dad got into the nursing home. His Dad had seen so many patients in Dallas and when he passed away or when he retired, he passed all those patients down to my dad and then so we were seeing three generations of family when they transitioned into nursing homes, you’d say, well, call a geriatric dentist or get another dentist to go out there and they said I’ve only seen a Rosellini as my dentist. I’m not going to start seeing a new dentist at 70 years old. And so my dad started going into these nursing homes to see onesy twosy patients and then once he was in there, the need is so abundant, he would have other family members, nurses say, can you come see my mom or can you come see this patient? Uh, so it, it came out of, out of that. It wasn’t intentional at all, but, uh, it was, it was a good opportunity for sure.
Molly & Angela: 05:53 Well, and I think one of those things where life and that necessarily may not have been intention at first, but then you find something and the need is there and it’s so rewarding that you just, you know, it becomes your life path, right? And it becomes your passion even even as such. So I know that. So that’s. So that’s kind of where the whole journey started in terms of your relationship with geriatric patients and the aging population ,you got out of your private practice dentistry and did something else that also encouraged your perspective on aging. Tell us about that.
Beth Rosselini: 06:29 Yeah, so we like to tease that my brother is the black sheep of the family because the only one that did not become a dentist, but he is in medical devices and he does research and development. So he has proprietary technology that he and his team are developing, it’s basically implantable devices for patients with Parkinson’s disease. It’s a platform technology that has potential for other applications like overactive bladder, depression, obesity, chronic neurological diseases that could really change a person’s life who’s on chronic medication or just is dealing with the issue. So I was in the nursing home and having this experience with the patients there had an opportunity to sell my business and at that time my brother who was in a startup phase of his company said, hey, I need someone to just come in who can talk to patients but understands the healthcare side of things and understands enough of the engineering to help me launch this because his target population is that over 60, over 70 year old patient and much of his mission is to reduce the amount of patients in nursing homes that are overmedicated and in this kind of very unpleasant states. Some there’s no other choice. Uh, so I said, sure, why not from one adventure to another. So I joined his team and it gave me a very different perspective of that patient population from the side of…so I’ll use an example of Parkinson’s disease patient will start showing early signs, tremors, a flat affect, the facial features might change, the way they walk. The typical patient is a male over the age of 60 but may not have any other issues going on, so understanding the psychology of a male who may have been successful his whole life and an athlete and very capable to have his body start breaking down. That’s a probably a whole podcast in and of itself, so don’t go down that road, but having that and then navigating the hospital system to not only get from your primary care physician but to get a referral to a neurologist and then from that neurologist to refer you to a movement disorder specialist who might put you on the right medication or might you have an implant with this device, there’s only 10 percent of the patients who actually qualify and would benefit from this technology who ended up having it, and I dug in deep there and recognized the void of who’s talking to these patients to translate what’s happening and in addition to the patients, who’s talking to their family members. As you all know or I know of your stories, the caregiver, the person who takes care of the mom with dementia or the mom with Parkinson’s, even what appointments are they getting invited to? What questions do they get to ask the doctor? How do you navigate being supportive or now there’s a shift in roles between the Patriarch leader of the family is now needing to be taken care of adult children. How do you work through that struggle and I was heartbroken, but then it sparked this fascination with the way we’re currently doing it is awful. So any any effort that I put towards bridging this gap in facilitating a conversation or creating a community that we’re all experiencing these things, the bulk of the population is experiencing this so we’re not alone, but so many caregivers feel isolated. So many patients feel isolated, confused, and it’s, it’s not the fault of any one part of that process. Doctors are great, they’re trying to change lives. A specialists are great. They’re trying to really focus but it’s just, it’s so overwhelming and when you have the caregiver who is potentially the adult child as we call them or the responsible party and they’re on top of it, navigating their own family, they have children, they’re doing carpool and now you got to take grandma to her doctor’s visit to ask the questions or let her go and think that she’s going to remember all the details and relay them correctly. It’s just, it’s a lot to manage, so that’s where I really started getting interested in how do I connect with these patients in a more profound way? How do I establish relationships with the caregivers, with the family members to support them in a funny way, and it sounds silly, a subscription box and a social media presence and instagram page. People are shockingly receptive to it and I think it’s because that void is there and someone wants to have support and go to an instagram feed and say, you know, today I need a little pick me up, but I want to hear that other people are hearing it and get a point of inspiration and then on other days I want to a funny meme about my grandpa like sending me a ridiculous text because I need a laugh because this is hard and we all need to approach it with a little sense of humor as well, otherwise we’ll go crazy. So it’s been great.
