Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 • care managerChicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

No Vaccine for the Other Plague
You’re fortunate that you haven’t contracted COVID, and you may even have received your first dose of a vaccine,...
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February 16, 2021
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What Tony Bennett Can Teach Us
Tony Bennet has arguably been one of those “one in a million” kind of musical talents, but sadly he...
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February 9, 2021
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Scamming as a Superspreader
We have all seen the advertisements for the on-line services that will help you find your ancestry by taking...
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February 2, 2021
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Until the Vaccine?
We have all been following the news on vaccine rollouts, and frankly you may have been as disappointed as...
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January 26, 2021
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Better than a Resolution
After nearly a year of a pandemic and its quarantine, we are all ready to get back to normal. ...
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January 12, 2021
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How the COVID Vaccines Work
If you’re like me, you have been following too much news on the pandemic, but hopefully you also have...
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December 15, 2020
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Too Good to Be True
With over 300 clinical trials on vaccines for COVID19, it perhaps is not a surprise that at least two...
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December 1, 2020
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The Other Global Health Crisis
Wearing a face mask is the new front line of defense against the spread of the war on COVID-19,...
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November 17, 2020
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One More Sign of COVID?
I have written about Alzheimer’s disease…a lot, its warning signs and caregiving probably more than any other topic. Even...
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October 6, 2020
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None of the Above…
While everyone is awaiting the next vaccine to prevent COVID-19 or help in the treatment of the condition among...
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September 29, 2020
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

If you think being a caregiver to an older loved one is hard--with all the trips to help them do laundry, the meals prepared, the trips to the grocery store, the calls received all hours of the day or night--try doing all of that across town or across the country One of every seven of the more than 44 million caregivers in America is a “distance caregiver.” That’s about six to seven million caregivers. And one in four lives 20 minutes or more away from the loved one in need. “Distance” does not have to be miles and miles away, because the local family member who has a job or has a spouse or has kids…or maybe would like to have a life can be just as challenged as the son or daughter time zones away. Distance caregiving carries its own set of unique stressors tied to the challenges of absence and logistics. But there are ways to make it work and to make it less stressful. There are interpersonal tools that can make the caregiving more effective and easier for the distance caregiver:
- Cultivate legal, financial and health resources close to your loved one
- Plan and coordinate visits from other friends or family members to your loved one
- Empower your care receiver to “own the choices” surrounding their support
- Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Leverage the technology of the 21^st century:
- Schedule a daily, regular time for talking with your care receiver
- Use an app for face-to-face communication
- Install smart devices that allow you to monitor home temperature and locks
- Give your care receiver a wearable monitor for vitals and emergency calls
- Place home cameras for security and to track medication adherence.
Not all tech is easy at first, so give yourself and your loved one a learning curve to become more proficient. Inform local members of their care team about any monitoring that will inform their tasks. In my next installment I’ll offer some tips on how to take a proactive role on the health care team while also keeping your care receiver empowered. If you are one of the 44 million or know someone who is, please stay tuned… Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
If you are like millions of folks in this country, you might be counting the days until Thanksgiving. Typically this creates a minor panic considering all the preparation most of us put into making the holiday happen. If you are a caregiver, it can be about more than meal preparations; it can also be about taking the opportunity for a "wellness check" on an elder mom or dad or other elderly loved one. I will talk about special food considerations in another posting, but let me offer some tips on what you can check to make sure the senior in your orbit is still in great shape.

First, it is important to recognize that we all - and I mean all - forget some things some of the time. So this short check list goes beyond the normal slips that will affect us all, regardless of age. Here are six suggestions on what to note when you all gather for the feast:
1. If you are gathering at your elderly loved one's place, you have an opportunity to check out what is in their refrigerator. Look for items that are well beyond an expiration date or simply have become a science experiment.
2. If they still drive a car, you may volunteer to run some errands. Use the opportunity to see that the tires are fully-inflated, the oil has been changed, the brakes are in good working order, etc.
3. While I certainly don't recommend a white glove inspection, you will probably be able to see if the place looks as tidy and orderly as you remember it from last year and years gone by.
4. If your senior owns a pet, does the animal appear healthy and well cared for? You may want to check to see if the tags show current vaccines.
5. If you have a chance to talk with neighbors or friends who see your older relative throughout the year, try to enlist their help in looking out for that relative, especially since you may not be around but a few times a year.
6. Holidays are a time for catching up and sharing news. If your older relative repeats the same story within a single conversation, make note of it as short term memory loss is a sign of dementia.
7. Take note of personal hygiene. Seniors are entitled to hang on to a favorite sweater or other item because they simply are attached to it, but you will notice if hygiene is becoming a bit lax.
8. Finally, just ask. You can show your willingness to help in any number of ways and make a list. Keep in mind, they may feel comfortable just letting you know if they have not felt quite right lately.
With all of this, make sure you have a good line of communication with siblings or others in the family so that you all can compare notes. You want to be helpful, not alarming.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to ccbishop@creativecasemanagement.com.Learn more about What We Do and how we can help you support your loved one.
Deciding on whether to move and then deciding which senior residential option is best can be stressful for a senior and a caregiver, and then comes the move. It is not as easy as packing a son or daughter off to college, because relocating an older adult is really about packing up the possessions of a lifetime. Moving day and its run-up can be challenging with all there is to organize and coordinate, but fortunately there actually are experts trained in helping to make the move smoother and less stressful. These professionals know that the move and its associated packing is more than just moving furniture.

