“Jill, this is Brenda, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Olivia, your mom’s aide, didn’t show up this morning and we’ve not found a replacement for her yet.”I was livid, it was now 1:00 in
afternoon and I was just being informed that my mother, unable to get out of bed without assistance, was alone.
This was not
first time this home care company had failed to fulfill their promises or to follow my directions and what made it worse, it wasn’t
first agency that I had hired.
I live in Glendale Arizona, and mother lived in Cleveland Ohio. Mother was adamant that she continue living in
home she and dad shared,
same home my siblings and I were raised. As
eldest daughter and
only one without a husband and children,
responsibility of coordinating care fell on my shoulders.
The amount of stress I endured during
last five years of mother’s life is indescribable. I continued to hire
‘wrong’ home care service, I continued to enlist
services of handyman and lawn care services that fell quite short of their promises and I even subjected mother to an unscrupulous so-called financial planner.
I did all
right things. I checked references, held lengthy interviews, wrote out my instructions to
letter so that there was no confusion, I checked
Better Business Bureau and even went so far as to request letters of recommendations of clients from these elder care providers.
Mom passed away while I was home for Christmas in 2000. She died at home, something she truly wanted when her time had come. Now, five years later, I have met
most wonderful woman and my first question to her was, “Where were you when I needed you?”
I hope that I won’t need
services offered by Senior Approved Services any time soon, but if you are
designated family caregiver or perhaps
senior in need, you must know about this ingenious concept of a service.
Senior Approved Services was founded by Barbara Mascio who wanted a method to actively advocate for
right of all seniors to receive excellent care and to most importantly remain safe in
receiving of that care. Seniors and family caregivers access this invaluable service at no charge.
Barbara helps families avoid less than desirable services, and she does this by directing seniors towards businesses that have a proven track record of quality care. Proven, by
very first consumer-driven survey process developed for
elder care industry. As she puts it, “The seniors currently using a service are
ones that endorse a business, who better to attest to quality care than
senior clients?”