Breaking Dementia Stigma: Maley Hunt’s Innovative Approach to Senior Care Leadership

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi and today’s guest is Maile Hunt. She serves as the chief operating officer and residential services administrator at LiveWell, a not-for-profit agency committed to providing high quality services for individuals living with dementia.

Founded in 1992, Live Well offers assisted living, skilled nursing care, and wellness programs designed to support people and their caregivers, all while working to reduce the stigma surrounding dementia. Mailey leads a team of over 240 employees, creating dementia-positive communities and guiding care for those living with cognitive changes. She holds a Master of Health Administration from the George Washington University.

and is a licensed nursing home administrator in Connecticut. With a background in long-term care leadership and a passion for health equity, Meili has focused her career on destigmatizing aging and improving dementia care. And we’re gonna learn why I’ve been wrong in using the term memory care. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Ad Back Benefits Agency.

where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. Imagine being able to give your employees free access to doctors, therapists, and prescription medications in a way that actually puts more money in your staff’s pockets and the company’s too. As an example, one recent client with 450 employees boosted net profits over $412,000 a year.

Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible. To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. Alright, back to our guest today, the COO and Administrator of LiveWell, Maylee Hunt. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Maley Hunt (02:09)
Absolutely, thank you for having me, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti (02:11)
Okay, so Maile, before we talk about how you got your start at Livewell specifically, what first drew you into the senior care industry in the first place?

Maley Hunt (02:22)
Sure. think like a lot of people in their careers, there’s a piece of intentionality and then there’s a piece of kind of stumbling into it. ⁓ and so when I was in college, I was exploring the field of healthcare and I was trying to figure out what was next for me. ⁓ I realized that being a practitioner was, was not my bandwagon being a nurse or doctor. They are very important careers and, and they were not, ⁓ synergistic with my strengths.

But when I took a health administration class one day, I realized there’s a whole number side to healthcare that growing up you don’t consume because you’re not paying the bill. You’re not thinking about the insurance or whatever challenges might face between getting you and getting the healthcare that you need. And so as I’m sitting in this class, I had a light bulb moment and then I started to look for internships. And finding an internship in health administration can be pretty challenging.

Especially if you’re an undergraduate, a lot of them are for people that are in master’s programs or connected with the universities that have fellowships. And so I looked around quite a bit and my mom kept telling me, my friend Trish works in a nursing home. You should totally call Trish and get an internship. And I was very determined at the ripe ⁓ wise age of 20 to say, I don’t need my parents’ help to get a job.

That’s not how the world works. Believe it or not, I come to realize network or no work is absolutely the way to get a job. but long story short, I’m in a grocery store and Trish calls me and she says, come work for me this summer. I’ll, I’ll change your mind on nursing homes. ⁓ and believe it or not, I walked in that first day and I came across a vibrant community where people lived, worked and visited. And I came across some of the most dedicated leaders.

and it was a woman dominated field in getting to meet people from leading age, from Connecticut, ⁓ central, networking and different pieces like that. And so from that first summer, I stayed in senior care for all of my internship opportunities and got a certificate in long-term care as part of my masters, all from somebody taking a chance on me when I was starting out.

deciding to change my mind on what it could look like inside of a nursing home.

Anthony Codispoti (04:48)
You know, I appreciate that story. And I had to laugh particularly at the ⁓ network or no work statement. I went through something similar in high school. First time I wanted to get a job, my dad, my grandfather, you know, I had a lot of friends in the community and Hey, we could help you out. No, no, no. I’m going to do this on my own. You know, I’m 15 years old. I don’t have a resume. why, you know, take the help, but

Maley Hunt (05:06)
Mm-hmm.

Or you do and

it like dog walking on it.

Anthony Codispoti (05:14)
So

I ended up getting a job at a fast food restaurant on my own, feeling very proud of it. Show up the first day at work and the general manager calls me back because she recognizes my last name. My dad was her dentist. Her and my grandmother used to work together as ⁓ seamstresses. And so I got more hours. I got more shift work right away just because of that. And it was like here it was. I was trying to run away from the thing and

Maley Hunt (05:34)
There you go.

you

Anthony Codispoti (05:43)
It was there all along. should have just, you know, taken the easy path. So it sounds like something kind of similar for you.

Maley Hunt (05:48)
Well, and I don’t think it’s necessarily the easy path. I think it’s you have to have that rapport in those relationships and be courageous to step into them. And I think the more than we can lend a hand to the next people and be that person when the tides are turned is so, so important and something I try to keep doing and keep remembering Trish. ⁓ when I think of students sending me emails and things like that.

Anthony Codispoti (06:11)
very good. You kind of remember how somebody, you know, paid it forward to you and helped you out at a time where it would have been tough for somebody in your position to really get an internship. And now you’re able to return that favor to other young ⁓ up and coming professionals. So, Maile, you actually started at LiveWell about five years ago, which aligns with the start of COVID, a particularly challenging time for everybody but

really in senior care. What motivated this career change during such a turbulent time?

Maley Hunt (06:48)
I think we’re on a theme here, Anthony, because networking definitely comes back into play on this one. I was working as an executive director of an assisted living when COVID started in the spring and around March. And I was a part of Hartford HealthCare, which I was very lucky to be a part of such an organization with such resources during the pandemic. They were helping set up the field clinics. They were ahead on the testing, different things like that. And so

Working there, I had a nice kind of bubble of resources and I was really fortunate in that piece. However, COVID was still, will still hitting hard all of our communities and we were having daily calls ⁓ seven days a week about what the status was, who was positive, what the spread was like, ⁓ how different areas of the health system could help one another. And so things were moving along ⁓ in a certain fashion.

And I had my personal life. I was engaged that year and was planning to get married in June of 2020, a great time to get married. And so my husband and I ended up eloping because we didn’t want to have the wedding without my parents there and things like that. And so…

The day after my wedding, I get a phone call from live well, ⁓ and from a coworker that I had known from a previous role saying, what are you up to? Are you busy? And it’s kind of funny to be able to say, well, I’m at work and I got married yesterday. ⁓ and so I’m talking to Heidi, whom I still work with. And she said, well, we’re looking for a chief operating officer. Would you be interested? And so I wasn’t looking, I was very satisfied where I was at.

