As an Alzheimer’s gene carrier, taking the fight to the disease is personal for Greg Mason, CEO of SilverAssist, who completed a 444-mile charity cycling fundraiser to spread awareness and raise funds for research, education, support and care. Plus, a passion project of educating endurance athletes on international events turned into Strambecco. Hear insights on how SilverAssist is supporting families and seniors in the later stages of life through Veterans Affairs assistance and advisory services.

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Consider a donation in the fight against Alzheimer’s HERE

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Learn about Strambecco rides HERE

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Intro

Welcome to season seven of Bridge The Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating, and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. Powered by sponsors Accushield, Aline, NIC MAP Vision, Procare HR, Sage, Hamilton CapTel, Service Master, The Bridge Group Construction and Solinity. Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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00:40 - 00:55

Josh Crisp

Welcome to Bridge the Gap podcast. I'm your host, Josh, and we have a special episode for you today. Please help me welcome Greg Mason, CEO of Silver Assist, to our show. Greg, thanks for joining us.

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00:55 - 00:57

Greg Mason

Thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here.

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00:57 - 02:13

Josh Crisp

Well, I can't wait for our audience to get to hear about your story. And ironically, I recently was able to get to know you over the past several months and following your amazing mission and effort of a team that you have put together over the years. And, this year, to benefit the cause of Alzheimer's and I can't tell you how much fun that was, to actually be watching, and following the journey on social media.

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I'm usually out on the bike with teams doing this, and I got to experience what so many fans and followers and people that joined the effort and gave donations to help fight the cause, get to see when they're following the journey online. And that was a totally different perspective for me. And, it was so cool to be able to see the finish and be there to celebrate with you. So I want our audience to, to learn a little bit about you and your background and some of that mission, as well as Silver Assist later in the episode. But first things first. Tell us a little bit about this effort. And honestly, you've been doing this for a lot of years on these cycling journeys. How did this all begin?

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02:13 - 03:40

Greg Mason

The group that we call Strambecco there's a group of riders. Basically we weren't riders at the time, but we were for the most part, we were all living in Marin County, California, and raising our kids and that sort of thing. And all of us had some interest in cycling and a couple of guys were, you know, real enthusiasts and they sort of through it, been to the group. And lo and behold, we were riding for a few years and we talked about taking a big trip. And our first big trip was to Italy. Like 18 years ago or something like that. And so every year we've done a trip, thereafter. But it's just a great group of guys. The best thing I can say about all of them is that, you know, and I feel very important about this as an all those years, of course, because I remember having to work with anyone. so, it's it's been a wonderful, wonderful experience.

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03:40 - 03:59

Josh Crisp

Well, that is all really impressive. And, for our listeners to understand cycling, maybe cyclists, they get it, but I'm sure there's a ton of listeners and people that are viewing this that don't understand exactly what level of cycling you're doing. And so this year, specifically, you decided to do this not only just to have a great time with this great group of friends, but to do it for an amazing cause in the fight against Alzheimer's. And so, you did this over multiple days with the group, with some support that was with you a lot of miles. So, what was it like? And, and kind of tell us a little bit more details about this year's events specifically that you just completed.

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03:59 - 05:27

Greg Mason

Yeah. Well, this year's event was a 442 mile route, and it went from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, just south of Nashville on the Natchez Trace Parkway, which nationally is a bit of a bucket list kind of event for avid cyclists. It's really bucolic riding. It's not super hilly. It's mostly flat with some rises here and there.

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So honestly, it's not sound like a lot of miles, but it's not like riding in the Swiss Alps or the Rockies or something like that, where, you know, you're doing a lot of climbing and all the exertion associated with that. But, it's just a wonderful experience to ride that much and to ride that long, you know, every day.

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And, although to a lot of folks, maybe that's extreme. It really it's not that extreme, especially, you know, we've been doing this a long time and so I guess we’re conditioned to ride longer distances and you do acclimate your body, acclimates over time. And honestly, I didn't have that much time to prepare for the event. And I'm. I'm no special athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But I have the benefit of the fact that, you know, I've been riding my bike pretty consistently for a long time. And, you know, I've had a lot of body adaptation to being able to do that.

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05:27 - 06:20

Josh Crisp

And you're right, there is so much advantage you had going into this because of your experience on the bike. But, you know, I can. I can personally say I haven't been riding as long as you have. But I can remember my first big event I was training for, and it was shocking. The first, you know, a few months on the bike, even 20 miles just getting used to that.

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So I know a lot of listeners that maybe go out and ride on greenways or things like that when they hear over 400 miles in five days. While it may not be much for you, I think a lot of our listeners are saying, whoa, that is a lot of miles. So interested to know kind of were there any unique challenges? I know you had a very experienced group of guys that you've ridden a lot with along the way. Were there any unique experiences or challenges you experienced along the way on this event?

