Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Aging is not easy. Aging as foreigner to the country you live in, when you don’t speak the language, cannot drive, and have not assimiliated like your children have – is extremely difficult. Yet this is the life that more and more elderly immigrants face in the US. The elderly, who now make up America’s fastest-growing immigrant group. Since 1990, the number of foreign-born people over 65 has grown from 2.7 million to 4.3 million — or about 11 percent of the country’s recently arrived immigrants. Their ranks are expected to swell to 16 million by 2050. In California, one in nearly three seniors is now foreign born, according to a 2007 census survey. We are not talking about illegal immigrants. Many are aging parents of naturalized American citizens, reuniting with their families. Patricia Leigh Brown of the New York Times has a story about these folks and their life.

Most of us never hear of them. Often, their problems can go unnoticed because they often do not seek help due to cultural differences. Many who have followed their grown children here have fulfilling lives, but life in this country does not always go according to plan for seniors navigating the new, at times jagged, emotional terrain, which often means living under a child’s roof but often means trying to find their own way in a country whose traditions and institutions are foreign to them.

In Fremont, 40 miles out of San Francisco, some of these elderly immigrant have formed a support group calling themselves “The 100 Years Living Club”. Mr. Patel, who was an herbal doctor in India, started the group after he noticed his friends were in “house prisons,” as he put it, without even the confidence to use a bus.

Washington, DC (July 23, 2009) – People searching for care for their aging parents find almost no independent advice about senior care facilities online.  Often, these families are drawn to misleading sites whose sole function is to sell their personal information to the highest bidder.  That’s how the so-called lead generation business operates in the senior care industry.  These businesses don’t care about the quality of the providers they sell the leads to, which can lead to some terrible experiences for the impacted families.

That is all changing. OurParents announces today free and immediate access to the largest online directory of senior care providers on the web – over 100,000 care providers across the United States.  The free service is totally independent and unbiased, providing ratings, price information and powerful decision-making tools including the remarkable Care Options Advisor. The site provides free detailed reports about each senior care provider, a $25 to $90 value, absolutely free to consumers.

OurParents.com also provides free access to user reviews, to allow visitors to hear first-hand from others about their experiences with a given care provider.  The goal of OurParents is simple:  to be the one trusted place to go on the web to find the best care solution for a family’s aging loved one.

“Having the largest online directory of senior care providers, over 100,000 so far and growing, was a big goal for us,” said John McKinley, founder and CEO of OurParents.com. “Families need a trusted place to go to see all of the senior care options that are available, and the current lead-gen players fail miserably in fulfilling that role.  Some sites have as few as 4,000 entries.  But OurParents is so much more than that.  We also give consumers a free comparison report with details about a given senior care provider and the surrounding community. Some sites sell less complete reports for $25 to $90. Ours are absolutely free, and the response we’ve gotten from families about them has been great.”

One critical element needed to paint a more complete picture about a given facility is feedback from existing and past residents and their families.  That is why OurParents is also announcing the addition of user reviews for care providers.  “We are the only independent directory in the senior care business.  That allows us to show the good, the bad, and the ugly about any given provider.  Reading user reviews is a great way to understand more about what life is like for a facility’s residents,” said McKinley.  Families of current and past residents can rate a provider along multiple dimensions, including quality of care, helpfulness of staff, and cleanliness.

“It is simple,” said McKinley. “Our founding principle is that we are, and always will be on the side of the consumer.  For families in need of help, there is simply no better source of senior care providers on the internet.”

For more information, visit www.ourparents.com.

Contact:
Amit Shafrir
amit@ourparents.com
(571) 350-8291 x 203

The effect of the baby boomers will soon see its full impact on the world’s population dynamics. As the oldest baby boomers are passing 65 these next few years, we see more and more seniors every day. In 20 years, 1 in 5 Americans will be senior citizens. Other countries have already hit the 20% mark: Germany, Italy, Japan, and Monaco have a huge population of seniors.

According to the US Census Bureau, the world’s senior population is currently at 516 million people. In 2050, that number will rise to 1.53 million, 16% of the projected population. Europe is by far the biggest contributer to this rise, with a projected 29% of it’s citizens falling into this demographic. This growth rate we’re seeing is actually more than double the growth rate of the world population. This difference is as a result of decreased birth rates in Europe and the US and better healthcare and general health practices.

To find out what senior care options are right for you or your loved one, check out the Care Options Advisor!

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Company defies current business practices of senior care websites with launch of OurParents.com, a free matching service for both consumers and senior care facilities

Washington, DC / May 26, 2009 – Millions of Baby Boomers are struggling to care for their aging parents. Many don’t know where to turn or even what their options are in making important decisions about senior care facilities for their parents.

Until now, the only online services in senior care were heavily biased towards providers paying to have business directed to them. Not anymore. Ourparents.com launched this week with unprecedented access to information about more than 65,000 senior care providers in the U.S.. The free service is totally independent and unbiased, providing ratings, price information and powerful online tools including the remarkable Care Options Advisor. The site is unique in that there is no charge to the consumer or the provider.

Ourparents.com matches aging parents with senior care solutions unique to their specific needs.

“My first-hand experiences with my aging mother showed me how broken the process of finding a senior care solution is,” said John McKinley, founder and CEO of OurParents.com. “I saw sites offering limited senior care options in my area, and little information to help me judge which ones might meet my needs. I felt that my mom represented nothing other than a sales lead that was being sold to only a limited set of senior care providers in that website’s network.”

When it comes to such an important decision as a parent’s long-term care, that bias is fundamentally wrong as a business practice, McKinley said.

“With the launch of OurParents.com, we are declaring war on the current business practices of the senior care lead generation industry,” he said.

Diane Carbo, R.N., a 35-year industry veteran and life care advocate, said that, in her work with families, it has been “frustrating” trying to find a comprehensive independent source of senior care providers.

“OurParents is the best source of senior care options I have seen,” said Carbo, owner of Aging Home Health Care in Cliffside Park, NJ. “I was also impressed by the Care Options Advisor tool. The survey was simple to use, and the responses were accurate and easy for a family to understand.”

OurParents.com has a simple but powerful search engine at its core, allowing visitors to quickly see and compare senior care options in their area. It provides immediate access to information about more than 65,000 in-home care providers, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. It offers free detailed reports about each care provider – something currently for sale on other sites for $25 to $90. OurParents.com also incorporates the new Medicare five-star quality ratings. Families who are just getting started and unsure which care options make the most sense can use the innovative Care Options Advisor. This tool allows families to quickly describe their loved one’s current condition and the family’s senior care priorities, guiding them to viable care options that meet their needs. Ourparents.com then facilitates direct communication between the family and those senior care providers.

“We don’t charge the families or the care providers, meaning that OurParents.com will never have the problem of conflict of interest when it comes to this critical life decision,” said McKinley. “Our founding principle is that we are and always will be on the side of the consumer.”

For more information, visit www.ourparents.com.

Contact:

Jennifer Wezensky

JW Public Relations

(269) 274-4071

Jennifer@jwpublicrelations.com