Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 • senior home care servicesChicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

Making Your Holidays Happy Again
Yes, “holidays” is a plural word here. Please allow me to digress on this plurality and simply point out...
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November 16, 2021
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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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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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No Vaccine for the Other Plague
You’re fortunate that you haven’t contracted COVID, and you may even have received your first dose of a vaccine,...
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February 16, 2021
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Hold Your Friends Close and Stangers Closer
Miss your friends, your older loved ones and those summer get togethers in the backyard? We can get together...
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August 11, 2020
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Distance Caregiving Through a Wall
I’ve written numerous times about distance caregiving, and one of the observations I have offered is that distance is...
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May 19, 2020
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Mittens Before the Frost
I was asked today about the “mitten test.” It was one of our colleagues who had remembered something I...
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September 18, 2018
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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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A House is not a Home (Unless You’re There)
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 5, 2017
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

You have to start early to ward off Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of cognitive decline. It seems to be a fairly universal rule that it is far easier to prevent most medical problems than it is to “cure” a condition. With Alzheimer’s, however, there have been precious few preventive measures scientists have been able to offer to ward off the disease. According to research recently reported in the medical journal Neurology, the inflammation our bodies may experience in our 40s and 50s can lead to higher rates of cognitive decline in our 70s and 80s. So what does that mean? The researchers have followed a group of people in their 40s and 50s for over twenty years starting with blood tests to check for markers for inflammation. In short they found that people with higher levels of inflammatory markers early in their lives had steeper climbs in cognitive decline as the years progressed. This is one of the longest time intervals that people have been followed trying to find what may cause cognitive decline. The lead researcher does admit that they cannot conclusively prove that systemic inflammation causes cognitive decline later in life, but the people with the higher levels of inflammation early in life had higher levels of cognitive decline later. The reverse also holds true that people with lower inflammation had less cognitive decline later. So, what is the takeaway from this research? How does one lower one’s inflammation…or maybe more importantly, what does that inflammation look like in our 40s and 50s? First, the most common conditions that are associated with higher inflammation include obesity, elevated blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. So, if you are in the that mid-life group and your physician talks to you about dropping some weight or keeping on your medication for hypertension, pay attention. That physician is also talking about lowering your risk for cognitive issues later in life. How do you do that? A couple of the core suggestions to lower inflammation involve diet and exercise. Regular exercise can reduce your risk for any of these conditions and even help to prevent them in the first place. Also, avoid saturated fats and sugar in your diet. It sounds almost too easy, but if you do the things that help your body in general, your brain will benefit as much as your heart and the other organs. It’s never too late to make the changes that will keep you sharp into your older years. 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.
About one in ten American adults, or approximately 44 million people who provide unpaid care to another adult, are caregivers to a loved one. Some of that care is episodic, some of it is around the clock and the rest is at all the points in between. The Family Caregiver Alliance estimates that this work force of volunteers provides about 80 percent of the long term geriatric care management in America today. So, the vast majority of Americans who are receiving long term care support are doing so with the help of a family member or friend. But these 44 million people are not an "industry," so the result is one potential crisis at a time while all of these volunteers cope with the stresses of finding time in their days and the resources to care for a loved one. Unlike the professionals in long term care facilities, the family or friends who volunteer for caregiving typically do not have the professional education or experience on which to draw. Here are nine strategies that will help make for a successful effort for all concerned:
1. Start with normal. If the caregiver has not been in the loved one's inner circle, it will be important to establish a baseline of "this is what mom is like/needs."
2. Get a complete physical. This is a medical way to understand where you are starting and what care or treatment is appropriate.
3. Be informed. Once you have the baseline and any diagnoses learn as much as you can about the conditions, their prognoses and treatments.
4. Make a plan. This should cover the activities of daily living and more: hygiene, housekeeping, medical care, emotional support and ongoing supervision.
5. Revise and evolve. A plan is not a static set of instructions like a recipe; it is a work in progress that you will revisit regularly as conditions change.
6. Talk to an attorney. You need to be aware of a loved one's financial resources as well as any legal paperwork in place or needed.
7. Elder-proof the home. An older adult as well as an aging household can pose a safety hazard; search this blog for key words like safe home, safety, etc.