However, when somebody calls with something interesting like that, especially early in your career and thinking, maybe I do need to try something different and get more experiences, I said, why not? So in addition to getting married and ⁓ having my instant family, I also started interviewing for this position remotely and then had an in-person interview during COVID, which was funny if you had seen it because

We did most of it outside so that we had the privilege that I didn’t have to wear a mask, even though everybody else was wearing a mask. ⁓ and the funny thing was fast forward about two and a half years after I’ve worked for live while we finally stopped wearing masks every day. And I think that’s important for people to recognize is that in nursing homes, people got really excited that COVID was over. It was not over for so many people. And it was really hard for us to see that in the community and the not.

have that support all the time on why we were still doing that. But finishing the second half of someone’s face ⁓ with a mask, I had to relearn so many people’s names because you finish their chin in your imagination and then everybody takes their masks off and you get to see their beautiful smiles. And it was just, it was like getting to come home again to another new community, but definitely a tumultuous change during a tumultuous time.

Anthony Codispoti (09:39)
You

The mask thing I have, I have to laugh at that because it’s so true. My youngest, my oldest son started kindergarten at a school and so there was drop off, you know, we get to, you know, see the teachers from afar, but right, only from here up. And you’ve got an idea in your mind and you had no idea that you were sort of painting a picture of what they looked like. And when the mask eventually came off, it was like, who is that? You almost had to kind of like do this to cover them. Right. ⁓ now I recognize you.

Maley Hunt (10:21)
Yes, we did that sometimes. did, yeah. ⁓ and

you can tell someone’s smiling so you picture what their smile looks like. And I mean, it’s even better in person once the masks come off, but what an interesting time to interview and to accept a position without ever having seen someone’s whole face. It’s pretty interesting.

Anthony Codispoti (10:30)
Right?

Right?

So ⁓ you said that two and a half years after the start of COVID, you guys were able to stop wearing masks. And it sounds I think the comment that you made was when it felt like COVID was over for everybody else, it was still going on for you. Can you explain more of what you mean there?

Maley Hunt (10:51)
Yes.

Well, I think I remember back to the winter of like 2020 to 2021, we were very fortunate at live well through 2020 because the leadership here before I started that I have to give credit to is they were very early adopters of let’s get everybody in a mask. They’re not mandating it yet, but that makes sense. Even though we don’t know a lot about things, how do germs travel? so.

by stopping visitors, stopping masks early on. The population that we serve at LiveWell, everybody has a diagnosis of cognitive change and dementia. ⁓ At the time, now it’s a little bit different in growing and including more people.

People with dementia, idea of keeping a mask on or understanding why it’s there or not to touch it or to wash your hands after you touch it, that’s a whole nother level of variables. And so at LiveWall, what we did throughout 2020 was if we can do more as the team that’s here to keep people safe, then the people that live here are essentially in a bubble of more…

of safety, to speak. And so then they’re not having to wear masks because most nursing homes were trying to get their residents to wear masks. And in some instances, I do think that actually caused greater spread. ⁓ because when you add that variable and like, you don’t know how to use it properly in terms of any time you touch the outside of your mask, you have to wash your hands because that’s where the germs are. That’s, that’s something we had to learn as.

everybody in the world back in 2020. so, LiveWell started the masks. We had no cases of COVID until after Thanksgiving of 2020. We were the last nursing home in the state to have COVID. And with the population that we serve, we knew that it would be incredibly detrimental and deadly if we were to get it. And so even after that Thanksgiving, we were testing daily. We we called it Science Plus. And so,

Anthony Codispoti (12:45)
Wow.

Maley Hunt (13:04)
That’s what we were doing through that time. And then everyone got excited because the vaccines came out. ⁓ unfortunately, we were one of the last places to get the vaccines. And I think if we had got them in a little sooner, maybe we would have done a little bit better. we had the governor actually come out and celebrate our community for how long we were able to maintain without having COVID. And then also the success rate with how many people we had that got vaccinated.

But you get this vaccine and in the community, the cases drop, people get excited that it’s over. However, for us, the Department of Public Health, the CDC, they’re still putting out guidelines that anytime you have one case, here are all the things you have to do. And I have families or new people that are moving in that didn’t experience the science plus and have that buy-in. I think this can be extrapolated to any initiative you have at an organization. You have those people that

that lived the change with you. And so they’re thankful for the philosophy. They appreciate what you mean when you say science plus or whatever the equivalent is, but then you have new people.

Anthony Codispoti (14:05)
Mm-hmm.

And Science Plus was

just your sort of protocol for, you know, how we space, how we… ⁓

Maley Hunt (14:20)
Exactly.

It was doing what, what’s the recommendation and then what can we do? That’s one more thing on top of the recommendation. And so it’s basically, we’re not just going to do what we’re directed to do. We’re going to do that. Plus a little bit more. And so for us, that was like the daily testing or requiring visitors to test before they come to visit. That wasn’t always required, but if we do that, that’s one extra thing that we had. And so I think by having those extra pieces.

Um, we were able to keep people safer longer, but then you, fast forward to 2021 that winter into 22, we’re still having the same challenges. We’re having new variants. so having people maintain their strength and fortitude and resilience when everything is normal, um, back in the rest of the world, it was, it was a challenging time. And they think even compared to other nursing homes that weren’t doing that extra step because it.

It was hard to get the buy-in from families and we were really fortunate that we have families that live and visit here that believe in our philosophy and believe in what we’re trying to achieve and support that.

Anthony Codispoti (15:31)
So let’s talk more about LiveWell. ⁓ Senior care, memory care, we’re gonna get to in a moment why there’s a better term than that, but I wanna understand, because you guys are a little bit different in terms of other similar facilities. Tell us more about what you do there.

Maley Hunt (15:38)
Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So at live while we’re building a dementia positive community. ⁓ and so what that means, there was a, an article back in 2016, from the WHO on dementia positive. And it was kind of taking these different pieces of dementia capable, which is occupationally helping people with their diagnosis of dementia, dementia friendly, which, we’ve heard of age friendly communities. A lot of people have that’s a more

which is having the greater environment that you’re living in, whether it’s the police departments, grocery stores, places that you go be friendly for your condition, whether it’s older age or dementia, so dementia friendly. then dementia positive really takes it to this next step of acceptance of dementia as a disability, but also something that people still have strengths and they’re contributing to.

their community and that we are listening to them and their voice on directing what’s best for them. We’re not extrapolating on behalf of another population for whom we don’t have that lived experience. And so at LiveWell, we take that philosophy of dementia positivity and it doesn’t necessarily mean that dementia is a positive or optimistic thing, but it means that you can have a full life.

with dementia and you are so much more than your diagnosis. And so when it comes down to senior care, a lot of places have memory care as a piece of what they offer in their continuum. At LiveWell, our competitors, other people might describe everything that we do on our campus as memory care because we have that environment throughout all levels.