Molly & Angela: 11:48 And I think when people find something that resonates with them, they do the, the really do gravitate towards it. So, it’s just a great thing, when you, when you, that you have provided that and that people find it.
Beth Rosselini: 12:02 And you know, it’s really hitting a note with people when they’re inviting other people they’re sharing it with their friends, their family members. So it’s, it’s resonating with those people.
Molly & Angela: 12:13 We share a similar passion for affecting the aging population and really the people that you’re talking about, we call them the sandwich generation, right? Those people that are right in the middle there are still taking care of their own family and their own needs, their own careers, but they do have, they’re often the responsible adult party for an older person as well, and what’s interesting is that caregiver, they are like my age, middle aged, a little bit older, not really focusing on taking care of their own selves as they age in terms of leading, you know, understanding that there are steps and things that can be done to help put you in a better position to not have to be in a nursing home, to be able to be in an assisted living situation and or, or independently living, whichever that looks like, whichever your choice would be, but that sandwich generation is often overlooked or under connected with. So I think that’s a fantastic way to do this with the senior delight box too.
Beth Rosselini: 13:20 I would say that sandwich generation is constantly pouring from an empty cup. Yeah. There’s so many sayings that I could say and on the big non shoulda I don’t like when people should all over me so I don’t like to should on other people, but it’s so true.
Molly & Angela: 13:35 That’s should, s h o u l d? Yes, exactly. This is not an explicit podcast!
Beth Rosselini: 13:46 Right ,but if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else, and that is so abundantly true, and that was one of the things I really like about what you guys are doing. It gives you a scaffolding or a backbone of okay, so I can just bare minimum, make myself do these things that will refill my cup, then I absolutely know that I’m able to help support other people do the same. I mean it’s definitely a launching pad for so many different applications, but I love how you guys are addressing that with, with your journal and having people keep their calendar and in doing the five every day. That’s great.
Molly & Angela: 14:21 Thank you. Thank you. We do too! So. Okay. You’ve had your dental practice, you have gone to work for your brother and gotten to do a lot of more in terms of research and really seeing things from a scientific perspective as to how that’s all coming into play with an aging population and at some point in time, and I love this because you and I have a shared affinity for Tony Robbins, which I, I, I was actually at a live event that was the behind five for life to some degree, but take us from when you decided to start senior delight box, a little bit about what it is exactly and how people, you know, what, what you do for people and just tell us more about senior delight box.
Beth Rosselini: 15:09 Sure. So before I launch into that, I’ll backtrack a little bit and tell a story that I think really helps people understand, if you haven’t experienced what it’s like to be in a nursing home, if you haven’t had a family member, if you haven’t visited or whatever. When I was in private practice, I would say once or twice a day I’d have a patient come in and say, no offence doc, but I hate the dentist or I’m so nervous and I think most people think of the dentist and they don’t like going.
Molly & Angela: 15:36 Yeah, I don’t. Sorry.
Beth Rosselini: 15:37 Okay, that’s fine. I would always tease back. I’m like, yes, I take great offense to that and the lovely person. You should be happy to see what was funny when I started working in nursing homes or it’s actually not funny at all, but what I noticed when I was servicing the nursing homes is we started getting a lot of false emergency calls and so the nurses have call and say, hey, this patient is complaining of pain. This patient is pointing to a tooth and saying it really hurts, and so I would go in and see them and what I noticed was that they were not in pain, but how clever, how smart they were, that they knew if they complained of a tooth ache. Here comes this bubbling little dentist just like I’m here to give you one on one attention and tell you that care about you and do what you want or do whatever I need to help support you. And it just helps. It just slapped me across the face and say, man, the suffering is so intense and real at times that they even want to be visited by the dentist.
