Her Story
About Catherine
I grew up around healthcare because my mom took care of the elderly. We had a lot of family members in and out of our home that she took care of - she took care of all my grandparents. Seeing her empathy and how she allowed the elderly to die with dignity and respect was instilled in us at a young age. I originally wanted to be a nurse and shadowed my sister for a day, but realized nursing wasn't for me. However, I still wanted to be in the healthcare setting, so I got my pharmacy technician degree. After doing that for a while, I realized there wasn't much growth unless I went back to school to become a pharmacist, so I switched over to working with assisted living, independent living, and nursing homes. I worked for one assisted living facility, a couple skilled nursing facilities, and the Cleveland Clinic before joining CareForce in April. I took this new role as Business Development Director of Northern Ohio because I liked what the company stood for. We support the caregivers who are taking care of patients in their homes. A lot of times caregivers are overlooked, and having my mom be a caregiver for so long, I know how she struggled. The services we have now, if we could have offered them to her then, would have been very beneficial. My typical day involves getting up, having my cup of coffee, spending an hour making and reviewing appointments, then meeting with directors of social services, case managers, discharge planners, and CFOs of hospitals around our area to build new business with companies, hospitals, and home health that we don't currently have business with. I work primarily in rural areas.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Catherine
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell my younger self to stand your ground. If you have a conviction and you know that you're leading with your heart, and you know what you're saying is right, stand on that conviction. Do not let somebody tell you're wrong just because of your gender. My biggest thing is don't let a man tell you that you're making a decision based on your feelings. If you know the choices that you're making, if you know that going out and marketing to certain places will make you more successful, stand that ground. So many times we're told as young girls that men make more money or they're more qualified, but at the end of the day, I have the same education, I've been in the business long enough, and I can tell you what's going to work and what's not going to work. Stand on your conviction. Stand your ground on what you know is true, and don't let anyone tell you that you're wrong.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge we face is that healthcare is changing and it's not going to be patient-focused anymore - it's going to be more focused on the bottom line, the bottom dollar. In my rural area, we had a thriving ER until about 5 years ago when COVID hit. They said they were going to shut it down temporarily, but it ended up being long-term, so we don't have any emergency healthcare in our town now. If you can't afford healthcare, what are you supposed to do? A lot of families can't send their loved ones to a nursing home or assisted living, so they're taking care of them at home. That's one thing I like about CareForce - we want to make sure families have the tools they need to keep their loved ones at home as long as possible. I see that assisted livings, independent livings, and nursing homes are eventually going to fizzle out because there's just no money to send your mom or dad there. As a country, we're kind of forgetting the people that molded our country. Our elderly have shaped our country, and I always tell my boys to go talk to an elderly person because they're going to tell you stories you will never be able to experience. Those stories, like my grandfather telling us about liberating Auschwitz and helping save the Jews - you're never going to hear those again. We're forgetting about the old people and just letting them die off so the next generation can come up, and that's not okay to me.
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