Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 | Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

Part 2: Five Important Tips for Caregiving and Self-Care
In my last post, I gave you some tips on distance caregiving that arguably could be called the 30,000...
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February 18, 2020
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Tips for Distance Caregiving: Up Close and Personal at a Distance
If you think being a caregiver to an older loved one is hard–with all the trips to help them...
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February 4, 2020
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There is an ‘I’ in Caregiver: 5 Tips to Avoid Burnout
We all have heard of coaches exhorting their players to work together by saying “there is no ‘I’ in...
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September 25, 2018
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Singing is a Breath of Fresh Air for Caregivers
Associate Care Manager Gregory is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) whose work focuses on...
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February 12, 2018
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Insta-Gram: It’s a Date!
Associate Care Manager Gregory Peebles returns with a series on the Internet and aging. Gregory is both a Certified...
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September 23, 2017
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

October 29th is World Stroke Awareness Day. We may not be hearing as much about strokes as we once did, because in the United States the incidence of strokes is on the decline. Just under 800,000 people will have a stroke this year, and three-quarters of them will be over the age of 65. The reason the incidence in the United States is on the decline is because Americans are doing a better job of managing their blood pressure and because fewer of us smoke. Because so many of the stroke victims are older adults, it is important for caregivers to help their loved ones to further prevent stroke. With the proper preventive measures fully 80% of strokes could be prevented. Here are some suggestions for preventing strokes:
- Know your loved one's blood pressure; this is a routine part of anyone's annual physical, but you also can get a screening at health fairs or even your retail pharmacy using a machine;
- Know the signs of atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart rate goes so high that it fails to pump blood effectively which can lead to pooling and clot formation;
- Stop smoking - this is just one more very good reason to kick the habit if your loved one has not already done so as smoking doubles a person's stroke risk;
- Monitor your loved one's cholesterol intake and blood levels - any total cholesterol count above 200 is cause for concern;
- Manage blood glucose levels in your loved one if they are a diabetic - one of the complications of diabetes is poor circulation which can lead to stroke;
- Diet and exercise are part of almost every approach to better health - boost your loved one's intake of fruits and vegetables (five portions a day) and reduce intake of trans-fats and salt;
- Manage alcohol intake - most doctors recommend limiting alcohol consumption to two or fewer drinks a day.
The good news about managing these risk factors is that not only will you as a caregiver be reducing your loved one's risk of stroke, but you will be adding to their quality of life as well. In addition, you may find that these healthy habits also are contagious which can results in a healthier caregiver. Stroke prevention can become a win-win! For more information, I recommend checking out the web site for the National Stroke Association (http://www.stroke.org/site/PageNavigator/HOME). 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.
If the classic symbol for Valentine’s Day this past week has been the heart, then the older loved one in your orbit should be their own valentine! By that, I mean they should be taking care of their own heart. I spoke with a gentleman last week who is well only over 70 years old, and he was offering his advice on how to train for a triathlon. I am going to tone it down a bit here and offer some advice from the American Heart Association on a combination of small steps and exercises that can help your older loved one to get into better shape and that goes for more than the heart. From what the American Heart Association recommends, I offer six different exercises that can be done with or without these little guys in the picture. And I encourage your older loved one to take these seven exercises seven times each and then repeat for a total of three times. The first step however is a visit to the physician. If the physician signs off on what the American Heart Association recommends, then you and your loved one are on the way to not only better heart health, but also better fitness overall. Please let me offer a big caveat: ask the physician how many times per week they put into working out. If they do not exercise, you may want to look for a second opinion. Recall my earlier blog posting when I warned against “taking it (too) easy.” You will note that there are no numbers on the weights in my picture here. Find a weight that allows your loved one to successfully complete the seven times for each of the weight exercises…and maybe start with one set of seven per exercise before progressing to three rounds for each. But here are the seven:
1. Arm Raises: With a weight in each hand let the weights down on each side. Then, lift each arm until parallel to the floor. Hold for only a second and then slowly return to arms at sides.
2. Biceps Tone: With arms at the sides and extended, raise the weights up to just touch the front of each shoulder. Lower gently back to fully extended at the sides.
3. Triceps Tone: Starting with a weight in each hand extend arms to the ceiling. Then, gently lower backwards so the weights are behind the head on either side of the neck. Raise vertically again and repeat.
4. Leg Muscles: Without the weights and while sitting, lift a leg from the foot on the floor to the leg parallel to the floor…hold for a few seconds before lowering the foot slowly to the floor. Then try the other leg. Seven times per leg.
5. Stomach Muscles: Again without weights and while sitting lift both feet a few inches off the floor; hold for a few seconds before lowering the feet once again to the floor.
6. Balance: Using a wall or hall rail to steady themselves have your loved one walk heel to toe steps, each foot just ahead of the toe of the other foot for ten steps.
7. Chest stretch: While sitting with their back to a wall, have your loved one clasp their hands behind their neck and gently bring their elbows to touch the wall. Relax and repeat for seven times.
Okay, hit the showers if you wish, and do it again tomorrow. 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.
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When you were young, you may have dreamed of being like Superman or Wonder Woman. They both had remarkable powers that made them more than just better than the average person or even the best among the average humans. They had powers that came from something very special about their makeup, in the former case, well, “super powers.” Scientists at Northwestern University’s School of Medicine are using similar language now to refer to a rather small subset of people who live to be not just over 90 years of age, but some to be old enough to celebrate their 120^thbirthday. They are “Super-Agers.” Are you a super-ager? Well that depends. The physicians involved in the research are looking at a lot of factors that may help make a superager like psychosocial factors, education, family history, genes, physical health and the brain. And they are looking at people over 80years of age who have the memories of those 30 years younger as well as a control group of “average” people. For instance, they have found that super-agers have a thicker cerebral cortex, the important outer layer of the brain responsible for memory, attention, language and thinking. It was thicker than the normal agers, about the same size as members of the younger, middle-aged control group. There were other exceptional facets of the super-agers’ brains such as that part of the brain that controls social behavior. The scientists also have taken blood samples to further assess the DNA of the superager. So, if it is all based on the genes we receive, or as some say the parents we have chosen and that these people may be less numerous than only one of every hundred within the overall population, what’s the point? Well, one of the researchers points out that you don’t have to be the one who has the right genes to live longer. If they find that the superager’s’ genes turn off a certain protein or turn on a certain metabolic process that contributes to longevity, then you don’t have to have better genes to live longer. You just have to have some help to adjust the proteins, the metabolic processes or whatever it is that works the magic. So, there may be good news for us all. If you have an older loved one in your orbit who shows signs of being a superager, encourage them to reach out to NU’s medical school…today. 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.
Because health care – particularly long term care – can be expensive for elders and others with special needs, it is critical that anyone looking for Medicaid qualification take action before June 14, 2011. As a geriatric care manager, we help elders and special needs individuals as well as their caregivers to navigate Medicare, Medicaid and the other entities that provide safety nets for those who qualify.