As a geriatric care manager I am not only called on to help facilitate good choices of a facility, but also to lend a hand or an ear in my role as resource, counselor, advocate, and local friend throughout a move. There also is the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM); check out their web site. NASMM (pronounced NAS-em) is – in their words - a not-for-profit, professional association of organizations dedicated to assisting older adults and families with the physical and emotional demands of later life living including downsizing, relocating, or modifying their homes.

They offer some helpful advice to elders considering a move along with their caregivers. For instance, they suggest considering an option that focuses on the older adult simply “aging in place” rather than moving to a new physical environment. In either case, a change to a downsized living environment can be in order, and they assist in developing a space design.

When you as a caregiver alone or with the assistance of a senior mover help an elder in this transition think about what you will do or contract for:
- Arranging for the profitable disposal of unwanted items through auction, estate sale, buy-out, consignment, donation, or a combination of the these
- Interviewing, scheduling and overseeing movers
- Arranging shipments and storage
- Supervising and overseeing of professional packing
- Unpacking and setting up the new home
- Coordinating cleaning, waste removal, shopping, senior escort
- Assisting with selection of a realtor and helping prepare the home to be sold.
As you look to possible help from the outside or what you will do as a caregiver, it is important to remember that it is not just about moving things - it is about relocating memories. One caregiver I know recounts the story of helping his mother transition to an independent living community and the entire day it took to empty and organize just one closet. The explanation was simple. Every file and every box had a story, and having someone available to share the stories, putting some to rest and packing others carefully for the move required time.

So, while some may think of moving day as a lot of heavy lifting, it really is more about helping to preserve a biography and to share a history of place and life. Make sure you plan enough time for transitioning all the memories.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families throughout metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to Charlotte Bishop.

