Welcome to Senior Callup:

My mother is 88 and lives in her apartment with her little dog. We know she is lonely and often worries and feel insecure living alone. Most of her friends are gone and there are no close family or acquaintances there to check up on her and to visit. We wish we could contact her more frequently than we do, but we have busy lives and unfortunately there will be days between each time we call her. We live in Massachusetts, a brother in Arizona and a sister in southern California. Visiting our mother on a daily or weekly basis is impossible. We have suggested to her that she should go to a Nursing home. No way.  She wants to stay in her home as long as she can. Our story is all too familiar to many of us with elderly parents. We worry and feel guilty about not contacting our elderly relatives as often as we know we should and we know they are anxious to hear from us. Now, help is available with SeniorCallup.com

What do we do? We call up your Senior every day to check on him/her on your behalf. When people contact a Senior, we have found that there are three basic questions: Are you O.K.? Have you taken your medicines? Do you need anything? Simple questions that encompass a lot. You may read more below or Click here to Get Started. Are you O.K.? To answer: “Yes” is easy. Most Seniors give that reply even if they don’t feel so good. Research has shown that a stigma exists among seniors who are reluctant to acknowledge frailty or ill health, especially to family members. They don’t want to worry them. But one should delve more into the details behind such replies. Studies show that about 80 % of Seniors suffer from at least one chronic health condition. 50 % have two or more conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or respiratory disorders. As a result of these conditions, moderate mental disability is common. 60 % of adult children say they talk regularly about health matters with their parents. However, only 32 % of parents report doing so with their children, according to a study by Wellpoint. Clearly Senior parents are reluctant to complain to their children. They don’t want to inconvenience. With the SeniorCallup service, a Senior will get an assigned caller who will call her every day. Gradually, they will become acquainted. We have found that sometimes it is easier to discuss issues with a “stranger” like our caller than with someone who is close like a family member. Have you taken your medicines? This is an important question to ask a Senior on a daily basis. Former United States Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, often said: “drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them.” This sounds like an obvious statement, but it is not. A study by Dr. Partridge of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that up to 80 % of cancer patients failed to strictly follow their prescriptions. Why is that? Studies show that Seniors are particularly prone to harmful mistakes in taking their drugs, particularly when their medication regimen has been modified. Studies have found that in 42 % of cases, errors were made after doctors had asked patients to modify their medical regimen. Seniors taking three to four drugs are twice as likely to make mistakes as those on two or less. The more drugs they take, the more errors occur. Some patients who are prescribed an old medication at a new dose might keep taking the old dosage along with the new dosage. In other instances, they fail to follow instructions. Dementia, confusion and sensory problems are the most common underlying causes for patient medication errors. Please note that our designated callers are trained to detect signs of confusion and sensory problems and depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale: Short form in their conversations. (See Emergency). It is important for their health maintenance that they are queried daily by our callers about this topic. The elderly are usually not comfortable with high-tech solutions like emergency punch buttons they cannot find or sensor based pill boxes that cannot handle incidences like those mentioned above. They prefer the human touch that SeniorCallup provides. Do you need anything? Seniors are often lonely. Their friends are gone and they sit alone. They wish they were contacted, and visited by their children and/or grand children. For practical reasons that is often not possible. The human touch is so important and experience has shown that they really look forward to the daily call from their designated caller at SeniorCallup.com. It lessens their feeling of loneliness and fear of being alone. They become acquainted with their caller and often find it easier to express their needs to her than to the children. In the reports that the SeniorCallup center submits to the Primary contact, we submit information about the needs that the Senior has mentioned. Experience shows that that works well. A summary of our SeniorCallup service: Our service is to call a Senior, every day, and with the same person calling. We call the Senior every day at about the same time. A well trained caller, by first name, will be assigned to each Senior so that they become acquainted with the particular issues that each Senior will have. In cooperation with a family member that is our Primary contact, a profile will be prepared to serve as a guide for our caller. Initially, a three-way telephone conversation will be set up between the Premier contact, the Senior, and the designated caller so that he/she can be introduced to the Senior. After that, the Senior will be called up by telephone every day at about the same time by the same person. In Case of special, non-critical issues with the Senior, the Primary contact will receive an email from the caller with details. In case of critical issues, Emergency procedures click on. The Senior can call us ! The Senior will receive a telephone number from us that he/she can call 24/7. There will always be service available at that number. If his/her designated caller is not available, the supervisor will know how to handle the call whether it is an emergency or just a general call. In an emergency, we will contact the emergency service specified by the Primary Contact and stay on the line with the Senior until the Emergency service arrives. Please go to HowItWorks and FAQ for further details.