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06:20 - 07:47

Greg Mason

Well, I think the one thing we all had trepidation about, there were two days that were back to back days that were 100 plus miles, and so there was certainly some trepidation. I can't say as much as I've ridden that there were more than 100 miles two days in a row. That turned out to be an event. The other thing to keep in mind too is that, you know, we weren't exact because it was flat. We were riding as a group. The intensity wasn't terribly high the whole time. And this is where one of the connections to Alzheimer’s comes in is that the health benefits of cardiovascular exercise and not necessarily cardiovascular exercise, that, you know, you're all out all the time.

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It's more of that, that low boil, you know, that what they call Z-2, you know, in cycling parlance, which is that, that level of exertion where you can actually maintain a conversation and everything with someone. And so it's not as hard as a lot of people think in that regard. And that kind of exercise methodology is, in fact, you know, a really key tool if you're interested in prevention from a long term perspective as well. So, that's one of the areas that I thought was a nice fit, you know, with the Pedal for Alzheimer’s organization – just the whole preventative side of the equation.

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07:47 - 08:02

Josh Crisp

Along those lines, Greg, I believe you have some real personal stories and reasons why, from your family perspective and why this is so important to you. Can you tell me more about that?

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08:02 - 09:06

Greg Mason

I had a grandfather and an uncle on my father's side, who both succumbed to Alzheimer's. And so I have some direct personal experience. You know, I went and had the gene test as well to, you know, verify that I also have the gene variant, you know, that gives me the higher probability of contracting Alzheimer's down the road. So, in that regard, personally I saw how difficult that was for my family. And this is going back, you know, 10, 20 years and obviously the research and treatment protocol for Alzheimer’s have come a long way since then. But, you know, 20 years ago, you know, for those who, you know, didn't experience this it was somewhat of a mystery disease, you know what I mean? It was so new. and, you know, again, we’ve come a long way since then, but yeah, that's been part of it.

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09:06 - 10:14

Josh Crisp

It's amazing how far research and just awareness. about time and and now I think there's not many people that I come in contact with on any given day that haven't directly been impacted or for sure indirectly impacted in their family or by close friends or loved ones by this terrible disease. And that's why, you know, we really want at Bridge the Gap to shine a spotlight on, people that are doing things just like you're doing and leading the charge, not only in, in helping raise money to find a cure, but to also just bring awareness, because, you know, that's part of the reason why I think we have made such advances is because people are getting more information and education about it. And so your efforts are so appreciated. Now, this team that you've assembled, I'm intrigued. I want to hear the story. and I'm probably not going to pronounce this right. Strambecco. Is that correct? I think it's Italian. Is that right?

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10:14 - 11:30

Greg Mason

Yeah, it's Italian. You know, it's a name that we decided way back when we named ourselves and, I've gotten a lot of personal benefit and camaraderie, out of, being with these guys and then seeing the world from the back of a bike, you know, with these guys. And, so in that regard, it's been enormously rewarding for me. I've been so enthused by it that I actually started a website, you know, called Strambecco.com, and it's a site that’s meant aide discovery for folks like me and others who might be looking for, you know, great events to participate in that you can kind of call experiences.

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And one of the things I've realized is every time I do one of these events, it's a unique experience that stays with you for a long time. And so we dedicated the site to helping people find those kinds of experiences. So it's a little bit of a labor of love, but yeah, it is a small business. I've turned it into a bit of a business as a side hustle, a side hobby, on weekends and nights and those kinds of things. But, it also allows me to stay close to, you know, my passion which is cycling and, you know, endurance sports and that kind of thing.

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11:30 - 13:26

Josh Crisp

What a noble and worthy cause, you know, to use your passion and, your physical abilities, your influence, that you earned through the years and all your successes to go towards something that is benefiting so many people. And so I know our audience is going to want to follow that and check that out. We're going to link all that in the show notes. as well. But, you know, you're no stranger, to passion and building, brands and, and missions and creating teams around that. It was fun to see this group of guys finish after a long week. As a matter of fact, I think you all had even ridden through a little bit of rain when I saw you.

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But to see those smiling faces as they stormed down that hill towards the finish line with the Natchez Trace Bridge in the background, it was truly special, and I had the opportunity to to hear them talk about their experience kind of one on one and and the awesome things they said about you and, and the mission and things like that. So it's heartwarming. I know our listeners will want to check that out, but I also want to, you know, as we start kind of wrapping this up, I want, many of our listeners probably recognize you who are watching and I'm sure recognize your name in your company at Silver Assist. You're no stranger to helping people. You guys have an awesome mission over there. Silver Assist is helping veterans. And for our audience, who may not be familiar with you all, can you tell us a little bit about the why behind Silver Assist and kind of the journey that you've been on in creating this awesome mission and company to help so many people, in the latter part of their lives?

