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

A House is Not a Home (Part 3)
At CCM, home and safety are as important to us as to you, so it’s no surprise that it’s...
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June 18, 2017
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Drugs and Birthdays May be Bad Chemistry
Most of us have grown up with the faith that when we have a medical issue, there is likely...
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October 10, 2013
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4 Geriatric Care Manager Tips for Preventing Falls in Older Adults
We as certified geriatric care managers all hear about older adults falling. Caregivers often do not expect their own...
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October 9, 2013
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Four Caregiver Health Safety Tips
I have written a number of blog postings on safety in the home, and most of them have focused...
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September 10, 2013
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Caregiver (Sibling) Rivalry
Raise your hand if you ever had a disagreement with a brother or sister as you were growing up. ...
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September 5, 2013
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Nine Geriatric Care Management Guidelines for the Caregiver
About one in ten American adults, or approximately 44 million people who provide unpaid care to another adult, are...
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September 3, 2013
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Five Geriatric Care Manager Tips for Helping Your Elder Remember
When we as geriatric care managers talk about memory loss and aging, it seems inevitable that the discussion turns...
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August 29, 2013
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Caregivers Need to Prepare for Medicare Too
I recently spoke with one of the financial advisors we list on our Geriatric Care Management Support Tools page,...
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August 28, 2013
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It Is Never “Just” Diabetes
I have again asked our vice president for geriatric care manager services, Steve Steiber, Ph.D. to share his insights,...
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August 21, 2013
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Caregivers Cannot Ask Doctors This Question
I have talked in a lot of my postings about advanced directives and how we all need to prepare...
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August 15, 2013
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

