Senior Concierge In The News

This week, a young woman in Denver is calling herself a senior concierge and she was followed by PBS Newshour this week.  I'm glad to see what she is doing but I'm concerned about how the profession was portrayed by the news show.  They showed the senior concierge going shopping and to a nail salon with her client that day.  I have always conveyed to my trainees that if you're being asked to do those simple tasks, you should make sure they get a caregiver for these types of requests. The rate is less for a caregiver since these tasks are not complicated.  

An actual senior concierge would be arranging the schedule and the caregiver for that outing, while back at the house making sure bills are being paid, Medicare is called on a possible fraudulent charge, and starting the claim for the long term care policy.  These are the kinds of tasks that we do and those simple tasks are done but if it's all they are asking for a caregiver should really be doing them.  

As Senior Concierge professionals, we need to make sure we're making a distinction about what we do and what caregivers should be doing.  Sometimes there is overlap but it's up to us to re-direct our clients to spending their funds wisely.