Necessity was the mother of invention for Don and Debbie Stewart, founders of Senior Connection, who parlayed their labor of love in elder care for Don’s mother into a trade association to help others navigate this life change with more knowledge and less uncertainty.
“We suddenly found ourselves in the position of adult child care giver and had no idea where to start,” Debbie said. “If we had had the information that we needed before we had to make the decisions, we would have made very different decisions that would have had different outcomes that would have been better for everyone involved. We made decisions that weren’t the best at the time, but we did the best that we could.”
Those choices, they are quick to point out, did not negatively impact or change quality of life, but specific information “could have made things easier for us and for her.”
All decisions were made with full disclosure and consent as they relocated Don’s mother to Prescott in 2010 and cared for her until her passing in 2014, Don said. “We were not fishing completely in the dark, but we used our instincts more than we really wanted to or should have.”
Not knowing where to turn – similar to many other caregivers in that situation – “we were blinded by a lack of coherent information in one place or in a few places,” he recalled. “We spent and wasted a lot of time finding and trying to find information. We didn’t even know what questions we should be asking. The good news is that there are a lot of resources available in this community, but it’s hard to know where to find them.”
Debbie acknowledged, “Being a caregiver isn’t easy. Nor is it easy for the recipient. The decisions that need to be made can be overwhelming.”
Enter Senior Connection with the Stewarts’ goal of connecting seniors and family caregivers with the products, services and support they need to become better-informed consumers. The couple “struck out on a path to help others figure out a way — and not have to traverse the same path of the emotional upset — of having to take care of a senior for the first time.”
Their single point of reference for available resources encompasses a family of services: website, online directory, newsletter, informative articles, agency videos, a speaker’s bureau and conferences and expos in spring and fall.
The challenge for the enterprise has been implementing that one-stop shop via a business model providing informational resources free to seniors and their caregivers, while supplying member agencies “a good pull for their money” and “putting milk on the table” in the Stewart household.
All of the Senior Connection’s information remains free to the public, thanks to the annual fees paid by member agencies. In exchange for the $375-a-year fee, members receive a booth at the twice-a-year conference and expo, opportunities to present to the public through a weekly speaker’s bureau, attendance at member mixers, an independent critique of the business, marketing tips and newsletter space for informative articles.
“Senior Connection has a great impact in our senior community,” said Pamela Cregger, community service representative for Home Instead Senior Care, a member since the trade association began in 2011. “Through their senior expos, speaker’s bureau presentations, online resources, caregiver newsletters and educational articles, they provide something for everyone.”
For Home Instead, the organization’s speaker’s bureau “offers a specific opportunity to connect with those in our community who are looking for resources for the caring of their loved ones,” Cregger explained. “It also offers support for themselves as caregivers. These talks have offered us the opportunity to connect with family caregivers who have felt reassured by the information they received. They felt that they could make better informed choices in helping their loved ones.”
Those informed choices relate to the upended family dynamic when a senior family member no longer can care for him/herself, the Stewarts explain. It is a role reversal for the family, often with unexpected adjustments in perspective and interaction. Everyone may be in denial when children help mom or dad cope with illness or frailty. Parents may not want or feel they need help, resent getting older, and/or do not want to burden anyone. Siblings and additional family members may not agree on the specific course of action or when to make changes.
The next free Senior and Caregivers Conference and Expo is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, March 13 at Liberty Traditional School, 3300 N. Lake Valley Road, in Prescott Valley. Topics will include vitality, dementia, regenerative medicine and legal issues. For more information, log on to www.seniorconnection.us. QCBN
By Sue Marceau
Quad Cities Business News
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