Is anyone familiar with the Society of Certified Senior Advisors? What does this certification really mean?
First glance at their website seems like this is an additional certification that any professional can get and doesn't seem like it really requires much expertise or experience with seniors.
I ask because someone has suggested to me that we use a CSA to obtain referrals and pricing for assisted living facilities in California.
https://www.aginglifecare.org/
They provide certification for Geriatric Care Managers (GCM)
General information on GCM is found on the National Institute of Health website.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-geriatric-care-manager
Certified Senior Advisor is a different certifucation.
https://www.csa.us/
I am not familiar with what differences there may be, only that CSA does not appear to be mention on the NIH website. You could email NIH to learn the difference.
I.suppose anyone could come up with a certification of any kind.
Suggest you do some online research and reading such as: https://www.seniorliving.org/assisted-living/ or https://www.assistedliving.org/assisted-living-near-me/
You could also contact your Local Area Agency on Aging for recommendations, or Medicare’s website: https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/ to see ratings of nursing homes. The Medicare site will let you see if the facility is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (includes assisted living).
Even if you don’t check the Medicare site before choosing an agency to help you decide, check the ratings on the site to help you assess the quality of any facility recommended by a referral agency.
I had excellent luck with APlaceforMom.com. They listened to what I needed for my mother, including the option of places near her home and mine (Pasadena vs. OC), and gave me several referrals. The one they said was probably the best fit really was the best, and it all worked out very well -- and was $3,000/month less than where she was before.