About Us

About Navigate Home

Attending school prepares us for further education, but living life doesn’t always prepare us for the challenges of aging. Especially if we find ourselves suddenly helping a struggling loved one. Many of us find ourselves in a new caregiving role, without knowledge or resources, all while maintaining our current roles as provider, parent or other responsibilities. We find ourselves in uncharted territory, overwhelmed, and possibly, in a crisis. 

At Navigate Home, we have assembled a team of vetted professionals who will lock arms with families to help sort through decisions. We offer trusted, local resources; valuable education, and advocate for loved ones. Together with you, we develop a roadmap to safely navigate through this new journey. 

Some of the frequently addressed topics for our team are: 

  • What are Your End-of-Life Wishes? 

  • Do you have a Durable Power of Attorney? 

  • An appointment with a Financial Planner can establish an ideal budget to ensure funds will be available 

  • Sensory changes, such as poor eyesight or difficulty hearing can greatly impact balance & safety 

  • Setting up living spaces, with as few safety obstacles as possible, will help reduce risks of injury 

  • Do You have Long-Term Care Insurance, or another plan, in case Long-Term Care is required? 

  • Have You made sure that all Documents and Contacts are Current?  

  • Do You know Where to Find these Documents & Contacts? 

As you can see, and as many of us already know from personal experience, helping an older parent in the winter season of life can be a complicated endeavor. Our team walks along with families, together we help sort through decisions, we offer trusted resources, valuable education, and advocate for loved ones. 

 

Meet the Founders

 

McBein-Russell

Meet Kim Russell and Valerie McBain, the founders of Navigate Home.  

As the daughter of Marye Miller, Kim grew up serving Seniors her entire life. {For those who may not recognize Marye’s name, she is the founding director behind the phenomenal OPC (Older Persons Commission) in Rochester, MI.} From providing help with household chores at a young age to loving & caring for her aging grandparents, Kim is driven to finding approachable and informative resources she can trust to respectfully assist those facing crisis & challenges.  

Being raised the daughter of a teacher (mother) and an engineer (father), Valerie grew up valuing education and helping to find solutions for others. As a Realtor, she met elderly clients needing to move for health & safety reasons but feeling too overwhelmed with the challenge to begin the process. Valerie was puzzling through this dilemma when she met Kim at a business networking event in Rochester. 

Kim & Valerie quickly realized they shared core values of being a service to others. After discussing Valerie’s goal to find solutions for her clients, they realized they could help many others struggling with similar challenges. The friends decided to create a way to help Senior Citizens navigate through the everchanging emotional & physical needs. Navigate Home provides a roadmap to help loved ones that are aging during this stressful and chaotic time. To have a team of trusted professionals guide, simplify & streamline the process of all the decisions that must be made in housing, home care, finances, or legal issues and to restore joy, purpose and value throughout end of life.  

Valerie & Kim started Navigate Home in 2019 by reaching out to professionals they knew, who have similar core values, that they trusted to work with their loved ones. Events were held where a panel of Navigate Home experts answered questions from the audience on a variety of topics related to aging. Unfortunately, the pandemic of 2020 put an end to these in person events so Navigate Home switched to virtual presentations on our Facebook page. Now these presentations are accessible through our website library.  

Val and Kim Signatures