However, we don’t use the term memory care because it calls out what someone’s deficit is or what their weakness might be as opposed to coming from their strengths.

Anthony Codispoti (17:51)
And so what’s the

better term that I should use instead of memory care?

Maley Hunt (17:54)
Yeah. So I think it’s really just calling it what it is and where we’re a place that supports people living with cognitive change and dementia. And that might be a few more words. it is, but I think when we, when you think of memory care and to be a little bit, ⁓ antagonistic, there are other illnesses like, for example, Parkinson’s disease. If I created a tremor center, people would be horrified and they would never want to go.

Anthony Codispoti (18:03)
That is a mouthful.

Interesting.

Maley Hunt (18:22)
And so how do we kind of start to learn and evolve over time? Why do you think people are so resistant to memory care? If you heard, or you were considering for someone in your family, memory care, there’s a stigma around that, that someone else is making the choice, not the person that’s living there. Maybe it’s a last resort, or we need to put them behind a locked door because they’re a danger to themselves or others. But are they?

They didn’t commit a crime. They are living in the reality of where their brain is at. How can we find their strengths by using types of therapy, really understanding someone’s wellbeing, understanding where they’re at, so that we can understand how to best support them in the least restrictive environment. And so that’s what we’re trying to do at LiveWell. And we’re trying to make a place where people living with cognitive

cognitive change and dementia make the choice for themselves that they want to live here. It’s not somebody else putting someone here. It’s not somebody else making the choice for them. But we want to go upstream enough that people are saying, as I progress in my dementia or I want to move there now to slow the progression of my dementia, I’m making this choice for me.

Anthony Codispoti (19:43)
So I think what I hear you saying is you’re hoping to reach people who are at the earlier stages of this so that they can elect for themselves that, I’m either ready now or when I am ready, this is the place that I want to be. In those kinds of circumstances where they say, when I’m ready, this is the place I want to be, sort of envision like a tough moment of decision.

Maley Hunt (19:51)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. Yes.

Anthony Codispoti (20:13)
Does it, how often do you see it kind of get to the point where it’s like, they really need to be there, but now they’ve kind of progressed to a point where maybe they forget that they’ve made that election or, you know, now they’ve had a change of heart and how do you navigate that?

Maley Hunt (20:18)
Yeah.

I think that’s a really great point, Anthony. think that one way that Livewell has positioned themselves for this is what we’ve done in the last few years through a campus redesign and renovation is yes, our bread and butter has been skilled nursing and assisted living. We’ve been a gold standard in the state since 1992 when we opened. However, we’re only able to serve however many people live here. What’s before living here?

And so we developed a resilient living center, which offers courses and programs and classes, both in person and virtually for people whom transportation is an issue or you don’t live in Connecticut. And so we can stay in touch with people from diagnosis. And so we actually partner with local physicians, local hospitals, ⁓ universities that have people that are

regularly making this diagnosis of dementia and people don’t always know what’s next. And you get diagnosed with cancer, you immediately walk out of the door and you have a team and you have all of these people and all of the steps and this road that’s laid out for you on what’s next, what’s the next piece. Now, when you get a diagnosis of dementia, that road feels ambiguous and it might just be, you’re doing okay, come back in six months and let’s run the tests again.

Or here are a few things that you can do, but that concrete pathway of resources, that’s what the Resilient Living Center is trying to answer for folks. So that you get a diagnosis, it’s you need to work on socialization, physical fitness, nutrition, metabolic conditioning, all of these things that can help modify your risk factors. The Resilient Living Center is that for people. And so they can, we have people taking classes in that.

work here, so people as young as in their 20s, all the way up to people that are over 100 years old, are all taking classes and working on their cognitive health, in addition to other domains of health in the Resilient Living Center. And so I think that answer of we’re slowly building it we’re starting to see some people move in, whom started with us with classes or started with us with home-based therapies. And then they’re staying involved throughout that progression. And they’re actually noticing for themselves when

I’m starting to lack in that socialization because I don’t drive anymore. And so if I were to live there, I’d have this autonomy again and I would reopen that piece of my life. And so that’s kind of how we’re trying to address that piece by being more than just a residential destination, but actually helping thousands through the Resilient Living Center and those courses.

Anthony Codispoti (23:16)
Are there other centers that are doing something similar to the resiliency center that doesn’t kind of require you to be a resident there to get some of this assistance?

Maley Hunt (23:29)
So you don’t have to be a resident to use the Resilient Living Center, but we are searching for places that have similar resources. There are places that have ⁓ different community type centers where they’re doing pieces of this, but the ability to really build a full day experience or work in a way where you’re measuring and being able to track the progression of your well-being and of your cognition

throughout, we haven’t figured out what that direct ⁓ connection would be to somebody else that offers that. But if somebody that’s listening does have that, we would love to collaborate. always looking for partners.

Anthony Codispoti (24:13)
You’ve looked for

it, you haven’t found it. this point, you think it’s unique, at least in the States. It’d great to find somebody else who’s doing it because you guys can put your heads together and come up with some better ideas.

Maley Hunt (24:19)
Yes.

Absolutely. And there’s

work happening in Korea and in Finland with Superbrain and the Finnish geriatric study. And so we’re trying to learn from abroad and we’ll actually be opening the first finger clinic in the United States in partnership with Yale starting this fall and then in earnest this winter.

Anthony Codispoti (24:45)
What is a finger clinic? What is super brain? What is all that stuff you just talked about?

Maley Hunt (24:49)
So, ⁓ Superbrain and the Finger Clinic are the super brain is in Korea and it’s a very regimented program for people to work on fitness, cognitive stimulation, and nutrition and different pieces like that to help people as they age. It’s a public health answer to the aging demographic in their country.

And it’s very, very interesting. would encourage anybody to take a look at what they’re doing there. And in addition to that, the finished geriatric study is a longitudinal study that’s been happening for the better part of two decades led by Dr. Mia Cavapelto. And she is coming to Yale university this month. We’re in August now. And so she’ll be in the United States and she’ll be working with Yale on research.

