Julie Wiley
Executive Director and Founder
In 2014, I quit my really stable job with a great retirement plan with the State of Missouri to launch this company. My contemporaries thought I was nuts.
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The funny part is, I wasn’t even nervous.
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Creating Simple Living was a risk worth taking, because I knew I had information about living at home that other people needed to hear.
When someone becomes injured, or their body begins to slow down due to the aging process, families and their loved ones need to know that there is more out there for them than a nursing home or agency-based care.
I have worked in a “care center.” I gave my all to make a difference as I worked alongside the nursing staff, but no matter how you look at it, it is institutional living.
During my 20 year career prior to Simple Living, I worked in nursing home administration, a residential care center, a day program, and for the State of Missouri, all because I felt called to help people.
After all that time, I began to realize the secret to truly helping people get care is by giving them the information and support so they can control their own lives.
The system is easy to navigate when you have a clear understanding of how everything works. This took nearly 25 years and a deep desire to simplify the craziness that surrounds home care.
Living at home until the end of our lives is possible. During my career, I gained knowledge of a system that all of us need to understand, but few know where to turn to find the answers. You often hear people say emphatically, “I am never going to a nursing home!”
But truth be told, they don’t really know how to make home care happen without hiring a home care company….and that’s where it all goes downhill.
If you hire a company to manage care in your home, you surrender the control and choice over who cares for you. You may think that because they come to your home, you will be okay with someone else choosing your caregiver, but that is not true. The only thing worse than a nursing home is having a stranger care for you in your home while no one is watching.
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I can only imagine the anxiety a person feels when they know that they need personal care and a stranger knocks on their door only to announce “I am here to give you a bath,” or even worse, knowing someone was scheduled to arrive to help and they never show up.
People have a right to have their personal care be provided by the people they choose, who they trust, in their own home, on their own terms.
It has become my obsession to educate and support anyone who wants to know how to make this happen for themselves or someone they love. This can be achieved with private pay, long term care insurance as well as through Missouri Health Net (Medicaid).
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Simple Living has filled a hole in my heart that I didn’t even know existed. I have met some of the most amazing people through our services, and I have immense gratitude for my professional success.
I feel like I am the luckiest person alive, because I get to do this everyday.
