Calling People With Aging Loved Ones
Posted by Donna Mae Scheib on April 18, 2018
Calling People With Aging Loved Ones
Are you in the sandwich generation? Are you sandwiched between two generations, your children, and your parents? Or, let me paint an even more realistic version of your role as the sandwiched individual because I’m sure it’s a lot like mine. Are you a time-crunched, multi-tasker, busy parent and daughter or son who has mastered juggling tasks to keep your family afloat? If you are this very individual, I applaud you! Let me take this time to commend you and honor your loyalty, love, and incredible devotion to the people who are your family. This is not easy, but I’m sure you make it look that way!
The dreaded but important question
I’m hoping we can take this time together and pause, take some deep breathes, and take inventory of not the to do’s, but of how everyone is doing, coping, living. Is your time and energy balanced in such a way that those who love you feel loved? And in such a way that you are able and available to accept the love from those around you?
I ask this seemingly simple question because I want to remind you how magical this time is in our lives. And if we don’t take a moment to give space for making precious memories, were going to miss it. I don’t know about you, but every day I’m grateful for having my children and my parents alive and in my life. They are my favorite people! And, I knosomedayay, we won’t all be together. I know that we all have a short window together ithe n beautiful earth, so I work hard to pay attention and be present. It’s not always easy, but I work hard at it.
I encourage you to pause and take the time to reflect. Is everyone in your family living their best quality of life? In particular, is your aging loved one? We’ve created a short quiz to help you get some answers. If you’re like me, you’re afraid to even ask. Why? Because once you know the answer, and deep down you may already know, what do you do with it? You've uncovered the situation and it is now looking right at you and now you can't not do anything about it because it's out there. I’m here to tell you don’t give up hope. I encouraged you to ask the difficult question because you don’t have to be afraid, we can help you find the answers.
How other resources help
You have many resources out there to help you connect with senior professionals and housing communities. Some are online resources and others are local and more personal. Like with anything, there is a mix of great resources and not so great resources. Both online and locally in person. And who you decide to work with simply depends on your needs and who you feel compatible with. Local senior advisors are very hands on and will meet with you in person and over the phone many times before touring communities together. Some are more informative then others. However, if you are too busy and don’t have free time during the standard office hours, then online resources may be your best bet. That’s where we come in.
Some of our online senior advising competitors have gotten a bad wrap. I’m going to start with explaining what they do that we don’t do. Hopeful,ly this will help you compare how unique we are from any other online senior services available.
- Number one, we don’t share your personal information. Believe it or not, our competitors freely hand out your email, phone number, and in some cases the personal care needs you seek and financial capacity to senior communities who contracted with them!
- And this leads to point number two, our competitors charge communities who are willing to pay their referral fee, which is substantial. Some people have commented that they feel our competitors are head hunters for assisted living communities who work on commission and you are their commodity.
- And last, even if you tried to stay clear of our competitor, you may find yourself directed back to them because they have a myriad of hidden web pages online disguised under a different name.
I apologize if you are offended and feel like I am attacking our competitors. I am not responsible for their behavior and explain things plainly so that you are aware of the common business practices online in senior advising. We wanted to do things very differently and in order to describe how unique we are, I had to take you there. Now let’s get to how WE do things.
How We help
Our first step is taking our quiz. The quiz isn’t just to simply get answers to a simple yet very important question. It’s also a way for you to take inventory and to be enlightened with the truth about your aging loved one. He or She may be thriving very well. In which case is wonderful but bookmark the page to our quiz for a later time when you will need to take inventory again.
After this quiz, we will notify you of our answers and recommendations. We will notify you based on the personal information you provide us. Not to worry! We will not share your information with anyone outside of Senior Living Link. And, the information you provide is strictly confidential within Senior Living Link. Our recommendations will come with resources and their website links so you can electronically share them with other people in your family for their input and feedback.
If you want to proceed after this email, we can set up a call. Here we can meet in person, yay! I want to get to know you and your family. Your unique circumstances. Your fears and hopes. And, talk with you about your finances. It’s an important topic because we are in the business of making your choices sustainable. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if your decision is not affordable for long term living.
Once our ducks are in a row, we will email you even more links. You can pick and choose who you want to contact for your questions or to set up a tour to meet in person. No pressure here because if you don’t find a perfect match with any of our recommendations, we will send you another set of resources to reach out to.
The message I want to make loud and clear is that many people find this journey to be cumbersome, scary, and overwhelming. It may be a vulnerable period for you and your family. We want to present things to you in organized chunks and not all at once so your head spins and you are left with no choice but to put it all away in the back corner of your closet for a rainy day. That’s of no value to you, your family, or us. We will applaud you for taking action every step of the way, in bite size pieces.
Let's chat
I thank you for sharing your valuable time with me. I know in our world, there isn’t much of it that is free. Beware of the online traps from other competitors and when you are ready, take the quiz and reach out to me at donna@seniorlivinglink.org or call me at 1-844-480-9572. I very much look forward to meeting you someday hopefully soon!
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