New Solutions Network Spotlight: Smart Caregiving

More than one-quarter of U.S. adults provide some form of #care or #assistance to a person with a long-term illness or #disability, and as the number of older Americans increases, so will the number of #caregivers. While providing this care can be fulfilling, it can also result in increased levels of #depression and #anxiety and other negative health impacts for the caregiver, according to the #cdc.

Not only is it important to have the right resources for those in need of care, but it’s important to have tools and services to help those providing the care, as well. Which is why I’m thrilled to welcome Smart Caregiving LLC to the New Solutions Network , because it provides just such critically needed resources to #caregivers both here in the U.S. and around the world!

Walking the talk of caregiving

Smart Caregiving was created and founded by Traci Lamb in November 2019. Traci has a deep passion for helping people and after years of experience working with patients in hospice, she saw what she considered a huge gap in the healthcare industry. People taking care of their loved ones at home did not have a “one stop shop” that could help them with their needs.

Traci resolved to become the solution to this issue and went on to create and trademark a global directory of companies that offer products and services to caregivers while on their caregiving journey. Caregivers can call or email anytime at no cost with any questions they have related to caregiving, and the Smart Caregiving team will get them the answers they need, or connect them to companies that offer products and services to help them.

The journey hasn’t been easy for Traci. When she started the company, she was newly divorced and broke, and had moved in with her parents – both in their 80s – to take care of them. (While she is the middle child of three siblings, she lost her older sister, Denise, to a car crash 15 years ago, and her younger brother, Michael, to alcoholism two years ago, so she is the sole caregiver.)

In September 2021, her company started to gain traction, and she had been named one of the Top 100 Healthcare Visionaries in the World by the International Federation for the Advancement of Healthcare (IFAH). Unfortunately, also during that year, the health of her parents started declining. She had to put the company on hold for the next nine months and go into full caregiver mode. She had truly become a part of the community that she seeks to serve.

By the time her father passed in February of 2022, she had experienced every facet of caregiving firsthand, and she is still a full time caregiver for her 83 year old mother. So Traci’s mission to help other caregivers is truly personal – she understands their needs and challenges from firsthand experience.

Two new Smart Caregiving initiatives

The organization has seen tremendous growth since its launch, and its show on Legends radio now reaches an audience of over 150,000 people. Last year was a banner year with the launch of two key initiatives.

The first is a TV show, called Caregiving Worldwide, that was developed in partnership with RHS TV and Red House Streaming, and is the first global television program focused on caregiving. Filming has already started, and the show begins airing this month on Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire and Apple TV to a potential 225 million viewers. I am truly honored to be included in the lineup with a regular segment called ‘Mindful Moments,’ which will feature information and tips for self-care techniques directed at caregivers.

In addition, Traci is expanding her services globally, building Smart Caregiving Centers across all nine provinces of South Africa and is already in talks with companies who want to launch their products overseas to that region.

Giving back

In an effort to give back and help caregivers in an even bigger way, Smart Caregiving has just filed paperwork to start a 501?(3), with a plan to support Caregiver Retreats as well as start retreats of their own, and has plans to begin hosting Caregiver Conventions in 2024. (Traci is even planning on hosting a globally televised musical event to raise money for caregivers!)

And if that wasn’t enough, Smart Caregiving will host two Global Experiences in 2023 that will be unlike any other in the country. The first will be in Tampa from May 22-24, at the Grand Hyatt. Three Hundred and fifty attendees from around the world in the Healthcare and Healthcare AI industries will be attending. TV crews will live-stream the event with red carpet interviews for sponsors from an Emmy award winning TV network anchor.

The second event will be in Las Vegas at the Venetian from August 14-16. More than 1,200 global attendees are expected from the healthcare, healthcare AI, legal and financial industries. Merril Hoge, former Pittsburgh Steeler/ESPN analyst will be the keynote speaker. TV crew will once again be there to stream the event along with more red carpet interviews with an Emmy award winning TV anchor. Sponsors will have the opportunity to dine with Merril Hoge on the first night of the event!

Me and Traci: a very serendipitous meeting

I met Traci in April 2022 when she was given a 2nd award by IFAH in Global Healthcare Leadership. As we discussed our various activities and passions we realized that there were many opportunities to collaborate to enhance her mission of helping caregivers. I am honored to now be a part of Traci’s executive team leadership and Chief Strategy Consultant, where I can help her with some marketing and medical/scientific aspects of the business with the assistance of other valued New Solutions Network partners!

For those of you not familiar with New Solutions Network, the organization evolved from the New Solutions Factory, a customer-behavior marketing strategy group I founded back in 2008. The new brand reflects the fact that we are a socially minded, cause-driven collective for companies committed to improving the world.

Our three main areas of focus are:

●?????Access to Healthcare: Providing access to health education, basic and specialized care, and eastern traditions like yoga and meditation and functional mushrooms.

●?????Access to Food/Nutrition: Helping to provide access to nutritional education, functional wellness, gut health, gut/brain connection, addressing food insecurity, farm/masterclasses, and eco-conservation.

●?????Access to Education: Mentorships, grants, and programs for empowering women and disadvantaged groups, youth education, corporate health, and wellness training.

Our members focus on building human-centric businesses with a demonstrated commitment to philanthropy. We provide expert commercialization and marketing enterprise solutions to help build a company's commercial success, including behavioral science-powered advertising and marketing services. Together, we function as a “conscious collective” of like-minded leaders, and through these partnerships, we endeavor to drive positive change for people, organizations, and communities at scale.

To this point, if you know someone who has a mission, product or service that synergizes with us, please reach out. We would love to add you or someone you recommend to our collective and/or amplify the work that you do in our network! You can reach me at [email protected]

And any companies offering any kind of product/service that is ideal for Smart Caregiving or that would like to be promoted on the Caregiving Worldwide TV show or at Traci’s multiple events, can reach Traci at [email protected]