Taking The Lead Podcast_032426_Andi Hernandez
Leslie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Leslie Hoskins with co-host Timothy Cuneio and Alyssa Otis. Can you guys believe we're already into May?
Alyssa: It's wild. I feel like March flew by. April. Flew by and we're in the thick of it with summer getting ready to go.
It's crazy. Timothy, what are you doing?
Timothy: What am I doing?
Alyssa: Yeah, what's
Timothy: happening? Um, may, in the middle of May, I'm headed to Minneapolis for a, uh, 75th anniversary for a alliance. Uh, the district up there, they've been supporting Leader Dog all these years. And so I'm gonna go up there and say a big thank you for supporting Leader Dog and all, uh, in the clients.
Leslie: I love that. How many years have you been going there? 'cause I feel like it's been quite a few.
Timothy: Well, the Minneapolis, uh, this is my first trip to Minneapolis.
Leslie: Is it? Okay. I was thinking you were going to see your puppy raisers. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. Are they Wisconsin? Oh no, they lived
Timothy: in Wisconsin.
I've been to Minneapolis, not, uh, yes, I've been to Minneapolis many times on my side stuff. But [00:01:00] this is first trip for Leader Dogs, so. Yes, I've been to Minneapolis maybe four or five times.
Alyssa: You just travel so much for Leader Dog that we lose track. We definitely need you to, to keep us, uh, informed where you're going.
Otherwise, it's Timothy somewhere in the US talking to somebody,
Leslie: right? We could just have a map of the US and throw a dart
Alyssa: and
Leslie: see where Timothy is at.
Alyssa: Oh,
Timothy: my and all my events. Minneapolis is not my favorite airport. It's a, it's a tough airport if you have a connecting flight in there. If you've got a service animal sure.
And you got a connecting flight and, uh, especially if you gotta get on one of the small commuter planes, it, it's about a mile and a mile, a mile and a quarter. And if you fly Delta and you have to get a connected flight like I did last year to go to North Dakota, I had to go. We had a literally run. To the other plane.
So if you ever fly in and you got a service, have a two, two and a half hour layover and make it easier for you
Leslie: there. That's GOs. Good to know tip. Honestly. Yeah. All the airports are so different. So knowing that as an insider scoop Yeah. Is very helpful.
Alyssa: Yes. [00:02:00]
Leslie: Very helpful.
Timothy: Yeah. And that it'd be nice to order yourself an electric go-kart.
Thank you. Over there. There you
Alyssa: go. With a little sidecar for your dog.
Timothy: Yeah.
How
Alyssa: cute Would that be you under the airport? I
Timothy: got pictures of glacier riding that car and it was on her Instagram and she's just sitting there looking at everybody and she's just, look at me. I'm on this little cart and you all are walking out there.
Alyssa: So That's so funny. I love that.
Leslie: We also, uh, April, we just had the alumni board on campus.
Alyssa: Yeah.
Leslie: Which was fantastic
Alyssa: time.
Leslie: Stunning. Yes. So we had all 11 alumni board members on campus. Um, we did like a social evening, we went bowling and had pizza and kinda everybody was able to get to know one another.
Yeah. It was so good. And then, um, we had a full day of meetings, which was fantastic to get a lot of work. Done in, in-person discussion sometimes is just a little bit better.
Alyssa: Mm-hmm.
Leslie: And then we, we wrapped up that evening with a nice dinner with the alumni board and the, the leader dog board. Yeah. And so it was just fantastic to mix and mingle.
Alyssa: Good opportunity for everyone to [00:03:00] meet each other. Get to, to talk to people they've been talking to behind screens. Yes. For so long, doing so much, you know, great work. And now let's all get together and celebrate it. Talk about next steps.
Leslie: Yes. We'll be welcoming a few new alumni, board members here. Yeah.
Which is exciting. So, uh, lots of big things and of course, you know, I have to mention
Alyssa: Yeah. I can't forget about camp.
Leslie: Camp is happening. No. Yeah,
Alyssa: yeah. We are getting geared up for teen summer camp. It is. Gosh, our extended services team is deep in planning of, of getting everything ready for June for when this group of teens just comes and takes over campus.
