Founded in 2014, on the simple premise that most of us would prefer to live independently at home as we grow older, CompassCare has formulated an approach to personal assistance, companionship and home care which safely empowers independence for older adults while providing peace of mind to their families. Founded by a world-famous geriatrician and gerontologists, our senior staff has collectively logged well over 150 years of direct clinical, academic and professional experience in the field of elder home care. Our seasoned professionals bring their complete personal and professional experiences and skills together with the creation of CompassCare.
The needs of our clients are at the forefront of everything we do.
We understand that as we age, one size does not fit all when it comes to personal assistance, companionship and caregiving. People have different needs, needs change over time and each family's situation is unique. We are keenly aware that there are many constituents when providing care to our clients and we are skilled in fostering open communication among them all. Simply ... we provide coordinated assistance and care to older adults and their families.
The Science of Home Health Care®
CompassCare provides the highest level of personalized, professional and hospitality trained personal assistance and care in the market today. Led by our co-founder and Chief Gerontologist Officer, Dr. Mark Lachs, (co-chief of Geriatrics at NY Presbyterian Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical College), we focus exclusively on evidence-based solutions and services: The Science of Home Health Care®. We understand that finding the right CompassCare Assistant ("CCA") is both an art and a science. We proactively match the needs and wants of our clients to the CCAs we have on staff. For example, we have created a proprietary matching process that proactively matches the needs and wants of our clients to our CompassCare Assistants.
CompassCare Institute of Caregiving, LLC
All of our CCAs, CCAs are Certified Nursing Assistants and have been Red Cross certified in CPR and First Aid as well. We conduct regular clinical skills training, focused on aging related conditions, with all of our CCA’s in the field as well as in our own training facility. In addition, our CCA’s receive specialized professional training in the areas of Communication, Empathic Listening, and Customer Service through our own training institute: CompassCare Institute. Led by Dr. Karl Pillemer, professor of Gerontology at Cornell University's School of Human Ecology and Weill Cornell Medical School, our faculty also includes Dr. Rhoda Meador (Cornell University and Ithaca College Departments of Gerontology) and Dr. Judi Brownell (Cornell University School of Hotel Management). Collectively, they have developed, and continue to develop, a proprietary soft skills training program unique to CompassCare CCAs called CompassCare Works™.
360 Degree Assessment and Plan for Successful Aging™
At CompassCare, we are aiming to transform not only the way we assist people with managing their own aging: by planning for all aspects of it. We believe that successful aging and personal contentment come from a balance of factors: financial, legal, cognitive, socialization, mobility and personal purpose. We seek to help our clients take control of this process and preserve their choices for the future. To that end, CompassCare has developed a unique 360 Degree Assessment and Plan for Successful Aging™. This template forms an integral part of assistance and care at CompassCare: we conduct this assessment and summary care plan for all of our clients at the beginning of all of our relationships.
Empowering Independence®
Our tools encourage older adults to articulate and self-advocate regarding how they choose to live into the future along with a plan encompassing what steps they need to take to make it happen. Furthermore, we help facilitate discussions among families so that desires for independent living are judiciously balanced with the need for safety and assistance. We are acutely aware that it can often be difficult to think and talk about aging, but we have all seen the consequences when we don't. Our goal is to encourage and enable our clients to be proactive about planning for successful aging, and to become empowered in the process. With that said, we are all well aware that there are often life circumstances beyond our control. This is why CompassCare was founded: to help you effective plan for all aspects of your future and to be here for you as you implement your plan.
Our private duty home care CompassCare Assistants (“CCA”) bring the best of themselves to their work. Our CCAs are meticulously selected, vetted, and continually trained to the highest standards known to the industry. We only hire CompassCare Assistants who are empathic, interested in older adults and passionate about what they do and we value and support our CCAs in every way possible.
