St. Louis native Andre Timberlake knows how complicated caring for an aging relative can become. His 90-year-old grandfather undergoes dialysis three times a week, with Timberlake, his mother and two uncles sharing responsibility for getting him to appointments.
That experience helped inspire Timberlake to create Senior Guide STL, a free online resource designed to give older adults and their families one place to begin navigating everything from in-home care and senior living to estate planning, transportation and caregiver support.
“Families often have to piece together help across several different areas at once,” Timberlake said. “I decided I want a local resource that recognizes the whole transition and gives people a useful starting point.”
Nearly one in four American adults are family caregivers, according to a 2025 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. The report estimated that 63 million adults provided care to someone with a medical condition or disability.
Senior Guide STL seeks to connect caregivers, older adults and their families with local organizations and professionals specializing in services they may need. Other areas covered by the site include downsizing, healthy aging, respite care and hospice care.
“We don’t specialize in any of the areas,” Timberlake said. “We’re just the resource, so we partner with different providers.”
The guide is free for families to use. Senior Guide STL generates revenue through partnerships with businesses and service providers, which pay to be included on the platform. The company also is seeking additional local professionals to join its network as founding resource partners.
One of those partners is Realtor Kelly Sims of Schneider Real Estate, who focuses on helping seniors and their families navigate selling a home, downsizing or transitioning into senior living.
Sims’ interest in working with older adults grew from her own experience after her father died and she had to determine what to do with his home.
“Just seeing how involved that process could be selling a home for your parents, gathering paperwork — it’s a lot,” Sims said. “It’s a lot for anyone to go through.”
Through Senior Guide STL, Sims can connect families with resources they may need before selling a home, including contractors for repairs and estate liquidators.
But Sims said one of the most difficult parts of the process often comes before a house is ever placed on the market.
“I think the hardest part would be, first of all, making that decision to move from the home,” Sims said. “There’s a lot of emotions involved with it, especially if they’ve lived in the home for their whole lives.”
She encourages families to have conversations about a parent’s wishes and important documents before a transition becomes necessary.
“Those conversations need to be held with whomever is going to be in charge of their home or of that transition,” Sims said. “Once the actual transition has happened or if the parent has already passed, that’s not the time to be scrambling, looking for paperwork.”
Sims said those discussions can include where insurance documents and deeds are located, whose names are on the deeds and what a parent wants to happen to the home.
Senior Guide STL is aimed not only at older adults but also at adult children helping their parents and people beginning to prepare for their own later years.
“The earlier that we can have those conversations, the better,” Timberlake said.
Visitors to the Senior Guide STL website select a “starting point” based on the situation they are facing. From there, they are directed to information about common questions and resources that may help.
Timberlake said supporting caregivers is an important part of the platform because of the responsibilities they often bear.
“The whole idea is to be the resource for anyone who’s entering into the later stages of their life or anyone with a family member entering the later stages of their life,” Timberlake said.
The guide also offers articles about healthy aging and everyday well-being, opportunities for seniors to remain connected locally and information about discounts and savings.
Timberlake wants Senior Guide STL to reach older adults who may not regularly use the internet. The company is developing a print guide that could eventually be distributed at senior living facilities, grocery stores and other locations around the region.
Timberlake said Senior Guide STL is still growing and will depend on partnerships with local businesses and service providers as it expands.
“It’s gonna take a team and a village,” he said.