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

When Being in Demand Isn’t Healthy
If you’re a musician, you want to be busy, because gigs represent a better living. If you’re an actor...
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May 17, 2022
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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

“I think I could speak clearer and did not wait as long in answering questions,” she said. “Sometimes, in the past, things would leave my mind and I couldn’t remember things.” Let me just start by saying that this could be a quote from the first Alzheimer’s disease patient to undergo a successful treatment to reverse the condition. Not a cure, and no one yet knows how durable the change, but a rather significant clinical step in the right direction. Our medical science staffer, Dr. Steve Steiber, and I have written before about how there are a number of FDA-approved therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease and hundreds I clinical trials, but so far there is nothing that does more than slow the progression of Alzheimer’s cognitive decline. Scientists at West Virginia’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute have initiated a “proof of concept” trial on just six 50 to 85 year old mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patients using ultrasound to penetrate the blood brain barrier, a layer that protects the brain itself from all that can invade our blood stream. They used a thousand tiny probes with oscillating ultrasound that used microscopic bubbles that could move into the area of the brain most affected by Alzheimer’s amyloid plaque. The ultrasound seems able to break up some of this debilitating plaque. This first test seems to demonstrate the safety of the technique as well as likely efficacy, but all of this is with a couple caveats. First, it is with a very small number of patients. The real test will come later when a large enough number of subjects can be tried in order to demonstrate cognitive differences that are statistically significant. Second, it is “just” the ultrasound that has cross the blood brain barrier to break up the plaque. Medical professionals see this method as really kind of a transportation test. If they can safely cross the blood brain barrier to the part of the brain where they can address the disease head on, the hippocampus, then they can use the waves and their tiny bubbles to carry actual chemicals that fight the plaque to where they can do the most good. It’s a bit like showing that we can launch a special rocket that succeeds in getting where we want to go; and now we can potentially attach an important payload to this rocket. (Yes, it is brain surgery and rocket science…) The doctors and researchers in this project admit that it may take a few years to begin to realize the full potential of this technique, but it is the patient’s husband who takes our rocket science and brain surgery metaphor a “small step” further. “This is man on the moon stuff,” Mark Polak said of his wife’s success in the first trial. “Maybe we’re on to something?” If you want to read more on the science, please click here; if you want to read more of the personal story of one patient’s experience with the science, please click here. 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. And yes, we may be revising this book a bit sooner than we had anticipated...
Independence is as much about the caregiver as it is the older adult or special needs individual who receives the care.

The principal goal of a Geriatric Care Manager is to optimize independence for seniors or others with special needs as safely as possible, for as long as possible and with the maximum quality of life for the whole family. In an earlier blog on making home a secure and safe place, I briefly discussed some ways to make home safer. And there is a host of other services available to help keep the house in order, food on the table and mom or dad living well. You can look to both light and heavy housekeeping, sidewalk and grounds services or meals delivered. If more personal care is needed, home health or companion care are available.

Yet there is another important need to consider - your own needs as a caregiver. Being a caregiver to an older adult or someone with special needs can be a significant drain physically, financially and emotionally. Keep in mind what you need to relieve these stressors on you as a caregiver as well as take care of mom’s or dad’s needs.

In my experience, I find it is important to make a connection with someone with whom you can talk about the work and stress of caregiving. Then, you need to find help to relieve some of the work duties. The “right” independent or private workers can be hard to find, because you want to make sure they aren’t a scam or that they are indeed certified and bonded.

You want to know that your loved one will actually feel secure and comfortable with the caregiver. In my experience over the past twenty-plus years, agencies offer a number of inherent advantages over freelance individuals. Home-care agencies – versus the independent individual you may find on your own - have the responsibility of bonding the aide, paying the aide’s wages and taxes as well as insurance if they become hurt on the job. They also know what kinds of people are well-suited to this kind of work, so that you have an optimal chance of getting someone who is capable and has staying power. The agency also then is the manager, so you simply have to be attentive to your older parent without the added burden of being a manager as well.

As you look to the agency you should ask a lot of questions, not the least, “Will this added help allow you the time to care of yourself, physically, emotionally?” Additionally, do your own research at your local library, which contains a lot of resources for free. One of the best elder resources in northern Illinois is the Senior Citizens Guide to Chicago, for instance, and other similar publications that you may get from your city hall or even drug stores or grocery stores. In the end, just getting a sense of what is available will help you in identifying what your older/special needs loved one may need … AND what you need.