Leslie: Yeah.
Alyssa: And teen
Leslie: OM
Alyssa: happening, wild teen OM is happening,
Timothy: which I come up there and enjoy all that
Alyssa: I know. A few years late. I think you have to be age 16 or 17 there, Timothy for teen summer camp. So. Sorry about that. You just missed the cutoff. You just
Leslie: missed
Alyssa: it though. So close. Yeah, so we got a lot of good things coming up at Leader Dog, [00:04:00] so super, super exciting.
Gearing up for summer and, and I hate winter, so super excited in general. So, but today, uh, we are taking you behind the scenes at Leader Dogs for the Blind to explore the many things that client experience team members do to make a client stay on campus more enjoyable.
Leslie: Yes, we are so happy to welcome Andy Hernandez, our client experience supervisor.
Andy actually started at Leader Dog in 2021 as a client services coordinator and then moved to this current role in 2023.
Timothy: Andy, it is great to have you on the podcast Every time I see you got a smile on your face and you're always busy, busy, busy. So what brought you to Leader Dog? Way back when?
Andi: Hi everyone.
Thank you so much for having me. It is such an honor to be part of your guys' podcast and honestly, to be able to share just a little bit more with you guys and the listeners, what really happens behind the scenes. 'cause there's [00:05:00] so much that happens. There's just so many moving pieces that have to bond to be able to do what we do.
Um. It's not easy, but honestly it goes so smoothly because we have a great team. So prior to Leader Docs, I was actually working as an underwriter and while I was, you know, making people's homes a dream and coming through, there was just something missing.
Alyssa: Yeah.
Andi: Someone that I used to work with, she was like, you know, my sister works at Leader Dogs for the Blind.
Have you ever heard about that? And I was like. No idea. So I'm coming from Mexico. This is a whole new word for me, so I just didn't know anything. Couple days later, I took my little French bull dog taco to Premier Pet across the street for training and holding. Behold, I look next and I'm like, oh look, there's later dogs for the blind.
That's. The place.
Leslie: Yeah.
Andi: So I started looking it up, read [00:06:00] all about you guys, what you guys do. And you guys had an opening for a client services coordinator that requires Spanish. And I was like, kin hint.
Alyssa: Yes. All the stars are aligning there. Like
Andi: that's for me. I can do that. And the more I researched and learned that you guys not only provided services for English speakers, but also support people in.
Mexico and other parts like Spain and people that speak Spanish in the US and Canada. I was like, well, this is a win-win. I can do something for someone else that is not just. Paperwork.
Timothy: Mm-hmm.
Andi: But also use my Spanish and help some of my community that doesn't really have access to this type of services as much as here.
Right. Um, so win-win five years later. Well, I'm still here
Leslie: and we're so thankful that you are still here, Andy. So when you joined as a client services a coordinator, you spent like two years in that role. How did that help prepare [00:07:00] you for this current role?
Andi: Oh, well, when I was in client services, it was a smaller department that we currently have.
Um, I was the only one Spanish speaker, so I pretty much had the role to process applications, but because I was the only one speaking Spanish. I was doing all of the jobs for everyone that speaks Spanish. Mm-hmm. So I was giving information for clients, calling in, I was graduate support, I was translating for different teams.
I was processing applications, I was supporting, um, the Guide Dog school in Spain with paperwork and other stuff. So I really got a good look into how clients get to us, what they experience in our campus. Also what happens after that, which is anything graduate supports who support in our G DMIs, our extended services team with anyone that speaks Spanish.
So I just had such a good opportunity to [00:08:00] learn everything about that, which when I translated to this new role. When I'm in the residence, I'm able to support in a deeper way to clients with any questions they have to other team members like the rx. I'm able to feed the little pieces of the puzzle than maybe other people haven't had the opportunity to really learn about it.
Right? So if someone from the kitchen team has a question about. A diet. I know where to find this information. I know how to support the client, how to support the team, so they don't really have to use any resources of their time. So I just take it over and do it. But if I didn't have that background from client services, it might have been a little bit harder, and it was just a smooth transition moving from one role to this one because I had such a good.