Molly & Angela: 16:37 That’s how rock bottom it is!
Beth Rosselini: 16:42 Exactly. It was kind of a marathon of experiences being there, working in research, seeing what it’s like to progress with chronic issues that you end up in a nursing home all the stages before and then I went to a Tony Robbins event and uh, because involved in taking care of myself. So that’s another reason why I really liked the, the five every day is I like to invest in myself and grow and learn and those live events are very powerful and inspiring and you meet people with really good intentions that are supportive and emphasize the need of connection, feeling special, having a purpose, giving back all of these things that are just great lessons to learn. And I was there with my mom and after having that experience and being exposed to and I said, you know, this is so wonderful and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have done that, but it really hurts my heart that the complete opposite of this is being in the nursing home. So many of those patients no longer have a job. They’re socially isolated. Either their peers have passed away or they’re living at a distance. They had to be moved from their home. Uh, their spouse may have passed away. They are no longer leaders in the community. They, in a lot of ways could see that they’re there not to grow and improve, but rather to decay. And it’s a perspective thing. And of course I’m not 70 years old and I’ve, so I can’t try to totally shake up their perspective because I haven’t lived it. But I can really empathize and I’m really compassionate with what that environment can do. Someone can go in just for a short term stay for a hip replacement, but being in the product of that environment and you are the company you keep it will wear on you and you can see some patients really kind of
Molly & Angela: 18:47 Decline?
Beth Rosselini: 18:49 Yeah, become depressed and show signs of being in there too long. So I looked at my mom and I said, you know, there has to be something that I can do and I want to help solve this problem. And he said, I wish there was a way I can just put a Tony Robbins live event in a box and ship it to these patients every month. And she said, well, why don’t you know? And uh, of course you can’t ship that box. Then I, once I started doing some exploration and just talking to some friends and family and I would see in the patients rooms or environments I kind of all came together. Um, you see the impact that you can have on them. Good example, they’re not on social media. So the photos they have are the ones that they’ve had printed out. Exactly. I would go, it would be spring time and sometimes they would have their halloween decorations still up because they’d say they liked that it was colorful and that was just the last time that they decorated their room, but they wanted to keep it up or they would have a picture of their grandkids and I’d say, Oh, when was she born? It’s a baby picture. It’s like, actually she’s 16 years old right now. I just don’t have an updated photo. Like, okay, how can I put all these components together and have a good foundation for a purpose? And it’s not just a frivolous, you got a great moisturizer and makeup grandma for half the price. It’s something that adds value. So that’s where the content curation really came about and it’s been great. It’s been well received and uh, so we have components of in each box every month it’s a little bit different and it’s themed around what we’ve decided to do that month, but it’ll have family photos if people want to include that, uh, opportunities to write thank you notes. So we say, hey, make someone else’s day. Write your nurse a thank you note, certain activities and the activities are geared towards social engagement. So go ask your neighbor across the hall to do this craft with you or play dominoes with you to get them out of their rut or what they’re doing or if you don’t like anything in the box, give it away to someone else and make their day because they can’t, they’re not independent, they’re not driving so they can’t go to a store and buy something and if that. So just even the opportunity of saying, cool, I got six to nine items this month that wasn’t even expecting it, so surprised! I’m going to give one away and have the joy of making someone else’s day kind of paying it forward as it’s been wonderful to see that it really is hitting a mark with those patients and I think it just confirms that I really do know them so well and I know what their experience is like and I know how I can make a positive impact on them. And then the instagram pages, and so funny, but it’s, I get the caregiver role. Uh, my grandmother had dementia, my mom took care of her, they moved her into our home when I was actually living at home, uh, when I was in college and Grad School at certain times and I remember what it’s like to be a primary caregiver and watching my mom experienced that and I have so much respect for that thankless role and that unconditional, that is the epitome of unconditional love because a cute little smiley baby. Yes, that is hard. But they’re cute and smiley and they sleep a lot. Uh, what? I don’t want to offend any new moms because I know they, they’re very, very difficult.