Caregiving is not like a switch that we turn on or off, that we are either caregiving for an older loved one or we are not. What I have found in my work as a geriatric care manager working with family caregivers is that there is a line that is crossed at some point. That line distinguishes what I would term the occasional caregiver from the immersed caregiver; a line that distinguishes the younger daughter or son who routinely looks in on mom or dad from one that suddenly is thrust into a role of scheduling and coordinating care for their loved one. Any caregiver can be caught by surprise when they get the call that mother has fallen and fractured a hip, that dad has had a stroke or that their loved one is hospitalized for any of a number of acute conditions than are suddenly life changing events. But for most caregivers, there are not-so-subtle signs that it is time to become more involved. Note that I said more involved with, not more in control of your loved one's life. One of the reasons that even a loving caregiver may not see the signs that they should be stepping up is that their parent wants to still be in control. The fact is that they can always be in control, but they may need more help with some of life's day to day tasks that are becoming a challenge.
1. Look into the Details. I have talked in other postings about activities of daily living as a number of facets of what we all may take for granted until we begin to lose some our abilities to take care of ourselves. For instance, are there bills that have not been paid on time, are there signs that mom or dad has not been preparing regular meals, do you notice that your older loved one is not keeping up their personal hygiene? Is there slippage? Gently ask to help with some errands or to bring in groceries or cook a meal - perhaps their favorite dish? Remember that you are not taking over; you are just helping out.
2. Become Part of the Conversation. Mom or dad might appreciate a ride to their next doctor's visit, and ask if they have any questions the doctor has not addressed. They may or may not have raised the questions, but they did not track with the answers. And you may have some questions about how well they are managing a chronic condition like diabetes, congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Again, you are not usurping control; you are simply participating because you also care.
3. Everybody Has a Role. As you are seeing what else can be done to help your older loved one, remember to listen for what they want to control and what they are happy to relinquish. Find out from the provider what the larger goals are, and then work with your loved one to devise a game plan in which they actively participate. If they are not an active participant, they will not own the goal. You already have made it possible for them to understand the changes in their health; now make it possible for them to participate in their success.
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 you are a caregiver to an older adult, you may have noticed some of the changes in their bodies, like the wasting of their muscle mass. They may have lost some upper body strength, some of their former endurance in their legs and some of the spring in their step. Muscle cells simply begin to break down over time, but older adults who work out can preserve a much greater percentage of their strength and muscle performance than those who do not exercise. Well, your brain and nervous system run pretty much the same path as the muscle systems as a person ages. The neurons which comprise the nervous system also tend to atrophy, and some nervous pathways just don't work like they did in a younger body. But a person may maintain their mental agility by mentally working out just as physical ability can be preserved and enhanced by hitting the gym. Research shows that older adults who remain socially engaged do better mentally over time than more isolated individuals. Those who read or work crossword puzzles also do better than people who simply watch television or other less-engaging mental activities. There are, of course, factors that cannot be controlled by just more aggressively working out one's mind. Alzheimer's disease and some other forms of dementia will simply intervene and wreck havoc with one's faculties. Other hormonal shifts or chronic diseases also can be the culprits which rob a person of their intellectual capabilities. A person develops hypothyroidism during their career, for instance, is at risk for a whole host of unfortunate side effects if they do not maintain their balance with thyroid supplements. One of those side effects is dementia-like symptoms. Unchecked infections, particularly those of the urinary tract also can cause sudden onset of delirium, so it is important to track the big picture and to also look for other sides of such an infection such as frequent or painful urination. Also, the ability to intellectually process or aberrant behavior can be caused by out of control diabetes. Circulatory or lung issues may starve the brain of much-needed oxygen, manifesting itself in odd behavior or confusion. Mini-strokes - sometimes referred to as transient ischemic attacks or TIAs - also can manifest themselves as confused mental processing or language difficulties. And poor nutrition may impede the healthy function of an older person's brain and nervous system. So, if you are a caregiver, here are some useful steps that I as a geriatric care manager recommend you take to monitor your older loved one's mental health:
- be aware of how much real exercise your older loved one gets routinely;
- be alert to signs of isolation, social disengagement or depression;
- note regularly how well your loved one eats at family meals and how well stocked their pantry and refrigerator are; and
- notice how quickly any given change develops - chances are that the more quickly symptoms show themselves, the less likely the condition is to be dementia.
Remember, getting older is inevitable, but deteriorating is not. Keep a sharp eye for how sharp your older loved one is. 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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There is a lot of advice that goes around for older loved ones in our orbits when we see the first signs of winter setting in, and most parts of the country have seen some near record lows already this season. But there also are some threats to an older person’s well-being that are more a part of the relentless part of winter the longer the season tests us all. We know to help our older loved ones to dress warmly and to avoid ice and more. Here are five threats to look out for as we all endure more of the season for sneezin’:
1. Be vigilant about depression – The severe and sustained cold can make it for harder for older adults to get out and socialize as much as they can in fairer weather. The toll the isolation takes can manifest itself in a situational depression.” If you live at distance from your older loved one, be alert to changes in their demeanor, their voice, their affect. Call on your way home from work or after your lunch…daily contact can be very cheering.
2. Winter is hard on their car – The human body is not the only body that takes a hit with winter cold. If you are able to drop by, check on your older loved one’s windshield wipers, the tire air pressure and the battery as well. Especially if the car does not leave the driveway frequently, the winter can shut down the car. Be aware of your loved one’s capacity to drive on ice and suboptimal road conditions.
3. If the power goes down – Winter storms can take out the power grid and with it your older loved one’s ability to keep refrigerated food cold or even their own bodies warm. Help by checking to be sure there are enough warm blankets and maybe a battery-powered radio or charge stick for their cell phone. This may be another reason to check on your loved one’s with greater frequency as well.
4. Vary the foods available – It’s easy to not visit the grocery story with the same frequency when the weather is the disincentive. Be sure your loved one has a variety of fruits or vegetables. Milk and fish also are a great source of vitamin D as well as leafy veggies. A varied diet also will help them feel the extra perk that can stave off the blues.
5. When you stop by to visit, especially if there has been a significant snow accumulation, check around the exhaust vents of the furnace, the clothes dryer, the fireplace, etc. And be sure that the carbon dioxide and smoke detectors are in place and with fresh batteries.
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.
What do tennis, racket ball and soccer have in common? What do jogging, swimming and biking have in common? You may see that you need at least one partner for each of the first three, and the other three are pretty much solo activities. But the other point is that people who participate in the first three tend, on average, to live longer than the people who participate in the latter three. They are all good forms of exercise and all contribute to longevity, but the team activities just do a better job of giving us more birthdays according to a number of research studies. A 2017 study that followed 80,000 British men and women showed that those who played racket sports outlived those who were joggers. They originally had used this research to identify if the duration, strain or amount of jogging showed any differences in longevity, and the answer was yes those who were in the “happy medium” – not too strenuous and not too gentle - did live longer. On closer examination they further uncovered the greater benefit of racket sports over the solo sport of running. The researchers looked to even more data to see if this general pattern would hold in other populations, and they discovered that a Danish study that encompassed a greater number of activities that people had described in questionnaires showed that people who engaged in more social or team sports like tennis, soccer and even badminton lived longer than the more solo athletes. And they tracked these individuals for 25 years. No surprise, those who had reported relatively little or no exercise during their lives did not survive as long as their more active counterparts. Cyclists who bilked four or more hours a week, for instance averaged almost four more years of longevity than those who chose to “sit out” their lives. Running added about 3.2 years when compared with their sedentary counterparts. But tennis added nearly 10 years to players’ lives and badminton added 6.2 years. Soccer contributed 5 more years to players’ lives. Even when the researchers controlled for education, age and socioeconomic standing, this pattern held. It may be about the kind of cardiovascular benefit conferred by one sport over another according to the researchers, but they offered one more possible explanation. The sports that gave the greatest benefit in years also are team…or social…sports. Other research has often cited social isolation as one of the big detractors from both quality and quantity of life. Social engagement, they pointed out reduces stress at the same time one derives physical benefit from a sport. It seems to give new meaning to being “heart-healthy.” It is not just your pump that is healthier, so is your spirit, and both contribute to more birthdays. 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.
Nearly a million people in America have a heart attack each year, and for two-thirds of these people it is their first episode. Beyond heart attacks, there are many more individuals who may suffer from some other form of heart disease or may have any of a number of surgical and other interventions involving their hearts. Older adults are more at risk for all "cardiac events," but for those who get a second chance following a cardiac episode, improving heart health should be a priority. Improving heart health is what cardiac rehabilitation is all about.