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Integral to our service offering, every CompassCare client receives a comprehensive, 360 degree, in-home assessment as the basis of our Plan of Assistance and Care (PAC). Our 360 degree intake and assessment examines the medical, cognitive, functional, psycho-social, environmental, legal, and financial needs of our older adult clients. Based on our assessment and in coordination with our clients’ physicians, we develop a detailed Plan of Assistance and Care for our client that sets forth our collective recommendations for providing the optimal levels of assistance at home.
CompassCare offers our clients a HIPPA compliant, web-based portal to monitor your loved one’s care online. We understand how stressful it can be to have a loved one that needs help living independently. At CompassCare, we want to alleviate some of those stresses by giving you real-time visibility to the care process by helping to ease some of the logistical burdens with our online Family Room portal.
With the CompassCare Family Room (available to you at no additional cost), you will be able to access records of care online from any device with internet access.
CompassCare has developed in conjunction with its partners a portal for the CCA to, among other things, provide a resource to better serve and attend to the needs of our clients we serve. Like the CompassCare Family Bridge, this portal is provided as part of the over care and service offerings from CompassCare. It allows our caregivers to provide the highest level of customer service possible.
CompassCare named #7 Best Workplace in Aging Services among At-Home Care providers in the 2020 Great Place to Work and FORTUNE survey moving up one spot from 2019 and two in 2018. According to survey results, 96% of employees agree that CompassCare is a Great Place to Work. CompassCare has made the top 10 list -> Continue reading Compass Care, LLC Named One of the 2020 Best Workplaces for Aging Services
When it comes to what I call financial gerontology, yes – you can avoid the most common mistakes. While an extensive discussion about taxes, insurance, savings, and longevity planning is certainly beyond the purview of a medical book about aging, I can point out the kinds of financial difficulties or disasters that I see again -> Continue reading Financial Gerontology 101: Part 2
I am a doctor, not a financial planner or investment guru, but I am stunned at some of the powerful similarities between evidence-based strategies for maintaining health and building wealth. The truth is, good financial and health practices are never adopted by the vast majority of Americans, of if they are, they tend to be -> Continue reading Financial Gerontology 101: Part 1
This blog post, written by Karl Pillemer, also appeared in Psychology Today on April 5, 2020 Estrangement, Reconciliation, and the Virus In the very dark cloud of the coronavirus pandemic, it is hard to find a silver lining. One positive glimmer, however, has recently come to my attention. Over the past five years, I have -> Continue reading The Pandemic May Be Bringing Fractured Families Back Together
This is reposted from Karl’s March 27th Legacy Project Blog Post The majority of our population has never lived through a global crisis like the current one. But there is a source of wisdom and reassurance for living through catastrophic times that has existed for as long as human beings have been human: The oldest -> Continue reading Elder Wisdom for Living through a Crisis
By Judi Brownell Now more than ever, the world is full of uncertainties. Predicting what the future holds for aging adults has never been more challenging. Healthcare professionals are recognizing that addressing issues of mental health and overall wellness is as important as addressing illness and disease. It’s never too early not only to plan -> Continue reading Empowering Older Adults for the Future
At 82 of years of age. I am in reasonable health, just the usual aches and pains and I don’t drive at night anymore. As a semi-retired psychoanalyst, I work from my home office and see a limited number of patients every week. My wife, age 80, is pretty much recovered from a recent five-day -> Continue reading In Times of COVID-19: Missing Our Friends, the Diner, and Our Handyman
By Karl Pillemer It’s the biggest leap of all – the decision to make a commitment to one single person for an entire lifetime. You might ask yourself: Is this idea old-fashioned? In fact, surveys show that not only do the vast majority of single people want to get married, but they hope that their -> Continue reading As Long As You Both Shall Live….
By: Dr. Mark Lachs We have talked a lot about primary care doctors, otherwise known as your family doctor, and how to make your office visits more efficient. Here, I want to talk more about specialists, which raises a separate series of issues for people who are aging. The explosive growth of specialty and subspecialty -> Continue reading How Many Specialists Does It Take to Screw in a Lightbulb (or Screw You Up)?