Molly & Angela: 22:29 They can be up a lot as well but even the physicality, you know, to, to lift and lay baby is, is easy. They are 15 pounds. But to lift a grown adult, just to physically, the physical part of taking care, aside, you know, not even considered the emotional part, is definitely a challenge in itself.
Beth Rosselini: 22:52 Right? That’s a anatomical change to their brain that’s actually occurring that we can’t see. And so the person can look the exact same as they did before, but their brain could be different day to day in the Sundowners of why is the person who has been my biggest promoter and my mom who’s loved and supported me and my dad, he’s loved and supported me all of a sudden being such a jerk to me or why? Why do they say mean things to me? And I’m doing everything I can to support them. And that is a really a, a baby doesn’t say mean things to you. So that adds to that, like love them through it. Uh, it’s, it’s showing up for a thankless job day after day in a way that I think deserves superhero status. So I love connecting with them. And, and that’s been, that’s been really fun.
Molly & Angela: 23:43 So I know that senior delight box, the one of the primary missions are the primary audiences for you was nursing homes. And we’ve talked about that. The thing about what I love about this really is that it’s hard to, in this busy day and age, and even for seniors that may be living independently, right? There’s still a lot of isolation and loneliness. Their families get busy. I speak for myself. My Dad doesn’t live that far away from me and it’s sometimes challenging for me to get to see him physically, you know. And so talk to me a little bit about the other like assisted living or independent living. Are you seeing people using the subscription service just to send something that makes sense for a senior that’s going to re invigorate or reconnect that relationship for them?
Beth Rosselini: 24:39 Yes. So I’m so grateful that you brought that up because that was a very…we took a very thoughtful approach and we want it to be very. Or we wanted to be very sensitive to the fact that the majority of our seniors have probably gone through a kind of losing the skin layer of their life and especially if they’ve moved into either assisted living or nursing home. Potentially the sandwich generation has gone through their home, sold their home, they’re renting out their home, whatever it might be. So the last thing these seniors need is a bunch more stuff. We don’t want to just clutter up there now smaller space and we also don’t want to just remind them of, well, I used to have a scarf like this, but I had to give it away and so I’m probably going to give this one away. So they’re a hard population to gift, which is why a lot of our stuff is activities and thought processes and opportunities of engagement or inspiration moments to connect in different ways. Uh, the other thing is as far as what’s out there and what’s available in this has to do with me just asking caregivers what do you do, or not even the caregivers, just that sandwich generation, they have a desire to connect to like, I’m not going to sit down and write a letter to my mom every week or every month. I know she would love that. She likes receiving that mail and opening it and reading it with photos just in. It’s not going to fit my lifestyle. And I met a handful of others that send flowers once a month so that they get that surprise. But beyond that, there isn’t something that kind of shows, hey, I’m thinking about you. I love you. I want to surprise you beyond those two things, so that’s been really wonderful that we’ve been able to address that desire that need, uh, so family members who live far away from their elders, but they want to stay connected throughout the year. Family members who, what do I get grandma for her 87th birthday, I don’t know. So we get a lot of one off just as a birthday present, surprise, personalized like new fun experience and then oftentimes after the first one is such a hit, they’ll sign up for multiple months and just keep them, keep them going. So that has been a really affirming that we’re on the right track, that now we’re attracting people who are just gifting them the elder generation because there was a lack of..
Molly & Angela: 27:17 Just because it’s a good thing.
Beth Rosselini: 27:18 Yeah, yeah. There was a lack of, well the gift product that could serve such a profound purpose.
