Guanci and Harrington Offer Long Term Solutions for Elder Care

As the landscape of the population changes, many elders and caregivers need a place to turn for healthcare and support. Registered nurses Noreen Guanci and Anne Harrington answer that call with Long Term Solutions, a company that provides elder care management services both locally and nationwide.

Long Term Solutions began in Guanci and Harrington’s basements in 1999. In 2002, they moved their business to Natick, the halfway point between their Sudbury and Walpole homes, and have operated there ever since. 

Michael Guanci, the son of founder Noreen and an employee of Long Term Solutions, spoke with the Patch about Long Term Solutions and some of the changes happening in the near future. 

He told the Patch, that there is “a team of nurses who do nursing assessments and coordinate care for individuals who’ve had assessments done, and make arrangements for care such as help in the home, [providing] medical equipment, and giving them access to local services.”

Nurses also educate elders and caregivers on their care management options and ways they can take advantage of them.

Nursing assessments involve an independent nurse conducting an assessment of an elder through his/her insurance company (Genworth, Transamerica, or Prudential). The nurse then reports the assessment to Long Term Solutions, where their in-house nurses review the assessment and begin coordinating a care plan.

Guanci noted that they are always looking for independent RN’s and encourages interested nurses to contact them at (508) 907-6290.

The company is fairly small, with about 70 employees, including many Natick residents. “It’s a very family/communal atmosphere,” Guanci said. He began helping his mother out over the summers when he was in school before realizing it was a job he wanted to pursue after college.

He made a smart choice, as Long Term Solutions was recently recognized as one of the top 50 fastest growing women-owned companies in the country by the Women President’s Organization. They were also listed as one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America in Ink Magazine.

The company will soon be launching a new program called WeCare+, a program geared toward helping caregivers. 

“The population is growing and getting older,” Guanci said. “There’s a lot of research saying caregivers are going under unbelievable amounts of stress, a huge, under addressed issue, and we are trying to provide an outlet for the harmful effects of it.”

With the new program, caregivers can call and be connected with a registered nurse, who can provide a nursing assessment over the phone or in the home. Caregivers and family members can gain access to an online portal in order to have access to the nursing assessment and diagnoses. 

“Our nurses would determine what things need to be done and how best we can accommodate  your needs, and that would all go into this website that can be accessed by family members or doctors,” Guanci said.

He added, “The WeCare+ product is available direct to consumers, and we are also marketing it to companies to add it as an added benefit for their Employee Assistance Programs.”

You can learn more about Long Term Solutions by visiting their Facebook page or the company blog, which includes exercise and health tips for elders and ways to reduce caregiver stress.