The practice
How it works
Most families call us somewhere between worried and frightened, often after something happened. Here is exactly what follows, so that at least one part of this is predictable.
- 01 First
A conversation, before anything else
An advisor asks about your parent and about you: what is happening day to day, what has changed lately, who else is helping, what the money looks like, and what your family has already tried. No forms with fifty checkboxes. We are trying to understand a situation, not qualify a lead.
Thirty minutes. Free. You leave with a written summary and clear next steps, whether or not you continue with us.
- 02 Then
We work out which level of care actually fits
Louisiana has six licensed levels, and families usually arrive believing there are two. Getting this right is most of the value: the difference between hiring twenty hours of in-home help and moving someone into a residential setting is tens of thousands of dollars a year and, more to the point, a completely different life for your parent.
- 03 Then
We do the legwork you would otherwise do at midnight
Which providers are actually licensed for the level of care your parent needs, who has genuine availability rather than a waitlist, what the real monthly figure is once care levels and second-person fees are added, and what the last inspection found. This is the part that takes a family three weeks of phone calls and takes an advisor who does it daily rather less.
- 04 Then
We compare the real options with you, and go with you
A short list with the tradeoffs said out loud, including the ones that count against a place we would otherwise recommend. If you tour, an advisor goes too, asks the questions families do not think to ask on a first visit, and tells you afterwards what they noticed.
- 05 After
We stay after the decision
The first month is when problems surface: care levels get reassessed, a bill arrives with something unexpected on it, or the fit turns out to be wrong. That is when families most need somebody who already knows the situation, and it is when most of this industry has already moved on.
What if the answer is not moving anyone?
Then that is the answer, and the work is the same. Plenty of families we talk to end up with more help at home, or adult day care a few days a week so a working daughter can keep her job, or a respite stay to get through a hard stretch. Some need an elder law attorney or a VA benefits specialist more than they need us.
We will tell you when we think staying home is right, including when that means we are not involved much further. An advisory practice that can only recommend the thing it gets paid for is not advising you.
How this is paid for is set out in full on how we are paid, and if you want the industry-wide version of that question, the guides answer it plainly: are these services really free .
What we do not do
- We do not sell your details. Your situation goes to your advisor, not to a list of communities who then call you.
- We do not take a fee on Medicaid-funded care. Where Medicaid is paying, we take nothing and still help.
- We do not put you through a call center. You get one advisor, and it stays that advisor.
- We do not diagnose. We are an advisory practice, not a clinic, and anything clinical belongs with your parent’s physician.
Where to start
Any of these is a reasonable first move, and none of them commits you to anything.
