We all desire the best for our loved ones – that goes without saying. Yet sometimes when families are involved with an older loved one’s care, feelings about what is best may clash. This can lead family members to work against each other as opposed to working together. This is when it’s usually a good idea to pull in an outside person like a geriatric care manager (GCM), one who is familiar with what older people need for long-term care and how to approach getting this care.
Geriatric care managers (or aging life care professionals, which is the more modern term) have the experience needed to assist families in determining what kind of care an elderly person needs and how to most efficiently coordinate long-term care. They can also function as intermediaries when sons, daughters, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, etc. find themselves at odds when trying to plan eldercare for their loved one.
Think of a geriatric care manager as a “professional family member,” commonly a nurse or social worker, with vast knowledge of all of the available resources to assist seniors with a variety of needs and challenges. Wondering how geriatric care managers help? Here are just a few of the countless ways they can provide assistance:
- Helping families deal with complex discussions and problems
- Dealing with emotional needs
- Collaborating with other care professionals, such as a senior’s medical team
- Visiting the home to evaluate needs and recommend appropriate services
- Creating both short-term and long-term care plans and goals
- Offering much-needed relief to overwhelmed family caregivers
Make sure to get the responses to these questions from potential geriatric care managers:
- Are you licensed?
- How much experience do you have as a geriatric care manager?
- What will happen if I have an emergency after-hours?
- Do you have references I can get in touch with?
- Does your company also offer home care services?
Geriatric Care Managers and Home Care
One of the advantages of using a geriatric care manager to help coordinate care is that GCMs are specialists who are trained to work with a number of differing types of people and businesses. A GCM can help coordinate health care, work with legal professionals and coordinate with your chosen home care agency. Home care agencies, like Live Well at Home, work seamlessly with geriatric care managers to help ease family stress and boost quality of life in the home.
If your loved one lives in Folsom, the professionals at Live Well at Home would be pleased to discuss with you how best to go about coordinating care. Call us at 800-478-1209 to learn how to get started with home care in Folsom or the surrounding area.