By Elli Baldwin, CDP
Information, insight, and support when caring for an aging loved one.
Elli Baldwin, CDP, Co-founder and President of Sunways Senior Living Concierge
I am so excited for us to be part of the Paradise News team, and to be able to share information, insight, and lessons learned while navigating the maze that is senior healthcare. I will start by sharing a bit of my background and what led me into the senior healthcare industry. Then, I will share insight into what to expect in my column in the coming months.
I don’t come from the healthcare space. My husband, Mark, and I were technology recruiters for over 15 years, helping many companies across the country hire and retain top talent. When Mark’s vibrant grandmother suddenly had a stroke, our family was thrown, like so many others, into crisis management. We found ourselves navigating senior care options and choices that we were not prepared for nor educated to make.
We were overwhelmed and in over our heads. Maybe you can relate if you have gone through a similar experience. Not only did we have to make decisions about placement into long-term care, but also needed to tackle topics that involved eldercare lawyers, downsizing, arranging an estate sale, hiring a real estate agent to sell her home, etc. We made many mistakes along the way, but also learned so much that usually only experience can teach us.
At that time, Mark and I realized that we were not the only family that was facing these types of decisions. Seniors and their family caregivers needed more support and education to make the best decisions possible to avoid the missteps that we had made. We wanted to help families, and that became our mission for Sunways Senior Living Concierge. We created the service that we wished we had found when we needed it.
Sunways is a free referral and placement service that helps families understand what their options are during the aging process. We connect them with care and resource options to remain in their home as long as possible, if that is desirable and sustainable.
We also handhold them through the process of knowing what their options are for senior living communities, including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Long-Term Care facilities.
Since starting in 2018, we have helped thousands of families and grown our team of local Senior Living Concierges along the Suncoast including right here in Pinellas County. Because we live and work locally in your “bubble,” we know what all of the local senior healthcare resources are, as well as senior living communities, so that we can best serve our clients. Our goal is to empower the families we work with to feel educated to make their own decisions that they feel good about.
In months to come we will be sharing some of our biggest lessons, tips, and insights. The “what I wish I would have known” list, so to speak. Articles that cover what care services Medicare will cover, what respite options are available for caregivers to help avoid burnout, questions to ask when touring a senior living community, understanding the different levels of care and licensing at senior living communities to avoid having multiple moves, benefits that can help pay for care like Veteran benefits and Medicaid…and so much more.
If you have any specific topics or questions you would love for me to cover, please reach out to me directly via email or phone below. Also, our Sunways website has a Caregiver blog and many free downloads and resources, so be sure to check it out! www.sunwaysseniorliving.com/blog
Always remember, you don’t have to walk this journey alone. Our services are free to our clients, please reach out to me at any time to discuss your unique situation to see how we can support you. See you next month!
Sunways Senior Living Concierge
www.sunwaysseniorliving.com
info@sunwaysseniorliving.com
727-314-6415
5969 Cattleridge Blvd., Ste. 101, Sarasota, FL 34232