And we recently received a grant ⁓ in partnership with Yale to open one of her finger clinics here. And so what that is, is that there’ll be a nurse, a nurse practitioner that will help follow someone through their journey of having mild cognitive impairment or a diagnosis of dementia and taking key biomarker measures around their metabolic conditioning, ⁓ socialization.

the cognitive training, physical training, and nutrition, and then recommending, based on where they’re at in those different categories, things that they can do to improve, and how much fitness to get in a week, how to eat slightly differently to support brain health, how to do cognitive training in a way that’s actually improving your brain functions.

And we have a few people that have been our early adopters in what we call our healthy brain program that’s modeled off an amalgamation of these programs. And we have people who they’ve gone back to have their scans done again and they’ve maintained their score over a year later from when their initial diagnosis of dementia was, which is incredible. And we actually have somebody who, it is unusual because instead of taking the diagnosis as this is inevitable,

Anthony Codispoti (26:57)
That’s unusual.

Maley Hunt (27:05)
And I’m going to be like what I picture in TVs and movies. How can I take my diagnosis and try to make a change in what that course could look like?

Anthony Codispoti (27:15)
So traditionally, when somebody gets a diagnosis, they’re going to get reviewed, scanned periodically. sounds like the example you used is a year, once a year. Kind of see where they’re at, six months or a year. And traditionally, once the diagnosis is made, it is very normal, very typical to see a measured decline at each of those intervals. And this two-decade longitudinal study shows that that’s not necessarily the case.

Maley Hunt (27:25)
It’s six months or a year depending on where people are at.

Anthony Codispoti (27:44)
slow down the progression.

Maley Hunt (27:46)
Yes.

That there are modifiable risk factors. And I think the more, the even more important piece is that for, for people like you, like me, like people that we know that don’t have a diagnosis of dementia, there are things that we can be doing in now. I’m in, I’m in my thirties that can reduce my risk of dementia when I am 60, 70, 80 years old. And so how are we, yes. So how are we going upstream? How are we focusing on getting seven hours of sleep a night?

Anthony Codispoti (28:07)
Speak. Yeah.

Maley Hunt (28:14)
Wouldn’t, wouldn’t that be lovely? Like that’s what helps clean out the toxins in our brain and lets our brain reset. How are we getting sun every day? How are we, ⁓ thinking about what we eat in a, in a different way? And it’s not any one thing. ⁓ but there are so many pieces and there’s some great infographics online. If you look up the Lancet and the modifiable risk factors on these different pieces and hearing loss is actually.

one of the number one preventable things that you can do to reduce your risk of dementia. And in your late 30s, early 40s, getting your hearing checked. And if you have a challenge addressing it, because when you can’t hear, you’re dissociating from the environment around you, even if you don’t recognize at what level that might be happening. And so something as simple as hearing aids or a hearing device can actually reduce your risk of dementia.

Anthony Codispoti (29:08)
Interesting. Okay. So here’s what I heard. Get some sun exposure every day. What is that? 15, 20 minutes, 10 minutes. Okay. ⁓ seven hours of sleep, get your hearing tested and if you need it, get a, an assisted device there. And, ⁓ what can you do about your diet? Like any more specifics there?

Maley Hunt (29:14)
10 minutes. ⁓

Mm-hmm. Yep.

I think a lot of it is based on the Mediterranean diet and kind of everything in moderation. think a lot of the pieces of what we talk about when we talk about the modifiable risk factors, they’re things that help you in other areas of your life too. By doing these things, it’s not like you’re just helping your brain. You’re helping your whole person. But how do you do it with that intention of also thinking of your brain and mind? And so I think it’s those beans, legumes, trying to eat the things that we know we should, less processed foods.

Anthony Codispoti (29:30)
Mm-hmm.

Maley Hunt (29:57)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (29:58)
And I’m actually

glad that you brought this up. ⁓ There’s a history of Alzheimer’s on my mother’s side of the family. So for as long as I can remember, since I was a little kid, my mom has been terrified of, you know, her eventually reaching this stage. ⁓ And, you know, even now as a grown adult, I don’t know what to tell her. I don’t know how to kind of talk her through that or what advice to give her for somebody, you know, who’s in their seventies.

Maley Hunt (30:10)
Sure.

Anthony Codispoti (30:26)
that may be closer to a time when this could happen. I don’t know, any advice for me in how to approach those kind of conversations with my own mom?

Maley Hunt (30:37)
I think it totally depends on the person, Anthony, and, know, one person, you know, one person, say that over and over again, but I think that. I think it’s letting people know that there is something that you can do. And instead of being afraid and just waiting for a diagnosis, look up what some of those modifiable risk factors are and think about what’s one small change I can make today. We call there’s a group that we work with and they call their changes tiny but mighty. So like what, what’s a tiny but mighty change that you can make in your day? it.

walking around the block one more time. Is it instead of canceling plans with that friend because you’re tired, is it getting together with them, talking with them, reading a book together, learning something new, going to a museum, things that ⁓ seem simple, but can have a really big impact on what that outcome is for your brain. Exactly. Cause you’re learning. And if you’re learning, your brain is a muscle. And so how are you working your brain today?

Anthony Codispoti (31:26)
So new experiences and social experiences or other real.

And so you mentioned that the resilience center that you have there in Connecticut, folks can access portions of it online. How would they do that?

Maley Hunt (31:46)
Yes, so ⁓ at our website, livewell.org, we have a full list of all of our courses and programs. We do them as semesters to thrive, and it’s like a collegiate model so people can build out what classes they want. And we actually have a new series of classes starting in September that are specifically targeted for people that either don’t have cognitive change or have very early diagnoses so that they’re even higher.

higher level connections and kind of forming those naturally occurring peer groups for strength support systems. And a number of the classes can be taken virtually. But you can also have a membership if you live locally and we also have virtual memberships as well. And are trying to build our online library. We don’t yet have things that are asynchronous, but we’re working to develop that in the coming years.

Anthony Codispoti (32:38)
So it’d be the kind of thing where you need to log in at a specific time where there’s, okay.

Maley Hunt (32:40)
at a specific time and you’re

doing it with other people. A lot of our classes are discussion based and our fitness classes are like in real time. It would be like having an instructor on Zoom, that’s what it is, with you doing those classes. But we know that especially if we’re targeting people that are younger, the flexibility in your schedule to be able to do something asynchronous is important. And so if…

If what we have doesn’t work for you now, please keep checking back because that’s definitely on our horizon.

