Seniors Helping Seniors, which has about 200 locations, hires other seniors as its caregivers to help clients remain in their homes.
Hardship has a way of changing people’s lives, and few know that better than Dadong “DJ” Wan. A Seniors Helping Seniors franchisee in Garland, Texas, Wan draws on his personal experience to bring help to the most vulnerable.
“I love to be able to work with people, really,” said Wan. “It just feels right inside of me. It didn’t take much effort for me to quit my corporate job.”
Seniors Helping Seniors is an in-home assistance concept with a small twist: Caregivers are often fellow seniors who help with client needs, even if it’s just one chore or task. The goal is to provide help and friendship for the semi-independent and aging population.
In a previous life, Wan worked a 9-to-5 corporate job. However, after his wife died by suicide, his perspective changed.
“I started to really reflect on a lot of different things,” said Wan. “I was looking around for something that was more mine, more personal and came across Seniors Helping Seniors.”
Determined to make a career change, Wan began the process of opening his location. It was then that he met someone who’s become one of his clients, U.S. Navy veteran Carol Warren. Before she retired, she worked as a counselor for more than 30 years. From the time she started out in her career, she was entirely focused on her patients, going so far as to stop pursuing her Ph.D. after realizing it wouldn’t benefit patients or herself.
“Psychology counseling and guidance was my degree,” said Warren. “I was one quarter shy of a Ph.D. when I looked down and I thought, if I go for that, who’s it for?”
While she was counseling patients, Warren was going through her own hardships. She moved home to Texas for support, only to get very little. Worse, she said the supporters she did have turned against her. Her so-called friends at the time stole nearly $200,000 from her and the local Veterans Affairs location stopped providing a medication without notifying her, Warren said.
Dadong Wan
Out of options, in debt and feeling a lot of hurt, Warren said she began to look for options. That search led her to Wan, and things blossomed from there. Wan brought Warren to appointments, became a friend and supported her through the trauma and frustration she was still experiencing.
“When I ran into DJ, he caused some cords to chime again,” said Warren. “I learned what a caring and sincere person he is, and that’s why we’ve stayed close.”
In his case, Wan is just as impressed with Warren’s determination and tenacity. Her struggles were a microcosm of exactly the community he was looking to help.
“She was struggling to stay connected and get the kind of care she needs to get back on her own feet,” said Wan. “That’s where we spent a lot of time at first, getting her connected to people that could help her situation.”
Wan not only helped Warren using his own resources through Seniors Helping Seniors, but also the medical and VA resources in Garland. Creating this network of support is part of Wan’s approach to running his franchise. Warren compared the work of it to “cleaning your home every day, whether it needs it or not.”
The future for Wan and his business in Garland is to first bring on more caretakers, which would help Warren reach her own goal of “leading a semi-normal life.” Since he began his franchise in March 2023, Wan has seen the rewards for his efforts.
“Being able to see the smiles that I bring to somebody like Carol or even to my caregivers,” said Wan. “My caregivers are making a difference by taking care of people who need it the most, and for me to see both of them getting brighter, that’s immeasurable as a kind of reward.”
As a client, Warren is getting the chance to make new friends while getting the help she needs throughout her day. “When I go meet someone who’s looking to talk, I don’t have any job from that moment on except to listen, to share,” said Warren. “The thing I hope for is to make that little bit of difference that encourages them to keep going because it’s going to get better.”