Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 • family caregiversChicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

Your Flight to Nowhere is Boarding
You have probably put off a vacation or most any travel for more than a year with the threat...
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August 10, 2021
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The Side Effects Physicians Don’t Talk About
You all have heard about the side effects of FDA-approved medications that make their sales pitches on your television. ...
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June 29, 2021
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Breaking News for Alzheimer’s … part 1
The big splash on the medical news this past week gratifyingly was not COVID-19, but instead an approval of...
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June 15, 2021
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Three Milion More Victims…
We see the numbers on a daily basis. How many have died from COVID, to date, we all probably...
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April 27, 2021
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8
Not Just Spring…
We’ve heard of Spring Training for those who follow baseball teams like the CUBS or the SOX, and we...
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April 13, 2021
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As If COVID Were Not Enough
We’ve all heard about COVID’s symptoms…the GI upset, the shortness of breath, the fever, the added symptoms of the...
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March 30, 2021
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Diseases that Mimic Dementia…But Are Treatable-part 3
As you can tell from now a third installment about other medical conditions that can mimic dementia, it’s not...
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March 22, 2021
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Can I Have A Hug?
I doubt there is anyone who does not have something that they have not been able to do during...
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March 4, 2021
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A Game Where Everyone Wins
Pick your metaphor. If you want your knife to slice easier, you sharpen it. If you want to improve...
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March 2, 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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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

When Medicare is defrauded by crooked providers, pharmacists, or any person posing as an expert who can make a telephone call or door to door solicitation, we all lose. Our tax dollars foot the bills. Anyone keeping an eye out for an elderly loved one knows the usual scams. The challenge is that the crooked folks keep coming up with new ploys to dupe Medicare recipients, and Medicare processes 4.4 million claims each day, all of which must be paid within 30 days. If you are a caregiver to a Medicare beneficiary or you, yourself are “of an age,” here are some of the latest scams.
1. Bait and Switch Okay, the notion of offering something that appears legitimate and of value, but then swapping it for something worth a lot less is not new. The latest scam, however, is new in that it promises a new high-tech osteoarthritis kit that “Medicare will reimburse.” So, the scammers promise state of the art, but they deliver cheap Velcro braces. And they bill Medicare for the high-end goods.
2. No Place Like Home Along the same lines of the bait and switch for arthritis, scammers have been known to deliver health services or other domestic help services to Medicare beneficiaries in their homes. But it is when the scammers turn around and up-bill Medicare for more costly professional services that the taxpayers get taken for a ride.
3. Mental Wealth Still another scam involves mental health services in outpatient settings. Medicare recipients are referred to an outpatient facility that in reality is just a social gathering. Socialization is good for one’s mental health, but the scammers up-charge Medicare for a psychological consultation instead. And as with the other scams, the taxpayers pick up the tab.
Medicare paid nearly one-quarter trillion dollars in 2013-the latest data available, and estimates of fraud range from 10% of this total to as high as 30%, but there are measures we all can take to help address these criminal activities. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommend: • Know your coverage under Medicare so that you are not duped by scammers. • Guard your Medicare number as closely as you do your social security number. • Beware of any medical service provider who reaches out to you unsolicited. • Ask your personal physician about any and all service or device prescriptions. • Scrutinize your monthly Medicare statements for anything unusual. • Say something if you see something…don’t hesitate to call 1-800-MEDICARE. All of this will help you or an older loved one to not fall victim to scammers, and it will keep the money with the taxpayers instead of the scammers. 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.
Today’s guest post comes from David Tuggle, a Central Illinois attorney with the firm of Tuggle, Schiro & Lichtenberger. They focus on Social Security Disability law and Personal Injury. In 2004, colleagues ranked him in the top 5% of attorneys practicing in those areas. You might spend most of your life thinking about Social Security as a deduction from your paycheck, a massive government program and a retirement income supplement. When you face the challenges of arranging senior care for a family member, however, you should know there is much more to it. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has two distinct programs designed to help people stay afloat economically when they have disabilities that prevent them from working. Those are the Social Security Disability Insurance Program (SSD) and the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI). It’s understandable if navigating these programs feels overwhelming. Social Security, after all, is a vexingly large and complex system. The SSA reported granting $883 billion in benefits to 60 million Americans in 2015. But to bring you clarity on what might help a family member with disabilities, let’s break down the differences between the SSD and SSI components of Social Security. Social Security Disability The SSA provides relief to people knocked out of the workforce by the onset of disabilities through its Social Security Disability program. The crucial distinction here is that SSD is for people who have worked and paid into the Social Security trust fund. Having those paycheck deductions means you’ve paid for this insurance. You qualify based on how long you worked and paid into the system. The required length of work varies with your age. You also have to show that your medical condition will last at least a year, or that it will lead to your death. In 2015, the SSA counted 9 million beneficiaries in the program. It also covered 2 million dependents of people unable to work because of disabilities. In total it spent more than $11 billion. The average monthly payment was $1,166. It might not sound like a lot of live on, but it can provide incredible reassurance to someone who can’t work. And that’s a situation the SSA warns many of us could face. In its informational materials, the SSA says, “Disability is something most people don’t like to think about. But the chances that you’ll become disabled probably are greater than you realize.” The agency projects more than a quarter of current 20-year-olds will experience disabilities by the time they turn 67. And a wide majority of the private sector workforce – 67 percent – has no other long-term disability insurance. Supplemental Security Income Program The SSI program, meanwhile, is designed for people with low income and few resources or possessions, so it’s not tied to work history. It includes several guidelines to determine if your income and assets are small enough to qualify. The federal government uses general tax revenues – not those Social Security paycheck deductions - to fund it. SSI provides monthly payments to people with disabilities, people who are blind and those who are 65 or older. It pays a set monthly amount, which currently stands at $733 for an individual and $1,100 for a married couple. The total cost is estimated to be almost $60 billion a year for 8.2 million recipients. Many states also provide supplemental benefits. Those amounts vary by state. Finding your way through the SSA system If you are navigating these programs, it can be daunting. With SSD, for example, most people get denied when they first apply. The SSA has a four-step appeals process that can lead to better results, but it’s not unusual to face months-long waits. If you’re working through this process for yourself or a loved one, having an expert who knows the system can ease your efforts. And along the way, you will learn a lot about how Social Security is much more than a national retirement plan. 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.