8. It takes a village. You are one of 44 million caregivers, and you will benefit from the group support and understanding that will come from talking to others.
9. Care for the caregiver. You deserve caring every bit as much as your older loved one, and you cannot care for another if you neglect yourself.
For more information and resources, I strongly recommend the Family Caregiver Alliance website, or do a keyword search of our blog here using the word "caregiver." Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified elder care management 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.
Geriatric Care Managers (GCMs) are the navigators for caregivers who are willing to stop and ask for directions! That is the answer, but let me explain the question. As you can imagine, one of the most common conversations I have with people about our services is simply "what does a GCM do?" If we were plumbers or electricians, it might be easier to describe what we do. Most everyone has called for a plumber or electrician and knows what they do. But since what we do is as different each time around as our clients' needs are, a description will be different for each one. But the one thing all our all clients share in common is that we have been of help in navigating the paths that they are traveling for the very first time. But they had to ask for directions - for our help - we could help. I talked at some length this past week with an associate who knows what we do, and we wrestled with this notion of explaining what we do as geriatric care managers. She had a lot of very useful ideas as someone who really does get what we do, but still is on the outside. We finished our conversation and both of us left our offices for the parking lot to go our separate ways. As I approached my car, a vehicle slowed and the window went down. It was my associate whose phone had died and she could not Google for directions back to her office. Might I give her some direction, she asked? I directed her back to a route that would get her on her way, and then it occurred to me. Geriatric care managers are care navigators, but only for people who are the kind who will stop and ask for directions. With so many sources of advice and direction available on the internet these days many of us may forget how to ask for directions. If you can just type in the key words you will get pages of possibilities, but that is precisely the problem. How do you choose when all you really are getting is the top solutions based on what services have paid to rank that high or just where other people have clicked when they were looking. And what if you did not type in the words that could really get you where you needed to go? Geriatric care mangers are such great navigators, because they are professionally trained and certified in how to meet the needs of caregivers and their loved ones. Our team, for instance, has certifications like:
- geriatric care manager (GCM)'
- certified case manager (CCM)
- certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC)
- licensed clinical social worker (LCSW)
- licensed professional counselor (LCP)
- registered nurse (RN)
- and more.
Geriatric care managers can show you that yes, there are maybe a hundred home care agencies in your geographic area, but here are two or three that we know will provide the services that will most benefit mom or dad. Geriatric care managers are particularly good navigators because they have already been down the paths that most caregivers are just walking for the first time. Some of those caregivers are not the types to stop and ask directions, so we may not receive their call. If you know of a caregiver who is willing to stop and ask directions, please recommend a geriatric care manager as the experienced navigators to get them and their loved ones where they need to go. 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.
You may be familiar with the statistics on breast cancer in America. One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes, and even some men develop breast cancer. You probably also know that early detection is really key in order to combat the disease and there are even genetic markers that can help to detect breast cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages. And you probably also know that there is a risk for breast cancer to resurface even after a seemingly successful treatment regimen. What you may not have known is that once a patient has been diagnosed and even successfully treated for breast cancer that they are now at greater risk for cardiovascular disease. That just seems wrong, but the facts are there and in fact, the breast cancer survivors will potentially develop a more difficult cardiovascular problem than the heart patients who did not have breast cancer. So, scientists set out to determine how breast cancer survivors can catch a break. They carefully matched two groups of women who had managed to beat breast cancer. The women in the two groups were similar ages, had undergone similar treatments and had approximately the same BMI, a measure of weight and fat. One group, however was introduced to a fairly aggressive program of weight training, aerobic exercise and stretching. They exercised with an instructor for 60 minutes twice a week and exercised on their own for two more 60 minute sessions for a total of 240 minutes a week. The other group just had their normal activities of daily living. Both groups were tested at baseline in a way that competitive athletes often are by measuring how efficiently their bodies use oxygen, a test call the VO2 MAX test. The VO2 MAX for the group getting physical training was up only .3% at the end of a year, but the less active group was down by 3.8%. The difference was even more pronounced in women who were continuing on chemotherapy. Comparing exercise with the non-exercise groups using a standard cardiac risk measure that cardiologists call the Framingham Risk Score (takes into account blood pressure, LDL cholesterol and more), the exercise group did 11% better than the non-exercise group in reducing their risk. The odds of that happening just by chance are one in one thousand. So, if a woman beats the odds on breast cancer, the smart money on getting a healthier heart in the deal certainly favor exercise. 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.
