Des Moines Senior AdvisorWho is behind Des Moines Senior Advisor?
Des Moines Senior Advisor is a privately owned referral and guidance service for older adults and families in Polk, Dallas, Warren, Jasper, Madison and Guthrie counties; it is not connected to DIAL, Iowa HHS, any area agency on aging or any care provider, and it owns no facilities.
Two things sit behind the pages. The first is research: Iowa Code 231C and the DIAL rules read line by line, the Iowa HHS rules for the Elderly Waiver, and DIAL's own public reports on every program in the six counties, each tied to its source. The second is an advisor, Cindy, who talks with families about mornings, medications, money and who visits on Sundays, then narrows the roster to a handful of certified places worth touring.
Who pays Des Moines Senior Advisor, and how does that affect the advice?
Senior living communities that work with referral services pay a fee once a family we introduced moves in; a family pays us nothing, now or later.
Being paid by communities is a real conflict of interest, and we would rather name it than hide it. The safeguard is that the directory is complete: all 79 certified assisted living programs and every licensed nursing facility in the metro appear with identical fields, whether or not a community works with us. If we suggest a program, we should be able to point to its certificate, its last DIAL visit, its fines record or its CMS figures as reasons. Hold us to that.
What is in the Des Moines directory, and what is deliberately missing?
Every program and facility on DIAL's public Entity Report for Polk, Dallas, Warren, Jasper, Madison and Guthrie counties is in it, with certificate or license numbers, units or beds, the dementia-specific designation, roughly when DIAL last visited, Iowa's state fines since January 2023 and, for nursing facilities, CMS's ratings.
Missing on purpose: online reviews, amenities copied from brochures, and any score we would have to invent. Missing because nobody publishes it: a Des Moines price median and a memory care price median. In those gaps the pages say so plainly and tell you which question to ask a program directly.
How do families or facilities reach Des Moines Senior Advisor?
Email advisors@desmoinessenioradvisor.com, call (515) 316-1912, or answer the short care-match questions on any page and an advisor will follow up; facility operators who notice a display error in their state data can use the same address.
In an emergency, call 911. To report possible abuse of a dependent adult living at home in Iowa, call Iowa HHS at 1-800-362-2178; abuse in a certified program or licensed facility can also be reported to DIAL.
Which part of central Iowa does Des Moines Senior Advisor cover?
Polk County (Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston, Clive, Altoona, Pleasant Hill and the rest), Dallas County (West Des Moines, Waukee, Adel and Perry), Warren County (Indianola, Norwalk and Carlisle), Jasper County (Newton), Madison County (Winterset) and Guthrie County (Guthrie Center and Panora).
Story, Boone and Marion counties are outside our directory, even though they share an aging agency and the PACE service area with our counties.
Side by side
| Des Moines Senior Advisor is | Des Moines Senior Advisor is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Role | A guide to central Iowa options and an introduction service | A care provider, DIAL or Iowa HHS |
| Evidence | Iowa Code 231C, 481 IAC 67 and 69, DIAL reports, CMS data | Reviews, ads or paid rankings |
| Money | Paid by communities after a referred family moves in | Paid by families, at any point |