Anthony Codispoti (33:12)
You know, there’s talking about sort of common themes in our conversation here. I’m hearing a lot of, you know, live well is kind of pushing the envelope kind of at the forefront of, what can we do? What’s, what’s an extra step we can take. And I, you know, I’m hearing about the resilient clinic and you know, now it’s online and come back because we’re going to have asynchronous options available. ⁓ You’re, you know, going to be the first in the country to do, you know, have one of these finger clinics.

Maley Hunt (33:22)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (33:39)
Is there anything else that’s sort of worth touching on here? I mean, that’s a lot in itself, but I want to make sure that we’re giving voice to anything else cool that you guys are working

Maley Hunt (33:44)
You

Yeah, I think that in general, one of the things that’s most exciting about LiveWall is our desire to keep doing the next thing. And it’s involving the people who have the diagnosis and have the lived experience as our idea generators. And I think that throughout the things that I’m sharing, a lot of people that co-facilitate classes or come up with classes are people who have a diagnosis of dementia.

We also have this group called the Empowering Partnerships Network that I think now we’re up to people in 22 different states that are a part of it. And so it’s people with dementia or people who care about people with dementia that want to be an ally and an advocate. And it’s a group that’s working to bust stigma. And so they have speaker series, they have lectures, they do things virtually. And so if in your community you want to

host an event or invite one of our speakers to be a part of it wherever you are, they would love to share their experience and they would love to change your mind firsthand on what it means to have a diagnosis of dementia. And I know I’m sharing a lot today, but there’s a big piece that’s missing in not having someone with the lived experience share all that we offer at LiveWell and share it from their perspective. Cause I think that is our biggest differentiator.

Anthony Codispoti (35:11)
Because there is the stigma that I’ve got this diagnosis. This is the beginning of the end kind of a thing and

Maley Hunt (35:17)
Yeah. Or it’s

us speaking for someone. And there are so many movements and so much that’s happened, and still needs to happen in so many areas of the world on supporting people that are marginalized. And if you have cognitive change and dementia, that is happening to you. And so how can we help listen to them and amplify their voices even more than our own when it comes to speaking about the work that we can change?

Anthony Codispoti (35:44)
That’s

interesting. So I could see that where it’s like, say somebody in my family is eventually gets a diagnosis and now I feel like I have to be their voice, right? Because sometimes they forget things. And so, and that’s got to be really sort of disempowering to, that they say it’s my mother, you know, eventually, God forbid, but. ⁓

Maley Hunt (35:53)
Hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (36:12)
you know, and now I feel like I need to step in and have conversations for her. And that’s gonna…

Maley Hunt (36:16)
Yeah. How are

you trying to include her at where she’s at or have the conversations now so that if you’re acting on someone’s behalf, whether it’s for, this diagnosis or something else, that, that you’re genuinely answering for that person and not for what you think that person would want. And it’s hard. And I’m not, I’m not saying it’s not hard and we struggle with it all the time and we see families struggle with it. And.

Anthony Codispoti (36:19)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Maley Hunt (36:45)
I don’t have an answer for how to make that piece easier. I think it’s just having those courageous conversations throughout your life and talking with your parents about their advanced directives and what it means to live well and what it means to have well-being and what is most important to them. And sometimes it’s something different than you think. ⁓ and if I can’t do that one thing, then is, is life as meaningful for me?

and we don’t want to make that choice for someone else. We wouldn’t want someone to make that choice for us.

Anthony Codispoti (37:18)
Now, it’s really interesting. Let’s shift gears, Meili. I’d be curious to hear more about sort of what it’s like to work there. Obviously, you came in at a really difficult time there at the beginning of COVID. ⁓ You’ve stayed through the end of COVID. You’re still there and still very excited about what’s going on. How does the culture live well compared to maybe some of the other places you’ve worked at before?

Maley Hunt (37:42)
Yeah. I think that culture is something that we talk about a lot right now in, in workplaces. And then it’s one thing for how it’s capitalized on the website or in orientation, but how does it come to practice? live well, one thing that got shared with me during my interview process, actually, that is still one of my favorite things about live well is what our values are. And so we have good gardening values.

Because like any good thing, they need to be nurtured and continued to water and grow. And so our values were created with people that live, work and visit here. They went on retreat and they came up with six things that we want to practice as humans. And so we have this lovely booklet of six things like practice being human, practice self-reflection, ⁓ practice connectedness, practice listening.

And so I have the privilege of delivering them at orientation. And there’s some guided meditation that goes along with delivering values to someone the first time. And so you sit in it and you hear these ⁓ phrases like we are all imperfect. We all have worth. we all have, the ability for it to have courage and growth. And so then you use it like a tool. So they’re not something that hangs on the wall or hangs on the shelf.

when we’re having challenging moments with one another or our CNAs are having differences of opinion or we have a family that maybe we are struggling to communicate with at the same level, we’ll pull out the values and we’ll try and understand where the other person is at and what in those values that we can share or understand and leverage the other opinion of where’s Anthony at today. Maybe him being short with me or

saying something that didn’t feel right was actually, he had a really tough morning. He had all of these things happen before he even came to work. And so how can we try and leverage where someone else is at to better connect as humans? And I think that gratitude practice, that deep faith in the values that we’ve created and seeing each other as humans that want to develop and grow, whether it’s the people that work here or the people that live here and their families.

It’s all the same and our mission and vision to advance wellbeing and build resilience, it doesn’t include the word dementia in it because it’s for everybody. And I’ve never seen not just our residents. Exactly. And so that resilient living center, our employees are enjoying it. Our employees are taking classes. Our employees are working on their stress management and their sleep. ⁓ And so we incentivize our employees to do that through our health plan.

Anthony Codispoti (40:10)
Not just your residents, but also the team members there.

Maley Hunt (40:29)
And so I think this, this commitment to the employees and recognizing that this is hard work and yes, live well sounds like a fabulous place to work. I agree that it is there. There’s hard days here. We’re in the human business. People are in a nursing home. People have hard days. People come with us. They live with us for a long time or a short time. And then oftentimes people die here and that can be hard on the team just as hard as it is on a family.

