This week the Wall Street Journal reported that the senior home care sector has grown by 6.6% annually for franchise businesses, which is faster than the 2.6% compound annual growth rate for the franchise industry. Americans are aging, living longer, and choosing to age in their homes.

Caregivers, however, are still in demand, by these hiring senior care companies. Many people do not realize that senior care is an industry and that caregiving is a profession.

Join the Professional Association of Caregivers to receive online caregiver certification training, a t-shirt and lapel pin and become involved with a community of senior care executives who support "caring for the caregiver". Part-time and full-time job positions are available and companies hire new caregivers weekly to keep up with the quick turnaround required as seniors never plan ahead for senior care. States are also passing legislation requiring minimum training for professional caregivers and you can also learn about the state caregiver training requirements. Students and early retirees can enjoy working as a caregiver to earn income while also providing a fulfilling service.

Join Professional Association of Caregivers to begin your career.

Senior caregiver employment opportunities are plentiful and will only continue to increase as America's seniors are living longer while preferirng to age-in-place in their own homes. As adult children often do not live within a 1-hour drive of their parents and grandparents, and also are retiring later in life, professional senior caregivers are now providing the senior home care.

As senior care can be very complicated, sometimes specific training is required (for stroke care, memory loss care and for other age-related illnesses). Anyone with a caring personality can begin a caregiving career and obtain online caregiver training meeting the requirements for their state. Senior care industry executives anticipate more states will be passing legislation to require specific training as senior care moves to the home. Hospitals also are preparing to care for more of their patients in a home setting by enabling video technology and other tracking tools to stay on top of vital signs no matter where the patient resides.

Apply to a senior caregiving job near you today by submitting Caregiverlist's job application which will reach multiple employers in your area. Both part-time and full-time opportunities are available as some seniors require around-the-clock care. Live-in caregiver jobs also are available, where you stay with the senior for a few days at a time, enjoying meals together and sleeping at night and returning to your own home for the rest of the week. Hiring needs by senior care companies are constant as seniors rarely plan ahead for caregiving services and when a medical emergency, such as a fall or stroke, occur, the senior immediately needs care services. Senior care companies hire both companion caregivers where no formal training or experience is required (the senior care company will provide the training or you may take the basic training online) and Certified Nursing Aides who must complete a program meeting federal training guidelines and attend a local C.N.A. School.

Home With In-Home Care

Aging impacts an individual's life in unexpected ways. An aging parent or family member might not have the physical ability to continue cooking meals, paying bills or keeping a home clean, but that does not mean he or she feels ready to move from home. By using in home care in Scottsdale,

Arizona and working with professionals, a family can help a loved one stay home longer and still enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Determining What Aging Loved Ones Need

A loved one's needs will depend on the situation and his or her health. In some cases, a loved one only needs assistance with basic cleaning and cooking due to the physical aspects of the tasks. In other cases, a loved one needs more comprehensive in home health care due to a physical or emotional ailment that impacts his or her health and wellbeing.

Find out if a loved one has a physical diagnosis of any health concerns. In home care works around a loved one's needs by providing services based on any medical conditions and health concerns. A professional helps with the basic necessities and makes recommendations for meals and nutrition that focuses on a loved one's current situation. 

Stay up-to-date with any changes so that a professional can address the situation. A loved one's needs will change as he or she ages and shows signs of potential challenges.

Providing Personal Assistance

Personal assistance from a family member or friend allows a loved one to feel comfortable while gaining the tools he or she needs to stay at home. A loved one's quality of life depends on his or her situation and environment while he or she ages. Personal assistance takes many forms, including simple companionship and enjoying meals as a family.

Give a loved one the assistance he or she needs after hiring professionals to handle the medical aspects of his or her lifestyle. For example, help a loved one keep bills paid by organizing the mail and paperwork on a desk. Remind a loved one about the bills and help with the cleaning to reduce to the risk of slip and fall accidents.

Make Use of Technological Advances

Technology changes constantly and some technology helps an aging loved one stay at home longer, particularly when compared with in home health care and professional services. Make use of devices that specifically assist a loved one with mobility, cleaning or even just monitoring his or her health and wellbeing. 