There are changes in store for Medicaid that may affect who qualifies and how they qualify after June 14 of this year. I had the benefit of sitting in recently on a presentation by an elder law attorney in the Chicago area, Janna Dutton, who helped shed some light on the subject.

Medicaid is mandated by the federal government, but the details of how it applies and how it is financed are the domain of state government. I will be talking in this posting about what we know now about Illinois law as well as what we do not know. So, let’s start with an individual who is seeking to apply for Medicaid in Illinois.

First, of course, that person must be a legal resident, but that part is simple. For Illinois, a resident simply is someone in Illinois (for no specific duration) with no intention of leaving. There is no duration of residency required. To qualify for Medicaid, however, an individual cannot own a home outside Illinois, not even a vacation home. And the individual must be over age 65 or be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits.

Presently, a person will qualify for Medicaid only if they have no more than $2,000 in liquid assets, but this does not include a home (which can be valued at no more than $750,000 if the applicant plans to return home after their stay in a nursing home). State government has a “look back” period of 36 months prior to application. That is, they will “look back” three years at an applicant’s finances to see if there were any expenses or “gifts” that may appear to be efforts to deplete funds for the sake of qualifying for Medicaid. Any suspect monies expended will be added back to existing assets. Anything over the qualifying amount then will be spent before Medicaid contributes to the person’s care.

Exceptions may include “gifts” that have been a longstanding pattern of giving by the applicant (for instance, dollar amounts consistently given to grandchildren upon marriage, graduation, etc.) The date from which the spend-down starts presently is the date of the gift that forced assets to exceed the $2,000. Asset qualifications for applicants may be what will most change after June 14. After June 14 it may be as much as a 60-month look back, and the ineligibility may start at the date of application rather than the gift.

The financial scrutiny also extends to accounts that may be held jointly with a caregiver or relative. The joint account will be considered the exclusive asset of the applicant unless there have been regular deposits to this account by the non-applicant. For this and all accounts, the responsibility for documenting paperwork is that of the applicant.

This is some of what we know, but it is what will change after June 14, 2011, that we cannot fully know. I recommend you seek counsel from a qualified Illinois attorney, and I particularly recommend you go to Janna Dutton’s website for helpful information and advice about this and other elder law issues.

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 Charlotte Bishop.