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.
The Boomers are aging, and that means the percentage of adults 65 years of age an older has now surpassed 13% of the population and growing. It also means that the number of older adults who suffer from physical, financial or mental abuse along with neglect is rising with this tide. But there is a second level of elder abuse that will also be rising, and it provides the added insult to the injury of abuse of those older adults less able to care for themselves. The second level is comprised of those who see abuse and don't report it as well as those who receive the reports of abuse but fail to act. In research conducted by the National Center on Elder Abuse, 45% of patients in nursing homes report being abused in some fashion and 95% report being neglected or seeing another resident suffer from neglect. Yet, we do not see this prevalence in any of the other "official" statistics, because it is either not reported or not acted upon. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, you can do something about it. 1. If you see something, say something. I am borrowing this one from the TSA, but it works here also. Regardless of the age of the older adult whom you know, if you suspect active abuse or passive neglect, report it to a health care provider, social worker or law enforcement professional. These are what are termed "mandatory reporters" who must file, but sometimes they do not. Medical providers may not wish to be seen as violating the confidence of a patient, but that is patently wrong. Keeping silent only allows the perpetuation of this predatory behavior. 2. You do not have to see it to ask about it. Especially neglect may be incredibly subtle, and the abused victim may be hesitant to report a caregiver or even a spouse who is abusive for fear of reprisals. But inquiries have become part of the standard procedure for a lot of health care providers these days. I recall being a bit taken aback when on a doctor's office visit my older parent was taken out of my earshot by the provider and queried about whether she felt safe at home. That provider was doing her job. 3. Make sure there is action. Reporting abuse or neglect is the first step, but the professional to whom the report is made needs to act on the information. This is where it can get a bit murky, especially if this report is about a nursing home facility or chain that carries weight in political circles. The state of California has passed what has come to be known as the Elder Abuse Act which is intended to counter the potential obstacles to protection that political clout can create. Closer to home, the state of Illinois last year passed a law prohibiting anyone with a history of violence against older adults from holding a job in a position of care for an elder. Legislative changes are certainly important steps, but it also comes back to my rule about the village. It takes a village to support a senior just as it takes a village to raise a child. It is part of everyone's job description. 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 the meantime, we invite you to download the below featured FREE white paper - offering both personal and professional advice for those who care for the elderly or people with special needs. Make sure to come back and visit us for more great FREE resources.

Caring For the Caregiver Learn how to be as good for yourself as you are for your loved one. Are you becoming impatient with your loved one? Are you missing work or finding yourself easily irritated? If so, this white paper can help.Download
In the meantime, we invite you to download the below featured FREE white paper - offering both personal and professional advice for those who care for the elderly or people with special needs. Make sure to come back and visit us for more great FREE resources.

Caregiver Advice on Bad Medicine Many are unaware of the massive scope of the pharmaceutical market and all the ways in which seniors are taking more and more unnecessary drugs because of it. We discuss how caregivers can look out for signs that their loved one’s medication is over prescribed and how to spot warning signs. Download
How many times have we all seen the commercial with the plaintive actor on the floor crying, "Help, I've _____ and I can't get up." No one would ignore a plea for help from an older person who has fallen and cannot get up. But a lot of caregivers may be ignoring a similar plea with all of the health threat that a fall can represent. It is just that this fall is in slow motion. And it goes like this: "Help, I am so fatigued that I don't feel like getting up." Tired often does not get enough attention in medical circles, but it is a common symptom reported by people age 65 and older. We tend to discount fatigue, because we cannot accept that a person who has retired and now enjoys six Saturdays and a Sunday every week could not be well-rested. And if you are a caregiver to an older loved one, you may find it a bit challenging to muster the sympathy for your older loved one when you already are stretched across your responsibilities for your children, your partner, your job and... Yet, we should all pay attention to the subjective complaints of fatigue in our older loved ones, because tired can be a symptom of more serious medical conditions and because tired can lead to serious physical decompensation. Let's start with the other medical conditions for which fatigue can be a warning sign. Perhaps the most common clinical condition that presents with fatigue is depression, itself one of the most common comorbidities of aging. Depression often can arise from the hallmark aspects of getting older - loss, diminished physical capacity and social isolation to name a few. Chronic fatigue also can be a symptom of sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and any number of heart conditions. Poor quality sleep may also be indicative of musculoskeletal conditions or pain. If your older loved one is consistently tired, it may be time to accompany them on a visit to their physician for an assessment and a conversation. Sleepiness can also be just one more step along the slippery slope to frailty. Fatigue can be a strong disincentive for your older loved one to be as active physically as they once may have been. Fatigue also puts a damper on appetite which in turn reduces the quality of the fuel the body consumes to run the body's engine which leads to increased tiredness and low motivation for physical activity. And all of this translates into decreased mobility and frailty. Medical professionals refer to frailty as a "pre-disability." So, if the tiredness has gone on for an extended time, begin to look for signs of genuine frailty. No surprise, the signs include exhaustion ("hyper fatigue?"). Frailty also is predicted by weakness in grip and slower walking pace. And by weakness, we mean a quantum reduction in ability to grasp, and by slower we are talking a fraction of former strides. All of these point to diminished physical activity. Think of frailty as one step away from a permanent reliance upon a walker or wheelchair. The next time you are speaking with an older individual who reports being consistently tired, it may be time to wake up and take stock of their overall health. 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@cr eativecaremanagement.com.