Advances in technology allow individuals to help a loved one connect with emergency personnel when problems arise, even if they cannot reach a phone or other tools. It also helps improve comfort in the home when a loved one might feel more aches, pains and general discomforts due to aging and old injuries. For example, putting in a tub or shower that has a low risk of slip and fall accidents will allow a loved one to stay home longer without taking unnecessary risks with his or her health.

Combine technology with in-home care in so that a loved one has companionship and appropriate tools to handle any emergencies or challenges. The technology provides peace of mind when an aging loved one stays home, even when he or she does not require significant health services due to a healthy and active lifestyle. The in home care allows a loved one to stay consistent and identify potential problems early while the technology handles unexpected emergencies or challenges.

Helping a loved one maintain a healthy body and mind requires the right tools and services. By working with in home care professionals, a family feels confident that an aging parent or loved one has the assistance and companionship he or she needs to stay at home and enjoy a high quality of life. The combination of appropriate tools, professional services and personal assistance gives a loved one the freedom and flexibility to stay home longer.

America's "Oldest Old' are increasing. This term refers to those who are age 80 or older. Media attention recently has focused on the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Medicare benefit program and how when it was developed in 1965, the lifespan for an American senior was age 75. This is why Medicare benefits begin at age 65. But today age 75 seems rather young.

Our retirement years are going through an evolution as we realize we are more likely to live to be 100 than just age 75. This requires more money to be saved and for a game plan for a fulfilling lifestyle. But a reality of aging is also the fact that the human body was not built to last forever.

Aging is a natural process, for those of us who will be fortunate enough to experience it.

Doctor Atul Gawande, who has written books such as "The Checklist Manifesto", now has written "Being Mortal" to start a conversation on how accepting the aging process and planning ahead for how you would like for your senior care to be, should become as common as creating an estate plan. While Medicare does NOT pay for long-term care, Medicaid, for low-income seniors with few assets, does pay for an ongoing stay in a nursing home for seniors who qualify for this level of care. Understanding the costs of senior care are as important as choosing the type of senior care you would like, since the government program most of us will be on (Medicare) does not pay for long-term care.

Americans currently do not plan ahead for senior care, a fact all caregivers know.

Read "Being Mortal" and share it with those you care for to begin the conversation about how you would like to grow old, while also addressing the realities of changes that will be a natural part of aging. Think about how seasoned travelers prepare for a vacation: a carry-on bag has a change-of-clothes should our bags be delayed, a copy of our passport is in our wallet....

Dr. Gawande is a gifted writer and his book is an enjoyable read, even though it deals with tough topics. Begin the conversation with your loved ones and with yourself about how you picture your screenplay for growing old. Then you and your caregivers will know where the extra change of clothes are located - and if we even want to bother with them.

The "Caregiverlist" caregivers submit their recent pay rate upon applying for professional jobs on Caregiverlist's Career Center.

March, 2015, survey results are in and the average caregiver pay rate continues to be $10 per hour.  Remember, all senior caregivers on Caregiverlist are professional caregivers employed with senior care companies paying all payroll taxes and benefits, as required by law.  Employers contribute from $2 to $4 per hour for a caregiver's payroll taxes in addition to providing training, care management and support for the caregiver and the families receiving senior care.

Medicare, the health insurance program for America's seniors, makes sure everyone in the U.S.A. receives health care as they age.  Medicare does NOT pay for ongoing long-term care in a nursing home.  However, Medicare offers all seniors the peace of mind of health insurance coverage and provides a few options which can be changed each year.

As Medicare's open enrollment ends in just a few days, here are items you should consider.  You must be age 65 or above to enroll in Medicare health insurance.

First, Medicaid replaces Medicare for very low-income seniors. You may review the Medicaid financial requirements in your state on Caregiverlist's By-State directory.

October 15th through December 7th Medicare Open Enrollment allows all seniors with Medicare to change their Medicare health plan and prescription drug coverage for 2014.

Medicare has a separate plan for health insurance vs. drug coverage.

Medicare's website allows you to research the type of plan that will be the best fit for you plus they have added a feature that allows you to plug in the type of test or item you may need, such as diabetes test strips, to see if they are covered by your Medicare plan.

Visit: www.Medicare.gov

Or, you may actually call Medicare to receive help:  Call 1-800-MEDICARE

Plan ahead for any long-term care needs by researching ahead of time the nursing homes in your area and choosing the ones with the highest ratings and most appropriate costs for your budget.  Remember, Medicare may pay for a portion of nursing home care for up to 100 days and beyond this time period, you will need to privately pay for your senior care at a nursing home, assisted living community or with professional in-home senior care services.  Request a plan of care for your area to be prepared and visit your state's nursing home costs and ratings guide.