Copyright ©2011
While it has been a fairly temperate season where we live and work, not all parts of the world have been spared the heat of summer. As we approach the dog days of summer - August - it may be helpful to offer a reminder on why older loved ones need some seasonal caregiver help in staying hydrated. A good place to start is in reviewing why older adults, as we have experienced in geriatric care management, are actually more at risk for dehydration than younger individuals. An older person’s abilities to retain water and recognize when they are being depleted of water are often diminished.
1. Just as with other sensory capabilities, an older adult’s sense of thirst may have weakened, so they just won't feel the warning signs as a younger person would.
2. On top of that, their sense of taste and hunger are both reduced, so they tend to salt their food more because that enhances taste, yet they will still eat less. This reduces fluid intake, because much of the water we ingest comes from the fruits or vegetables we consume.
3. Because we all tend to eat or drink around meals or at a table with other people, the isolation that many older adults experience takes away opportunities not just to socialize but also to hydrate.
4. As I have pointed out in other postings, older adults tend to have more chronic conditions such as diabetes, alcoholism or elevated blood pressure, and the conditions and/or their medications tend to deplete older adults of their body fluid.
5. If your older loved one has followed the migrations of many, they have left the colder northern climates for places like Florida, Texas or Arizona. However, they take their food and fluid intake habits with them. This exposes them to more dehydrating heat with similar historical water intake from their colder origins.
If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, be aware of how much fluid your loved one takes in on a daily basis. This is not about being the guardian of the water, but it is about asking good questions and offering gently encouraging words about fluid intake. Watch for signs of dehydration like frequent licking of the lips, infrequent toileting trips, lack of appetite or maybe even some amount of disorientation. But don’t overdo it. Older adults also can over-hydrate - although not as commonly - which can be as disturbing to their electrolytic balance as dehydration. And if you cannot be present, it may be helpful to have a hired geriatric care management professional make wellness checks, especially during the height of summer. If nothing else, it can be a time for social interaction which cannot help but spark their food and water intake as well as their intellectual and psychological well-being. Just as a coffee break most often is more than just about the coffee, a water break is more than just about the water. Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.
Yes, you read it right. I am posting this one about what caregivers should know about their Medicare. But you may ask, aren't home caregivers the ones supporting an older loved one...typically a family member? Well, yes, it is true that caregivers typically are caring for an older person; even older caregivers are caring for an older partner. But the average age of caregivers also is rapidly growing, with the average age of a caregiver who looks after a 65+ year old loved one at 63 years old. In fact, the average age of a caregiver today is about three years older than the typical caregiver of just eight years ago. Welcome to the mature boomers' generation. So, caregivers who approach or move beyond age 65 should be concerned with all the issues that have confronted aging Americans all along, like Medicare, for instance. And aging caregivers may not be paying attention if they are still in the workforce as growing numbers of people are. And that seem fine as long as they are employed and their employer keeps them on the group health plan, right? Wrong! If you are age-qualified for Medicare, you need to enroll as soon as you can. So, as soon as you turn 65, you should sign up for Medicare Part B which will cover your outpatient services. Or, if you stay with the employer, you still need to sign-up for Medicare within eight months of your retirement. If you do not enroll in Medicare during the predetermined time frames, you will face waiting periods just to enroll. And then you will face a waiting period for the coverage to kick-in. And here is the kicker. If you maintain your employer's coverage thinking that is all you need, you will be in for a surprise once you submit your first claim if you had been eligible for Medicare - but had not enrolled. Your commercial insurer will consider their coverage now to be your supplemental coverage, honoring only what Medicare would not cover. So, you would be one of those who have paid for the commercial insurance, but it will cover only a very small part of your bill. So, pay attention to your Medicare enrollment period regardless of your employment status. You are eligible to enroll in Medicare three months ahead of the month of your 65th birthday through three months after. And by the by, you will pay a penalty for every 12 months you delay enrollment beyond your 65th birthday month., That amounts to a 10% per 12 month period over the normal Part B premium permanently. So family or home caregivers, enjoy working as long as you wish or must, but pay attention to your calendar, because Medicare certainly will be watching for your birthday! Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends senior health services to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com
Be honest if you’re a caregiver and you can answer YES to more than one of these questions. Sit tight if you can affirm more than one per set.
- Do you feel depressed? Sluggish? Physically Drained? Have Hopeless thoughts?
- Do you feel isolated from your own support system? How long has it been since you’ve been carefree and social?
- Do you find yourself mad about “the little things”? Perspective getting tough to keep?
- Do you find yourself either punishing yourself more or needing more compassion than usual? Do you feel guilty for being independent?
Here come the Holidays, with stress enough to bowl anyone over, but for caregivers, they can be particularly exhausting. Lots of stuff to worry about “going right” for the rest of the family while keeping an eye out for the care receiver. You may also be worried about staving off any old, unresolved family tensions. Who wouldn’t be exhausted just preparing? First things first. You’re doing a great job, and I know you don’t want to hear this, I know you’re tired of NOT hearing it, and I know you’re not sure if it’s worth the trouble of telling someone else how to do what you already know how to do. You deserve respite care. And you can have it. Respite care comes in a few packages:
- Geriatric Care Managers – That’s us at Creative Care Management. Among many helpful options, we coordinate services using experience and trusted relationships so that you can relax when someone else is taking the wheel. We’re happy to help, but you should know your options, and you can start by searching for GCMs in your area here.
- Adult Day Care Centers – These facilities provide a safe environment either for a few hours at a time, or for a full day while a primary caregiver is elsewhere.
- Home Care/Home Health Agencies– These non-medical service providers make home visits and give care so you can catch your breath. Home health can also manage tasks like meals or laundry, or help with smaller errands, like shopping.
Friends and community can also be great, inexpensive resources; however, as they’re on a volunteer basis, they’re not as dependable as professional resources. If your loved one is independent enough, a senior center can also provide enough respite to rebalance. You deserve to have the best holiday available this year. Your loved one deserves you to be at your best. More than anything, if you think you need the break that respite care can provide, pick up the phone and call someone. I’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, and if I can’t help you directly, I’ll help find someone who can. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Professional and a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.