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13:26 - 18:03

Greg Mason

We sit right at the intersection, of that time in a senior’s and really a family’s life where mom or dad reach a point where it's no longer feasible for them to live alone, or to live at home any longer. They really need to be in some form of an assisted environment, where by which they can have daily care offered, you know, depending on, you know, their particular needs, but they're unable really to live independently any longer. And unfortunately, we're all going to get there, you know, at some point. But really that's what the families, that's what the company focus is really all about.

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And we built a mission and a purpose driven company to super serve the family at that inflection point in their lives when they know that mom or dad sort of needs to make that transition, mom or dad are ready. They've also acknowledged that. And we come in and we provide advisory services that answer all the questions related to this phase of life. This phase of life is inherently, you know, emotional. It's a crisis in and of itself. American society, global society for that matter, are really not literate in the issues and the questions associated with this phase of life for seniors. Often it's the oldest daughter or the children obviously get pulled into this as well. They're not prepared for it. So, our entire mission purpose is focused on helping the family in that, at that particular moment, that inflection point.

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And we try to identify solutions and options that help mom or dad make the optimal transition. They can find the right home, for their particular needs. We also have to have a financial service arm, as well, because they don't often understand how expensive senior living is. They might have some experience of expense. They've had home care resources, but, oftentimes families, you know, haven't prepared properly for, you know, for the cost associated with senior living. We have a whole business arm that is specifically focused on helping families understand their options. And we have several solutions that might bring, you know, the family’s desire to move dad or mom as soon as possible with their need to sell the house and everything that would go along with that.

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You mentioned Veterans. Veterans is one part of our service offering we own with the domain aidandattendance.com and we offer a very efficient software application tool that streamlines  what is otherwise an onerous process for veterans to apply for senior living benefits. It’s a Turbo Tax for VA benefits. You know, said in another way. But it's one component of our financial service offerings. Silver Assist was actually formed 3 years ago. But it bridges like what we call assisted living placement advisory services with financial services. And we offer true localized expertise. We also own one of the largest franchise networks focused on senior living in the marketplace called Oasis Senior Advisors. And so we actually have local advisors all over the country. And the reason that is so important is that senior living is really local, right? You know, mom or dad, they don't want to move across the country.

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In most cases they want to move close by. But, you know, they don't know what they don't know with respect to a specific community’s ability to meet their needs, from a care standpoint and what you have to experts that are extremely familiar with all the various options done at a local basis. And, so, that's a lot. I know. We got a lot going on, but we formed 3 years ago and, you know, we're growing really quickly as a company. And so it's very exciting.

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18:03 - 19:58

Josh Crisp

Well, it is exciting, Greg, and what a great service and mission that you have personally and that your company has. I can attest to the great challenges that families face, in finding care, support and housing and in accessing the benefits that are out there. Oftentimes, you know, they're out there, but they're just difficult to navigate how to get them and how to use them and, and maximize, the opportunities that are out there.

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And so whether it's the family working directly or working in conjunction with the care partners at the community level, what a great resource to be able to call your team. And really, from beginning to end of the process, have a partner that can be trusted, as people are helping their most valuable assets find the care and housing and services and benefits that they need. So appreciate what you do. so appreciate you taking some time out of your very busy schedule, today to spend a little bit of time with us, on the Bridge the Gap network. We have a lot of things to link to you, Greg. You’ve got a lot going on. So, we'll make sure in our show notes for our listeners.

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If you weren't able to jot all of this information down, you go to btgvoice.com. We're going to link you personally to Greg, his great network and his companies in his mission, with Strambecco. If you want to find out about all of these cycling journeys and maybe even be a part of one of those, or support that effort in the future as they support great organizations that are doing good work. And of course, Silver Assist and many of our listeners, as a matter of fact, most of our listeners are at some point involved in the aging services industry, and I know they'll want to connect with you. Greg, thanks so much for joining us today.

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19:58 - 20:10

Greg Mason

You bet. Thanks so much. And I also wanted to thank you and the whole team for the warm welcome at the end of our ride. It's not often we get a welcome party at the end of one of our events. So that's great.

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20:10 - 20:38

Josh Crisp

Well, we hope to be able to do that again and make it even a bigger party next time. What a rewarding effort. And it was fun to see you guys. Thanks for joining us. Thank you to our listeners for listening and watching and connecting, subscribing, to another great episode of Bridge the Gap.

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Outro

Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at btgvoice.com.

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