Find services you can trust

Peggy Allen spends her nights at her 81-year-old mother's house, cooking dinner, organizing medication and other things that her mother, who has Alzheimer's, can no longer do.

Allen found out that her mother was taking her medication "completely wrong."

"As time goes on she realizes that she's not able to do the things that she used to be able to do," Allen said.

As the director of Membership and Finance of the Oviedo-Winter Springs Regional Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Senior Advisory Network, she has been able to use her professional skills to learn more about resources for seniors, while reaching out to the community and helping other seniors who are in need.

"The biggest thing that I have found with my mother is that they (seniors) don't have a clue that there's help out there," Allen said, "and that's what I hope this group can focus on."

The Senior Advisory Committee was formed by the Chamber to help individuals such as Allen and her mother find the resources they need from people they can trust. It has two objectives: to meet with Chamber members about senior services, and to reach out to seniors communities to learn more about their needs.

Finding resources for seniors is also a personal quest for Thomas Willoughby, founder of SAN. With a background in retirement rescue, he knows how important planning for retirement can be.

"The biggest thing I get out of people when I work with them is 'I can't believe this is happening to me,'" Willoughby said.

He said he hopes SAN's diverse group of members, who specialize in mediation and professional guardianship, home bookkeeping, tax preparation, reverse mortgages, long-term care and Medicaid planning, real estate moving and transitions, traditional banking and trust services, and more, will give seniors a wide range of options in a time when independence and dignity is so important.

Tremont resident Dick Leedom, 93, learned about SAN and their services at a health fair held at his Oviedo retirement community.

"I didn't need the help before, but I'm sure that they would be helpful now," Leedom said of the service.

Physical Therapist and SAN member Heidi Goff is also extending some of these services to another program aiding seniors, SOARing Plaza. The program is planned to carry some of the services SAN provides in one 13,000-square-foot building.

"We are trying to prepare the community now to make it better for the future," Goff said.

SAN

The Senior Advisory Network provides choices of products and services that seniors can rely on.

For more information, call 407-365-6500.