In past postings I have talked about the very difficult conversation caregivers can have with their older parents or loved ones who are no longer safe behind the wheel. The rate of per mile casualties for drivers 75 and over escalates rapidly, approaching and then exceeding that of under 20 year old male drivers. How does one tactfully and sensitively talk with an older adult into giving up the keys of that four-wheel machine that is so entwined with their sense of independence. But should we feel safer after that awkward conversation and our older loved one is back to curbside as a full-time pedestrian? Not necessarily. According to recent national statistics, fully 19 percent of all pedestrian traffic fatalities involved adults 65 years of age or older. Translated, a 65+ year old's chances of being killed in traffic while walking is fifty percent higher than other younger pedestrians. Some of you may see that and jump to the conclusion that well, that is an urban problem...not a suburban or rural one. Not so. The data show that pedestrians in small towns are more likely to be killed or injured than those in more urban or metropolitan areas. And a majority of all pedestrian, auto or cycle fatalities occurred in rural areas. Every two hours a pedestrian in America is killed. There is an initiative in both national houses to introduce new legislation to address the issues in an law known as the Safe Streets Act. It is all about smarter planning of American's streets and sidewalks so that at least the new road or walkway construction will be safer for older adults. And there are new safe street policies being embraced by more than 600 city and county governances across the United States. While there are national and local governmental moves afoot to make streets and sidewalks safer for pedestrians, that alone may not make your older loved one safe enough. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one who is a full- or part-time pedestrian, you should not feel that you need to take your loved one off the sidewalk to protect them. But you can help them to improve their "pedestrian fitness." For starters, have their hearing checked as part of a regular physical exam. If your loved one can hear something coming from a roadway, they will have a much better chance of finding safe ground than if not. By the same token, have their visual acuity checked yearly to make sure the glasses they may wear are sufficient to see the number of seconds left on the crosswalk light. Finally, your loved one does not need to go through training to be an Olympic runner or walker, but they need to have the best gait possible. As adults age, they point decline from a slow walk to a shuffle which is an accidental fall waiting to happen or an inability to get out of the way of oncoming traffic waiting to happen. See if their physician can write a prescription for physical therapy. 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.
Count slowly from one to sixty-seven…one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three… By the time you reach 67, one more person in the United States will have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. In fact, one in three Americans will die with Alzheimer’s Disease. I have talked in the past about new diagnostic breakthroughs and some pharmacological and nutritional and other ways to modestly stave off the progression of this disease, but the fact is that there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s remains the only disease in the top ten causes of death in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed. But from the perspective of geriatric care management, it is not just the patient with the disease that requires help; it is their families and other caregivers in their orbits. To that end, I would like to share a brief overview of some of the resources available to support all the individuals who need help when this disease strikes:
1. Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregiver Center (http://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-support-help.asp ) is an arm of the Association that has done the most to help patients with the disease as well. The Center provides training and other resources to caregivers as well las a 24-hour telephone hotline.
2. Family Caregiver Alliance(https://www.caregiver.org/national-center-caregiving) offers families resources at the local, state and national level. Not all locales may be covered, but their information and other resources at the national level can be a real asset to families.
3. Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (http://www.rosalynncarter.org) offers training and education going beyond basic pamphlets. They do peer-reviewed literature searches across a host of related topics as well as sponsorship of researcher into interventions that work.
4. Eldercare Locator (http://www.eldercare.gov/eldercare.NET/Public/index.aspx ) is funded by the U.S. government and provides a unique matrix resource approach to resources nation-wide. From their web site one can search a range of service types by zip code to find specific services in your own locale.
