America’s aging population means that the demand for in-home care services has never been higher. One company sees that as a win-win for seniors.
Seniors Helping Seniors employs mostly retirees to provide in-home nonmedical care, support and companionship, with a team of senior care professionals who train and assist them.
“We do have nurses who supervise and oversee care. Most of our caregivers are retired professionals who are looking to stay active and earn a little extra money,” said Ben Chernow, owner of Seniors Helping Seniors in Bethesda, Maryland.
There are other franchises in Laurel, Maryland, and Springfield and Centreville, Virginia.
Caregiver positions start at $20 per hour and increase to $21 per hour after completing a dementia certification course. The company said it also offers retirement benefits and flexible work schedules.
For clients, costs vary by location and services involved, but care generally costs around $40 per hour.
Seniors who are right for the job (the company says it only hires caregivers who have the compassion and interpersonal skills to build relationships) provide an advantage for those they are caring for. They are seen as peers, not just hired help.
“One of the main places we see that is people who have dementia, Often, built into that dementia is resistance to care and unwillingness to open their home to a caregiver. That resistance is something we are able to work around, because of the comfort level with somebody who is closer in age to them,” said Chernow, a former lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, who left the legal profession to do something he said he found more fulfilling.
Seniors Helping Seniors caregivers come from diverse backgrounds.
“Our caregivers include former diplomats, attorneys, business executives,” Chernow said. “We actually just hired a former Olympic gymnast. It is a really diverse group of people who often don’t have a background in this. We provide them the training and knowledge they need in order to be good caregivers.”
Seniors Helping Seniors also makes it a priority to match clients with caregivers who have compatible personalities and similar interests.
Seniors Helping Seniors was founded in 1998 and began franchising in 2006. It now has 180 franchise operators and 350 locations in 38 states.
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