Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about providing nationwide assistance for people seeking answers.

Daphne says, "When you're looking for someone to help you guide you through this maze of options, ask for referrals in terms of what are other families — and I would specifically ask for, I want to know about your hardest ones. You know, I want to know about the ones that you had to work hard. What was the outcome? And it doesn't have to be all rosy. We're human beings, right? We know that things can go sideways. That's the uniqueness of each story.

"I am president of the chapter in the State of Washington for NPRA, the National Placement and Referral Alliance. It is a trade association specific for referral and placement agencies. They have a code of ethics that they are developing nationwide, much like you would think of the Bar Association for attorneys, but certainly not at that level of sophistication. It allows me to be able to have vetted people in most states that can provide the level of guidance that I would want for for any of my clients.

"And so that really does my heart well in terms of being able to be a part of Answers for Elders and having this nationwide presence, that we can start to establish a a litmus, a benchmark of what consumers can expect. And the other piece that NPRA does is really focuses on legislation about family choice, being able to protect our seniors and not being bombarded by a constant information that's not appropriate or feeling like they don't have choice. So that's something that NPRA is very, very focused on. I wanted to share with you that information on how can I help people nationwide when I'm sitting in the Seattle greater area."

Daphne adds, "It's very hard to know who I'm supposed to trust these days. And so there's there's some ways of just vetting people through NPRA. There's a test that's designed specifically for referral agencies, and you can look for a little CPRS [logo], which is Certified Placement and Referral Specialist, and it's very akin to little letters behind someone's name. CSA, Certified Senior Advisor. And the difference between the two is the CSA is broad — it's for many, many different disciplines of help and support to our senior communities — and the CPRS is specific to [people] like myself. So that's one thing that you can look for."

Reach Pinnacle at 1-855-734-1500 or visit PinnacleSeniorPlacements.com.

Learn more:

• Pinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for Elders
• About Daphne Davis
• Hear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to share her top five tips for choosing a referral agent, specifically to help you find medical assistance for a senior loved one, or to choose a senior living community for them.

1. Meet face to face.
2. Make sure they can refer you to every available option, not just the ones they have contracts with.
3. They will go with you when you tour facilities.
4. They will stay with you and help during the transition time.
5. Make sure you are comfortable enough to ask questions and share family secrets.

Reach Pinnacle at 1-855-734-1500 or visit PinnacleSeniorPlacements.com.

Learn more:

• Pinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for Elders
• About Daphne Davis
• Hear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about why and how to choose a referral agent to help with making choices about a senior parent.

Daphne says, "When you don't have enough information about making a really serious decision or consequential decision, inevitably what I have found is that people have to make another decision in a very short amount of time. What is the right fit for my mom or dad? I don't want to limit it to just talking to adult children and talking about your mom and dad, but let me just generically paint that picture. Even if you're looking for yourself, having enough information so that you don't have to move again is probably one of the things that could motivate consumers to want to explore a referral agent.

"Many times we can think we can do this ourselves [with] a computer and the Internet... But in this scenario, people are very unique, and they do not fit into a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all group... It's so important to me to find to be able to meet the loved one. And I don't I don't care if it's for 2 minutes or 2 hours. There's a uniqueness in the energy of your loved one that is important to pick up on. And that's one of the things that in choosing a referral agent, make sure that they're not going to just work off of piece of paper of symptoms and general allergies... Inviting a professional to help you in figuring out where is your mom or dad right now, or where are you right now in the journey of life? What chapter of life are you in to have someone be able to come in and take a snapshot picture of today?"

Daphne adds, "What are our highest values in making this move? Why are we making this move? What are the things that have to exist in this new place called home for your loved one? Once you've established what those highest values are, then you as a family — and I'm going to just talk as a family — you can keep each other accountable to that litmus to that list of highest values and not get in the weeds, but mom really liked doing Fill in the Blank. And she was 40 years old when she did that... So sticking to what are the highest values, that's what a referral agent will do, will help walk through discovering what are the important things to talk about.

"I'm going to generically say in our later years in life, whatever number that starts out, but 80, 90 years old, being able to to say, what is it today? Yeah, Dad used to like to go out and go fishing and he still has that interest, but he's not fishing anymore. But now he wants to talk about it. Or now he wants to educate other people about how fishing, or he wants to be proud of his collection of fly fishing poles, whatever it is... it's not choosing a community that he gets to go out on the river and go fishing."

Reach Pinnacle at 1-855-734-1500 or visit PinnacleSeniorPlacements.com.

Learn more:

• Pinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for Elders
• About Daphne Davis
• Hear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.