Meet The Team | Senior Helpers of Central Iowa

Meet the Central Iowa office

Welcome to your local Senior Helpers team website, with our office located in Urbandale, IA. One of 300 Senior Helpers offices nationwide, our office serves the entire Central Iowa area, including but not limited to Adel, Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Dallas Center, Des Moines, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Mitchellville, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter, Waukee, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.

Senior Helpers of Central Iowa was opened in 2008 and is locally owned. Senior Helpers has been trusted as the premier reliable partner to assist with senior care needs. Expanding our in-home care and senior services across Central Iowa, we are able to accommodate the increasing need for higher quality home care. The safety of our clients is of primary concern to us. We provide security, comfort and professionalism to our clients and their families, with our goal to lift the burden and provide peace of mind for both the client and the family.

We pride ourselves on having the best and most compassionate caregivers in our area. We work hard to match up your loved one with the most appropriate caregiver(s). We have extensive training programs for our caregivers to prepare them for whatever circumstance they may find in the home. Our Alzheimer’s and Dementia training program is considered the best in the industry. Our Parkinson’s training is also second to none. However, we do not just train our staff. We also offer training to family caregivers and other family members of our clients. It’s important that you know what to expect, as well. We take our responsibility of informing our families and community very seriously.

Our History

Senior Helpers was founded in 2002 by Tony Bonacuse with the help of Peter Ross after their firsthand experience in caring for their respective family members. Tony and Peter identified a need that was not being filled properly by the other companies. They realized most seniors would prefer to age in their own home rather than move into an unfamiliar institution. Unfortunately, the options available to most seniors were very limited. Most seniors did not have access to well-trained, dependable and affordable in-home care. This was the mission-driven spark that started Senior Helpers.

The first office opened in Baltimore, and quickly developed a reputation for delivering excellent in-home senior care with their well-trained staff of professional caregivers. Based on the success of the Baltimore location, the company began to expand. Over the past 13 years, the Senior Helpers family has grown to include a network of more than 300 locally owned and operated franchises across the United States.

Senior Helpers of Central Iowa was proud to join the system in 2008. Like every other owner, we too are fully-committed to the original goal of providing dependable and affordable in-home care with well-trained caregivers. Nothing is more important to us than being the best available resource for seniors and families in our community.

We have been lucky to serve hundreds of seniors in our community over the years, and we are committed to continuing to provide uncompromising levels of care to all our families.

Our process

The first step in the process is a complimentary, initial in-home care assessment with a Senior Helpers consultant. This assessment can help you understand the true needs of your loved one, and your options. Together we can discuss their needs, our senior care services and determine what’s best for your entire family.

We will cover:

Your family's specific goals

Your loved one's daily plan design and schedule

Pricing and payment methods

Implementation process

Ongoing communication and follow-up plan

Meet the Senior Helpers Central Iowa Team

Jeff

Owner

Jeff’s passion for senior care developed when he was the primary caregiver for his mother after she had a stroke. She moved into his home, and he experienced the joys and frustrations of being a family caregiver. He knows the difficulties of finding the right caregiver, and uses his experience as a basis for hiring the best people and managing Senior Helpers. He especially enjoys working with families to ensure their loved one receives the best possible care. He enjoys spending time with his family, his church family, helping in the community, and being outdoors doing almost anything. Jeff serves on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Chapter of the American Parkinson’s Disease Association.

Jenny, RN

Director of Nursing

Jenny has been a nurse for over 17 years. She is passionate about giving excellent bedside nursing care and teaching clients, families and caregivers how best to care for each generation. At Senior Helpers, Jenny enjoys training our caregivers on how to give compassionate and correct care to our clients. Her favorite part of being in the Senior Helpers family is building relationships with her co-workers and especially our clients. In her free time, Jenny relaxes by traveling, playing board games, cards, binge watching Netflix and laughing with her family of five.

Sheryl

Office Manager

Sheryl loves to help people in any way that she can. She also loves organizing and problem solving. Sheryl was active in helping the elderly from a young age by helping her grandparents and assisting her father at numerous nursing home church services where she would play the piano, sing along with the residents, help them find their seats, find their page numbers in the songbooks and listen to their stories. She became interested in home care when her daughter sustained life threatening injuries from a car accident and she had to find services to help her at home. Sheryl worked in the home care field for over 20 years, beginning as a personal caregiver and going on to become general manager of a respected home care company for over 10 years. Sheryl believes that each person should be treated with the utmost compassion and respect while being provided services to help them remain as independent and comfortable as possible in their homes. Aside from work, Sheryl enjoys spending time with her husband, 4 children, 5 grandchildren and her good friends. She also enjoys playing the piano, researching on the internet, hanging out in the pool, binge-watching Netflix, grilling with her husband, and visiting great restaurants!

Kristina

Scheduling Coordinator

Kristina has 10+ years of experience working in the healthcare field with experience in the hospital, nursing home, group home, and home care settings. She knew at a young age that she wanted to help anyone in any way that she could. Kristina really enjoys having a part in choosing which caregiver goes to what home to assure the best matches she can. Kristina has served on the board for the Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa, and is a current volunteer guardian for the state of Iowa. She also has a therapy dog through the Animal Rescue League of Iowa that she takes on visits to local communities and other volunteer events. Outside of work Kristina loves spending time with her animals, going to the farmers market, spending time with family, and traveling whenever she has the opportunity.

Erica

Community Relations Coordinator

Erica has always loved helping others. She served in the United States Army for four and a half years as a Combat Photographer and Videographer. During her time in the service she held several different jobs; video teleconference technician, radio show host and administrative assistant. Erica has 3 years experience organizing an office and helping clients with their problems. She is also attending Des Moines Area Community College and is undecided in her major at this time. She has always been a people person. She loves getting to know our clients and caregivers. In Erica’s spare time, she loves spending time with her family and friends as well as going to road trips to new place or being outdoors hiking.

Melissa

Scheduler

Melissa grew up in the hospital setting due to her mother working as a director in different capacities in a hospital. As a child, she enjoyed visiting with patients and residents by performing in church drama presentations, playing Bingo and cards and listening to their stories. Later in her teen years she began interacting with patients and residents through working in the dietary department of nursing homes and hospitals for her high school career. This servanthood personality grew into becoming a CNA through Iowa Valley Community College in 1994. She worked in nursing homes and hospitals for the next few years around central Iowa specializing in dementia care and long term skilled care. As time went on, Melissa chose to work out of the home while raising her family in order to go back to school. She graduated Kaplan University as a Summa cum laude student in 2009 with her AAS Medical Transcription degree and began working full time in health documentation for Houston Texas hospitals remotely. She also brought her experience and stewardship skills into the in-home senior care living through working as an on-call operator since 2017 covering multiple cities. Melissa enjoys being able to make life a little easier for those around her whether they are friends, family, co-workers or clients. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, gardening, canning, swimming, learning from YouTube, bargain shopping and listening to music.

Meet the Central Iowa office

Our History

Our process

Meet the Senior Helpers Central Iowa Team

Areas We Serve