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So Just What Is A Care Manager?
You recently visited your uncle. He is a widower and lives
alone in his own home and you are the closest relative
he has. He seems happy, alert and interested in life, but
he didn’t have a lot of food and the food he had
seemed stale and old. He mentioned that he thought people
weren’t as friendly as they used to be—he seemed
lonely. His house looked a little shabby and he had some
bruises on his arm. You suggested he might move, but that
is not an option; he is not interested in moving, yet.
You don’t know exactly what to do, but someone suggested
you call a care manager. So just what is a care manager?
Caring
for an older adult can be confusing and requires collecting
information and understanding options. A care
manager works with families—guiding decisions through
a personalized plan, helping people make the best decisions
involving living situations and health care. They can be
particularly helpful when a family is seeking solutions
during a crisis. A care manager can be a social worker,
counselor, nurse, or gerontologist who specializes in assisting
older people and their families. They have extensive knowledge
about the cost, quality and availability of services in
the community and can put together services to assist an
older person.
They can also...
- Conduct care-planning
assessments to identify problems & provide
solutions,
- Screen, arrange & monitor in-home
help or other services,
- Review financial, legal, or medical
issues & offer
referrals to specialists to avoid future problems while
conserving financial resources,
- Provide crisis intervention,
- Act as a
liaison to families at a distance, overseeing care & quickly
alerting families to problems,
- Assist with moving,
- Offer counseling & support,
- They have
extensive knowledge about costs, quality & availability
of community resources.
When should you consider using
a care manger? If a care recipient...
- Leaves the hospital & requires
arrangements for household & care
assistance,
- Experiences a change in health status & can
no longer care for herself/himself,
- Needs more care than
the caregiver can provide,
- Requires help with paying bill,
tracking medication & other
finances,
- The caregiver lives far away.
From Advocate for Elders, www.advocateforelders.com & National
Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, Inc., www.caremanager.org
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