Los Angeles, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/28/2018 --Low-income families now have a guide to assisted living placement, vital Medicaid services and U.S. Department of Aging programs.

"Senior Services for the Financially Challenged" by Davida Siwisa James provides information for low-income seniors, their families and caregivers about free social services that are available nationwide to help seniors live with more dignity. Sharing information gathered largely from public sources, Ms. James saves readers years of frustrating wrong turns.

This book focuses on low-income seniors, an underserved, seldom recognized U.S. demographic.

"Senior Services for the Financially Challenged" provides a roadmap to some of the most important services that Medicaid and the Department of Aging offer.

"Caring for my elderly father, I was constantly given wrong or conflicting information or simply not told things that could have helped me care for him," Ms. James said. "I was stunned when I learned that Medicaid recipients can have the greater portion of assisted living facility fees paid for in five-star residential care centers."

The author walks readers through the steps of applying for the Medicaid Assisted Living Waiver Program. This book details how the Department of Aging in any U.S. state can link seniors receiving Medicaid with caregivers who will come into the home – free – to help them with personal grooming, chores and shopping.

Calls to agencies promising assistance with long-term care placement led to frustration when the author quickly learned that those agencies did not assist people with low incomes. Thus began Ms. James' six-year journey of tedious research into the various social services available for her father.

"Senior Service for the Financially Challenged" provides valuable, often overlooked information about programs available for seniors with limited finances, woven into the author's journey caring for her father as he phased from dementia to Alzheimer's.

"My husband and I had just retired when my 87 year-old father moved in with us," Ms. James said. "I was totally unfamiliar with services available to seniors, especially folks like my dad who had very limited resources."

"This book will be an extremely helpful guide for families and/or their caregivers to help them navigate not just through Medicare and Medicaid, but so many social service programs for low-to-middle income seniors," said Colleen Anderson, retired Statewide Program Administrator for California Community Care Licensing (CCL). CCL is the state agency that licenses residential care facilities for the elderly, like assisted living facilities. Anderson is the current CEO of the California Institute of Health and Social Services, Inc. in Los Angeles.

"I wanted to write a book that would help people avoid some of the frustration I experienced," said Ms. James. "It is critical that caregivers know that this is a demanding decision and that it is important to make sure you take care of yourself as well as the senior."

This book is a shortcut to the questions elderly people with limited funds may not have known to ask. More importantly, it gives you the answers to those questions.