Services reach out to growing elderly population

• The population of Americans 45 to 64 grew 31.5% from 2000 to 2010

Frank Thornton said he decided to get help from a pro when he became the official guardian for his aunt, 86-year-old Doris Cleveland, and realized he was drowning in paperwork.

"We needed an expert," said the 68-year-old Hartwell, Ga., resident who described himself as an "old bachelor."

Thornton said he wanted a bookkeeper who could handle the financial logistics. But not just any bookkeeper — someone with savvy and compassion.

He found it in Greenville, S.C., he said, in Amy Carrick, who provides daily money management services, primarily for seniors.

"I think she's got a heart for it," said Thornton, who turned over the financial management for both his aunt and himself to Carrick.

Part of a growing industry of businesses gearing their services toward the elderly population, Carrick said her focus not only made good business sense but also offered a more rewarding path than her previous 30 years in the corporate world.

As the "silver tsunami" of people approaching or passing retirement age grows, so too do the businesses that cater to the expanding needs and desires of an active and independent elderly population.

The population of Americans age 45 to 64 grew 31.5% from 2000 to 2010, according to the U.S. Census, while growth in the number of people 65 and older also outpaced most younger population groups, with a 15.1% increase

"Often in this day and age families are spread across the country," says Jullie Gray, president-elect of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers and a principal of Aging Wisdom, a care management company with offices in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash. "Often they will turn to a geriatric care manager to help bridge that gap."

Her company provides everything from someone who takes the client grocery shopping to cooking in their home and providing companionship. It uses case managers to oversee those services.

At Elder Options, a similar company in Hollywood, Fla., care managers help clients find appropriate caregivers and coordinate their efforts.

"Certainly as our population is aging, particularly as the Baby Boomers age, the need for these kinds of services are growing exponentially as well," said Stephanie Swerdlow, director of Elder Options.

Demand for more and increasingly specialized services for seniors has created a "golden" opportunity for businesses to find and fill market niches.

"Today's senior is more savvy, and their Baby Boomer children certainly are more savvy about what it is they need and how you meet that need," said Gail Stokes, editor of All About Seniors, a magazine based in Charlotte, N.C.

"I'm not sure there was ever really an industry that served seniors like we are doing now," she said.

Carrick said the idea for her business came from her own experiences of helping her dad get his finances in order.

"He was starting to spend way too much time staring at the computer to pay bills. And I said, 'Why don't I help you?'" she said.

She realized it was a service she could turn into a business model, so three years ago she left the corporate world to start Carrick Consulting from her home.

Golden Years Moving, a Greenville, S.C., business owned by Donna Van Norden and Alison Longenecker, assists seniors making a move, for example from a larger house to a smaller one or into a retirement community.

Van Norden and Longenecker said they take the time to help sort through what may be decades of accumulated things, separating what stays and what goes and helping lead clients through difficult decisions about long-cherished mementos.

"We all know at any age that moving is extremely stressful," Van Norden said. "We're just trying to make a difficult situation easier for them in any aspect that we can."

Angela Black, co-owner of Be of Good Cheer, an in-home care company based in Taylors, S.C., said she doesn't have the take-home pay she used to have, but she finds her new line of work much more rewarding. A dentist for years, Black decided to leave active practice after growing disappointed with the state of medicine.

"I don't like medicine becoming so much about the profit and less about the people," she said.

She recalled going through family memorabilia soon after settling on the plan for her new business and coming across the last letter she ever received from her grandmother before her death.

"In that letter, she mentioned she was waiting for in-home care to start on Tuesday," Black said. "I was like, 'Wow, this really is needed more than I realized.'"

Burns and Barnett also report for The Greenville News