Molly & Angela: 27:24 I mean, and that’s part of, with the five for life planner, part of our discovery too, was that, you know, it’s hard to find something that you really want to give someone that’s older that just because that they don’t because they don’t want more stuff and they don’t need more stuff, and nobody really need some stuff, but, but even more so when you know, you just, you don’t have any as you go older. Yeah. But, but wanting to do something that shows that you’re thinking about them and that is truly going to delight them, which is a, you know, a wonderful word. The box shows your very mindful intention. Right? And that’s what I love about it. And, and that’s kinda the same way that we approach things here at five for life. There’s mindful intention. It’s, it’s something that, you know, we’ve done the research, we’ve done the thinking, we’ve, we’ve tried to take into consideration a lot of different elements, you know, for getting it right. And I think that’s, that’s so evident with senior delight box. And another reason that I just, you know, we were so thrilled to get to talk with you because you’re obviously, you’re just tuned in. Yeah, yeah. Tuned into it all. But you’re requirements are. Yeah, I know. And your passion for it obviously has just made something that’s very, very special.
Beth Rosselini: 28:48 Well, I mean, you guys, we should hang out all the time because the way shower me with compliments all the time. No, and I would, I would love to say yes, I’m a, I’m so cool and wonderful and this is my brainchild, but absolutely not. This is, I’m fortunate enough to have been around a lot of people who are so open and supportive and share a similar passion and maybe they don’t have the capacity to go and launch a, an entrepreneurial endeavor aside, philanthropic endeavor. But that’s what I love about the sandwich generation and helping me get the product right. Because I put it right up front and I say, this is my intention. I know I’m not going to solve all these problems that I’ve identified with a monthly box, but give me feedback. I want to do some good. I want to show up as a ray of sunshine that you can surprise them with and really give so much back to them in a very unique way than you ever have before. If I’m missing the mark, tell me, or if there’s something that I need to include, tell me. And everyone has been really supportive because they really liked the intent as well. And so I’ve gotten good feedback. So it’s, it’s been, uh, it takes a village type mission. I’m so grateful for that. Uh, I just, I get to take credit for everyone else’s great ideas, which is wonderful. But yes, it’s definitely a passion project. I know that’s where you guys came from as well. Passion can break down doors and have you stay up late at night and do things that you never thought were possible because you, if you weren’t doing it, you would be thinking about the problem that you’re trying to solve in the first place. So I’m grateful that the passion fuels me. Maybe I can’t have any more cups of coffee or something.
Molly & Angela: 30:45 Or when you look and go, Oh, it’s super late. And I probably should sleep! So tell us about your plans a little bit more of in terms of where a senior delight box is heading, what you see on the horizon, what is going to keep it getting better, improving, what, just a little bit more about where you’re headed.
Beth Rosselini: 31:07 Yes. So, well fortunately we’ve had a lot of really smart, wonderful, compassionate kind, synergistic people like yourselves approach us and that has been, uh, something I wasn’t expecting, but probably what I’m most excited about is the opportunity to collaborate with people just like you and help each other help this community. So I have some interesting collaborations that I think will unfold in the next six to 12 months that I’m really jazzed about. As an example. I have a couple of different nursing home communities that want to invest or raise donations to just guarantee that everyone in the home is going to get a box every single month regardless of whether they’re family members signs them up for it. And I think that is awesome. So I’m very enthusiastic about the opportunity for future collaborations and scaling this to be a lot bigger, uh, so that I can connect with more seniors. And with more family members in this thoughtful way and get more feedback and it’s a community that I love being a part of and loved learning from. So I enjoy growing that. The other thing that I’m really as part of my bigger picture vision is I think I’m creating a channel to communicate with seniors in a unique way. And so I’m able to incorporate educational materials or things unique to their state of mind. Uh, their therapy of choice. It, all of these pieces, some would say, what have you been doing from dentistry to med tech startup to e-commerce. She’s scattered, but in fact it’s just a unified vision of I got to connect with these elders who are suffering and are difficult to connect with because they don’t have technology in their veins like younger generations do. And I think it’s coming together in a really unexpected way that I now have an online community with the sandwich generation who gets the tech and likes the tech and still showing up for the seniors in a way in a medium that they can comprehend and they appreciate that I’m coming on their level as opposed to just trying to shove my tech down their throat and say, no GRANDPA, get on facebook, get on instagram now. It’s just not going to happen. So I think there’s a, a lot of opportunity in connecting with these seniors in the subscription way that, uh, I, I’ve started to explore with the gift part, but I think it’s only gonna grow from here.
