After a 35-year career as a professional caregiver, physical therapist, and senior living leader, Tamara Fye operated independent and assisted living communities, memory care facilities, and nursing homes. Subsequently, she discovered a new purpose for her God-given passion for helping the aging and started Aging Family Partners. Her personal advocacy for senior care, after two years, has grown and thrived exclusively from grateful family members by word-of-mouth.
Tamara’s clients range from vulnerable and struggling seniors to overwhelmed spouses who are full-time caregivers, to adult children in the sandwich generation juggling responsibilities of home, work, family, and now, the care of an aging parent.
“I bring a unique ‘insider’ perspective of aging and senior care knowledge, which helps my clients be better prepared, confident, and comfortable with making the best decision for their family as they navigate the journey with their aging loved ones,” Tamara says.
A Partner to Help Navigate
To be near their son and his growing family, Tamara and her husband, Joe, moved to Knoxville two years ago. Joe noticed Tamara was receiving more calls from friends, families, and seniors themselves who were looking for answers regarding the aging challenges they were experiencing. It became apparent there was no one educating and supporting seniors and their families (spouses and/or adult children) to methodically guide them through the overwhelming aging challenges, especially the senior healthcare system.
“Everyone has a specialty, talent, specific education, or dedicated trade,” Tamara continues. “I don’t expect my clients to be knowledgeable about senior care services, regulations of senior care communities, insurance appeals, corporate protocols, or financial constraints – or have the experience to anticipate the emotional stress, the depth of family dynamics, or how to manage unmet expectations. These are areas we specialize in to ease aging struggles.”
Families are often abruptly faced with making decisions when their senior falls and breaks a hip, has a stroke, is diagnosed with cancer, pneumonia, or congestive heart failure, and can’t return home and care for themselves.
“Maybe the police call families because mom had a wreck in a parking lot and doesn’t know how to get home,” Tamara says. “A concern for their loved one’s safety forces decisions to be made, and they don’t know where to turn for help with the necessary steps.”
One-on-One Compassionate, Informed Consulting
Each client’s situation is unique. The loved one experiences a life-changing event that may cause a loss of independence, choices, and purpose. “If this is not devastating enough, the family dynamic changes as well. The spouse and/or the adult children’s family experience a shift in their lives as well,” Tamara adds. As a long-time physical therapist and nursing home administrator, Tamara has witnessed how this time of crisis forever affects the senior and their loved ones. Aging Family Partners offers the compassionate guidance and extensive healthcare experience needed to nurture a stabilizing and comforting environment for the family.
“Once someone becomes a caregiver, the caregiver’s decline begins financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,” Tamara says. “My goal is to reduce the burdens of caregiving by providing education and solutions which allow the family to have a more peaceful and balanced life.”
Inspired to Serve
“As a personal advocate for their loved ones, I can help families make the best decisions for them to receive the best care available while offering some relief from the strain of caregiving,” Tamara says.
She shares a memory of waiting in line at Disney World, observing a three-generation family. “Here was the grandmother, enjoying the park with her children and grandchildren, all while needing to be pushed in her wheelchair. The stunning family matriarch who had provided for and given her all to her family was now dependent on others.”
This experience continues to inspire her service to embrace seniors and their families.
Getting Help
But Tamara also understands it can be hard to ask for help for a family challenge. “I want people to reach out to me however they feel most comfortable, typically depending upon their generation - phone, text, email, or through our website,” she says.
Her clients are reassured that her singular focus and loyalty reside with the family because Aging Family Partners receives no money from a third party for referrals or service providers. She is paid by the seniors or their families for her expertise, advocacy, support, and connections.
“As we have become more integrated into the Knoxville community, and more people learn about our advocacy services, we often hear, ‘I wish I would have known you when my parent (or spouse) was struggling. You would have been such a help to our family.”
Parents have led a full life - celebrate it.
Parents have sacrificed - give gratitude.
Parents have experienced hardships - learn from them.
Parents have a wealth of wisdom - grow with it.
Parents have earned the right to be tired & cranky - give them grace.
Parents loved us first - love them last. ~ Tamara Fye, Aging Family Partners
Learn more at www.AgingFamilyPartners.com
How Aging Family Partners Can Help
Clarity: Pinpoint essential questions to ask and offer crystal-clear, unbiased solutions.
Personal Guidance: Guide you through every challenge and help you regain valuable time for yourself.
Tailored Care: Connect with custom care options from our vetted network.
Expertise: Trust an advocate with 37 years of senior care and operational experience.
A Spouse’s Experience
Beth’s 65-year-old husband had two strokes while enjoying an active outdoor lifestyle in retirement. Tamara guided Beth during his Arizona hospital intensive care stay, to acute care rehabilitation, to a skilled nursing facility, to home health services, including insurance appeals, and securing a specialized neurological outpatient clinic in their home state of Ohio.
“Tamara found the perfect outpatient facility where his progress exceeds his original prognosis. You need someone with knowledge and experience in healthcare to help make informed decisions when you have no idea where to turn and you’re stressed and overwhelmed. She answered questions, offered reassurance, taught me how to ask the right questions, and navigated our preferences effectively. I honestly do not know how I would have survived this without her.”