Better care ahead
Find senior care. Apply once.A real person when you want one.
CarePair is free for families. One application reaches every community that fits, nobody sells your information, and a Cardinal advisor is a message away.
Now open in Buffalo and Western New York, Erie, Niagara, and Orleans counties. More cities soon. Bring CarePair to my city
A few questions, then a free account. No credit card, no phone number required.
Application sent
4 communities · 2 have responded
Next: tour at Maple Hollow, Thursday 2:00 pm
- application reaches every community that fits
- 1application reaches every community that fits
- business hours for each community to answer
- 72business hours for each community to answer
- business day until a Cardinal advisor calls you back
- 1business day until a Cardinal advisor calls you back
- what families pay, now and always
- $0what families pay, now and always
Why CarePair exists
The hardest chapter of family life runs on fax machines and sticky notes.
When a parent needs more care, a family becomes a project manager overnight. The hospital gives you 48 hours to choose. Every community wants the same twelve forms in a slightly different order. The doctor’s office faxes. Siblings text in three different threads.
CarePair puts all of it in one calm place. One profile for the person you love. One application that reaches every community that fits. One calendar, one inbox, one set of documents, shared with the people who need them and nobody else.
What you can do
Everything a family needs to manage care, in one account.
One application, every community
Fill out one senior living application. Send it to every community that fits. Each one answers on a clock, and you see every response side by side.
Harriet’s application
sent Tue- Maple Hollow Senior LivingAccepted · tour Thu 2:00
- Riverbend CourtNeeds one more form
- Orchard Park CommonsWaiting · 41 hrs left
- Lakeside GardensAccepted
Find care that fits
Search assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing near you. Filter by county, care level, budget, Medicaid, and ALP.
One calendar for everyone
Doctor visits, tours, phone calls, and follow-ups in one place your whole family can see.
Messages that stay attached
Communities, your advisor, and your family, in threads tied to the person you are caring for. No more group texts.
Documents, kept safe
Insurance cards, physician forms, and the paperwork every community asks for, encrypted and shared only where you send them.
A care circle, not a solo act
Invite siblings and family with one code. Everyone sees the same plan, the same next step, and the same answers. Decide once, together.
A person when you want one
Apply for concierge. If you are accepted, a Cardinal advisor runs the search with you, free: one application to the communities that fit, tours scheduled, a call within one business day.
How it works
Three steps from overwhelmed to organized.
- 01
Tell us about the person you are caring for
Create a free account and add your parent or loved one. Their profile becomes the one place everything else attaches to.
- 02
Find the care that fits and apply once
Search communities near you, pick the ones that fit, and send one complete application to all of them. Each one responds on a clock, and you see every answer side by side.
- 03
Run the plan from one screen
Tours, appointments, documents, and messages live in one place your whole care circle can see. When you want a human, a Cardinal advisor is a message away.
A person when you want one
A real person answers the phone.
Your advisor is a Senior Care Advisor with Cardinal Care Advisors, the team behind CarePair. On a first call they listen to what changed this week, ask what the doctor has said, and leave you with a short list and one next step.
Concierge with a Cardinal advisor costs your family nothing. You apply first. The community you choose pays us after a private-pay move-in, and never when care is government-funded.
Our mission
Make the next chapter of care navigable for every family, not just the ones who can afford a guide.
CarePair grew out of Cardinal Care Advisors, a senior living advisory practice in Buffalo, New York, and more than a decade of hospital care navigation. We watched the same families hit the same wall, too many forms and too little time, so we built the map. It is free for families because the people who need it most are the least able to pay for it. Communities and care organizations pay, because a complete application saves them real time.
Where we are
Now in Buffalo and Western New York. More cities soon.
Applications and advisors cover Erie, Niagara, and Orleans counties today, with every licensed community from the state directory and the county office that helps for free.
Somewhere else? Tell us your city and we will email you once when we open there.
Erie County
Buffalo, Amherst, Cheektowaga
Erie County Department for the Aging
(716) 858-8526
Senior living in Erie CountyNiagara County
Niagara Falls, Lockport, North Tonawanda
Niagara County Office for the Aging
(716) 438-4020
Senior living in Niagara CountyOrleans County
Albion, Medina, Holley
Orleans County Office for the Aging
(585) 589-3191
Senior living in Orleans County
Directory
Every licensed community in Erie, Niagara, and Orleans counties, with the facts we know.
Assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing by county, with price, Medicaid, and memory care where reported. No account needed to look.
Browse senior livingCare guide
Six questions. A starting point in words you can use with the doctor.
Staying home with support, assisted living, memory care, or skilled nursing. Two minutes, nothing saved, no diagnosis.
Take the guideWho CarePair is for
Built for families first. Trusted by the places that care for them.
Families and caregivers
Adult children, spouses, and anyone holding it together for someone they love.
Free, always. Create an account, add the person you are caring for, and start from wherever you are: just looking, applying now, or managing care at home.
How CarePair works for familiesSenior living communities
Complete, validated applications with the physician’s forms attached. Respond in one click. No fax, no chasing.
For communitiesHospitals and care providers
Discharge planners and care teams join through a private, concierge onboarding with our team.
Talk to our team- Is CarePair really free for families?
- Yes, and it stays free: the directories, the care guide, resources, the calendar, documents, messages, and the care circle. Finding Homeward by Cardinal and the first Homeward call are free too. Communities and care organizations pay Cardinal when a private-pay resident we referred moves in and for the tools that save them time. Families never pay to use CarePair, and no fee is ever charged on a resident whose care is government-funded.
- Will I get sales calls after I sign up?
- No. We do not sell your information or pass your name to a list. The only communities that see your application are the ones you choose to send it to, and they answer inside CarePair.
- Do we need a diagnosis or a doctor's referral to start?
- No. Start with the two-minute care guide or a free account. Physician forms come later, only when a community you are applying to needs them, and they travel straight to that community.
- What if my parent wants to stay home?
- Then start there. Your account holds appointments, providers, and paperwork for care at home, the home care directory lists the licensed agencies in the region from the state directory, and a move only comes up if and when you want it to.
- Which areas do you serve?
- CarePair is built for every family in the country, and Buffalo is where we opened first. Applications, advisors, and the directory cover Erie, Niagara, and Orleans counties today, with every licensed community there from the New York State directory. We open a new city when enough families and communities there ask, so if yours is not open yet, ask for it at trycarepair.com/bring-carepair.
- Who sees my parent's information?
- You, the people you invite, your Cardinal advisor, and the communities you send an application to. Financial details are asked for only after a community offers a place, and only that community sees them.
- Can my brothers and sisters use it too?
- Yes. Invite them with one code. Everyone sees the same plan, the same messages, and the same next step, with roles you set.
- What is concierge, and what does it cost?
- Concierge is the part where a person does the work: a named Cardinal advisor, one application to the communities that fit, tours scheduled, and a call within one business day. For senior living it costs your family nothing. It is by application: you apply in a few minutes, Cardinal Care Advisors reviews it with a short call, and not every family is a fit. If it is not a fit, everything else in CarePair stays free. If you are accepted, you sign a short agreement that says what we do, what we do not do, and how we are paid. Homeward by Cardinal, our help for staying at home, works differently: the first call is a free triage call, and ongoing Homeward support is a paid membership.
From the resource bank
Plain language for the questions that come at midnight.
Local help in Erie, Niagara, and Orleans
Who to call: the official numbers and sites, in one place
The county Office for the Aging numbers for Western New York, the state lines for Medicare, Medicaid, and complaints, and the helplines that answer at any hour. Bookmark this one.
· 3 minute read
Reviewed by Cardinal Care Advisors
Getting started
Levels of care in New York, in plain words
Independent living, assisted living, ALP, enhanced, memory care, skilled nursing, home care, home health. What each one is, who it fits, and how to tell them apart.
· 3 minute read
Reviewed by Cardinal Care Advisors
Paying for care
Paying for care: private pay, insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, VA
Who pays for what, in order of how often it comes up. What Medicare does and does not cover, what Medicaid looks at, and the veterans benefit most families never hear about.
· 3 minute read
Reviewed by Cardinal Care Advisors
One inquiry, no calls you did not ask for
We never sell your information. The only communities that hear from you are the ones you send an application to, and they answer inside CarePair.
Private by design
Health information is encrypted, travels only to the communities you choose, and is never kept longer than it is needed.
Free for families, forever
Families never pay to use CarePair. Communities and care organizations do, because it saves them real time.
A person when you want one
CarePair is software, and behind it is Cardinal Care Advisors. Ask for help and a real advisor answers, in Buffalo first and in each city as we open it.
Start today. It takes two minutes and costs nothing.
Create a free account, add the person you are caring for, and see what a calmer next chapter looks like.