The verdict is in — senior in-home care is big business and four senior care franchises have snagged spots in Franchise Business Review’s “Top Emerging Franchises”. FBR surveyed more than 1,500 young franchise brands (operating for five years or less)  and asked them to rank their companies based on financial opportunity, training and support, leadership, operations and product development, core values (e.g., honesty and integrity of franchisor), general satisfaction, and the franchisee community.

Qualicare Family Homecare, FirstLight HomeCare, Amada Senior Care, and CareBuilders at Home were all represented on the list of top franchises. Amada Senior Care took fifth place, FirstLight landed third, and Qualicare Family Homecare walked away with the coveted first place spot of all top emerging franchises.

With no wonder. Senior care (especially in-home care) franchise opportunities have exploded in recent years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the home health-care sector is currently the fastest growing industry sector in America. In 2012, there were just under 1.2 million jobs in home health care. In 2022 it is estimated that there will be about 1.91 million jobs in the home care field. That’s an unprecedented increase of over 715,000 jobs. That translates to a compounded annual growth rate of 4.8 percent.

But besides providing jobs and having employment security, there are other, more personal reasons people find themselves in the senior care industry. Most come to the field after being a family caregiver to the elderly or disabled in their own households. For many, the satisfaction of knowing they are doing the great and important work in helping seniors age at home, with dignity, trumps the profit margins.

Teresa Yoder, Amada Senior Care, Santa Clarita, CA franchise owner tells FBR why she was attracted to her franchise:
My beliefs were in line with the business practices of Amada Senior Care, as it pertained to complete concern and attention to family and senior needs, and what was best for THEM, not necessarily just profit driven.

There are nearly 11,000 senior care agencies in the United States: 1,000 new agencies opened in 2012 alone. Recently, I wrote about Leeza Gibbons and her husband deciding to open a Senior Helpers franchise; it not only made financial sense, but they saw it as an opportunity to “provide trusted and dependable care and encouragement to seniors and families facing devastating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

If you believe you have what it takes to run a Senior Home Care Agency, we suggest you do your due diligence and request information from top senior homecare franchises. You can learn about their operating models and marketing approaches, as well as the minimum cash required to open your own franchise.

Sweater weather, as we like to say, has arrived in many parts of the U.S.A.  While it may still not be cool enough to create an appetite for chicken pot pie, this chicken salad brings in a flavor of fall with the addition of healthy and colorful cranberries.  Senior caregivers looking for a new dish to serve their senior client can also use this recipe as a conversation starter.

Chicken Salad for Autumn Days 

Contributed by Caregiver Sherpa Samantha Franklin

Keeping a healthy snack around can sometimes be a challenge, especially when dealing with the extra stress of caregiving.  And since an apple a day keeps many bad things away, apparently, why not spice your apples up with just a couple of simple ingredients to create healthy apple sauce.

Caregivers can also use cooking as a way to engage with their senior client.  As we are in the middle of apple season here in the Midwest, talking about memories that surround apples and autumn could lead to some interesting stories.  Did someone in your senior's family bake the best apple pie ever?  Do they still have the recipe?  Or did they instead make an apple crumble or cobbler?

One of my former senior clients told a story about her family farm in Virginia where all the heirs of the 8 children who grew up on the farm still get together every October to do a weekend of apple butter making.  They collect apples from the orchard on their farm and build a huge bonfire and cook the apples down all night long.  Family members sign up for shifts to stir the apples.  Then they go home with jars of apple butter made on their family farm.

Healthy and Easy Apple Sauce 

3 Ingredients:  Apples, Cinnamon or Apple Pie Spice, Apple Juice

The amount of each of the ingredients varies based on how many apples you use and how much spice you like.  Use the below amounts as a starting point and then add more juice if you need a bit more moisture and more spice as needed to please your palate. No sugar needed!

4 Apples

1/4 cup Apple Juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel and core apples and slice.  Add to sauce pan on stove top.  Pour in 1/4 cup of apple juice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.  Cook on medium to medium low, stirring and mashing the apples with a wooden spoon until completely cooked down to sauce.