2019 PBN Innovative Companies: Social Services
R.I. Elder Info
A WEBITE LISTING medical-care resources is not an innovation. But R.I. Elder Info, an online resource for where family members and professional caregivers in Rhode Island can find community-based services for their elderly loved ones or clients, is unique.
Executive Director Deborah Burton said that in 2018, as the owner of a private senior care consulting firm, she found many people applying for community-based services were waiting a long time for such help. So she held listening sessions around the state and learned what she said other organizations and the state were learning – those seeking resources needed more information outlining what’s available.
She paid for a web developer to build a website to provide that information, she said. The result has been a large quantity of traffic and awards.
Under the then-parent company Aging Easily, RIElderInfo.com won the 2018 Social Enterprise Greenhouse award from the Health & Wellness Accelerator Program. It’s also been named one of the “50 on Fire” by the Rhode Island Inno media company, endorsed by the New England QIN-QIO Patient and Family Advisory Council for content and ease of navigation, and added to the Senior Agenda Coalition’s Resources for Aging & Caregiving in the Community.
Burton said in the last 30 days alone, RIElderInfo.com has clocked 3,000 views from visitors who are staying two minutes or more on the site. Over the past year, the site has drawn 24,000 views.
“And that’s above industry-standard,” she proudly noted.
RIElderInfo.com provides caregivers with the peace of mind that they can access information they can trust, she noted. From a business perspective, employees can spend less work time and less health-compromising stress surfing the web for services for their senior loved ones.
Her future goals include more of her own community outreach and expanding the website to stretch nationwide. “Nationwide, people find it hard to [get] the right community-based senior care services,” she said. “And it doesn’t have to be that way.”
