Baby Boomers Using Google and Yahoo to Find Assisted Living and In-Home Care for Aging Parents
ElderCarelink reports strong demand in 2005 for assisted living facilties, but even stronger interest for in-home eldercare.
Ashland, MA (PRWEB) January 16, 2006 -- ElderCarelink, the nation's leading provider of internet referrals to eldercare providers, reported that almost all of the one million people who visited their site last year found the site from Google and Yahoo search engines. The ElderCarelink site offers a free consumer service that helps families find assisted living, nursing homes, adult day care, in-home care, and other elder-care products and services for their elderly parents.
"Finding the right eldercare provider for your loved ones is not an easy process," says Robert Brooks, ElderCarelink's CEO, "Baby boomers who are faced with important decisions regarding their parents care are more comfortable using the internet to research and explore their options. That's where Eldercarelink comes in. With our large and growing nationwide network of providers, we are able to match close to 90% of all completed needs surveys with qualified providers."
In 2006, the first wave of baby boomers is turning sixty. At the same time, their parents are advancing into their eighties and nineties. While some small percentage of the elderly parents have made provisions for their own care, many of the most important care decisions are being made, or at least heavily influenced by, their children.
Data from the ElderCarelink website in 2005 indicates that the majority of assisted living service requests are being completed by women looking for an eldercare residence for their mother or father. "As one might guess, daughters, typically youngest daughters, outnumbered sons as primary caregivers two-to-one." says Brooks. “We also noticed a stronger demand for in-home care providers this year, which supports a growing trend of seniors wanting to stay in their own homes and live independently for as long as they can."
Families today are facing difficult and emotional issues in deciding how to provide the best care for their loved ones and how to finance it. Unlike medical care, which can be covered by Medicare or health insurance, most long-term care services are only available on a private pay basis. Unless an individual has long term care insurance or qualifies for public assistance such as Medicaid, they must pay for these services out-of-pocket.
Adding to challenge of finding good eldercare is that many families put off these decisions until something happens - a parent falls, or becomes partially incapacitated by a stroke. ElderCarelink reports that over half of the service requests that it receives require immediate action within the next two weeks.
When faced with all these stressful decisions, baby boomers are turning to their comfort zones –that means hitting the internet at Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines to gather information about care options and providers. ElderCarelink assisted over 80,000 families in their search for qualified providers in 2005, and expect that number to continue to grow substantially in 2006.
About ElderCarelink
Founded in 2004, ElderCareLink is an internet-based referral service - free to consumers -- that specializes in helping families find everything from assisted living, in-home health care professionals and visiting nurses to care managers, and in-home products and services. The ElderCarelink network includes over 1300 providers across all 50 states, with more and more providers joining the network daily.
For more information, visit ElderCarelink or call 508-881-0831.
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