Today we’d like to introduce you to Pooja Patel

Hi Pooja, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

As a second-generation first-born to Indian immigrant parents, a career in healthcare was strongly advised from a very young age. However, as I got older, I didn’t have the desire to become a physician. I began exploring other healthcare professions with my personal interests in mind and found my way to occupational therapy. This resulted in a six-year program in which I graduated with a Doctor of Occupational Therapy. Over the past seven years in the field, I developed a strong passion for helping our elderly and obtained specialty certifications in dementia, fall prevention, and geriatric care. This ultimately led to splitting my time across settings. While I continue to practice inpatient on a per diem basis, I now dabble in academia as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and guest lecturer, in leadership through various volunteer board positions, and in private practice through my own consulting firm. I also host a podcast titled Aging Together which educates the public about various age-related health and wellness topics.

After navigating the many gaps within our healthcare system, as a provider and as a consumer, I grew a passion to help older adults and their families understand their options when it comes to long-term care and end-of-life. I now help individuals and families create proactive care plans for emergencies, long-term care, and end-of-life so they don’t have to make those decisions when emotions are high. Instead, they can be present with their loved ones. If you’re interested in learning more, you can visit aging-together.com!

Outside of my healthcare career, some may recognize me as the face of a newly introduced and growing social community platform, Couplr. This mobile app helps couples find and make new platonic friendships with shared interests in new environments. Basically, “meetup” meets a dating app, but with less decision-making. My husband and I created this app from pure personal necessity after I moved halfway across the country to a city with no known friends. In this digital age of dating and friend-finding, we thought it needed to be easier to find friends that both individuals in a relationship could get along with – and thus, Couplr was born. This passion-project turned into a sensation as we began sharing it with friends and family. Relaunched in February 2023, there are now 3000+ users across the country. Find out more at couplr.io!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

When I stepped away from the full-time job in September 2022, I took four months off and then started my private practice in January 2023. Six months later, in June 2023, I became credentialed with Medicare Part B to officially start taking clients and patients. What began as a dementia consulting practice turning into an outpatient occupational therapy clinic for adults 50 years and older. I was looking to target preventative care from a physical, cognitive, and mental health perspective. I received my first referral and saw my first patient in September 2023, exactly a year after leaving my full-time job! I was incredibly excited about this new journey, but within the first few months, I quickly realized it was going to be a very difficult journey. I wasn’t afraid to do the hard work of seeing clients/patients, but I didn’t feel confident about my ability to learn all the inner workings of marketing and billing. Working with insurance quickly became a big hurdle, as did marketing to physicians for referrals.

While working with my first patient, I learned that their favorite part of our time together was the care planning we did. Specifically, the retirement planning, because it wasn’t just legal or financial. It was about creating a holistic plan to make sure they didn’t experience a decline in physical, cognitive, and/or mental health upon retirement due to the major life transition. This got me thinking of a way to offer just the care planning services without having to work with referrals or insurance.

Today, I offer nationwide virtual and Chicago-area in-person consulting services for care planning without the headache of medical referrals or insurance billing. The art of pivoting to grow is a journey in itself.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Aging Together?

About Aging Together, LLC:
Aging Together, LLC is a private care consulting practice helping individuals and families age with a plan, offering virtual family consultations and care planning sessions nationwide. The main care planning bundle offers proactive care planning for emergencies, long-term care, and end-of-life. Add-on services include private in-person home safety assessments (in the Chicagoland area only) and retirement planning for those nearing or planning ahead for retirement.

About the Aging Together Podcast:
The Aging Together Podcast explores the challenges and opportunities of caring for aging loved ones. In this podcast, I interview guests who are experts in their fields or can share their experiences with caregiving. Together with the guest speakers, I dive into a wide range of topics including health and wellness, care planning, caregiving, and more. The Aging Together Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

I started my career as an eager-to-learn occupational therapist in June 2017, searching for the best opportunity in acute care (hospital). Following more than five years in direct patient care within hospital settings, the most important lesson I learned was to put myself first. This only amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic during which I was a true frontline healthcare provider. The units I covered in my hospital were fully occupied by patients with COVID-19. My teammates and I were scared, frustrated, and exhausted, all at the same time. I quickly realized the true lack of respect, support, and resources for those of us who were dealing with it day in and day out, and I knew that if I didn’t put myself first, no one else was going to.

In a constant need to succeed and advance, my work ethic quickly became a doormat – eager to please and easy to take advantage. The catch? I’d never succeed vertically, but I didn’t know that at the time. After three repeat experiences of being turned away from advancement opportunities, I realized it wasn’t me. Thus, I again learned and decided to put myself first. That meant leaving a job and a team I absolutely loved to build something for myself that would result in a long-term plan. I stepped away from the full-time job in September 2022, completely burned out from the hospital, took four months off, and started my private practice in January 2023.

Pricing:

• $600 care planning suite
• $300 retirement blueprint
• $500 home safety assessment
• $1,500 + travel/accom B2B lunch+learns
• $4,000 + travel/accom B2B workshops

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aging-together.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agingtogetherpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agingtogetherpodcast/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AgingTogetherPodcast
• Other: https://couplr.io

Image Credits
Logos designed by ZK Captures (@zk.captures on Instagram).
Headshots by Samantha Ring (@samringphotography on Instagram).
Posters/Fliers made by me on Canva.