Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 • Geriatric Care ManagerChicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence - Since 1991 | Page 61

Maximizing Well-Being for Everyone
Independence is as much about the caregiver as it is the older adult or special needs individual who receives...
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November 7, 2010
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Is it Forgetfulness or is it Alzheimer’s?
I have not taken a real opinion poll, but from feedback I get as a geriatric care manager from my...
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November 2, 2010
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A Radio Talk with Aging Info Radio
Earlier this month I had a chance to talk about some of the questions I most often get asked as...
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October 31, 2010
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Bad Medicine for Older Adults
Medicine today is full of miracles. But Aging Well magazine (Jan/Feb, 2009) reports that although the over 65 set...
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October 27, 2010
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Making Home a Safer Place for an Older Adult
Everyone’s abilities and needs change as they age, but home may still be the same physical space it was...
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October 22, 2010
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Is Home Still the Best Place for an Aging Loved One?
This is one of the most emotionally-charged questions I hear when I am called by a family member who...
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October 15, 2010
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

We may not be hearing QUITE as much about health care reform of late, now that the political debate has quieted. But as “reform” is being implemented one of its principal cornerstones is the same as that of geriatric care management – “care coordination”. I thought this might be an opportunity then to address a question I still hear a lot: What does a geriatric care manager do?

I often describe what we do as geriatric care managers to be working as “option-makers” to facilitate the “decision-makers.” The decision-makers are the elder or other person with special needs along with the families and caregivers. That has a lot in common with what health care professionals and policy makers under the “new” health care are referring to as the medical home or accountable care models.

Last March the second Annual Care Coordination Summit was held in Las Vegas under the sponsorship of consulting firm, Dorland Health. Some of what they discussed is a page right out of the geriatric care manager’s playbook. I said that we as care managers are really “option-makers,” and that is critical in a world where there are so many advances and so much specialization that a patient or even the patient’s primary care physician will be stretched to keep track of everything. And physicians are not paid to coordinate the care of their patients or follow-up with them after all their doctor visits, hospitalizations or other encounters with health care professionals. That is where care managers come in, and that is where leaders at the recent summit talked about how care coordination/management will improve the health care individuals receive.

The professionals who attended the recent summit talked a lot about changing health care from being “provider-centered” to being “patient-centered.” Any of you who are caregivers certainly can appreciate that the elder or other person with special needs is your focus as you support them. Mainstream health care is beginning to catch on. In the process of focusing on the patient, the professionals at the summit saw reductions in costs associated with health care and improved health. For instance, once hospitals begin to think about get appropriate care to patients, they no longer just think about what to do for a patient while they are within their four walls.

So, it seems that as health care providers are more and more thinking about making options available to patients, they are improving the quality of care patients will receive. Most hospitals have “discharge planners” who work with patients and family to prepare to leave a hospital. Accountable care organizations just as with geriatric care managers, however, will be focused on the patient wherever they are, not just the place they have left. Like I said, it seems to be catching on.

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 Charlotte Bishop
I have posted a number of times on how to make home safer as well as how to evaluate what kind of housing may be right for an older loved one who is moving from their lifelong home. And while I certainly am very aware of geriatric care management services that older adults can use when they make the move, I was made more aware of what a new kind of realtor called a "Senior Real Estate Specialist" can bring to the table as families put their homes up for sale. I spoke with Lisa Davis, a local Seniors Real Estate Specialist, or SRES as they are designated. Here is what she shared...
An SRES is a realtor who is uniquely trained and qualified to assist seniors in housing sales and purchases. The SRES designation is awarded to realtors who have additional education on how to help seniors and their families with later-in-life real estate transactions. Their mission is to help seniors and their families navigate the maze of financial, legal and emotional issues that accompany the sale of the home. They also draw upon the expertise of a network of senior specialists, such as estate planners, CPAs, and eldercare lawyers, and are familiar with local community resources and services. Here are just some of what an SRES brings to seniors in transition:
1. At this stage in life, it is not just a geographic move; it is about a change in life, so an SRES is trained in how to empathize with stress the big move can be.
2. Some of that compassion is shown in letting the older adult move at a pace that allows them to process how they feel and make a more comfortable adjustment; it takes the time it takes.
3. An SRES understands the emotional demands a sale can make on a senior; it is ultimately going to be not about moving things as much as it is moving memories.
4. That said, every move is different, so an SRES looks for the signals on what a particular older resident needs and follows.
5. An SRES knows that it is not just the older adult who has lived in the home who is moving; so an SRES works with seniors, adult children and caretakers.
6. An SRES is knowledgeable about the local senior housing options and geriatric care management services where the senior is headed.
7. An SRES has a network of other senior focused professionals who can assist in tax counseling, financial and estate planning, and other aspects of a sale, etc.
With more than 25 years guiding clients buying and selling their residences, Lisa Davis, a Broker with Coldwell Banker in Glenview, IL, has also earned the SRES designation. If you don’t know an SRES in your area, Lisa can help you find one. Lisa may be reached at lisa.davis@cbexchange.com for questions or comments.
Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends providing senior care services to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com
I had the good fortune this past weekend to attend a Billy Joel concert, and he had a great bit of advice to offer others of his vintage (he’s 75 years old) as well of those still earlier on the path. The real catch is that he wrote the advice 47 years ago as part of the lyrics to his hit song, Vienna. The third stanza leads with this: But you know that when the truth is toldThat you can get what you wantOr you can just get old He picks it up again in the eighth stanza with: And you know that when the truth is toldThat you can get what you want or you can just get old Billy Joel may have lived his career sitting at a piano and charming folks like us, but he did not take life “sitting down.” There was a phrase going around about 10+ years ago that sitting is the new smoking. It was a succinct way to convey the health impact of sedentary behavior. It covers not just those who quit their day job at the time they retire and do what they’ve always wanted to do…nothing. It is meant to speak to us all. Bad retirement plan! Regular exercise which includes walking as a high priority is one of the two top ways to preserve one’s health. Inactivity is also the second greatest risk factor for cardiovascular disease right behind poor diet. The actual numbers needed to attain goal you may have heard. To maintain one’s health, it is recommended that their week’s routine includes 150 minutes of exercise, of which walking can be the greatest part. But less than a third of people receiving these health recommendations actually engage in the physical activities, and only 20 percent actually meet the 150-minute goal. So, what do professionals recommend? Get a dog! Think of it as an enforced workout buddy system, and it is sufficiently successful that people who have dogs are four times more likely to hit their activity goals. My partner gets the vast majority of his workout time walking the dog…and everyone in a mile radius of our residence knows the dog’s name, and she is 12 years old – 84 people years. I don’t know if they know my partner’s name? May I suggest that part of your successful living strategy include rescuing a dog? In fact, it just may be that the dog rescues you, not the other way around. And enjoy your walk…or just grow old! Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Retirement Lifestyle Coach and founder of Creative Care Management, LLC, 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 hearing aids, exercise, support groups and travel have in common? They all are ways that individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, specifically, or dementia, generally, can fight these diseases’ progression. Even more important, they help to fight the personal isolation that accompanies these frightening conditions.

