The Company Story
by H. Rebecca Ness, Certified Senior Advisor

 

I founded Senior Planning Advisors, LLC out of personal experiences and passion for making a difference in the lives of seniors and elders.

 

This passion was inside of me long before I recognized it. As a young girl, I accompanied my mother as she volunteered in nursing homes through an AARP program to “adopt” an elder without family or friends to be their caregiver. I came to enjoy the company of elders while watching my mother bring joy into the life of others through her kind actions to provide companionship.

 

The passion continued while attending the University of New Hampshire. I lived in an apartment across the street from a nursing home and went there to visit with the residents, play the piano, or bring flowers to a person who had no one to send them gifts. The delight of the residents as a young adult took time to brighten their day was heartwarming.

 

My passion deepened immeasurably when it was my own parents in need of a family caregiver. I spent several years being the primary caregiver for my parents as they advanced through multiple health issues and then later life challenges including the need to relocate from their life-long home to a Continuing Care Retirement Community. Following the death of my father, I navigated the process when my mother required another life transition into an assisted living facility.

 

At the end of my mother’s life the services of hospice care was necessary for several months. This provided me with a very personal and emotional introduction to the hospice journey, and was my motivation to become a hospice volunteer. It allowed me to honor my mother’s acts of kindness, her memory, and most important, add quality to the end of life for other people. Little did I know at the beginning that a hospice volunteer often receives far more than they give through the bond formed with a patient.

 

Translating this passion into a career as a senior care advisor was a natural progression from my life experiences, career in healthcare, and hospice work. Establishing Senior Planning Advisors has given me the opportunity to build a company that provides services to seniors, elders, and family caregivers so they can make informed decisions and feel empowered, not overwhelmed, by the complexities of navigating life stage transitions and issues encountered in later life.

 

“You can make a difference in the life of another human being and that is both the purpose and the reward of being a senior care advisor. “ HRN