Story with,
Alyssa: yeah,
Andi: I just knew of things.
Alyssa: Yeah. I mean, the information that you collect in client services mm-hmm. As a coordinator there can only help you. [00:09:00]
Andi: Mm-hmm.
Alyssa: Uh, but now that you're in the residence, so I know obviously you know about what it takes for clients to get onto our campus, what their training is like while they're here, and then again that grad support once they go home.
What are, what is kind of like your day to day? What are some of the things that you do in your new role now?
Andi: Well as too much you can tell you I am never in one place. I'm always running around and I usually have like, okay, I need to do X, Y, and Z, but I just never know what the day will look like for me.
I can walk into the residence and everyone is having a good time. Nobody really needs anything. Class is going very smoothly and I can put my attention to different projects like implementing Navient or looking at the residents renovations and stuff like that. Or I can get into the office and someone might be having a harder time or might just need someone to sit down and talk to for whatever reason.
Like you don't have to really have a reason for. But
Alyssa: yeah,
Andi: if I can just sit down with you and [00:10:00] spend some of my time there, sure. But most of my day. Revolves around the behind the scenes.
Alyssa: Mm-hmm.
Andi: I like to say that my role is kind of divided in two. One is decide that the clients get to see.
Alyssa: Mm-hmm.
Andi: And just experience, right?
You go to the RA's office, you need something. I sit down, I talk to you, what else do you need? I'm just there. But the biggest part of my job is actually the behind the scenes. Like I make sure that. Each department has everything that they need to do their own job without having to put any resources of their time or their expertise in anything that is not related to them.
For example, if you're training for a guide dog with us and we are coordinating a puppy raiser night for you, there's a different day that we need to set up. I can tell the team in class, don't worry about it. Go train with your client. Put your attention to the dog and the um, match that we just did. Now we'll take over.
So I spend my time like [00:11:00] coordinating with like puppet development. What other dates can we have? Let's look at the class schedules. Now we can fit this there. Let's try for this date, let's go back and forth. So all of that, saving the team time. Oh, I'm
Alyssa: sure they appreciate that.
Leslie: Well. Yeah. And Alyssa, when you were a gd, I wouldn't have been so great to have somebody like Andy.
Alyssa: I was just gonna say, this would've saved me a lot of time Googling different things, urgent cares and, and different places that I have to go and yeah, no, to have somebody do that so that the instructors can solely focus on either the OM instruction or the guide dog instruction is in incred. Invaluable, honestly.
Andi: Yeah. Same for the kitchen team. Oh. Uh, when we're coordinating class celebrations. The kitchen is so busy, especially with our celebrations getting, you know, big. So I don't, Elizabeth can just go, which is her head of the kitchen. She can just go and say, Hey Andy, I realized that we have this many people.
Can you please take care of this and find the diets, coordinate the eating arrangement and all of that, and she can just go back to the kitchen, do her [00:12:00] stuff, prep her food. Do the amazing things that they do. And then I work on the background, just getting things ready. Even for incoming classes, I'm just running behind the scene.
Um, I like to say that we are always in class. That's true.
Alyssa: I was gonna say, I feel like that's
Andi: accurate. Yeah. I'm always in class. I'm always prepping for something. You're always in class mode. I'm always in class mode. 'cause if I'm not like prepping for. The class that is currently here, we have a deaf blind class coming in and I'm supporting with interpreters.
Yeah, teen summer campus coming in. And I have the nurses as well. So there's a lot of moving parts that just by me taking some of that weight out of other teams allows them to do their job, which translates to the clients just really not realizing when. Things might not be going well behind the scenes.
Yeah. And we just keep smiling and saying Everything is fine. How's your they going?
Alyssa: I think we just continue that half the Yeah, that's half the battle honestly is it's okay if there's chaos going on [00:13:00] behind, but, but everything that's actually happening, all of the training should be nice and calm and focused.
And because of you and your incredible team, um, that you have there, it seems like that's the case.