By: Dr. Mark Lachs For many people, there is the desire to remain in their home for as long as they can – long into their elder years. Making your home “age friendly” IS possible with a little forethought and planning, and making a few tweaks here and there. By making even minor modifications, you -> Continue reading Quick-Fix Home Modifications That Can Keep Elders Independent
By Karl Pillemer Thanksgiving is often a special time spent with family and friends. What a great opportunity this is to celebrate the elders in our lives — to transform Thanksgiving Day to a celebration of elder wisdom. Thanksgiving is an opportunity for the younger generation to ask the older generation for advice on how -> Continue reading Thanksgiving, A Day to Celebrate the Elders in Our Lives
By: Dr. Mark Lachs What Patients and Families Can Do to Better Understand the Hospital Environment In the course of getting older most of us will be admitted to the hospital at least once, and maybe more than once. Given this inevitability, my message to you is that there are specific steps that you can -> Continue reading A Hospital Is No Place for Sick People
By: Judi Brownell My dad taught physical education at a small private college. He was the golf and wrestling coach for as long as I can remember. It was the perfect position for someone who had been an athlete himself his whole life. He and his 5-year-old older brother made money for their family by -> Continue reading What I Learned About Lewy Body Dementia from my Dad
What to Expect From Your Dr. Visit and Other Health Care Professionals By: Dr. Mark Lachs Over the past decade, primary care medical practices have changed quite significantly. Sometimes you may consider switching doctors which can be stressful and a very important decision, and one not to take lightly. There are some general principles about -> Continue reading Primary Care Physicians & Concierge Medicine
By: Judi Brownell The home tends to be the place where you let down your defenses and take out your frustrations, where your most intense emotions are expressed—a place where listening becomes particularly important. Did you realize that you can have a positive influence on your family environment simply by focusing on your listening skills? -> Continue reading The Skill of Listening: Challenges & Tips To Becoming a Better Listener
By: Judi Brownell You know you make good decisions most of the time. Every day literally hundreds of issues arise, large and small, that require you to choose among numerous options. And you do it—you stop at a quick-service restaurant rather than eating at home, you make a date for the oil change on Friday -> Continue reading Reducing Decision Stress when Caring for Loved Ones
By: Mark Lachs What is “Care Transition”? This is when a patient gets “handed off” from one care venue to another or from one physician to another. For example, it could be a move from a hospital to a rehab facility after a knee replacement. Or, another transition may be when you are admitted through -> Continue reading Care Transitions As We Get Older
By: Mark S. Lachs Have you ever wondered why you are taking SO many medications? Have you asked your doctor if there are any medications you can do without? Have you considered if each individual medication is helping or hurting you? You are not alone if you are being overprescribed medications by your doctors. Over -> Continue reading 6 Questions to Ask Your Doctor to Avoid Over-medication
By: Judi Brownell The home tends to be the place where you let down your defenses and take out your frustrations, where your most intense emotions are expressed—a place where listening becomes particularly important. Did you realize that you can have a positive influence on your family environment simply by focusing on your listening skills? -> Continue reading Overcome Listening Challenges in the Family
By: Bob Wolf There’s a great deal of confusion about these terms so I will try, in this and future posts, to bring some clarity to this extremely important topic. Living Wills, Advanced Directives and Health Care Proxies are all advance directives. An advanced directive is a legal document that tells your doctor and family -> Continue reading Living Wills, Advanced Directives and Health Care Proxies
By: Karl Pillemer I recently had a stunning realization: We’re about to lose one of the most precious resources in America. I’m not talking about oil, gas, or rare metals. What we’re about to lose are the elders who make up the Greatest Generation. This amazing group survived World War II and the Great Depression, -> Continue reading The Greatest Generation
