Jeannie Duckworth

We are senior-centered, not profit-centered, so we take the time to listen, to pray with the seniors and their families, and to really dive into what their needs are. We don't just say, oh, you have money, we're going to refer you. If they are low income, we try to find the resources for them in their area, whether it's CalAIM, the Master Care Program, the Waiver Program, or in Tennessee, 10Care Choices. We try and give them all the resources we can. A lot of families don't know that if their loved one is a veteran or a widow of a veteran, they can receive funding to help pay for their senior living options. And another little known fact, if they are registered Native American Indians and tied to a tribe, whether it's Chickasaw, Choctaw, or some of the larger tribes, some of them help pay for senior living options as well. So we try and educate ourselves and constantly trying to find more and more resources to help families pay. Every month we help anywhere from 10 to 30 plus families that we're giving all of those resources to, and we don't get paid for that. We just want to make sure that they have the resources available to them.

Work from your heart. When you work from your heart, you'll get everywhere. It doesn't matter, and that's how we are. That's why we are senior-centered, not profit-centered, is we work from our heart every single day. We are available 7 days a week. I've taken calls as late as midnight and as early as 3 o'clock in the morning. We truly work from our heart. That is the one thing, because it's somebody's mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandpa, we want to make sure that we're there. We don't just let you go to a voicemail and not take care of you. We want to get you taken care of from the very beginning.

Educate, educate, educate. Take every single class that you possibly can, ask all of the questions, sit down with your colleagues, whether it's home health, hospice, get to meet the seniors in the communities, meet the communities, so before you even hit the ground running, you need to do all of that. I would join the NPRA, the National Placement and Referral Alliance, or like my husband, he's a certified senior advisor, I'd suggest doing that, and keep the education going. Don't let it stop just because you started business, and always hold yourself to a very high level of accountability. Because it's somebody's mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and you would do the same for yours as well.

The biggest challenge is that families aren't educated, they tend to want to wait as long as possible before finding options, and the problem with that is a lot of times when they do that, they have waited until the last minute, or the last moment, and by then, we're not picking a community that is one that would have been a top choice, because they didn't start the search early enough. So they're having to just get a For Now community. My biggest problem is to try and educate families ahead of time, hey, let's start the search, even if it's 5 years down the road, or 10 years down the road, let's start doing the search now so we know what type of community mom and dad likes. Let's make sure so that they have all of their medical paperwork up to date. So that way, if and when the time comes, that they are well prepared, because a lot of people don't know that they need to have the criteria, especially in California and in Tennessee, there are certain paperwork that they have to have completed by the hospitals, doctors, before they can even move into a community. They can't just call me and say, hey, we want to move in. No, they have to have the physician's paperwork, they have to have a signed medication list, and the community has to meet with the loved one to make sure that they're even a fit before they can even move a patient into a community.

Family, always first, always. And our seniors, because we consider them to be family as well. We don't turn anybody away. Just because they may not have an income doesn't mean that they aren't important. We try to help find the resources that we can, and we don't want somebody to walk away feel like we didn't give them the resources that are available. So we are senior-centered, not profit-centered. Every month we help anywhere from 10 to 30 plus families that we're giving all of those resources to, to be able to assist them, and we don't get paid for that. We just want to make sure that they have the resources available to them.