What puts Senior Helpers at the forefront of the industry and gives them a strategic advantage in the marketplace is the continuum of care they provide far beyond basic companionship. By Nancy Williams

Did you know that nearly 20 percent of seniors have significant long-term care needs? Studies also indicate that in 2020, the number of senior households is expected to grow by nearly 53 percent, with more than 80 percent of seniors expected to still be homeowners. In-home senior care will continue to be an important service and a growing industry. Senior Helpers tops the charts as a respected, sought-after, home-care provider.

Senior Helpers provides in-home personal and companion care to seniors, including help with daily tasks, such as light housework, meal preparation, errands, transportation, medication reminders, meal planning, and dementia care. However, what puts the brand at the forefront of the industry and gives Senior Helpers a strategic advantage in the marketplace is the continuum of care they provide far beyond basic companionship. In 2018, Senior Helpers tested a new program called LIFE Profile and formally launched it later that year. According to Mike Hughes, Vice President of Strategic Development, “It’s the first data-driven, scientific-based assessment for care needs of older, elderly, and frail adults. It provides a framework so that franchise owners, families, clients, doctors, and hospitals understand the risks, needs and supports needed to support successful aging at home.” LIFE Profile enables Senior Helpers to create and share plans of care between all pertinent touchpoints in the senior’s life. In addition, “because LIFE Profile is scorable, it makes it easy to determine if the work both the individual and their families are doing is improving quality of life,” shares Hughes.

The introduction of LIFE Profile has re-energized the passion for helping seniors for many owners of Senior Helpers. Tiffany Phelan and her husband Shaun have owned Senior Helpers franchises in Scottsdale, Arizona and Clovis, California, for the past 13 years. In addition to her belief that Senior Helpers provides a level of support to their owners that is superior to its major competitors, Phelan notes that LIFE Profile is the single most important differentiator for the franchise. After several years in the industry, she was feeling a lull. However, at the 2018 annual conference, Senior Helpers introduced LIFE Profile, and she was immediately wowed. She said, “this is what we should have been doing for the past 15 years.”

Within five months of finishing the training for the program, Phelan had completed LIFE Profile assessments on her entire client base and fully implemented it for new clients. “I had a client that was a veteran in severe pain and was ready to give up on life,” she said. She attributes LIFE Profile to helping save his life and improve his chronic pain, so that he could begin to enjoy activities. This is just one case, but Phelan has seen it help over 100 others.

So, what makes LIFE Profile so game-changing? “In traditional home care, it’s about chasing the problem. With LIFE Profile, we can clearly identify a successful outcome and create a plan on how to get there,” voiced Phelan. She also explained that the industry is changing. Every major health insurer knows the high cost of hospitalizations. Many are avoidable, and reducing them will require partnership with home-care providers. Even Medicare is starting to use “value-based” models for payment based on how well providers do with their patients, not how much they do. LIFE Profile caters to exactly that. “Because of LIFE Profile, instead of me being the one trying to get appointments with doctors, they are coming to me to help them figure out how to cut down on the number of re-admissions,” shared Phelan. “They understand now, more than ever, that home environment is really critical to reducing avoidable hospitalizations.”

For more information about Senior Helpers franchising go to seniorhelpersfranchise.com.

– Nancy Williams