By: Judi Brownell You may have noticed that the more important something is to you, the more stress you experience. Deciding on what restaurant you’ll go to for lunch isn’t nearly as stressful as choosing the venue for a big celebration; your decision about what to wear to a football game may be spontaneous, but -> Continue reading How to Deal with the Stress of Taking Care of Parents
Cornell Chronicle June 23, 2016 Nursing home residents commonly abused by neighbors By Heather Lindsey cunews@cornell.edu Twenty percent of people living in nursing homes are abused by other residents, according to a study by researchers in the College of Human Ecology and Weill Cornell Medicine. “We were very surprised by the prevalence of aggression,” said -> Continue reading Nursing home residents commonly abused by neighbors
Caring for children, aging parents puts squeeze on workers The so-called ‘sandwich generation’ phenomenon ensnares many Maine adults – particularly women – and profoundly affects their time and finances. BY J. CRAIG ANDERSON STAFF WRITER canderson@pressherald.com | @JCraigAnderson | 207-791-6390 SarahJoy Chaples’ mother was diagnosed with late-stage cancer in February. Despite surgeries and rounds of -> Continue reading Caring for children, aging parents puts squeeze on workers
Distinguished Speaker Series Continues with Second Speaker on Successful Healthy Aging & Caregiving Dr. Karl Pillemer set to speak on April 21st at The Greenwich Library on “Living and Loving: Advice from the Oldest (and Wisest) Americans” March 17, 2016 10:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Commission on Aging, The Greenwich Library, At -> Continue reading Distinguished Speaker Series Continues with Second Speaker on Successful Healthy Aging & Caregiving
There are many reasons why some people live long healthy lives while others don’t, but one of them is undoubtedly genes. People in their nineties reveal their secrets to aging well Irene Maeve Rea, Jennifer Rea and Ken Mills, The Conversation Feb. 26, 2016, 2:28 AM 19,150 The ConversationNever too old. There are many reasons -> Continue reading People in their nineties reveal their secrets to aging well – Business Insider
A breakthrough in understanding human skin cells offers a pathway for new anti-ageing treatments. Scientists make significant anti-aging breakthrough February 25, 2016 Credit: Peter Griffin/public domain A breakthrough in understanding human skin cells offers a pathway for new anti-ageing treatments. For the first time, scientists at Newcastle University, UK, have identified that the activity of -> Continue reading Scientists make significant anti-aging breakthrough
The Love Advice That Shocked Expert Karl Pillemer Next Avenue | By Suzanne Gerber Posted: 01/13/2015 6:21 am EST Updated: 01/13/2015 6:59 am EST SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue By Suzanne Gerber You’d think that nothing could shock Karl Pillemer, when it comes to the lives of older folks. After all, the distinguished gerontologist, family sociologist, -> Continue reading The Love Advice That Shocked Expert Karl Pillemer
What our clients say about their experiences with CompassCare
“Going to CompassCare was an easy decision for me… I feel very confident that my sister and I have a partner in providing care for my folks such that they are able to remain independent and in their home as long as possible… they call their care givers CompassCare Assistants, they provide my sister and I peace of mind that my parents are being cared for not only in a skilled, professional manner but with love. They are much more than assistants, they have become a lifeline.”
“We needed assistance for my father in law when his regular caretaker was unavailable. He was very resistant to having somebody new so we did some research and found CompassCare. We are so glad we did. The woman they sent was reliable, helpful, very nice and totally professional. Most importantly, she got my father in law to talk and to appreciate her being there. For my wife and I, it was such a relief to see that he was happy and well taken care of. Thank you CompassCare!”
“The decision to find a caregiver for your loved one is full of conflicting feelings—anxiety, guilt, concern, second-guessing and more. CompassCare met with me offering compassionate professionalism to assure me that ‘it would be okay’ and then they found not one, but two wonderful candidates to support our needs. Compass heard me and alleviated much of the stress associated with this delicate matter by partnering with me to address the challenges of caring for my loved one.”