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

It’s Not a Resolution – It’s Self-Care
A caregiver to an older loved one or other person with special needs takes care of everything, right? A...
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January 13, 2022
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Not Where You’d Expect Protection from Dementia
You may recall the debate on approving Biogen’s Aduhelm for Alzheimer’s this past year. Prior to this approval there...
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December 28, 2021
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Password Protected?
I often offer advice on how to help your older loved one with challenging tasks or how to protect...
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October 26, 2021
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Can You Hear Me Now?
From 2002 to 2011, actor Paul Marcarelli was the voice for Verizon pitching their cellular communications with the simple...
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September 28, 2021
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Your Older Loved One’s Greatest Health Risk?
As our loved ones grow older, we probably are more acutely protective of their health and well-being, especially if...
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September 14, 2021
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Nursing Homes Still a Risk for COVID-19?
It has been a tough pandemic for everyone, but it has been especially difficult for residents of nursing homes...
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August 31, 2021
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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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If You’reOnly as Old as You Feel?
We’ve all been asked a question like “How are you feeling?” And we probably didn’t take but a moment...
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May 25, 2021
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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.
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.
When you consider the place a typical senior calls home, it has not changed a lot since it was full of kids and a much younger family. But what may not have been a fall hazard back in the day might become one as parents age in place. This is a list of just some of the senior care precautions one should take to make home as safe as possible for an older adult whose feet just are not as nimble as they once were. Throughout the home:
In the bath:
In the bedroom:
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.
In the past two postings I have been talking about the warning signs of caregiver burnout as well as what caregivers can do to care for themselves. At the center of a lot of what can be done for the caregiver is a very simple philosophy: “Don’t try to do it all alone.” As a Geriatric Care Manager, this is where I often get the call. The caregiver or someone close to the caregiver needs somebody to help make decisions, take over some of the workload, stand up for an elder or other individual with special needs or counsel the caregiver on self-care.

There are other resources that can provide decision-making support, take on some of the caregiving responsibilities, advocate for an elder or caregiver and offer professional counsel on just coping with the responsibilities of caregiving. There are services to help caregivers in most communities, and the cost is often based on ability to pay. Look to programs such as adult day care centers, home health aides, home-delivered meals, respite care, transportation services, and skilled nursing.

Some steps you can take include:

-Find the local Area Agency on Aging. It may go by other names, but a Google search or even government or yellow pages search can give you some options. Check the Illinois AAA .

-If the elder or special needs individual is a Vet, the Veterans Administration is source of a good many support services,some of which are free to a veteran. For a map of service locations, go to VA MAP .

-There are other “affiliation groups” that can offer a range of support services. This can include the Elks, the Moose Lodge, Masonic Lodge and more. We should not overlook what religious denominations also can do along these lines. It may only be telephonic check-ups or meals or companionship, but it can be just the support or respite a caregiver needs.

-Transportation may be challenge for the elder in which case your state or local Area Agency on Aging can again be a resource.

-Just having a reliable agency to call on your elder who is relatively independent can also give piece of mind to a caregiver, and the Area Agency on Aging also offers pre-scheduled calling to homebound elders that can take some of the check-in responsibilities from the caregiver.

-Many local hospitals or long term care facilities offer day care for older adults. Because they already are equipped to meet the special needs of older adults, they often extend day services to area clients at a nominal charge.

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.,geriatric care manager Chicago, geriatric care Chicago

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I explained in an earlier post about why we refer to Holidays in the plural, and how we are working to be inclusive of all people’s end of year celebrations of faith. That was the “Holidays” part, but what about the “Happy?” The holidays are also a period of rather widespread unhappiness, if not outright depression, and it’s even more common among our older loved ones. How often have you heard comments like: “Oh, mom is just a bit blue;” or “Her husband died six years ago during the holidays…she should just snap out of it;” or “He just likes his time to himself during the holidays.” They are all ways to discount what is something of an epidemic among older adults in America today: depression…an epidemic that has exploded during the present and ongoing pandemic. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, the symptoms may be slow to show themselves, but depression is a real medical condition to be addressed every bit as much as dementia or heart disease. Adults 65 years of age and older may only be just 16% of the population, but they account for 18+% of suicide deaths. Inexplicably, suicide rates for most older Americans have trended down during the pandemic, but depression is substantially up. Older adults with depression have healthcare costs 50% higher than non-depressed adults. And depression is common – more than seven million older adults manifest some degree of clinical depression each year. Where should you look for depression? I mentioned widowhood at the beginning. Well, one-third of widows and widowers meet the clinical criteria for depression within the first month after losing a spouse. And half of these are still depressed a year later. Depression also is a classic comorbidity of a number of medical conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and even cancer, arthritis and heart disease. But the prevalence of depression is really just an opportunity to take action. The data show that fully 80% of depression in older adults can be effectively treated with either medication or talk therapy or a combination of both. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, however, encourage them to see a mental health professional who can offer the best of both medical and talk therapy. About 55% of older adults who do seek help for their depression reportedly go to their primary care physicians. While your loved one’s personal physician may prescribe, they are not schooled in talk therapy. If you suspect an older loved one in your orbit is depressed or maybe just down, consider the holiday gift that actually does keep on giving. Give your older loved one your personal time…and consider the installment plan…the plan that includes a whole calendar schedule of giving into the new year! Charlotte Bishop is a Caregiver Coach, an Aging Life Care Advisor, 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. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.