Leslie: And you're definitely saying behind the scenes, but everybody knows you. Yes. And everybody sees you running around all the time working so, so hard. Timothy, what has been your experience when you've been on campus with Andy?
Timothy: Oh, every time I see Andy, she pops around. I mean, every time I turn around there's Andy, Andy, and she's always busy. My biggest question to her is, do you ever get tired? I mean, man.
Andi: Yeah.
Timothy: And how many people's on your team at Leader Dog.
Andi: Well, um, I actually just like the client experience, just like my role, it's fairly new.
The team is also pretty new, so I have a Aurora, which you guys have probably met. She's our Spanish speaking interpreter and she's the client experience support. She is vital,
Alyssa: amazing. We love Aurora.
Andi: She is just a key piece of what we do. She helps me with [00:14:00] anything that is interpreted related. She makes sure that all of her client's logistics are in place, that all of her documents are accessible.
If we have a request for something that we didn't anticipate, that is like braille or large print or any other type of format. She's the one that will do it. She is just on top. She was an RA for so many years, so she understands the residents deeply. Um, so she can support with that. Um, and I also have nurses.
Um, just like my role, this is very, very new for us. Um, the nurses right now, we only have one. She helps us. 10 hours per week. But anything that is incoming clients, she calls the clients she checks, if they have any medical needs, if they have any dietary requests, which translates to when the clients arrive.
Even if it's a small thing, like you need distilled water for your CPAP, oh, we're gonna make sure that we have that information. You have that water in [00:15:00] your room, you don't have to bring it. Don't worry about that in your suitcase. Just. Our whole point is for you to get to our campus and be as comfortable as you can and for you not to even worry about any of this.
And the nurse helps us with that quite a bit. We are actually expanding to a second nurse, um, that will provide support prior to approval during the application process to be able to help clients with. Questions regarding their stamina, or is this the right fit for me after a surgery on my foot?
Supporting client services and extended services on the Guide Dog team to really make educated decisions when reviewing files, but also help clients that if we are not an option for you right now, these are things that you can do and put in place to eventually get to that point. And then Timothy, I have all the interpreters.
So I have six Spanish speaking interpreters, six American sign language interpreters, and I have five to six co [00:16:00] navigators, which supports our deaf blind clients with environmental information too. Sometimes I'm one, sometimes I'm two. Sometimes we're like 20. It just depends on the class and the day.
Leslie: But I love what you said, right?
Your overall goal and objective is to make sure the clients are comfortable when they're on campus. It can be a really stressful time. Mm-hmm. Whether you're here for the white cane training or you're here for Guide Dog. We want not only our instruct. To be able to focus mm-hmm. On that training, but also the client.
So kind of that downtime, the in-between lessons. That's where this role that you are now in really came about. We wanted people to be comfortable, calm, right. Focus on the training, have everything that they need taken care of. One of the things too that your team does, that you're responsible for is, we used to get a lot of comments about sometimes the evenings are kind of boring.
We do so much during the day. It's busy, busy, busy. And in the evenings there's not a whole lot of structured planned activities. So can you tell us what you've done to address that?
Andi: Yes. And that is a very interesting [00:17:00] topic. So if you have any idea of how our classes work. So for orientation and mobility, it's pretty much.
Every single week we have a new class, right? Where per guide class is nine to 12 per year. Um, and each class is so unique in how the client's dynamics are.
Alyssa: Mm-hmm.
Andi: So my role kind of like started to see, okay, what are things that we can implement and let's see if they stick and if people really likes them or, or not.
Leslie: Yeah.
Andi: Right. So we started doing something called wine and cheese, social. Love that. I was gonna say,
Leslie: who wouldn't I? That one?
Andi: Oh my God. That we did it like as an option for probably like three classes and every single time clients were just signing up and we started to see that the RAs love it. The kitchen team really enjoys putting together the little ary boards, and we notice that when we do this on guide the class on Tuesday [00:18:00] prior to us issuing their dogs.
It's such a stressful night because you're so excited, but at the same time, you're so stressed, nervous, you don't know what you're gonna get.
Alyssa: Yeah.
