Owners Jim Watkins and Dr. Susan Wiesner-Watkins
We’ve all had that moment – we’re having a perfectly engaging conversation with a junior at the office, or with one of our children, and a memory comes upon us. Naturally, we tell our story… they smile and nod, but we know that they don’t really relate. This is the age gap and sometimes it is just too large a chasm to leap.
When it comes to our grandparents and elderly parents, they want to tell their stories, and we want to make sure someone is there to appreciate it – after all, we grew up listening to them. That’s why Dr. Susan Wiesner-Watkins and Jim Watkins started the Central Virginia branch of Seniors Helping Seniors.
An in-home care franchise, Seniors Helping Seniors provides non-medical, in-home care to seniors by seniors. They match capable seniors in the community with the elderly who need a little help from time to time. Their goal is to find caregivers who understand the journey their new friends have taken, while providing additional care and companionship. Peer-to-peer assistance, the concept at the core of Seniors Helping Seniors, provides a solution to the age gap. It is caring, compassionate service from mature caregivers who want to give back.
Seniors Helping Seniors matches each client with a mature caregiver. Potential caregivers and recipients are interviewed and character profiles are created. These profiles are used to match caregivers and recipients based on personality, schedule and personal need.
As an added benefit to the community, Seniors Helping Seniors gives recent and not-so-recent retirees the opportunity to give back. Being a caregiver is a way for them to remain active and build new, unique relationships with people who understand the life they have led.
In the video below, you’ll hear Jim Watkins’ passion for caregiving and his commitment to the peer-to-peer approach of Seniors Helping Seniors:
For more articles like this, see: Long Distance Caregiving, Resources for Central Virginia, Aging in Place.
Know someone who worries about their elderly parent in Charlottesville, Staunton, or Harrisonburg Virginia? Care is There Geriatric Care Management can help! Have them contact us for a free consultation: 434.326.5323 or info@careisthere.com.
For more information about our services, and to read testimonials from our clients, visit our website. Also, view this short video about our care management services.
Elizabeth Swider, Geriatric Care Manager, Certified Senior Advisor
President, Care is There Geriatric Care Management
Support for independent living and long distance caregiving; assisted living enhancement
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