And so how do you have this culture where it’s okay to be vulnerable, it’s okay to connect, and it’s okay to say when you need time for yourself ⁓ in a constructive, supportive way?

Anthony Codispoti (41:10)
I have to imagine that is really difficult. One of the reasons why healthcare was never a consideration for me, I couldn’t imagine sort of being there for people sort of at the end of their life and the emotional toll that would take where that is your job. ⁓ And I could see it being sort of like almost forcing you into a position where you try to become emotionally detached so that you don’t have

these big emotional reactions. then you’re missing out on part of the human experience. And if you did that, your residents, your patients would be missing out on a big part of the human experience. Being able to have that connection with them while they’re there, have to imagine, of course, it’s rewarding for the resident, but it also has to be really rewarding for your team members. so striking that balance, like, what does that look like? ⁓

You have a resident who’s passed, folks who are really close with them. I don’t know, talk me through like…

Maley Hunt (42:16)
Livewell has a really beautiful way of supporting people through end of life. And so whether it’s, we have a musical music therapist who, if families want, ⁓ excuse me, if families want, ⁓ she’ll actually record somebody’s heartbeat when they’re towards the end of their life and put it towards music. And so then that’s potentially a memento that can continue on.

And then we also have our CNAs and our nurses here are beyond anything I’ve ever seen in my career and their ability to constantly round the clock, stay with someone when we know they’re getting towards the end of their life. Whether family are there or not, we’re a part of their family in that moment. And, or if it’s relieving a family member who’s been maybe been staying by somebody’s bedside to say, I’ll be the one I’ll hold their hand.

while you go get fresh air and go for a walk so that they’re not alone. And all of these little things culminate in how we support people when they leave our community. And it’s very important to us that people enter and exit our community the same way. So if you are coming in the front door or our south entrance, you’re leaving our south entrance as well. And so we have this beautiful ritual where we actually

play chimes as somebody is ⁓ dying and being escorted out of the building. And then all of our staff come down and line the hallway and the doorway all the way out to the vehicle. oftentimes the family stays for this. And the person has a quilt that we share with each person and they are walked and escorted out of the building in silence and in a reflective practice through this particular courtyard in our community called the Passages Courtyard.

And I have ⁓ had the experience where there’s a number of people whose family members have lived here throughout the years and they say when you’re on the other side of that, it’s even more powerful than it is for all of us getting to say goodbye and pay homage in that way. And so I think we treat death just as beautifully as we treat life. And I think it’s, it’s an important thing and it’s a tough thing to talk about. ⁓ but I think like all challenging things to talk about.

The more you talk about it, the more you can find the beauty and the connection. And again, that humanness, it just comes back to we’re all alive. We’re all getting older. You and I are going to be an hour older when we’re done talking. And at some point, hopefully not soon, we’re going to die. And I hope that we’re surrounded by people that care about us and love us and can share memories and mementos of what that’s like.

Anthony Codispoti (45:05)
That sounds like a really beautiful process, Maile. ⁓ That’s tremendous. Thank you for sharing that. How do you go about, from a recruiting and retention standpoint, kind of identifying the right people to join the Live Well team? And what you have identified them, brought them in, and they’ve sort of shown themselves to be cut from the same cloth, how do you hold onto them?

Maley Hunt (45:09)
very special.

⁓ retention in today’s market and recruitment, very challenging. ⁓ we have a fabulous, ⁓ HR duo here at live well that when you talk about these values and, and like, when I think about people that epitomize it, our HR team does. And so I think that helps if you don’t have a team that’s helping look for the people that are your rock stars and understand what you’re trying to achieve, then you’re not going to attract.

Anthony Codispoti (45:35)
It’s tough.

Maley Hunt (46:00)
what that is. mean, I think it makes sense, but I’ve worked a few places where the HR person might be somebody who I’m like, maybe they aren’t living the values. Why do we have them picking the people that are going to then work for us? It doesn’t work. Uh, and so we’ve been really fortunate. have a lot of longevity on the team at live. Well, I have people that have worked here since the doors opened in 1992. Um, we celebrate every year people’s longevity. And I think that

that on average people, we’ve hired a lot of new people with the expansion recently, so probably our numbers are a little different. But as of a year ago, on average people worked here at least five years, which in nursing homes and assisted livings in senior care in general is very high compared to other places, especially when the majority of our population are CNAs. And it’s finding people who in orientation our whole first day,

isn’t anything about LiveWell or the direct work people are going to do. It’s about learning about dementia and what it’s like to have compassionate approaches and strengths-based approaches. And I do a values exercise with everyone. And there have been one or two times where somebody said, this is so uncomfortable. I don’t think this is for me. And I would rather somebody be uncomfortable in a supportive way.

Anthony Codispoti (47:21)
Okay.

Maley Hunt (47:26)
uh, during orientation and say, I don’t want to be vulnerable. I don’t want to share. I don’t want to start my first day of orientation with meditation. Doesn’t mean you’ve never had, ever had, ever had to have done meditation before. I’d never done it before I came to live well. But if you’re not willing to try at that, then you’re probably not willing to try at some of the other things that we’re, hopeful for. And word of mouth and, and, and

Some really good referral bonuses for current employees, help us find people’s friends and people that they would want to work with. And so that’s worked well for us. And taking great care of your employees once they’re here and having a really robust EAP program, really robust health and wellness program. Like I was mentioning, we incentivize employees to use the Resilient Living Center.

I did personal training this morning, you get half off and then you actually get money for your health savings account every time you use the gym. And so you can end up doing things like covering your whole deductible for the year based on how you utilize the services here. And so when we do things like that, coupled with annual increases and employee recognition events, ⁓ people know that they’re much more than just the next CNA on the assignment.

They know that they’re a part of a team that genuinely cares about their wellbeing and they wanna work here for longer or they’ll leave and then they’ll come back realizing that the grass isn’t greener and hopefully bring a few new people with them.

Anthony Codispoti (49:00)
Right? Speaking of being vulnerable, Meili, I’d like to hear about a serious challenge that you’ve overcome, professional, personal, maybe the two combined. How’d you get through it? What did you learn?

Maley Hunt (49:11)
Sure.

Sure. So I think that when I think about the, probably one of the most challenging things that happened in my career that has then carried on for me was very early on, I actually had an employee who I was very close with at a previous role and he had a massive heart attack at work. And,

I wasn’t there at the time I was off for the day. It was in the evening. I was another assisted living where people work 24 seven and I got the call that that’s that he wasn’t well and that he had collapsed. And at the time I didn’t really understand what was coming next. And I was doing something and I didn’t want to leave at the time, but I said, you know what? I’m, I’m just going to go.

