FULL CIRCLE
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Full Circle with Sandi Wake
Full Circle with Deanna Vigliotta
Full Circle with Carrie
por Circle Health
Join us on Full Circle for a heartfelt and eye-opening conversation with Sandi Wake, a senior care advisor and founder of a Care Patrol franchise dedicated to helping families navigate one of the most overwhelming decisions they'll ever face. After 30 years in the corporate world, Sandi pivoted into elder care — and hasn't looked back. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on a system most families only encounter in crisis: the shortage of quality caregivers, the staggering cost of long-term care, and the emotional weight carried by everyone involved. From smart adult briefs to small group home communities, Sandi also shares the innovations giving her real hope for the future. Whether you're planning ahead, supporting an aging parent right now, or working in elder care yourself — this conversation is one you need to hear. 0:03 Introduction — Meet Sandi Wake, senior care advisor and Care Patrol franchise owner 0:43 Leaving corporate life after 30 years — how Sandi found her calling in elder care 1:24 What Care Patrol does — assisted living, memory care, and in-home care guidance 2:12 Why most families are blindsided — the hidden cost of skipping long-term care planning 3:02 From hospital referral to community tour — the Care Patrol client journey 4:24 The business model — up to 75% of work done pro bono to do right by the client 5:31 The emotional toll of watching families navigate progressive illness and shifting care needs 6:50 Working directly with seniors — and when family must step in for advanced dementia 7:42 Systemic cracks in elder care — caregiver shortages and the true cost of aging 8:33 Low wages, high turnover, and the rare caregivers who show up for the right reasons 9:14 Reasons for hope — small group home clusters in Western Michigan and emerging tech 9:59 Assistive innovations — smart briefs, in-room monitoring cameras, and emergency response buttons 11:18 Ongoing support — Care Patrol's post-placement engagement and check-in process 11:50 Staying grounded — peer networks, exercise, and firm boundaries in a heavy field 12:34 Inside Sandi's 10-person team — care transition managers who cap caseloads for quality 14:10 Final takeaway — listen to your aging loved ones and protect their autonomy Guest: Sandi Wake | Senior Care Advisor, Care Patrol
Join us on Full Circle for an eye-opening conversation with Deanna Vigliotta, a seasoned healthcare executive and Senior Vice President at TZMO USA, one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality incontinence and wound care products. Drawing on a career that spans radiology, medical technology, and long-term care, Deanna brings a sharp, systems-level perspective to one of the most underappreciated challenges in senior care — dignified, effective incontinence management. In this episode, she unpacks the real cost of poor incontinence care, the science behind breathable products, and why putting people first is not just the right thing to do, but the smart business move too. 0:00 Introduction — Meet Deanna Vigliotta 0:04 From Radiology to TZMO — Her Career Journey 0:54 The TZMO Mission & the U.S. Market Opportunity 2:11 The Ugly Outcomes of Poor Incontinence Care 3:37 Why Fully Breathable Products Prevent Wounds 4:13 Navigating the Complex U.S. Long-Term Care Market 6:14 Value-Based Care — How Quality Products Reduce Costs 7:37 The Link Between Incontinence Management and UTIs 7:54 How Quality Products Are Actually Built 9:43 The Gold Standard — What to Look for in a Product 10:31 Social Isolation in Seniors and the Power of Dignified Care 11:40 Restorative Sleep and Eliminating Nighttime Disruptions 12:43 Global Perspectives from a Long-Term Care Conference in Poland 13:52 Future Trends — Managing Chronic Conditions as Population Ages 14:24 Closing Philosophy — People First, Profits Follow Guest: Deanna Vigliotta | SVP, TZMO USA
Join us on Full Circle for an insightful conversation with Carrie Aalberts, widely known as the Dementia Darling — gerontologist, dementia educator, and passionate caregiver advocate. Drawing on over a decade of hands-on experience and a deeply personal connection to dementia, Carrie brings warmth, expertise, and radical honesty to one of the most overlooked conversations in healthcare. In this episode, she breaks down the realities of the U.S. senior care system, the emotional toll on professional caregivers, and the exciting wave of technology transforming dementia care. Whether you're a family caregiver, a healthcare professional, or simply planning ahead, this conversation will change how you see dementia. 0:00 Introduction — Meet Carrie Aalberts, the Dementia Darling 0:20 Full-Time Dementia Educator, Advocate & Social Media Influencer 0:42 A Personal Story — Her Grandmother's Diagnosis 1:03 Taking Dementia Awareness to Social Media 2:57 Her First Job — Intergenerational Adult Daycare 3:50 Adult Daycare vs. 24/7 Memory Care Facilities 4:28 The Broken U.S. Senior Care System 5:40 The Painful Realities of Professional Caregiving 7:14 Technology Innovations in Dementia Care 8:58 VR and Engagement Tech for Advanced Dementia 9:39 Carrie's Work with AARP AgeTech Collaborative 10:32 What To Do When You First Receive a Diagnosis 12:51 Genetics, Lifestyle & Brain Health in Prevention 14:04 The Link Between Heart Health and Brain Health 14:20 Dementia Is Not a Single Disease — Here's What It Really Is Guest: Carrie Aalberts, MS | Dementia Darling
Join us on Full Circle for a sharp, systems-level conversation with John — army veteran, healthcare strategist, and former Merritt Hawkins executive who stumbled into physician recruiting through a struggling military division and never looked back. John sees healthcare the way artillery officers see terrain: where strategy gets won and lost, and where complexity hides the real levers. In this episode, he explains why value-based care has finally crossed the innovation diffusion threshold but costs remain high because the system is still running on a fee-for-service chassis, how the ACA's medical loss ratio cap accidentally enabled administrative bloat, and why commercial payers have little incentive to invest in long-term cost reduction when a member today is someone else's problem in three years. This is one of the clearest diagnoses of why healthcare reform moves so slowly — and what it would actually take to change. 1:09 From artillery officer to medical recruiter — service above self as the thread connecting both 2:36 Teaching himself physician recruiting from a book — and then interviewing at the firm that wrote it 4:31 Where strategy gets won and lost — healthcare's collision of operations, reimbursement, and behavior 5:17 Same problems at every size — bigger does not automatically mean more aligned 6:13 Value-based care at its best — an operating model for accountability, not just a payment model 7:06 Look upstream — pediatrics, behavioral health, and social determinants as the real levers 8:23 Why costs haven't come down — inefficiency that was easy to hide is now increasingly visible 9:19 Past the 13% diffusion threshold — value-based care is accelerating but the chassis is still fee-for-service 10:01 A geographic patchwork of ad hoc fixes — and the margin extracted by those without accountability 10:35 45% of US payments now in alternative models — a sorting cycle where execution is king 12:04 The ACA's unintended consequence — capping the percentage but not the dollars, enabling bloat to grow 12:54 Prior auth and credentialing delays — inefficiencies that appear almost intentionally maintained 13:28 The payer incentive problem — a member today is a different insurer's problem in three years 14:08 How commercial payers leveraged Medicare — using their knowledge of available margin to their advantage Guest: John | Healthcare Strategist & Former Merritt Hawkins Executive Host: Circle Health