While many new Bay Area business ventures are artificial intelligence-oriented, there’s one in the East Bay centering on in-person connection and support for seniors and those who care for them.
Oakland resident Will Cazalet is behind Seniors Helping Seniors Alameda, the latest Bay Area franchise addition from the same-named organization. It officially opened in early May and serves residents in Oakland, Alameda, Piedmont and Montclair.
“I’m really looking forward to bringing it to as many people as it resonates with,” said Cazalet. “The vast majority of people do want to remain in their own home and retain not just that sense, but that reality of independence. But often, to do that, they do require in-home care.”
Seniors Helping Seniors, founded in 1998 by Kiran and Philip Yocom, connects older adults with mature, active caregivers who offer companionship and help with everyday tasks. The organization now has hundreds of locations in the United States and internationally, matching clients and caregivers based on shared interests and activities.
“This idea of mature caregivers — seniors, in other words — helping out other seniors is a way to give and to receive for both senior and caregiver, so it’s a mutual relationship,” Cazalet said.
Cazalet said his business was licensed in early February. Since its spring opening, he’s been focused on connecting with clients and hiring caregivers.
“Predominantly, we look to hire more mature caregivers, and we think that’s valuable because they are closer in age to the seniors that they’re caring for and therefore closer in life experience,” he said.
Cazalet spent 30 years in financial services, including roles as a managing director, investment strategist and portfolio manager. He ultimately left the field wanting a new venture with a different purpose.
Ever since his Stanford Graduate School of Business days, he had thought about working for himself someday. It was an idea that stayed with him throughout his time in the financial sector.
“I realized that if I didn’t do that, at some point, fairly soon, it would be too late,” he said.
He spoke with colleagues and friends about his interest, including one person who suggested the idea of a franchise.
“The one that resonated the most was in-home senior care,” Cazalet said. “I particularly liked the concept of seniors helping seniors, so I decided to look into that and, ultimately, to pursue that.”
He also attributes the decision to open a Seniors Helping Seniors franchise to his parents, Peter and Jane Cazalet.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Cazalet grew up with his siblings in London, where his parents would invite seniors who lived nearby and were alone during holidays like Christmas over for dinner year after year.
“It really became an annual tradition for them, and therefore for us,” he said. “They taught us very early on in life that it was important to include people, including non-family members and people who weren’t necessarily friends in other ways, but people that you knew that might be alone otherwise.”
He added: “I didn’t realize it until some time later, but that obviously had a strong effect on me.”
He also recalled traveling with his father during his youth to the west of the United Kingdom, where they dropped in on a former colleague of his father’s who was living in a retirement home.
“I really deeply remember how thrilled this person was that we had taken time and gone out of our way to come and visit him. But I also remember how profoundly sad he was when our visit came to an end,” Cazalet said.
Cazalet, only 10 or 11 years old at the time, said the hour they spent with the man gave him an early glimpse of how lonely people can be in their senior years.
“I’ve never forgotten that and kept coming back to it, time and time again,” he said.
Of the many services Seniors Helping Seniors offers, one is companionship. Cazalet noted that loneliness remains a significant challenge for seniors, even in assisted living communities. For seniors living at home, companionship can be part of the broader support the organization provides, from light housekeeping and yardwork to meal preparation and running errands.
Other services include personal care and daily living assistance, medication reminders, long distance check-ins and transportation to appointments and other outings — all aimed at helping seniors remain in their homes for as long as possible.
That’s something Cazalet saw firsthand with his mother, whom he described as a very pragmatic individual. She was defiant in wanting to remain in the London flat she shared with Peter during her senior years.
“I always remember her saying to me, when I was visiting them once in London from the U.S. and they were in their apartment, ‘I’m going out of here in a box.’ And what she meant was, ‘I’m going to be independent as long as I can,’” he said.
Even as she became quite sick toward the end of her life, she resolved to stay put.
“Having in-home care was what enabled her and my father to do that — and to do that with dignity and in comfort and to remain close to family as well,” he said.
Respite care is another critical service, Cazalet noted, as millions of family members act as caregivers while also raising children, being partners or spouses and holding down jobs.
“Having someone else to come and take some of that burden, share some of that burden, and take it off your shoulders can be enormously valuable,” he said.
Looking ahead, Cazalet plans to expand to San Francisco neighborhoods, including the Marina, Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, Haight-Ashbury and Noe Valley. He also has a partner who plans to launch a Seniors Helping Seniors franchise on the western side of San Francisco.
“We should have the city and county covered by the end of the year,” Cazalet said.
For more information online about Seniors Helping Seniors Alameda, including a list of available services, visit locations.seniorshelpingseniors.com/ca/oakland/care-services-286.html, email will@shsalameda.com or call 510-298-5300.
JL Odom is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco who can be reached at jlodomphd@gmail.com. When they’re not covering the Bay Area, they’re usually training for their next marathon.