Molly & Angela: 34:04 Yeah, I agree. And I think we can relate to the challenges because when you’re trying to speak to the aging population on a broad basis, and I mean just in any way right now, right? The Internet is just something that everybody that even, I mean we’re not in your age group, but you know, even in the, in my age group, in the 50 plus age group, we’re certainly much more tech savvy, most of us than people even 10, 15 years older than us right now. And so it’s a challenge to reach them on a broad base like that. But, and then also to remember as you’re building or trying to curate products are trying to really impact their lives that an app isn’t going to do it, you know, something meaningful that they can relate with. People ask us, ask us all the time like, well, is there, is there going to be an APP for that? And we’re like, yeah, no because the, you know, the people that we’re serving, it’s not really an. And also because the whole writing things down is just a part of that is part of the thing. But it’s interesting. So I’m sure that that’s.
Beth Rosselini: 35:15 It’s funny that you brought up the APP as an example because I’ve had a handful of other startups have asked for my time to come and give feedback on an APP approach for an elderly solution, whatever it’s related to typically healthcare, but healthcare and shoot, they’re beautiful but I’m not a programmer. I could never build something like that. I have so much respect for it. But I also understand that engineers, tech people are really passionate about the tech and sometimes they overlook the actual end user and what their experience is going to be like. So one of the first ones who brought an app to me and asked for my feedback and they said, you know, it helps with medication management and physical therapy management after they’ve had surgery and whatnot. And I didn’t want to be rude because that’s not part of who I am. But I started laughing a little bit. He said, Oh, why? Why are you laughing? I said, have you ever been into a nursing home? Which is where this person and wanting to first apply it. He said, well, no, but I mean I’ve looked them up online and I’ve watched a lot of youtube videos. I said, Well first of all, most of them don’t have cell phones and uh, if they do, it’s a flip phone or it’s like a nokia. It’s the phone that we had 15 years ago. They don’t have smartphones, they are not using a that any sort of technology where that APP would be in front of them. And I said, and if they are there, they’re not going to use an app that’s just not for what they’re doing. Yeah. So it was. It was really hard to deliver that news because I just saw this wash of like, oh no, come over his face.
Molly & Angela: 37:02 It’s probably a fantastic thing, but it just doesn’t work for who it’s supposed to serve.
Beth Rosselini: 37:11 Fortunately he was able to kind of pivot a little bit so he’s still well on his way and he’s going to have great success. He’s a really bright guy, but it’s kind of being totally out of touch with the real day to day of what things look like. And I, I, I know that when I go to a nursing home, the number of times they’ll, the patients or the residents will confuse me for a nurse or someone who works there because I’m in scrubs and they would say, how has the mail come yet? Has the mail come? Yet? I’m expecting a letter for my sister. I’m expecting a letter from my daughter. And that’s, that’s real life. So the fact that we, if, if your listeners haven’t been to our website, if you go to our website, you can see a picture. Our boxes has a gigantic sunshine on it because we said we want to be a surprise ray of sunshine in a, in an unexpected but most positive way possible. And so when that mail comes in and there are certain homes now where we have five or six residents who are subscribed to the service, and so you see a gigantic stack of rays of sunshine that is, I’m so proud of where we are, and had you asked me even 18 months ago, are you going to be sending rays of sunshine literally into these communities? I’d say, you’re crazy. What are you talking about? But I, I couldn’t be prouder to where we’ve come to now.