And, of course, the Aging Life Care Association (https://www.aginglifecare.org) helps visitors to their web site with a Care Finder down to the specific zip code level. If you reflect back on other public health challenges where cures ultimately have been found, they all started with building from the grass roots a support system that not only supported the patients and their families, but also the march to a cure. It takes a village. 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.
If I were to ask for a show of hands, I suspect nearly all would want their older loved ones to live long. We hear stories with some regularity about someone who is 100+ years old, and I have written about “super-agers.” I am going to share ten tips for healthy aging. Spoiler alert…the “aging” part is pretty easy if one attends to the “healthy” part. You may recall from my post about super-agers that a defining trait is that they may be 70 or 80 years old, but they have the cognitive or physical characteristics of a person decades younger. I had a client whom I remember most for her comment at her 100^th birthday party when she giggled a bit and remarked: “I guess I can start on my second century.” And she did! If you are hoping for a longer age span for your older loved ones…or yourself, a lot of it is about choices more than genes. Let me to share some tips:
1. Stress reduction – We all can agree that stress reduction is important at any age, but for our older loved ones stress actually can damage brain cells, precipitate depression, diminish our immune response to infection and even impair memory. A person is never too old to benefit from “talk therapy,” practice relaxation therapy or take up yoga. And just keep things in perspective…don’t sweat the small stuff.
2. Prevention is better than a cure – It is more than the annual flu vaccine, but that is as important as good hand washing hygiene. It is important for your older loved ones to get their vision and hearing checked regularly. And do a home safety test to see if your loved one’s home is still “user friendly” as the “user” ages in place.
3. Health is a lifestyle – We all can complain about the cost of health insurance or medical care or medications. The fact is that most of your older loved one’s health is about their lifestyle. And when they do have a doctor’s visit, make the most of it with lists of their meds and most important any questions they may have.
4. Engage others – Reading a good book is great, but participating in a book club is even healthier for your older loved one. Getting involved in community events, committee work or a trip with friends and anything that gets a person out of the house and engaged is an investment in longevity.
5. Sleep more than food – Humans are able to last longer without a meal than without sleep, and this does not change as they age. Some older adults talk about not needing as much sleep as they age, but what they really are saying is that they have more difficulty sleeping longer. Encourage good sleep habits that include 7 to 9 hours a night, just like we would encourage our kids to do.
To cover all ten tips, I am going to continue this into next week’s post. So, to learn more about living well…and therefore longer…please check out my post next week. 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.
At CCM, home and safety are as important to us as to you, so it’s no surprise that it’s a frequent topic in our discussions. I have asked Gregory Peebles to talk about home safety from the vantage point of his experience. Gregory is both a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) whose work focuses on helping older adults and those who are less independent by providing resources and support to help them live their best life. An Associate Care Manager, Gregory has been a part of our team for over a decade. – Charlotte Home. Not only is there no place like it, conveniently located wherever you hang your hat, but it also fits--like an old, comfortable shoe. One of the things that makes “home” high on our list of favorite places is that home is where things work the way we expect them to work. Reach for it, and whatever it is will be their at your fingertips. We don’t have to think! (or so we (don’t) think…). We just do. But comfort can be a slippery slope, and it can get us into all kinds of unplanned trouble. As our older loved ones age, inconveniences in the home can turn into safety hazards. As we watch our parents age, we begin to feel deeply our own mortality and—if we’re not careful—to slip into a pattern of denial, the manifestation of which is the attempt to keep life as it exists in our memories perhaps longer than is advised, all to maintain comfort and status quo. Ironically, this attempt to maintain status quo may end up as a major catalyst to change in our lives unless we bring some consciousness to our scenario. So we need to look around, and I mean Really Look – not with the eyes we had when we were children in the house, or the eyes we had while we were rearing children, because those eyes both literally and figuratively no longer exist. What do we see? Here’s what I see most when I’m asked for advice: Stairs
- Steep stairs are not only difficult to manage for less-abled bodies, but they are a huge fall risk.
- Depending on where the family is in its journey, hand rails may be enough, but a stair lift may be necessary.
Cords
- The serpent of the salon, these may be “hiding in plain sight” ready to cause a fall.
- Make sure all floor surfaces are clear in trafficked areas, and, if carpeted, no holes worn through.
Mats
- Scatter rugs become “shatter rugs” if not well-secured to the floor.
- Use adhesives to secure in place, or get rid of any unnecessary rugs.
Washroom
- Water, rugs, and ceramic or steel surfaces all in one place make this the most accident-prone room in the house.
- Make sure it’s well-lit and that the shower has grip bars for balance, or even a chair for stability.
Kitchen
- Timers for appliances are a godsend in this room; auto-off coffee makers and the like will relieve fire anxiety.
- When cabinets are too high to reach, or too low, they may stretch an older adult’s limits. Make sure everything important is in easy reach.
If you’re all set from this list, but still unsure, call us! We’ll be glad to come out and give a look to ease your mind, or to begin the next conversation. In the next blog post, we’ll give you CCM’s best practices for when a change of address for a loved one may be imminent. 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.