June '08 - One Year Anniversary

(NJ - Press Release)

Seniors and Their Caregivers Don't Know Where To Find Resources When Needed

Princeton, NJ:  Just as the nation prepares for a seniors population boom within the next 18  months, data from a Princeton-based website celebrating its first year anniversary suggests seniors and their caregivers literally don’t know where to find the resources they need.

The U.S. Census Bureau projects the senior population to double in the next 20 years with the first wave (the Baby Boomers) turning 65 in 2011.  The current 1.1 million New Jersey seniors’ numbers are projected to grew to 1.9 million by 2030.

“People are living longer and better than ever before in history, but they still don’t know exactly where to turn when a problem arises,” said Crisman, “yet there are so many resources at the local, regional and national levels.”
The percentage of people requiring personal assistance increases dramatically with age according to the census.  Only nine percent of people ages 65 to 69 need assistance, but for those ages 85 and above the percentage increases to 50 percent.

Grazina Crisman, the website’s developer and President of SeniorsA2Z, says the increase in the percentage of those needing assistance relative to the projected population growth poses long-term challenges for providing seniors the services they need most.

SeniorsA2Z.com currently receives 300,000 hits per month, and one of the most popular pages by far is “Where to Begin”.  Site administrators have decided to expand service listings to include the 10 states with the highest senior population, as a result of the 500 percent growth in website hits in the first year.

Site statistics indicate that some of the most often used pages include: Care Management Basics, (Where Do I Begin As A Caregiver?), Life Events, Housing, Home health Care, Medical Equipment, Dating Sites, Security Issues and Federal, State/County Public Information.

Crisman says visitors spend an average of 30 minutes reviewing the extensive site.  She says it’s an indicator of the importance, range and value of the information there.

“People can’t make informed decisions without a comprehensive list of options,” Crisman points out.  “Caregivers have told us repeatedly that they prefer to be shown comprehensive lists of resources that they care then review as they wish, rather than be provided a listing of a select few service providers that are chosen by another party for them.  They’ve indicated that they like to feel that they are in control of their searches for support, and can decide for themselves if they prefer to review all, many or only a few options, as they see fit.”

The goal of establishing www.SeniorsA2Z.com was to offer seniors and their caregivers a complete, free, listing of services available for every area of life from financial and legal issues to dating and fitness.  Crisman first noticed the lack of a definitive information source for senior living issues when she sought home health care for who own aunt.  The difficulty she experienced prompted her to build www.SeniorsA2Z.com.

###