The mission of Lifelines Academy is to educate and connect people serving seniors. We do this through our online community and web-based programs.

• Education: We offer online, inactive courses for a wide variety of people serving seniors – professionals, entrepreneurs and family caregivers.
• We connect people serving seniors through our Lifelines Network, providing online business listings for service providers so that they can find each other and refer business to one another.

We offer Lifelines Academy courses to educate a wide variety of businesses and service providers on how to better serve the dramatically growing aging population, paving the way for expanded services and increased revenue.  Other courses are for individuals, such as family caregivers, seeking knowledge to apply in their own lives.

There are 80 million Baby Boomers (age 45-63). By 2015, people age 50 and older will represent 45% of the U.S. population. (AARP). The number of adults over age 85 is set to triple worldwide over the next 40 years. (U.S. Census). By 2030, the 65-plus U.S. population will double to about 71.5 million, and by 2050 will grow to 86.7 million people. (U.S. Census).

For businesses and service providers this means there is a growing aging market that needs to be understood and served. For consumers this means that knowledge of modern aging challenges and solutions is extremely relevant to their families, themselves and the country as a whole.

We like to quote Benjamin Franklin who said “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

A webinar is short for “web-based seminar” and facilitates communication between a small number of presenters and a large remote audience. Participants view the presentation through their web-browser and listen to the audio through their telephone or a headset connected to their PC, (VoIP). No special software is needed.  A great benefit is that you can attend a webinar anywhere that you can access the web and a telephone (or VOIP) – at home, in your office, at the local coffee shop. No airfare and hotel expenses or time away from home required.

Lifelines Academy webinars are highly interactive. We go beyond PowerPoint presentations, presenting live interviews and video footage, instructive exams, Q&A sessions and certification opportunities. We also provide downloadable content, such as checklists and forms to empower students to immediately put to use what they have learned.  Testing is also provided for courses carrying Continuing Education Credits, CEU’s or courses with designations or certifications.

Are the online courses offered live or are they pre-recorded?

Some Lifelines Academy courses are presented online to a live audience, which allows for interactive Q&A, and then made available as recorded courses for on-demand play. Others are offered as recorded sessions only from the beginning. These distinctions are clearly stated on the registration pages of our website.

The faculty for our Lifelines Academy courses is carefully selected to provide the greatest value to our audience. We look for people who have expertise as well as the ability to deliver information effectively. The selection of faculty is customized to match the content of each course.

Continuing education credits are available for many courses. CEU information is clearly stated in the course descriptions.

Yes, we are available to provide online education and training as well as in person education and training to private groups and we will customize our presentations. An example of this would be to present a “Sandwich Generation Employees” seminar for human resource professionals and senior managers at private companies seeking to understand the implications of the growing demands on employees to care for aging parents.  For more information, we welcome you to contact us.

Lifelines Network is a selective, membership-based online community of professionals providing services and products to seniors and family caregivers.  The mission of Lifelines Network is to educate, connect and promote its members and sponsors.

Lifelines Network has been designed with small businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups and solo-practitioners in mind.  We know that you have limited time, staff, and financial resources. We all have more to do with less these days. That’s why Lifelines Network is the ideal solution; we are an extension of your marketing team and use our Market Smart™ strategies to promote our members online and in social media, as well as locally and nationwide at events and in publications.

Benefits include:

• Searchable Online Business profile and Social Media Presence
• Virtual Networking Events (“ROI Exchanges”)
• Free and Discounted Lifelines Academy Education & Training
• Cooperative Marketing and Advertising Opportunities
• Senior Business Resources
• Promotion of Lifelines Network Members as Subject Matter Experts

How is Lifelines Network different from other networking groups?

Lifelines Network takes a modern, time efficient and cost effective approach to networking.  Its founders have experience running small businesses and know what it is like to have competing demands on your time. Your time and money is limited and valuable; we don’t want you to waste it! In fact, we want Lifelines Network to be your most valued membership because of all that we do for you and how we save you time as you grow your business. Let us educate, connect and promote you!

We do not have mandatory, regularly scheduled in-person meetings. We do not solicit members to volunteers for committees. We do not actively serve the community.  There are numerous wonderful organizations doing those things and the likelihood is that you have already committed as much of your time as you can spare to local networking groups.  Instead, Lifelines Network is about us working for you by: helping you obtain a better presence on the internet and in social media; connecting you in 45 to 60 minute virtual networking events from the convenience of wherever you need to be; and serving as an extension of your marketing team so you can be seen in more places and by more people, for less money and time.

Membership is only $252 for the first year of membership, which includes application processing, and thereafter only $252 per year as an annual renewal fee for the lifetime of the membership.

Welcome applicants for membership are ethical, qualified and caring individuals who are either:

• Providers of services or products for seniors or family caregivers.
• Providers of services or products needed by businesses or professionals serving the senior and family caregiver market

You can view our existing categories by clicking on the search field of the searchable database of members.  If there is no suitable category for your services, we can add a category to the existing list. Members with products may be eligible to have their products showcased on our website Products page.

Applicants should be the actual service providers, business owners, senior level executives, or entrepreneurs who are subject matter experts or who offer products needed by seniors or family caregivers.  Membership is not appropriate for support staff or persons who are strictly engaged in the role of marketing and sales representative.  All applicants who are not licensed will be required to pass a criminal background check, the cost of which is included in the membership fee.

Lifelines Network promotes individual members and does not offer corporate memberships.  Our intent is to facilitate referral-relationships and business development between trusted professionals; this cannot be accomplished through corporate memberships where the representatives of the corporation are inconsistent and unknown.

Lifelines Academy & Network does, however, offer sponsorship opportunities which are suitable for corporations who are seeking to promote their services or products to professionals serving seniors. View our current sponsors, and email sheryl@lifelinesacademy.com to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

Yes.  There is no limit on the number of owners/employees per company who can join. All members must apply for membership and pay their own membership fee.  Some sponsorship levels do include memberships so if more than one owner or employee from a single company wish to join a sponsorship package should be considered.

Applying for membership is an efficient but selective process.  To get started, simply complete the online membership application by filling in all applicable fields and submit your $200.00 membership fee, which covers the entire first year of membership as well as the application processing.

Unless an applicant is in a regulated, licensed industry and is licensed, we require each applicant to pass an initial background check for the protection of Lifelines Network and of consumers or other service providers who seek to do business with Lifelines Network members. You will be provided with a copy of the report upon request.

If your application is denied for business reasons, your membership fee will be returned to you in full within 30 days; however, if your application is denied due to your criminal background check results, no refund will be made and the full fee will be retained as a processing fee.

The review process, which includes a background check for all unlicensed applicants, will be completed within 10 days of submission of your application so that you can quickly get started enjoying the maximum return on your investment in Lifelines Network!

Our goal is to make sure all members get the maximum return on their investment and we have strategies to make sure our members are happy to renew! These strategies include:

• We offer a complimentary Business Development Consultation and an Education and Training Consultation, which members can take advantage of at anytime;
• We offer a Network Member Benefits webinar series, which is available on demand for member review at anytime, highlighting each member benefit and advising members on how to maximize their membership.

We also offer a Lifelines Network Membership Report Card which members can use to evaluate whether they are taking full-advantage of their membership.