Beth Rosselini: 38:33 That’s, it’s, it is awesome. It is fantastic. And I like, you know, I have to say that they are rays of sunshine, you’re a ray of sunshine Dr Beth Rosalina, yes you are. Um, so the um, I have to tell you this funny story because it just, you made me think of this and it, it again, it just talks about meeting people and meeting this older population. My Dad is going to be 91 here in January. He’s still living independently, which is amazing and awesome. And certainly why, what is it is part of the reason that inspires me to want to help impact the aging population. I want to, I’m hoping to see 91 and being as good of a good of a situation as he is, but as independent as he is, as still cognitively alert as he is. He got himself an iphone. Yeah, I know. I, which I loved. I’m like, Whoa, okay. You got it. You know, because everybody told him he should get a new phone because he had one of those phones. Right. And so he, he gets it and he gives it to me of course, to help him figure out how to use it to help them set it up. And he says, now how do I twixt people? And I’m like, Twixt Dad, what’s twixting?
Beth Rosselini: 39:59 That warms my heart.
Molly & Angela: 39:59 Is that a mixture of tweeting and texting? Because that’s Kinda what it sounds like, you know, so it’s like he’s never get it. I was like, yeah, Dad, this is where you get your voicemail phone calls. That’s it.
Beth Rosselini: 40:17 Here’s the top four people, you’ll only need to call.
Molly & Angela: 40:20 Lets get your contacts set up. No twixting for you. I’m sorry that was a little rabbit hole. But it’s just, you know, again, you know, he’s, he can..
Beth Rosselini: 40:33 I love it. Also what a great point of inspiration that he’s 91 and still learning and growing and wanting to be connected. That yeah, I. and that’s why he’s 91 and he’ll continue to thrive because he clearly has it in his spirit, whether he’s doing it intentionally or it’s subconscious.
Molly & Angela: 40:54 It’s an intentional thing and that’s part of what our whole years daily actions. He’s definitely led a life that has been guided by taking those actions after, you know, after some of a massive heart attack that would’ve, should’ve killed him when he was 50. So yeah, that’s a whole nother. Well that is definitely a whole nother podcast, so we’ll just stop that whole sideline. But what I love about senior delight box and what I love about our message and the intersection of the two is that the aging process is not always easy and it’s not always, it’s certainly not the same for everybody. Right? Everybody has a different challenge. But you can make changes, you can impact people’s lives, you can be a positive ray of sunshine and as a senior, you know, doing, when you get those, that box, if you get that, a senior delight box, the activities that you have in there. So if that’s they’re still designed to help you keep growing, right? Because you don’t need to even in the. Even in the hardest situation maybe being in a nursing home and being really, you know, having some physical challenges and mental challenges, there’s still opportunities to be optimistic and to keep growing in a, in a positive way, and to live your life and engage with them, you know, some way or another. Even at the. Yeah, I mean, you know what I mean? To spend whatever time you’ve got to do it with a, with that attitude of optimism is kind of what inspires us and I think also what helps you, what inspires you as well? I think as well, you noted, you said earlier on about a sense of purpose and I think that’s for a lot of people when they are in a nursing home, they don’t have that sense of purpose. So if they know that they have the little box and there’s some activity, and the need to do this activity with one or two other people, then that’s on their radar. So now, they know that you know, okay, I want to do this and I have to find my two friends or whatever. So it gives, although it’s a small thing, it gives them a purpose. So they go, they seek it out and they do this thing in the become engaged and it make some think can do something that they may not have otherwise done. So it’s like all of it, the whole part of the box is just the receiving, but what then follows on from when they receive it and how it impacts them, and those around them as it turns out.
