(SPRING CITY, Pa.) January 22, 2008 — In an effort to help the nation's social workers better serve Americans considering senior housing, Social Work Today magazine announced the launch of an online senior housing navigational tool. The new resource, which was developed by SNAPforSeniors, is called the Social Work Today Senior Housing Locator and can be found at www.socialworktoday.com.
An estimated one in four American families--some 22 million people--care for an older loved one, friend or neighbor.1 Many caregivers also have jobs, families and little or no experience with caregiving. Social workers play an integral role in support of caregiver efforts. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 600,000 social workers across the country, and that number is expected to grow nearly 30 percent by 2010.
The Social Work Today Senior Housing Locator allows users to search for assisted living facilities, residential care homes, independent living facilities, continuing care retirement communities and nursing homes--all at the click of a mouse. With a current listing of all licensed senior housing providers in the nation--more than 65,000 facilities--the Senior Housing Locator provides comprehensive information from a single source.
"Older adults and their families turn to social workers as trusted sources of information and guidance when searching for senior housing," said Grace Lebow, LICSW, co-author of Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent, a Guide for Stressed-Out Children. "The Senior Housing Locator puts a current, comprehensive, trusted source of information at the fingertips of these professionals."
The Senior Housing Locator is similar to the real estate industry's Multiple Listing Service, and functions much like a traditional search engine. Users search by categories such as geographic location, facility name or license type, and can even screen their results by care needs, payment options and lifestyle amenities. Listings may include photo galleries and virtual tours as well.
"With more than 240 different license types nationwide, the senior housing landscape is difficult to understand, even for a professional social worker," said Eve M. Stern, RN, MS, president of SNAPforSeniors. "The Senior Housing Locator takes all of the diverse, disconnected information out there and makes it available through a single, easy-to-use resource."
While nearly all of the magazine's 40,000 subscribers are social workers, the Senior Housing Locator is available free of charge to non-professionals as well through www.socialworktoday.com.
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1 National Alliance for Caregiving and the American Association of Retired Persons (1997). Family Caregiving in the U.S.: Findings from a National Survey. Bethesda, MD..
About Great Valley Publishing Company, Inc.
Great Valley Publishing (www.gvpub.com) has been dedicated to providing information to healthcare professionals for almost 20 years. Its current b-to-b publications target specific audiences in several areas of healthcare with the magazines For the Record, Radiology Today, Today's Dietitian, and Social Work Today, each considered leaders in their respective fields. In addition to these industry standards, in January of 2008 Great Valley Publishing launches a dynamic new publication for professionals in the field of aging titled Aging Well. In 2005, the firm launched its first consumer publication, Today's Diet & Nutrition, dedicated to providing health-conscious readers with informative and compelling news and content on all aspects of wellness. Each publication has a companion Web site and Great Valley Publishing also operates AlliedHealthCareers.com, an allied health employment site, which links job seekers and employers online and in person. For more information call 800-278-4400.
About SNAPforSeniors
SNAPforSeniors®, Inc. is a Seattle-based information company and developer of the most current and comprehensive web-based senior housing resource and listing service in the United States. This resource puts objective information about the nation's 65,000+ licensed senior housing facilities at the fingertips of consumers and their advocates. SNAPforSeniors combines advanced search tools with detailed information to connect seniors with the right housing options the first time. Through the Alliance Network Program, SNAPforSeniors licenses and private-labels its database and search tools to the websites of leading trusted sources, including the Alzheimer's Association and the Case Management Society of America. For more information, e-mail info@snapforseniors.com or call 1-206-575-0728.
Website: http://www.snapforseniors.com