Geriatric Care Managers: A Significant Member of a Senior's Team

[Senior Independent Lifestyles]

Geriatric Care Managers (GCMs) are an important part of the team for seniors. As we help clients manage their personal, financial, legal, and health insurance matters, we often are the first to notice the need for this specialized expertise. When that happens, we encourage the hiring of a GCM.

The following are some client issues with which we have been involved, the work that GCMs have done, and their happy results:

• Macular degeneration and cancer made it hard for our client to do errands outside or perform some of the activities of daily living. The GCM helped hire aides to assist in those activities.

• Undiagnosed Parkinson's was causing a client to fall. The GCM (also a nurse) attended doctors' appointments and helped in the decision-making, especially when major procedures were being proposed. She did the bi-weekly "med pours" - distributing the prescription medications into the weekly pillboxes.

• One of our clients, who is legally blind and no longer able to feed himself, had to go to a nursing home when he had diabetes wounds that wouldn't heal. The GCM worked with the nursing home staff to coordinate his care, including discussing his diagnosis and prescriptions.

• For clients in the hospital who needed to go to rehabilitation centers, GCMs have guided the process of choosing the right facility.

• In the transition to home, the GCMs have assessed safety, arranged for grab bars and other equipment, and helped hire aides. 

• For a home bound agoraphobic client, the GCM coordinated in-home doctors' visits.

• A client, who appeared to have everything in place, started to feel overwhelmed by the lack of support from her aide and housekeeper - particularly as her husband became more ill. The GCM helped her fire the long-time housekeeper and hire a new one, including negotiating the rate of pay. Then the GCM trained the agency-provided aide to be more self-initiating, and guided the client to use the agency's nurse for the complicated and ever changing "med pours" that were not being done well by the local pharmacy.

• When clients need to have In-Community Medicaid, GCMs get the necessary medical history and diagnoses, and prepare the M11q, the medical and cognitive section of the application. 

In celebration of Geriatric Care Manager Month, we extend our thanks to our colleagues for all they have done on behalf of our clients.

To learn more about Geriatric Care Management, visit the website of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care managers at http://www.caremanager.org.