Professional
Senior Care Strategies recognizes the important role that attorneys play in client’s lives. Like care managers, many attorneys have strong relationships with clients developed over years of interactions. We recognize the importance of the attorney’s role in creating empowerment documents (power of attorney, living will, health care surrogate) for every older adult. Elder law attorneys can further keep our clients out of harm’s way by creating, as needed, special needs trusts, guardianships and the like. As Aging Life CareTM professionals, we are able to work together with attorneys to ensure the best possible outcome for our mutual clients.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU …….
• Navigate clients out of a crisis and make complex situations more manageable
• Create a comprehensive assessment and care plan for attorney or interested party
• Assist in complex cases, navigate crises and implement successful solutions
• Protect the older adult from potential abuse and exploitation
• Determine annual cost projections for a guardian’s annual plan or family trust
• Monitor and oversee the implementation of the care plan to ensure a better quality of life
and well-being
• Recognize clients who are need of empowerment documents or other legal intervention
• Accompany clients to physicians’ appointments to advocate and communicate on their behalf and provide status reports as to such visits
• Allow the attorney to better focus on billable legal activities rather than on time-consuming daily problems that clients may encounter
• Enable a remote guardian, interested party or family member to limit unnecessary travel and headaches by keeping such persons abreast of the client’s current status
We advocate with doctors to ensure understanding and approval of the treatment and approach provided. Having the client/family “buy-in” helps to avoid crises or unneeded visits to the hospital. Coordinating the patient/resident’s care and seeking out medical specialists in a timely fashion, we are able to deal with complications before it accelerates into a true problem.
HOW WE HELP YOU …….
• Provide insight into the home environment so accurate diagnosis can be made
• Assist with appropriate placement when home is no longer an option
• Help to get consensus when dealing with dysfunctional families
• Secure copies of labs, imaging studies, reports and other medical documents
• Patients see their doctors on a regular basis and medical specialists where indicated
• Support medication compliance in the home or facility, reducing stopped treatments
• Conduit of information so unnecessary calls by multiple family members can be eliminated
• Accompany to medical appointments which reduces last minute cancellations or “no shows”
• Monitor in-home caregivers and health conditions, thereby minimizing hospitalizations and reduce re-admissions.
• By frequent client visits any medical problems, abnormalities or side effects are brought to the physician’s attention so they can be addressed in a timely manner
• Making sure that all client’s care team are aware of the current medical dynamics, medications, and health related issues. Thereby ensuring continuity of care and a good communication flow.
Having a Care Manager/Aging Life CareTM Professional in your arsenal allows your practice to extend your relationship with the key clients. Elder care concerns may be dramatically impacting clients and their extended families. The responsibility of caring for an older adult can be very challenging. These concerns are magnified when there is no family or caregiver living nearby. The maze of senior services can be confusing and overwhelming. Senior Care Strategies can help you manage and assist you and their families in making difficult care decisions Recognizing this fact and offering a professional to lessen their angst and give them peace of mind only strengthens the bond that you have with this client.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU …….
• Help clients avoid institutional care and age at home safely and with dignity
• Comprehensive Assessments to ensure your clients are receiving the proper care in the appropriate setting
• Securing and organizing related documentation to maximize medical deductions for taxes or for budgeting purposes for family or special needs trust
• Assist with bill paying and household money management where there is a desire to cultivate the individual’s independence but having a layer of oversight
• Act as independent intermediary, where family dynamics is prevalent, to help facilitate good communication and refocus on client’s wishes and needs
• Monitoring their health care issues by attending doctor appointments, advocating for them while in the hospital, coordinating in-home care and securing appropriate medical equipment
Mental health problems are often overlooked by health-care professionals and the elderly themselves, and the stigma surrounding mental illness makes people reluctant to seek help. Older adults are more likely to seek treatment for other physical ailments than they are to seek treatment for depression or substance abuse. Substance abuse problems in older adults are most often associated with the misuse of alcohol, over-the-counter medication and prescription drugs, particularly when physicians prescribe medications without knowing the other medications their patients are taking. Caring for a loved one with mental health or substance abuse problems presents a unique set of challenges. Mental health professionals who treat older adults typically do not see the client in the home setting and are often unaware of the relevant dynamics. Having a geriatric care manager/aging life care professional as part of the mental health team can yield benefits to both the client and the clinician.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU …….
• Assist in securing counselling, therapy and support groups
• Ensure patients attend appointments, sessions and other programs
• Help older adults cope with late life stressors or problems
• Reinforce coping strategies brought up during intervention/plan of care
• Encourage exercise, social activities and proper nutrition
• Ensure that proper medications and recommended dosages are taken
• Foster supportive counselling rather than a patient’s “I’ll handle on my own” attitude
• Coordination of care to ensure that other providers and physicians are aware of the client’s medications and current treatment plan
• Secure an appropriate caregiver for client if deemed necessary by medical professional
RETIREMENT, ASSISTED LIVING & SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES
As a former nursing home and assisted living administrator we know this well. Senior Care Strategies recognizes that meeting the needs and addressing the problems of residents and their families can be both challenging and time-consuming for staff of all levels. These issues are compounded when some of these same residents disrupt others living in the community, impacting their experience in your facility. The introduction of a geriatric care manager/aging life careTM professional to these residents and their families can help communities alleviate some of these difficulties.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU …….
• Monitoring the problematic, complex resident to ensure stability in the community
• Leading families through difficult decisions and providing crisis management
• Ensuring residents regularly see their doctors, therapists and other professionals
• Reducing readmission rates and ensuring resident returns to the community
• Correcting difficult behaviors such as wandering, inappropriate speech or other unacceptable behaviors
• Promoting client engagement in activities
• Assisting in the placement process and the transition from a private home
• Bringing problems to doctor’s attention, thus ensuring a medically-stable resident
• Acting as liaison between doctors and facility staff members to ensure proper medication and care changes
• Mediating family dynamics to reach solutions to the problem at hand
