From lived experience to lifeline: How Care Coordinator Erica supports families

At Wellthy, our Care Team is the heart of everything we do—experts who stand shoulder to shoulder with families in moments of urgency, complexity, and deep emotion. This incredible team—made up of social workers, mental health professionals, gerontologists, childcare experts, and more—supports families through nearly every kind of care challenge. Whether it’s navigating hospital discharges, finding in-home support, coordinating school services, securing financial resources, or managing long-term care planning, they’re on the frontlines offering guidance, advocacy, and, so often, a sense of relief to those managing care alongside the demands of daily life.

This month, we’re excited to spotlight Erica G., a longtime Wellthy Care Coordinator based in Massachusetts. Erica has spent years supporting families through some of the most challenging and meaningful chapters of their lives. Her compassion runs deep, her creativity knows no bounds, and her perspective, shaped by both lived and professional experience, offers a powerful glimpse into what care really looks like today.

In the conversation below, Erica shares what drives her work, the stories that have stayed with her, and the purpose she brings to every family she supports.
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You’ve been a Care Coordinator with Wellthy for several years now—when someone asks, “What does a Care Coordinator do?” how do you respond?

Great question! What I tell them is that I help families and individuals navigate their healthcare needs. That can be everything from preparing for a first child, to caring for an aging parent, to addressing mental health concerns, to so much more.

The support I provide really spans a wide range. One day, I might be helping someone find a new in-network dentist after an insurance change; the next, I might be coordinating care for an employee and their aging father who had a stroke while visiting family abroad.

My role is to meet people wherever they are and guide them through whatever challenges they're facing.
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You’ve worked with thousands of families here. What are some real examples—whether from your own work or that of your colleagues—that really show the impact Wellthy has on families?

There are definitely a handful of stories from families that have stayed with me, but one I’m working with right now really stands out. It’s a grandmother who suddenly got custody of her grandkids after her 32-year-old daughter passed away unexpectedly. It was one of those urgent, all-hands-on-deck situations: navigating the administrative component of custody, keeping the kids in their school, finding financial resources, and planning a funeral with no preparation or savings in place.

In those first couple of weeks, I called her every single day. I told her, “You know what I'm just gonna call you every day because we have so much we're working on. I think someone needs to be there for you, because you are taking care of everybody else.”

I still think about her when I’m off the clock. It’s the kind of case where the emotional weight is just as heavy as the logistical one. There were so many intertwined needs—legal, medical, financial, emotional—and I was able to help her figure out what to prioritize when everything felt like a crisis.

Another family that sticks with me was one I supported in Massachusetts. They had a daughter with an extremely rare genetic disorder—literally one in a million. There wasn’t even a formal name for it, so I had to learn everything as we went.

There were logistical hurdles like home modifications and financial issues due to insurance changes. A specific therapy she needed was suddenly not covered, and it wasn’t a matter of just finding a new provider. This therapy was essential to helping her stay weight-bearing and potentially delay needing a major mobility device.

And on top of that, they had three other children. So while I was helping with their daughter’s complex care, I was also helping support the entire family unit. They were so consumed with keeping their daughter safe and stable, there wasn’t much time or energy to focus on anything else. That case really taught me how much of an impact we can have not just on individuals, but on the whole ecosystem around them—parents, siblings, caregivers.
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In your work with so many different families—many of whom are also working full-time—have you learned anything about how people juggle work and caregiving?

Absolutely. One of the most striking things I’ve noticed is how much of a toll it takes on people, even when they are managing to do it. I can often hear it in their voices—the exhaustion, the overwhelm, the sense that they’re just running on empty.

By the time many of them reach me, they’ve already been carrying that weight for a long time. There’s often a stigma attached to admitting it’s too much, so they try to power through until they’re completely depleted.

That’s where I see a big part of my role. I try to reassure them that they’re not failing—it’s not that they don’t know what to do or aren’t trying hard enough. It’s that care is incredibly complex, and they’re trying to navigate it on top of a full-time job and everything else in their lives.

I’ll often say something like, “I’m really glad you’re here because this is why I exist. Care has become so convoluted, so difficult to navigate for a variety of reasons. And I exist to make that easier on you.”

Because the reality is, care is a full-time job. My job is to be the person they don’t have the time or capacity to be—so they can keep showing up for work, for their families, and for themselves.

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In your work alongside so many employees and their families, and in all the care journeys you’ve seen, has anything ever surprised you?

One of the biggest surprises came with one of the first families I ever worked with here at Wellthy. I supported a family where someone needed help getting their father home from overseas after he suffered a stroke while traveling. And I remember thinking, “There’s definitely no training manual for this one.”

The medical records were in another language. He was on a green card, so a lot of the typical paths I’d use to secure support were off the table. It completely broke the mold of what I thought being a Care Coordinator would mean, but honestly, those are the cases I’ve come to love the most and that symbolize so much of what makes Wellthy’s care model special—you just have to roll up your sleeves, get creative, and leave no stone unturned. There’s no roadmap. You just get in there with the family and figure it out together.

It ended up having a really good outcome, and I’m still proud of that project. But I’ll never forget getting on the call expecting a simple in-home care referral and realizing… oh no, this was something entirely different.

And more broadly, what continues to surprise me—case after case—is just how many people are out there giving everything they’ve got. They’re working full time, they’re managing care behind the scenes, and they’re doing it all without much recognition. As a Care Coordinator, we get this rare window into their lives that not many other people see—friends, colleagues, managers, neighbors—and it’s incredibly humbling.

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So what does this work mean for you personally, and how do you stay healthy, inspired, and well while holding so much?

I think what keeps me going is deeply personal. I’m someone who wishes I had a Wellthy—someone who could have stepped in and helped my family through some incredibly tough chapters. There were moments in my own life when we would have benefited enormously from this kind of support. And that lived experience stays with me.

I’ve worked in a number of care-related industries professionally, but I’ve also lived it. For a while, I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to work again. When I was getting to a place where my health allowed me to return to work, I knew I wanted to be the person I wish had been there for me and for my family.

So every day I come to this job with a really clear sense of purpose. I remember very clearly what it’s like to be on the other side—completely overwhelmed, not knowing where to turn—and I use that memory as motivation. Even on the hard days, I know that what we do matters. Even when things don’t go exactly as planned, our presence and persistence matter.

Joining Wellthy has felt like a full-circle moment. It’s the right place for my skill set, and it’s the right place for me personally. I’m grounded in the belief that I’m here to make life better—andt if I can make life better for just one family each day, that’s everything.

And because I’ve been there myself, I can often sense what families are feeling even if they never say it out loud. I know what’s happening behind the scenes in their minds and hearts and energy, and I don’t always need the proof or the thank-you to know it made a difference.

At the end of the day, I put my head on the pillow knowing I did everything I could. There’s so much we don’t control in this world, so I try to focus on what I can control—and ask myself, “Where is my energy best spent today to help someone move forward?”
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Okay last question, as we head into summer: What’s on your summer reading list?

Oh, I love this question! I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen—The Rent Collector is one of my favorite recent reads. I’m a big historical fiction fan, and that one was excellent. Not too long either!

I listen to most of my books—so my summer “reading” list is mostly dictated by what becomes available on Libby (an audiobook service). Right now, I’m in the middle of The Engineer’s Wife, which is about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s fictionalized but super interesting.

I also love anything by Kate Quinn—she’s a go-to for me—and I’ve got a few books by friends I’m hoping to bring to the beach, including Rainbow State.

So yeah, lots of historical fiction, a rotating lineup of audiobooks, and a few paperbacks I’m determined to get sand in.