Who can benefit from cardiac rehab? The simple answer is everyone, but people who have had a cardiac episode may need the support of family and their health care provider to gain the confidence they need to exert themselves and get into better shape. Those who would benefit include anyone who has experienced:

·         a heart attack, or myocardial infarction - this results from one of the blood vessels which feed the heart being so clogged that it starves a portion of the heart muscle;

·         heart conditions such as angina, congestive heart failure (CHF) or coronary artery disease (CAD); or

·         any of the cardiac surgical interventions like heart bypass, percutaneous coronary intervention (balloon angioplasty), stent implants, valve replacements or implanting pacing devices or defibrillators.

            What does cardiac rehab look like? Cardiac rehab can be adapted to patients of any age, and it starts with:
- medical evaluation to determine where to start and how far to take rehabilitation;
- medical monitoring throughout all activities as a patient rebuilds their cardiac fitness and aerobic health;
- counseling on one's condition as well as how to cope with some of the psychological aspects of a cardiac event like depression or anger;
- education on better diet, smoking cessation, stress reduction and simply being "normal."
What are the benefits of cardiac rehab? Very simply put, most people can achieve more than just recover from a cardiac event; they can improve their health to an even higher level. Such as:
- regular physical workouts to improve your heart health as well as the strength and fitness of your entire body;
- cardiac fitness which lifts the spirits with a boost from the endorphins, a byproduct of working out;
- cardiac counseling which helps the heart patient learn more of what they can do to avoid future events.
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.