Birthdays are a leading cause of falls that can result in an emergency room visit, and every year this takes a particular toll on those 65 years of age and older. The 65+ year olds represent 2.5 million visits to the ER according to the CDC, and that makes them the most susceptible of any age group. Sadly, one in three of this 2.5 million will be back again within a year of their first visit having fallen again, some within days of the first fall. So, keep your older loved one in the safe confines of home, right? No … researchers report that a substantial percentage of these falls are trips, slips and stumbles right at home, the bathroom and kitchen being particularly dangerous fall hazards. As any physical medicine doctor can tell you, walking is actually controlled falling. We learn this skill at a very early age when we are all thankfully closer to the ground. If this isn’t clear, just watch an infant struggling for that first milestone step…a lot of falls precede the successful step. As we age, we don’t forget how to walk safely, but older adults go through health and physical changes which challenge their agility and some medications are also culprits in this gravitational conspiracy. Here are some tips to help your older loved one to a safer gait:
1. Make a specific appointment and go with them to visit their doctor: be sure to cover their medications for any side effects, talk about any history of falls and explore whether any health conditions may be potential contributors.
2. Encourage a daily regimen that includes more than just walking - perhaps a physical therapy regimen or yoga or strength training, because strength and changing up the training – what some refer to as “muscle confusion” – is good for agility.
3. Outfit the feet: “sensible shoes” may be a dirty word in fashion circles, but help your older loved one to have properly fitted, effective footwear with soles that have traction – avoid high heels, floppy shoes, bunny slippers, etc.
4. Conduct a home safety inspection to declutter, eliminate trip hazards, upgrade poor lighting, and make home more accessible with everyday items within easy reach. Remember, baths and kitchens are particularly hazardous places.
5. Be sure your older loved one’s house is well-lit, and this goes for middle of the night trips to a rest room or early morning risings during this season of short daylight. Encourage a flashlight at bed side.
6. Upgrade home safety with hand rails on all stairs or even longer hallways, non-slip treads on stairs, adaptive toilet seats and grab bars in the bath.
7. There are professionals who can help – physical therapists can help with a “workout and flexibility regimen,” and your local senior ombudsman also can recommend area craftspeople who can make home accommodate your older loved one.
So, when you visit your older loved one during the holidays take along a pad of paper or your smartphone to make a list. This is not the naughty and nice list; it’s the safe and non-safe list! I have a home safety checklist I will be happy to send you if you just email me. 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.
You can imagine that I follow a lot of clinical news feeds, and I keep files. I have files for dementia, files for residential living options and yes, I have a file for research that gives us insights into how people who live longer got there. There is no one secret to living longer, but there are some things that people who live longer do that can help us all: • An 80 year-long study that tracked people and their mental habits found that people who are more thoughtful and “plan-ful” live longer. • Multiple studies have consistently shown that people who have more friends or are more socially-active live longer. (They probably also have more fun…) • But choose your friends carefully, because their habits rub off…do your friends work out or do they smoke, do they make good food choices or eat junk? • In the “friends” vein, people who are married or have been married (divorced or widowed) live longer than those who have stayed single. • Napping is good for you; those who nap regularly have a 37% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. • That extends to your overnight sleep also; people who get less than 5 hours of sleep a night are simply less healthy…if you snooze, you WIN. • Eat more fiber and fruits and vegetables; the end result is a much reduced risk for obesity … especially the belly fat that is the greatest risk. • Regular exercise to the tune of at least two and a half hours a week helps fend off heart disease, depression and some kinds of cancer. • If you drink alcohol – one drink a day for women and one to two for men; moderation reduces the risk of heart disease more than even than those who don’t drink at all. • Be chill – people who don’t carry a grudge or who are not always crabby or who are less stressed have lower rates of heart disease as well as other health issues. • Have a purpose in your life – you will live longer and reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These are the big issues to use as your guide to a longer life. As you read them, you may find that many of them make for a happier life as well. That probably is not a coincidence! Live well. 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.