Andi: Um, if you had a previous dog, you can have like those feelings, but. We realized that if we put a social activity in place that is just, Hey, let's just come to the banquet room, sit down, enjoy your little bit of cheese, your grapes, some
Timothy: jelly
Alyssa: cheese.
Makes everything better. Really?
Andi: For real. So nuts. We have like wine, we have beard, so it's just let's come down and, you know, enjoy the afternoon. Yeah, and let's try to like just gather, make it. Relax. Yeah. And everyone can talk about how they're feeling. Yes. The RAs come and sit down and be part of that.
We implemented, besides that live music on the last week of Guide That Class. So fun.
Leslie: Love that.
Andi: Oh yeah. People really love it. We have a wonderful volunteer group that [00:19:00] comes and play. Playing in English, they play in Spanish. It's a big hit when they are not able to come. We have karaoke nights that people really, really enjoy.
But the whole point of these activities is just, I know that it's week three of Guide Dog class. Mm-hmm. Everyone is really tired. Everyone is kind of like, I'm ready to go home, but oh my God, what's coming after this? What's gonna happen? So it's such a stressful time that if we can give you at least an hour.
For you to just let me just enjoy the music. You don't have to sing if you don't want to, but let's just, let's just enjoy each other. And it's completely optional. We are aware that some classes, clients might just want to relax, so it's kind of a balancing act. You have to really gauge how the class dynamics are happening and what people are going to enjoy.
Because if I have a class that prefers to just. Chill. After you know their training, then I'm not gonna be forcing anyone to be like, let's go to karaoke. [00:20:00]
Timothy: Let
Alyssa: sing
Timothy: Baby one more time, because I wanna, so it's kind of a balancing act. I for that karaoke. Yeah. Sing Achy, breaky Heart.
Alyssa: There you go.
Andi: Perfect. I will have a spot for you team.
But it's just, you know, just figuring out how to help. And for those classes then maybe the clients are not as engaged or don't really look for any afternoon activity. We just leave it optional. We tell them what's available.
Alyssa: Yeah.
Andi: This is all that we can do. But please just feel free to do whatever you want.
Alyssa: That's fantastic. Anytime. Because I love the idea that it's not required, but people can go. 'cause I've heard the same thing as you say, oh, it's Fiesta Night tonight. And everybody, the buzz about town, I wanna go to Fiesta Night, I wanna go to Fiesta. And they put balloons up and they got streamers and we're, uh, making stuff from scratch in the kitchen.
I don't even know where half that stuff comes from. But it's incredible and people want to be involved in this. And then again, if. If somebody doesn't, or maybe they need a quiet night, they can just go back to the room or hang out. That's fantastic.
Leslie: [00:21:00] You've done such great work in just your couple years in this role, and you can tell your team, you take such pride in what you do.
I also love that you've been mentioning how personalized it is, right? Each individual. Team and class coming in is so different and you kind of follow and take their lead, which is fantastic. What else is there in this role that we haven't discussed yet? Is there any other missing pieces or anything that you're looking forward to in the future here?
Andi: Well, as we continue, continue to expand, especially with our renovation coming in, I'm really looking forward to our team, along with clients, to really check the residents and what can we do to improve this experience? Not, not only, you know, put in braille in large print. Mm-hmm. But really what else can we like put in place for clients to have a better experience, regardless of what it is?
Like Elisa mentioned, if you prefer to just have downtime. Read a book and have a window open and [00:22:00] relax and have a re relo section room, then let's do that. Yeah.
Leslie: Like
Andi: how can we help in a different way that is not necessarily just accessible things, but also like for
Alyssa: sure
Andi: putting things in place that.
When you stay with us for a week or three weeks that you feel at home.
Alyssa: Yeah.
Andi: That we have everything you need for should
Alyssa: get a, a sauna maybe. Or a
Andi: massage room. Yeah, that'd be a good idea right there. The hot tub has been a very big bet. Request. Bet.
Alyssa: I bet
Andi: a hot tub has. It is on our list. Um, but you know, we we'll see.
