SNAPforSeniors Now Helps BenefitsCheckUp Users Locate Housi...( Senior Housing Locator launched a...),Health

Senior Housing Locator launched as a companion tool to widely used Web service

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Council on Aging (NCOA) and SNAPforSeniors(R) today announced the launch of the Senior Housing Locator, an online navigational tool that provides America's seniors and their loved ones access to a current and comprehensive database of more than 60,000 senior housing communities nationwide. The resource can now be found at http://www.BenefitsCheckUp.org.

A recent analysis of the traffic on BenefitsCheckUp(R) -- NCOA's popular service which allows older Americans to identify benefit programs for which they may be eligible -- indicated that one third of users are interested in finding senior housing.

"The Senior Housing Locator allows those who use BenefitsCheckUp to find senior housing options in their desired area," says Stuart Spector, NCOA senior vice president. "For instance, a daughter in Maine who is looking for assisted living for her Dallas-based dad can now find options in that city without spending hours online or on the phone."

Users can search a database of assisted living communities, nursing homes, residential care facilities, continuing care retirement communities and independent living communities, all at the click of a mouse. Like BenefitsCheckUp, the Senior Housing Locator is free to users.

"The Senior Housing Locator lists every licensed senior housing community in the nation," says Eve M. Stern, RN, MS, president of SNAPforSeniors. "We do not collect referral fees from housing providers, meaning that the information is objective and reliable."

BenefitsCheckUp provides a questionnaire that, in a few minutes, identifies benefit programs for which users are potentially eligible. Users answer a series of questions about their health and income, which are then used to determine whether they ar
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