Beth Rosselini: 43:28 You bring up purpose and I want to mention this as a one off because this is actually really challenging for us when we were originally designing the content of the box. How do we inspire points of purpose and we can do it, for sure, just go connect with someone that you can tell is having a harder day than you. Or uh, the learning has been fun. We say, know we know you don’t have any homework and you don’t have any deadlines for work. So learn, learn 20 new French words or here’s a small book of American sonnets and become a poetry snob or read all of these and tell us why you don’t like these poems. Do that, that the, the purpose component, once we got it right, I was really so excited because not everyone participates and of course everyone is in a different time and place and whatnot. But one component in the box that we include is sometimes it’s a postcard. Sometimes it’s just a stationary, but we say, hey, you’ve lived an extraordinary life and it’s a life that no one else in the whole planet is lived and you have so much wisdom and we would like to reap the benefits of your wisdom or your family member would like to reap the benefits of capturing some of your advice and so we’ll include random questions like if you could give someone advice for a job interview, what’s important to do on a job interview or what was your hardest, but best boss you ever had or what was the best class you ever took in school and it’s this perfect mixture of nostalgia. Remind them of an identity of someone at a time in their life when they were someone other than in a wheelchair or being taken care of. by someone else. Go tap into that time when you were just vibrant and sharp and knew what to do or you were struggling but you moved past that challenge. We’re trying to tap into that with the nostalgia, but then, Hey, guess what? You’ve lived 91 years, Dad, you clearly are doing something right. Tell me about that and share that with me or share that with the senior delight community because we want to know and there’s a lot of value in it and there’s pride and there’s a, you know, I have lived a wonderful life and I could help future generations or even just one person by sharing these experiences and points of learning throughout my life of what I’ve done. I was so excited when we conceptualize that and some of the responses we’ve gotten or the family members have gotten, depending on how we have them sent back to us because we’ll just put a stamp on it. We say, if you feel like filling this out, it’s information we would really love to have and we promise we’ll, we’ll use it in a very good way and seeing the handwriting of, you know, make sure you have good breath when you’re on a job interview of those kinds of things, that seeing it in the old cursive of an elder is again, another unexpected thing that completely exceeded anything and everything I thought we would be doing it this time and energizes me to continue to do more.
Molly & Angela: 46:44 That is incredible. That is getting the feedback in that manner is, is really great. Beth, we could probably talk to you all day. I’m sure that we, I know we could as a matter of this, love the. I mean we love what you’re doing. I know that again, we’ve got a, just ideas both of us, uh, on ways to continue to impact the aging population and it’s important because as we shared with you previously, you know, the aging population is only going to keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and we need more people talking about how to provide solutions and really engage with the elderly and with the aging population and be prepared for it. So the url for people that want to check out senior delight box is pretty simple, right?
Beth Rosselini: 47:38 Yes. It’s www.seniordelight.com or you can find us on instagram @seniordelightbox.
Molly & Angela: 47:44 Perfect.
Beth Rosselini: 47:45 So those are the two spots you can find us.
Molly & Angela: 47:48 And we’ll put a link to that in our show notes. But, uh, it’s a perfect opportunity for people to deliver something that is a ray of sunshine in a box, a really great tool for staying connected with the senior relative, and more importantly, just a fantastic idea, concept, and really great purpose and passion that you have built this business that’s just going to keep growing.
Beth Rosselini: 48:14 Thank you. I really appreciate it. Again, we should just talk all day because you guys are so nice to me, I love it! Thank you so much for the opportunity to connect with the two of you and your listeners and I look forward to continuing to work together and I’m so excited for what you guys are going to do and yeah, I think we’re gonna do great things.
Molly & Angela: 48:33 Hopefully we’re going to change the world right now.
Beth Rosselini: 48:36 One grandma and Grandpa at a time.
Molly & Angela: 48:39 That’s right, I was gonna say the same thing.
Beth Rosselini: 48:45 Well thank y’all so much. Have a great day. Bye. Bye.
Molly & Angela: 48:50 Thanks for listening to the live happier podcast. Now it’s time to move, learn, share, and let go. Five daily actions to make the rest of your life the best of your life. See you next week.
To learn more about Senior Delight Box visit:
www.seniordelight.com or on Instagram @seniordelightbox
