By Michelle Spinale
Michelle Spinale recently sat down with Mark Friedman, owner of Senior Helpers Boston and South Shore. He shared how they became the first in-home agency in Massachusetts and the Northeast to achieve the Age-Friendly Care at Home certification.
Why did your agency pursue this certification from Community Health Accreditation Partners (CHAP)?
In Massachusetts, in-home care is not regulated or licensed, so there is no minimum standard of business practice or care guidelines. We have always sought to set a high standard in both areas and do so in a meaningful way that benefits our clients and our employees.
What is Age-Friendly Care at home?
The Age-Friendly Care certification is a nationally recognized standard of care that demonstrates our commitment to delivering to established best practices. To receive the CHAP certification, Senior Helpers Boston and South Shore worked to ensure that the Age-Friendly Care 4M Framework is incorporated into our operations and daily client interactions.
Why is it important?
It requires agencies to follow consistent guidelines that promote a supportive, safe, and effective care environment for seniors, ultimately enhancing their quality of life with key benefits:
Enhanced safety protocols. Certification involves implementing safety measures that protect seniors in their homes, reduce the risk of accidents, and promote a safer living environment.
Holistic care approach. Providers adopt a holistic view of care that focuses on physical, emotional, social, and environmental health factors to create a more comprehensive care plan.
Ongoing education. It encourages continuous learning and improvement keeping care providers updated on the latest best practices in geriatric care.
Community engagement. The certification promotes collaboration between care providers and community resources, ensuring a supportive network for seniors.
Increased trust. Families and seniors can have greater confidence knowing certified agencies adhere to recognized standards.
Quality assurance and improvement. Certified agencies are encouraged to evaluate their services regularly and seek feedback to continuously improve care standards.
How does this certification shape the care you provide?
The certification incorporates many practices that have always been fundamental to our services. The formal written standards of Age-Friendly Care offer a way to assess our ability to meet these standards. The evaluation process then provides an external validation of our success. This approach also effectively integrates these practices, enabling us to offer seniors more compassionate, responsive care. We strive to balance their “wants” through the 4Ms and their “needs” through the LIFE profile assessment to create a personalized care plan that helps our clients (and their families) succeed in their aging journey.
Tell us about other programs you offer.
In addition to the CHAP certification, we elevate its care for clients through three key programs:
LIFE profile is a proprietary research-based technology tool that uses data to identify a client’s risk of being hospitalized or encountering other setbacks that could affect their ability to age in place.
The Senior Gems program provides training and effective strategies for supporting and caring for loved ones from normal aging through late-stage dementia, focusing on what is precious and unique about each senior at each stage.
The Senior Helpers Center of Excellence is a training space designed to simulate core areas of a client’s home. It allows caregivers to learn and train in a real-world environment and demonstrate their ability to provide the highest quality care in a client’s home.
How do you help individuals and their families navigate the caregiving journey?
We believe an educated ager is the most successful ager. Aging is a complicated topic. To help people succeed in their aging journey, we provide in-person and online educational seminars on relevant issues to individuals and professionals. Our book, “A Guide to Excellent (and Successful) Aging,” seeks to answer many critical questions individuals need to consider. Our upcoming Senior Helper Aging Advantage Guides will help demystify the challenges individuals and caregivers face and provide strategies for resolving them.
Spinale, a resident of Cohasset and a Boston College graduate, is a marketing and communications strategist who has driven profitable brand growth for global media companies and health tech startups. She is passionate about empowering people to live healthier and age better. She also holds a health coach certification for seniors and is actively involved in her parents’ successful aging journey.
