Theresa Cooke, a Reno native and longtime broadcast sales executive in the Reno area, figured she wouldn’t have any trouble finding the resources her family needed to assist her aging mother.
But it proved more challenging than she imagined. From her challenges, and a process of learning, Cooke launched Cooke Elder Care Navigation.
Cooke’s business was assisted by the CUBE at Midtown, a business incubator that provides resources to start-ups and growing businesses.
The Reno company has, in its first seven months of business, assisted families who want to do the right thing for an aging relative but aren’t certain where they should turn.
Cooke knows these concerns first-hand.
As the health of her widowed mother declined, Cooke discovered that the Reno area offers services to assist aging residents, but sorting through the many options to find the ones that were right for her mother were daunting.
Cooke Elder Care Navigation now serves as a guide to seniors and their families.
“I do the research,” Cooke said. “I do the leg work. I am an informed, objective navigator and advocate.”
Her work focuses on concerns about legal and financial issues, personal safety around the home, dietary needs and the spiritual needs of the senior.
“Everybody’s needs are different. Everybody is unique,” she added.
Working from an office at 421 Court Street, that once was the childhood home and long-time law office of her father, Cooke offers wide-ranging analysis of the needs of the senior.
As she works with care providers on behalf of the elderly and their families, she said she is driven by a passion to serve the older members of the community, people she has come to love and respect.
“I want to be a helping hand,” Cooke says. “I don’t want people to feel alone.”
