When it comes to finding the best retirement location for a senior loved one, you need an eldercare placement agent that you can trust. At Passionate Senior Placement, our senior placement agents are experienced in all aspects of senior care, from local, Sacramento-area nursing homes and assisted living facilities to in-home care. We understand the importance of finding the perfect environment for your loved one, and we are here to help you every step of the way during this transition. In this article, we will discuss the top five roles and responsibilities of a good senior placement agent, as well as why you should consider putting your trust in Passionate Senior Placement.
Senior Placement Agent: Roles and Responsibilities
Should I Work With a Senior Placement Agent?
Transitioning a beloved senior to an assisted living facility or a caregiving situation can sometimes be a challenging—both for the elder in your life and for your family. While some families have the luxury of ample time, mental real estate, and even logistical and physical mobility to tour multiple assisted living facilities and ask the questions they need to ask, this is not an available reality for many American families. This is just one reason why some families choose to work with a senior placement agent.
As an involved, knowledgeable, and well-connected member of the assisted living community, a quality senior placement agent will be able to present your family with the best possible options for your elder’s needs, budget, and desired amenities. Their role is to make the transition as stress-free as possible while empowering the elder to make an informed decision based on all of their potential options. If you want to know more about what to look for in a senior placement agent, check out our recent article on the topic!
Top 5 Senior Placement Agent Responsibilities
While the best senior placement agents exude compassion and strive to take the best interests of their clients to heart, there are several responsibilities you can expect from any senior placement agent that may end up swaying you towards working with one. Here are the top five responsibilities of a senior placement agent:
1. Relationships with local facilities and an understanding of their values: A large part of the role of a senior placement agent is to be connected with the community and to have developed relationships with different facilities based on an understanding of their core values and operating standards, as well as the extent of what they can provide each client. This insider knowledge becomes invaluable to a senior who might not have access to this type of information—and while a senior placement agent should never sway their client one way or another, they should offer factual insight based on their connections within the community.
2. Holistic look at the senior’s needs—emotional, mental, physical, and medical: It’s one thing for a senior placement agent to send a client with medical needs to a 24-7 nursing home, but it’s another for them to actively listen to other kinds of needs, hopes, or expectations the senior might have in their placement. Because mental, emotional, and social well-being can have such a profound effect on our longevity and physical health, this is a vital responsibility of a practicing placement agent.
3. Paperwork completion and assistance navigating the finer details: All the paperwork associated with this transition can be complex, inordinately detailed, and boring the sift through and try to parse out the meaning. Leaving this cumbersome footwork to a professional who knows how to not only fill out any paperwork correctly but to guide their clients during the process to ensure they are getting the most value with the least expense, can be a huge convenience and comfort to busy families.
4. Referrals and access to Long-Term Care Insurance: Old age comes with all kinds of new challenges and adventures—and chances are, a senior looking to transition to assisted living might need direction for a number of other services as well, including estate planners, movers, attorneys, and more. A senior placement agent will also be able to determine if their client is qualified for long-term care insurance benefits.
5. Advocacy on the senior’s behalf: A senior placement agent should be more than just an advisor when it comes to the significant decision of where your loved one will end up—they should also be an advocate for your loved one, championing the best value deal at the lowest rates. This can mean negotiating prices, looking for new member deals, and other ways of finding affordable rates at high-value establishments.
Why Choose a PSP Senior Placement Agent?
A senior placement agent must be more than a simple advisor—they must have an intimate knowledge of their field so that they can present their client with every possible option, working within any budget. Here at Passionate Senior Placement, we pride ourselves on actively listening to the needs of our seniors and looking at the full spectrum of requirements they might have to live out their golden years happily, healthily, and with a sense of community and purpose. Our goal is to offer insider advice and local facility knowledge to empower each senior to make an informed decision about where they’re headed for their next chapter of life.