We will see, we'll see, we'll see. But that's kind of what I'm looking forward the most and also see how this department can continue to grow. To support and what other areas of opportunities we have. Right. My role started with just me and our order as contingent.
Leslie: Yeah.
Andi: Um, and it has grown so much from what we, for what I interview for.
Right. Sure. We continue to grab more and more stuff and getting more and more involved because anything is the client experience. Right. We can. [00:23:00] Anything really can be the client experience. So the more that we learn about what we do and how this impacts clients, the more that we can put things into place.
Yeah. To make sure, just like the nurse, we realize there was a need for a nurse. Mm-hmm. Now we are hiring a second nurse, so there's things that we can support.
Alyssa: Sure.
Andi: That will have a deep impact in the actual experience that it's just behind the scenes.
Timothy: Well, Andy, I'm gonna tell you, every time I come up and I talk to the clients, how much they feel so comfortable there.
How everything is catered to their, you know, to diet or whatever they need and, and that just takes that stress away that they don't have to worry about it. That somebody's there behind the scenes taking care of everything and they love it. So, good job Andy and your team.
Andi: Well, thank you. It truly is a team effort.
Like we are such, if you can picture the insides of a clock. We're really just a good, well oiled machine. Everything bonds and everything works and everything flows, but it's because we really [00:24:00] have a great team and everyone cares so deeply. Without one of those pieces, we will not be able to do it. But thank you.
Alyssa: We know that you are trying to make it as comfortable for clients when they're coming onto campus, but it can still be concerning. It can still be nerve wracking for some of our clients. Is there anything that you can tell these clients, you know, ahead of time or just even right now on the podcast of, of things that don't be nervous, you know, this is what you need in order to be ready to come onto campus?
Andi: When I was in client services and I used to schedule classes, I used to tell all the clients, think about this as a hotel. You know, think about things that you can get in a hotel. And don't stress about any of that. We have shampoo, we have conditioners, we have s, snacks, the crossing client services just to make fun of me.
'cause I was like, and we have chips and we have Doritos and we can do this for you and we can do that for you. That, but you know, troubling. I want you to feel that yes, it's going to be stressful. Yes. It's going to be hard, not only [00:25:00] physically but mentally hard. But we got you. If you get here and you find that you don't really like what we have, then just let us know and we'll, we'll make an accommodation for you.
So we recognize that it's hard. We recognize that it's not the easiest. We recognize that it takes a lot to take the first step and say, I'm going,
Alyssa: mm-hmm.
Andi: But we are here for you. And anything, even if it's just clothes. Don't go out there. If you live in Texas and you're coming in January, don't get a coat.
Don't get a snow boot. We got you. Just, we got you. That's the whole point, right? Yeah. I want to take as much stress as we can from you, so
Leslie: like a concierge. I was just gonna say, do we have wake up calls or
Andi: We do, actually, if you let us know that you need a work card call for breakfast, of course we can do that.
But that's what I will like for them to know also. Be nice to yourself. Give yourself grace. Don't put so much pressure. There's going to be [00:26:00] good days, there's going to be bad days, but one, we're here for you. Mm-hmm. And two, what's the worst that can happen? If you can take, if you want to take a break, we take a break.
Leslie: Mm-hmm.
Andi: We personalize our training. So don't put that much pressure on your training 'cause it can have an impact. And the whole point is to have you experience this as relax. Comfortable as we can.
Leslie: I love that. That's so important, and I'm so glad you're sharing this message with our clients because we do talk about how much work and try to anticipate what's gonna happen, but knowing that you are there, Andy and your team and everybody at Leader Dog is so flexible and want it to be an individualized experience.
Thank you for the work that you do. I think this has just been an incredible opportunity to share really all that work that does go on, like you said, behind the scenes coordinating and make sure that instructors and clients alike all have what they need. That's fantastic. Thank you.
Alyssa: And thank you so much for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast.
I'm Alyssa [00:27:00] Otis with host Timothy Kyo and Leslie Hoskins. We hope you enjoyed learning about the client experience and the important role that Andy and her team have. Please join us next time as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
Leslie: Yes, and if you'd like to learn more about applying to Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332.
Don't forget you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Stream.