A Visiting Angels^® in-home care franchise offers a number of unique ways to serve your community. While other franchisors in the home care sector tend to focus on basic care services, Visiting Angels offers a mix of standard care programs and specialty services.

Our Social Care program is a great example of the specialty services we offer. Through this program, our in-home care franchise owners help seniors connect with their children, grandchildren, and the rest of the world through the power of social media and other technologies.

By offering this service, Visiting Angels in-home franchise owners are able to enrich the lives of seniors in an entirely new way. The Social Care program also helps our franchisees set themselves apart from local competitors, providing a service offered by few other in-home care providers.

Linking Families with an In-Home Care Franchise

In 2000, the Pew Research Center polled seniors and found that only 14% were active online users. When Pew asked the question again in 2017, that number had jumped to 67%. That means two out of every three seniors are now regular internet users.

It’s easy to understand why this is the case. Online technologies have a wide array of benefits for elderly adults, helping them stay connected with loved ones, offering a creative outlet, or giving them convenient access to news, entertainment, and shopping. Studies have shown that internet use among seniors can reduce depression and keep seniors mentally active.

There are also a host of specific benefits...

Video chat technologies, like Facetime and Skype, allow face-to-face interaction between grandparents and grandchildren, even when separated by long distances.
Email, messaging apps, and social networks, like Facebook, allow seniors to keep in touch more easily with family and friends, helping them maintain important relationships.
Photography-focused networks, like Instagram, can provide older hobbyists with a showcase for their projects or can be used to keep up-to-date on the activities of family and friends.
Other apps and websites can give seniors a new way of interacting with the world, which can be especially beneficial for seniors who have trouble getting outside.

Unfortunately, these technologies also come with challenges for seniors. Out of all the senior internet users polled by Pew in 2017, only 26% reported feeling “very confident” with digital devices. Anyone who’s tried to teach an aging parent how to use one of these devices will know how difficult the learning curve can be for older adults. There’s also the issue of online scams, which often target elderly adults.

Many seniors rely on their children or grandchildren to act as unofficial tech support. But when their children or grandchildren aren’t available to help out, these same seniors are often unable to access digital technologies.

That’s where Visiting Angels comes in. Our Social Care program, available exclusively through Visiting Angels in-home care franchises, pairs seniors with tech-savvy caregivers to help them use digital technologies. This way, seniors get the assistance they need to stay connected.

Visiting Angels & Our Social Care Program

At Visiting Angels, our franchisees can choose which specialty programs they wish to offer. Our corporate office provides in-home care franchise owners with resources and training modules for specialty services, like our Social Care program, so that it’s easy to get started with these kinds of services.

To make Social Care a part of your in-home care franchise, you’ll need to hire and/or train caregivers who are skilled with digital technologies. Visiting Angels clients who take advantage of our Social Care program typically require additional care services, such as companion care or personal care.

Typically, the same caregiver (or caregivers) will provide these services along with Social Care assistance. There are a number of advantages to this approach. For one, it allows seniors to use digital technologies more freely. Their caregiver is already around for other care services, which gives seniors a large block of time in which they can use their digital devices with someone else present.

Another advantage is the benefits social care provides for isolated and housebound seniors. Older adults who live alone or have trouble getting out of the house are already dependent on in-home care. These same seniors tend to see some of the biggest benefits from social media and online technologies. With Social Care, your in-home care franchise can provide these seniors with twice the care in every visit.

Learn more about our Social Care program and the Visiting Angels in-home care franchise opportunity. Call 800-365-4189 or request information online today!