We often associate dementias with older adults and the stereotypic confusion that can characterize the individuals with the diagnoses. But it is not just a condition of older adults as the recent public disclosure of The University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach, Pat Summit, highlights. Ms. Summit is just 59 as she goes public with her diagnosis, and it helps others to understand that it can happen as early as 30 and 40 years of age. Younger onset Alzheimer’s Disease technically speaking is the manifestation affecting those under age 65, and there are 250,000 new cases in America every year. Yet, there are ways to fight the downward spiral of dementia.
1. Hearing aids may seem an unlikely fix for dementia. Yet, it is simplybecause hearing aids enhance the clarity of communication and therefore the connection between dementia patients and others that they help alleviate the isolation and bolster memory. When dementia patients can hear more clearly, that connection also helps calm the anxiety that they may otherwise feel when living in a world that is confusing. Hearing aids cannot “cure” dementia, but they can help a patient navigate more confidently.
2. Exercise can be a helpful boost as well as it improves the blood flow and releases calming endorphin into the bloodstream. For a variety of medical conditions, health care providers often talk about the role that “performance status” plays in a patient’s ability to cope. Being more fit helps dementia patients cope just as being fit also helps cancer patients while they fight a tumor or surgical patients as they recover from a procedure.
3. I had mentioned the importance of being connected for a person with dementia of whatever sort. Support groups become the new circle of friends who can truly understand what it is like. This is common across a whole host of medical predicaments from grieving widows and family to returning wounded warriors or recovering cardiac or orthopaedic surgery patients. Somebody else who has been there understands what co-workers, friends or even family cannot quite fathom.
4. Travel is a bit of all these. It is a way to have fresh new experiences that challenge a patient cognitively. When a person experiences what should be familiar settings like home as frighteningly unfamiliar, it can be reassuring to share travel experiences to strange and different places that – well – everyone will find strange and different as well.
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.
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I have written a number of blog postings on safety in the home, and most of them have focused on how to make the home environment safer for an older loved one or other person with special needs. But something we all may not think about as much is making home safer for the caregiver – especially in regards to health safety. As a certified geriatric care manager visiting clients in hospitals, I cannot avoid seeing all manner of hygiene steps that providers take so that they do not transmit disease. They will wash or use hand sanitizer each time they enter the hospital room, they will never sit on the patient's bed, and if they use gloves, they are very careful in how they remove their gloves when they complete an exam. If you are a caregiver to a loved one in the home, here are four tips for bringing that same hygiene to the home to make it safer for both you as the caregiver and your loved one:
1. Immunizations - This is not just the annual flu season immunization; it really covers a range of opportunistic bacteria or viruses that pose a risk to the health of your loved one as well as to you as the caregiver. Talk to your loved one's provider about the specific vaccinations you should have such as tetanus, pneumococcal vaccine, hepatitis B, measles/mumps/rubella and varicella (chickenpox). You want to avoid giving or receiving these bugs, and your loved one's provider will help you to identify what you need to do.
2. Hand Washing - You cannot see the germs, but you absolutely must wash your hands often and thoroughly. You should wash before and" hands-on" helping with your loved one and after. And, just as with restaurant workers, wash your hands after using the bath room as well.
3. Protective Gloves - As an extra precaution, consider using rubber or latex gloves as an extra layer between your skin and the skin of your loved one, especially if you are charged with assisting in bathing or toileting your loved one. And as you remove the gloves start with the wrist and peel them off so that they are totally inside out as you dispose of them. And wash your hands after for good measure.
4. Disinfecting - Cleaning surfaces or clothing and bed clothes that come in contact with your older loved one is a very good idea, and it is easy. Use some amount of bleach in your washer loads, and for surfaces one teaspoon of bleach per gallon water will make an effective disinfectant. This solution can be used in the kitchen as well as the bathroom. As with all cleaning products, read the label for any special precautions.
Charlotte Bishop is a certified 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.