And it’s going to take me 20 minutes to get there and I don’t know what’s going to happen. And so I get there and all the ambulances and EMTs are out front and it’s, he’s in the living room and he’s collapsed. And one of my other employees is doing CPR. And I knew it wasn’t good because I knew when I got the call, ⁓ and I knew how long it had taken me to get there. And I was surprised that they, they hadn’t moved him yet.

And eventually they moved him and took him in the ambulance and they pronounced him at the hospital. But we were all fairly certain that he had passed at work in a very public place with residents around, families around. And in the moment, people were still thinking he’s going to the hospital. They don’t know what’s going to happen. And so we had left it like that for the day.

kind of try to decompress people, get people back to their rooms, get employees situated for the night, and then go home. And I got the call when I was at home that he had died. And I didn’t know what to do. And obviously I was personally distraught because this is somebody I enjoyed working with, that I had a really great connection with, and I didn’t know what to do next. And the next morning I was driving to work and

I had to pull over on the side of a rather busy road because I just, I broke down and I called my husband and I said, I don’t think I can go to work. Like I, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what people are going to expect of me. I don’t know. I can barely keep it together. Um, because just the image of what had happened was so graphic in everybody’s mind. And he said, well, all you can do is show up. And so.

I showed up and thankfully a peer from another community came over and, and just came and gave me a hug and said, I wouldn’t know what to do. I’ve been in the field much longer than you. And I have no, no advice really. And so it was, it was showing up and there was a mix of people that were angry, people that were scared, people that were sad and partnered with EAP and different things to try and get the resources for, for families for.

the employees family. And I think that’s where I had some great lessons learned on things like taking sure you have your emergency contact saved easily for all of your employees. Cause it took us a long time to find his wife’s phone number and simple things like that, that I think it could have done differently in the moment. But the biggest thing I learned from that was showing up, being vulnerable.

showing people that you have emotions and are upset is okay. I think in times like that, people look to you for strength, but they also look to you for permission to not be strong. And I’ve carried that just show up mentality throughout COVID when there were days where, you know what, I don’t want to see more body bags today. I don’t want to put on full PPE to

to watch people die that shouldn’t be dying. I don’t want to do that today. And if you keep showing up, you’re going to forge connections with people. You’re going to learn more about yourself as a person and what’s important to you and just how precious life is. And so I think that my message to everyone when you’re in a time where you don’t know if you’re composed enough to be at work, it’s okay.

and to show up and if you’re working with the right people and you’re working with people that generally value you as a human, however you show up, will be received and will teach all of you something about yourselves and each other and what’s most important ⁓ in life.

Anthony Codispoti (54:23)
Wow, that’s a really powerful story, Meili. Thank you for sharing that. ⁓ Big thing I took from that was, you know, we’ve all been through hard times. That one is particularly difficult. ⁓ But there’s this natural human reaction sometimes when something really big and scary like that happens to sort of withdraw, right? Sort of turtle up. Because you don’t know what to do.

Maley Hunt (54:46)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (54:48)
This is uncharted territory. And especially in your role, in the leadership role, people are looking to you to have some of the answers. There was no college course for this. You hadn’t been through it. Your coworker from another facility had been on the job even longer, hadn’t been through this. But there’s a lot of value to be had, whatever the situation is, showing up.

and finding that safe human connection. And when you have that safe human connection, in my experience, you can find a better path forward.

Maley Hunt (55:27)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (55:30)
That’s a powerful story.

Maley Hunt (55:34)
Yes, definitely gives you pause and I still have the privilege of working with a few people who I worked with there that I’ve hence recorded, recruited to live well. And so I think when you have those connections with people, you build team members and friends for life because it shows how you are as a person even more than how you work.

Anthony Codispoti (55:55)
Yeah. And you know, that vulnerability that we were talking about before that, you know, is so encouraged at LiveWell. ⁓ I have to think that that experience that you went through at another facility, you know, has really helped you sort of ⁓ infuse that whole, you know, people and HR system at LiveWell with that, ⁓ it’s okay to be vulnerable kind of mantra.

Maley Hunt (56:25)
I think it spoke to me so strongly and that’s part of why I was willing to make a change in a challenging time and why I’ve stayed so long is because culture is so important and we use the word very often, but when you feel people actually living it and supporting it, it’s ⁓ unique.

Anthony Codispoti (56:46)
What’s your superpower, Melee?

Maley Hunt (56:48)
Mm.

I think that my superpower probably is thoughtfulness ⁓ and gratitude. One of my favorite things to do is connect the dots for things for people, whether it’s in their personal life or with their kids or something that they like to do and, thanking people for their work. And so I try and send cards and pep talk postcards.

to people at different ⁓ intervals. And one of my employees, her son is younger and he recently went through something challenging and I sent him a postcard. And it’s those little things I think that when you see people and I love sending notes and getting little gifts for things for people just to let them know that I see them and I understand more about them than is at the surface.

And there’s twofold to that. think when you see your employees and your friends and your family in a way that you can ⁓ shine a light, that you see who their inner person is, people are committed to you and people really in turn support you. And when you ask for things for work or ask for more to get done, or as you can tell, Livewell’s doing a lot right now with only so many leaders.

We ask a lot of people. And so when you can turn it back around and say, you know what, I’m feeling the energy in the room. Like it’s one o’clock, go to the beach, go take your kids to the beach today. Like let’s be done for today. And finding little things like that that you can do for folks to read the room and be thoughtful and have gratitude for what they share with you each day is probably my favorite thing to do.

Anthony Codispoti (58:50)
What’s a resource that you might recommend to our listeners? Maybe it’s a book, a podcast, a course.

Maley Hunt (58:57)
Sure. So I think I’ll follow the theme here of being in tune with our thoughts and our emotions. There is a tool that my boss here, our CEO, gave our leadership team a couple of years ago now, and it’s called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse by Charles Mackie. And it is an illustrated…

I would say I’ll call it a book, but it’s so much more than a book. It’s an illustrated book. And yes, I think there is an Apple video on it now. but this book, it follows these, ⁓ these characters and it has just these like little one line, thoughtful statements, ⁓ or pensive thoughts or little riddles. And it’s when you read it with your team. So this is how we use the book is I gave the book to every single person on my team.

