Many of us are caring for aging seniors in our lives – or have in the past –  and we’ve learned a lot that made us think about a lot, too. We’ve considered switching careers, and maybe even started or taken over a home care agency to make a difference in people’s lives as they age.

Now you are a home care agency owner! It’s challenging, and fulfilling, especially when you’re able to find and train caregivers, provide care to your clients, and work with their families.  

Let’s zoom out for a second and take a look at what is going on around us. It’s common knowledge that a silver tsunami is coming our way, with more seniors than our entire system can handle, along with all the associated challenges.  What are we going to do?  How should we think differently about our role within this challenge?

In other words, how do we become home care agencies of tomorrow?  

We believe it starts with going back to the basics. It starts with putting the senior in the center.  It starts with always beginning our work from the perspective of the senior and their family.

As we age, we go through various stages: from being active and independent to needing a little bit of help to later needing a lot of help. It is nature. But our care system today is mostly segmented into categories that are meaningful to industry insiders but off-putting or confusingly similar-sounding to the rest of us, terms like home care, home health, senior living communities, skilled nursing, hospice, mostly represented by disparate organizations and companies.  

Now, imagine being a senior. While you are still active, you may seek an independent living situation. As your needs evolve, you may require services from a different type of care provider. Then, if your needs grow, you may be off in assisted living. And so on.

Throughout this progression, what kind of continuity of care exists for the senior? What kind of coordination or sharing of information exists across the various care providers over the course of  the senior’s care journey? How well do home care agencies and senior living communities, for example, share information and/or stay in sync with each other in caring for a senior? And how – or how well – do any of them keep family members in the loop about what’s going on with their loved one?

Efforts are being made to improve the end-to-end care journey, but today the experience of seniors and their families is challenging at best. And THEY are the reason for  doing what we do.  How can we collectively adopt a senior-first mindset when our systems are currently provider/agency-centric?

Let’s start the conversation on how we can do better. What is your “why” for serving others as a senior care partner and how can we collectively work together to elevate our client experiences? Stay tuned.

Team Mariposa