Seniors Helping Seniors (SHS) provides non-medical home services to seniors by seniors.
Colleen Flaherty, marketing assistant, said, “SHS has a unique peer-to-peer model to caregiving. Seniors connect best with other seniors because of their common life experiences, compassion, and appreciation for the aging process. Seniors who need services, receivers, are carefully matched with seniors who render services, providers, creating mutually rewarding relationships.”
SHS provides a variety of services to help seniors stay at home. The help includes simple companionship, cooking and shopping, personal care, transportation, and important management tasks.
Carol Tanquary, staffing coordinator, said, “It is an exceptional group of people and a wonderful company to work for. I have been working for Seniors Helping Seniors for six years since I retired from teaching. I love working for SHS because it gives me an opportunity to work a flexible schedule, and it makes me happy and fulfilled. I treasure the connections I have made with my fabulous Receivers, their families, and my fellow SHS Team members. I enjoy the interaction with my Receivers and hearing about their past lives and experiences. I have so many funny, touching, and interesting stories from my time with them.
One Receiver stands out in particular because of her childhood memories of growing up in Germany during the Adolph Hitler regime. She was in 4th grade. Her stories were riveting. Providers are active, caring and loving people with huge hearts who want to assist the seniors to age in place…in their own homes as long as possible. They help with transportation, meals, companionship, and chores the Senior is finding hard to complete. They also provide a source of mental stimulation.”
The program offers a way to give back to the senior community as a retiree, offering support, help, and in-home care.
Bill Mueller, male provider coordinator, said, “I’ve been working with Seniors Helping Seniors since it was started in 2015. The concept of working with senior peers Is very rewarding to both the receiver and the provider. We have lived each other’s lives and have many common life experiences. The joy we bring to these seniors comes back to us many times over. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said, ‘The only things we ever keep are what we give away.’ My favorite experience involved the use of music with Alzheimer’s victims. We had a receiver with Alzheimer’s who could not communicate. We found out from his niece he liked Johnny Cash. We set him up with headphones and Johnny Cash discs. He would actually sing along with every song. We train our providers. They must be patient and kind.”
Seniors interested in learning more about receiving these services or providing these service options are welcome to call the Seniors Helping Seniors office at 630-937-4246.
For more information and an online application, please visit the Seniors Helping Seniors website: www.seniorcarefoxvalley.com.
