To enhance the services I offer with The Other Daughter, I recently met with Seniors Helping Seniors to see what they could provide to my clients for their direct service needs. I was very impressed!
Seniors Helping Seniors® in-home services was founded by Kiran Yocom and began as a non-profit organization serving Berks County, Pennsylvania over ten years ago. Kiran took her mission and passion to help seniors live independently and formed a franchise organization that now has over 200 locations in more than 40 states. She leads the organization through compassion and caring for all. She is proud to have a chapter serving the residents of The Villages.
Seniors Helping Seniors® provides a variety of non-medical in home services designed to help seniors who have difficulties with activities of daily living. We match seniors with loving, caring, active seniors who have the heart of a volunteer and a sincere desire to help others. It’s a unique relationship built between people who understand the ups and downs of life, it’s a way to give and to receive®. They work to find a senior who will meet the personal needs, schedule, and personality of the senior who is looking for help. They can help out just a little or a lot. The peer-to-peer assistance allows seniors in need to receive the help they need from someone whom they can trust. At the same time, seniors who want to help are able to remain active in their community and often form strong relationships with the seniors for whom they provide care.
Services encompass companionship so the family care giver can get a break, to daily chores such as light housekeeping, laundry, changing the bed linens as well as meal preparation, medication reminders, or transportation assistance to appointments, a movie or lunch. Like getting a little help from your friends.™
“Our goal is to help seniors in The Villages and throughout Marion County to live independently and enjoy community life,” shared John, Owner of the local office. “We want to bring joy and happiness to our local seniors on both sides of the equation! Seniors Helping Seniors® in-home care gives seniors and their families the resources to do just that.”
The senior care Providers who work with Seniors Helping Seniors, want to give seniors the option to stay in their homes and to remain as independent as possible. “Family members and caregivers can feel secure that their loved ones are in compassionate, caring, capable hands” says Elaine Eisenhauer a Villages resident who works with the company. My husband is also a Provider, he visits a gentlemen allowing time for the lady of the house to run some personal errands or visit with her friends. He has on occasion served communion in the home as well. Elaine is the marketing and community representative for the company. She volunteers with the Day Break Club, interacts with the Alzheimer’s Family Organization, participates in fundraisers for the local chapters of Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis. Elaine recently connected with Operation Homebound to support their ministry.
John notes, “The seniors we serve are more than clients, they become a part of our lives. It is not unusual for one of our Providers to “pop in” just to see how their Receiver is doing, or give them a call to say hello on a day when they are not scheduled to visit.”
A family member recently had this to say about the care her father received from Seniors Helping Seniors. “My father came to stay with me for several months after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and could no longer live alone. While I was able to provide for his basic need and Hospice was able to provide for his medical needs, something was missing. Seniors Helping Seniors was professional and caring and took the time to assess my father’s needs and my needs as his full time in-home caregiver. Dad greatly enjoyed his new companion. Sometimes the first thing he asked when he woke up was if his friend would be coming that day. The Seniors Helping Seniors Provider was a wonderful companion for my father. He always wore a big smile that somehow became contagious with Dad. We were both blessed to have him with us during this very precious time”.
Seniors Helping Seniors® Providers come from all walks of life, retired teachers, nurses, security guards, retired military, and loving house wives to name a few. They have often been called “a blessing”, “a joy”, “she’s wonderful”. One Receiver wanted to be sure her Provider would be available for her when she returned next season, they have such fun together!
John, the owner of Seniors Helping Seniors® was born in Hampton Roads, Virginia while his Dad was at the Langley Air Force Base. His family relocated to Gaithersburg, Maryland after his father retired from the Air Force as Lt. Col.. John learned the joy of working with his hands when his father would put him and his four brothers to work on the family vacation home. He was trained to become a master carpenter and still loves restoring homes in his community. In 1989 John and his family moved to Florida to be closer to his wife’s family. He watched The Villages take shape; he worked with a local company performing quality control inspections on air handling units for many homes in The Villages. He is the Vice President of the East Lake Weir Association where he organizes and cooks for the annual community picnic.
While caring for his aging family, friends and neighbors, John realized just how important it is for seniors to stay in their homes and remain connected to their community as they grow older. After John’s mother passed away and his father’s health began to decline his family made the decision to move John’s dad into an assisted living facility. “This was a very hard transition for my father. He missed his home, his garden and his routine,” said John. “If we had known about a service like Seniors Helping Seniors®, we would have made different decisions for my father’s care. He would have been happier staying in his own home, surrounded by a familiar community.” With Seniors Helping Seniors® services John saw how he could be a great support for other seniors and their families. John’s hope with Seniors Helping Seniors services is to give other seniors and their families that opportunity and not experience what he did with his own father.
If you would like to utilize their services, call today at 352-288-0444 or e-mail [email protected]
For questions or comments, please contact Jane Bloom, The Other Daughter, at 425-299-6020 [email protected] or Website www.theotherdaughter.org