We went out, got beach towels, walked to the park down the street, put out our towels. said, find a space, unwrap the book, because to me, books are presents. And so I always wrap them when I give somebody a book. And so they open their books, and they’re like, my gosh, it’s a children’s book. What am I going to do with this? And I was like, nope, nope. We’re all going to read them in the park, in the sun. It’s going to be lovely. I booked two hours of your time. You have nowhere to be. So we’re out in the park.

and people are by trees and as someone who had already read the book it was very nice because I could kind of like also watch the other people and I said bend the corners write on the pages I also gave them post-it notes because I’m not like somebody who loves to write in books and I said mark certain pages that speak to you and so then you get back together and people take this book and there are so many life lessons in this ⁓ book that whatever season of life you’re in if you

kids, if you’re stressed, if you’re contemplating a life change, there’s something in this book for you. And so take a peek at The Boy, Mole, and the Fox and the Horse. It’s not your classic leadership type book, but I think if you can read between the lines and infer ⁓ what it means for you in that moment, it really goes a long way. so occasionally we’ll even like photocopy pages and like slide them under someone’s door if they’re having a tough day and it’s

created this shared language for us here at LiveWell, all from this one book. ⁓ And I’ve actually given it to some people in their interview process, if I’m not quite sure where a new leader that I’m hiring is at. And so I’ll give them a copy of this book or encourage them to read it or let them know that we use it. And the people that come back and they’re like, my gosh, there’s this one analogy of ducks and how fast their feet are paddling under the water.

but on the surface, they’re so graceful. And it’s just like this great picture for, we might feel like we’re churning, but other people don’t notice, or what’s the allegory for life? And so I encourage you to find those useful things that are maybe non-traditional, because they definitely can stick the most in your leadership with your teams.

Anthony Codispoti (1:02:05)
And so in this book, to use that duck example, there’s some of these little stories that ⁓ are at a kid level. But grownups can kind of be like, ⁓ yeah, that’s me. Or, ⁓ yeah, I’ve noticed that in other people. And it helps to have it sort of illustrated in such a basic way.

Maley Hunt (1:02:22)
Yes.

It is, and it’s really simple. And I don’t like, there’s some really good nuggets in there. I don’t want to necessarily give away, go read the book. ⁓ but there’s just this piece of like, if you share your authentic self with other people, what you, what you get back in return is true friendship and connection. And like that, that’s where we’re going with it. And so what is leadership? What is building a team? It’s trust, it’s loyalty, it’s commitment, it’s buy-in, it’s believing in things that are unbelievable, so that we can achieve a shared goal.

And so we don’t always need to read those classic books, which I also enjoy. I’m, my bookcase is right in front of me and I see some great titles I could share, but I think the one that I would never expect someone to share with me that would have this impact packed, ⁓ is definitely that book, the boy, the mold of Fox, the horse. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (1:03:17)
That’s fun. Well, make sure we’ll find a link to it. Put it in the show notes for everybody. How

about a ⁓ daily habit, ⁓ ritual, something that either helps you start your day or keeps you on track?

Maley Hunt (1:03:30)
It’s definitely moving my body. I love to work out. I love to get outside. ⁓ If I wasn’t at work, I would be outside all day. And so I think that for me, literally every single morning when I get up before I come to work, I do something, whether it’s walk the dog, go to the gym, go for a run. And if I don’t have that outlet for energy, I’m a naturally very energetic person.

⁓ I don’t participate in coffee and so I find my energy from fitness.

Anthony Codispoti (1:04:04)
I understand you’re a former collegiate athlete. Can you explain for folks who are watching, not just listening today, what’s on the wall behind you?

Maley Hunt (1:04:10)
Yeah.

So behind me, I have two large oars, uh, and they were a gift from my, my boss, uh, for, for something I did for live well. And I used to row in college. wrote it GW on the women’s rowing team for all four years. Um, we had some good success in the eight 10 when I was there and then they’ve had even more success recently, but.

Let me tell you, getting up every morning and rowing on the Potomac with the sun coming up and if it’s cold or if it’s rainy, starting your day outside moving is just completely different. Everybody else is still asleep or not even contemplating life yet in college. And you’ve already done a whole workout and are showing up to your first class, like maybe wrapped in ice and slightly damp. ⁓ but as long as you don’t sit next to somebody, you can still have a great day.

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:06)
⁓ just got one more question for you, mainly, but before I ask it, want to do two things. First of all, everyone listening today, I’m going to invite you to pause for just a moment. Open up that podcast app that you’re listening to right now and hit the follower, the subscribe button. So you can continue to get more wonderful interviews like we’ve had today with Melee Hunt from live well. If you’ve got an extra second, you can leave a review or a comment that helps other folks find the show to Melee. also want to let people know the best way to either get in touch with you directly.

Maley Hunt (1:05:06)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:36)
or live well or to follow your story or that of the brand.

Maley Hunt (1:05:40)
Yeah, I think I’m, I’m on LinkedIn, Melee Hunt. ⁓ and then also for live well live well.org is our website, ⁓ for Facebook and Instagram it’s live well CT. And, ⁓ we have an email address too. If you ever have any questions about dementia, cognitive change, ⁓ cognitive health info at live well.org. And we would be glad to be a part of your journey and your next steps.

Anthony Codispoti (1:06:06)
Last question for you, Meili, you and I reconnect a year from now and you’re super excited because you’re celebrating something big. What is that one big thing that you’re celebrating one year from now?

Maley Hunt (1:06:20)
⁓ there’s a lot of initiatives going on here at live. Well, I think one thing that I would be celebrating is, ⁓ a successful launch of that finger clinic that we talked about. And I think having a concrete date or already have access to those asynchronous classes, because to me, that’s one of my biggest passions, because we can only serve so many people on this location or virtually in real time.

And I really think that what’s offered here can improve the lives and wellbeing of so many people. And so I really want to open that box for the world. And so I’d be really excited if I had a much more concrete answer for you on that next year.

Anthony Codispoti (1:07:00)
We’ll check back in for sure then. Maylee Hunt from LiveWell to be found at livewell.org. I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Maley Hunt (1:07:12)
Wonderful. Thank you for having me, Anthony. It’s been a real treat.

Anthony Codispoti (1:07:15)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.