Senior Approved Services Leads Consumers to Excellent Elder Care
As the senior population grows, the need for quality care and services increases. In response, service organizations claiming to meet the needs of the elderly are multiplying. How to choose? How can seniors and their adult children know which services are safe, reliable and able to deliver on the promises they make?
(PRWEB) February 9, 2006 --As the senior population grows, the need for quality care and services increases. In response, service organizations claiming to meet the needs of the elderly are multiplying. How to choose? How can seniors and their adult children know which services are safe, reliable and able to deliver on the promises they make?
Senior Approved Services, a national network of products, resources and services endorsed by seniors, themselves, answers that question. This exclusive service administers a consumer-driven survey and certification process for businesses that serve seniors.
“The certification drives the consumer to excellent elder care resources, both medical and non-medical,” says Barbara Mascio, founder of Senior Approved Services. “Our services were created to ensure that all seniors receive excellent care and remain safe in receiving that care.”
Background
Mascio’s no newcomer to the business world or the concerns of seniors. Her background includes 30 plus years in business management, sales and training, as well as experience as radio host, writer and volunteer guardian for indigent seniors.
As the business manager for a large home care service, her responsibilities included helping families set up appropriate services. In that capacity, she often heard, “You sound nice but so did everyone else I spoke with. Isn’t there some kind of independent service I can contact to verify you’re telling the truth?” Over the years, Mascio also witnessed an alarming number of cases of fraud, theft and abuse committed against the vulnerable elderly population.
Committed to protecting the elderly from unscrupulous business practices, Mascio decided to act. She first conducted market research to find organizations helping seniors find safe and reliable services.
She found no organizations answering that need. Her next step was to ask consumers what they wanted from senior services. She and her team collected data from nearly 10,000 families across the country. They learned consumers are looking for:
| | - Simplification: A one-call solution to locate all services a senior needs
- Assurances: A method to quickly differentiate among the multiple choices
- Continuity: The need for a “point person” who may be called upon as often as needed for additional assistance
- Care Management: An affordable program that will continue to follow up with family while service is being used
- Advocacy: A non-threatening, positive program that would advocate for the senior as needed without creating problems with the service provider
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For the Consumer
To meet consumers’ needs, Mascio created Senior Approved Services. “We’re the only service available offering this certification process that evaluates, recommends and endorses businesses through ratings from consumer surveys. We ask the seniors who are using or have used the particular service to rate its quality on a number of criteria. And the businesses evaluated need a 90% or higher rating to be certified. We’re the only service with this high standard.”
“We offer this service free to consumers and receive requests for everything you can imagine—adult day care, home care, assisted living, rehab, attorneys, insurance products, handyman, maids, lawn care, snow removal, home rehab and retro fitting, medical equipment and supplies and so on.”
Consumers pay no fee to learn which elder-care businesses are safe, reliable services with a proven history of quality care. The consumer can call toll free at 877-620-6448 or visit Senior Approved Services and select appropriate services from the Certified Senior Approved Directory of Resources.
“We assist families by matching their needs, geographical location and budget to a Certified Senior Approved Service. If we receive an inquiry and don’t have a certified service to recommend in the area, we still offer to help. We complete the full intake and provide a list of questions for the consumer to ask a business before contracting with them.
This reduces the time involved in learning what to ask for and what to expect. We ask, in return, that the caller ask as the first question, ‘Are you a Certified Senior Approved Service?’ We know the question will motivate the business to find out about our service.”
“If we discover a person may qualify for a government subsidy program, we help the family maneuver through the maze of confusion to connect to the appropriate county people to help.” Continue reading at http://www.seniorsapprove.com/care.html
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