What is a Geriatric Care Manager?
Why you need a Geriatric Care Manager, and how Caring Professionals can help you find one
Family Negotiations are not just for Burial and Inheritance, learn how hiring a Geriatric Care Manager from Caring Professionals can change you and your Father or Mother’s life for the better.
It’s a fact. Your parent needs help. He moves very slowly. He gets distracted. He does not always take his medicine on time. You’re the daughter. You are in touch with him several times a day to make sure he remembers when he needs to be ready for the ride to the doctor, to throw out old milk, and to make sure the cleaner does the bathroom and checks the mailbox. You already manage finances, medical appointments, insurance, banking, and more. You’re nervous about a fall, about a possible episode, and other mishaps that can have serious health ramifications for your senior.
Your father, on the other hand, cherishes his independence. He is not independent but he seems to think he is. Meals come in from the local senior center he used to attend before the pandemic. You take care of the shopping and that his medications are refilled. You arrange the cleaning help, too.
You have discussed this several times. He thinks he is independent and in charge. You think he needs a monitoring device. What if there is an emergency, you worry. Will I learn about it in time? Can he get to a phone? Use it? How quickly can he receive help? By whom? Whom will he call if it happens? Will he be thinking clearly in an emergency? Your father adamantly refuses a monitoring device and keeps ending the discussion when you bring it up.
You are the local daughter. You are responsible. You are already responsible for so many things for your dad and they take up a lot of your time. You feel entitled to secure some peace of mind.
What is a family to do? This can be the role of a geriatric care manager. A geriatric care manager is a qualified social worker or nurse who has taken courses on senior care management as well as an exam. S/he is a professional who is certified to help families manage care of a senior.
Popularly called the daughter you hire, a geriatric care manager can handle many tasks for a family. These range from the practical aspects of a senior’s day-to-day life such as food shopping, home maintenance, medical appointments, and hire of caregivers to the psychosocial needs of the family.
In the case described above, a geriatric care manager may negotiate an arrangement that will satisfy the needs of both the senior and the daughter so that monitoring, emergencies, and security in the home are handled by a wireless system, which is non-invasive yet gives the daughter peace of mind. The professional skills of the GCM, coupled with her knowledge of available reasonable system features, gives her several advantages with which to work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement for both generations. Her role in negotiating a solution may be invaluable.
A GCM can take on other responsibilities as well. Easing the burden of the daughter and managing the daily details that are required to keep the senior active, healthy, fed, and safe are within the purview of this professional. The GCM’s involvement allows both senior and caretaking daughter to enjoy time together, engage in cultural outings, celebrate holidays without stress, and keep the golden years golden.
The time committed by a GCM is usually paid for at an hourly rate unless there are other long-term arrangements made such as through a GCM agency. Roles and responsibilities are discussed from the outset so that all stakeholders are clear about what the GCM will handle. A contract is signed. Often, because the GCM gains the trust of both senior and caregiver through skilled communication and practical solutions, the responsibilities increase and more tasks are outsourced to the GCM with a corresponding change in rates. A GCM usually comes to the home of the senior regularly, even though many routine administrative tasks are done from her office.
Caring Professionals offers the services of geriatric care manager in its concierge private pay menu of services. If a caregiver such as a companion or home health aide is hired through this division, the first session of a GCM is complimentary.
Medicaid and Medicare do not cover private geriatric care management services.
Relevant links and articles
Caring Professionals Private Pay Services
How to start a conversation with your elderly parent about home care.
How to pay for home care in New York State
Why should you care about home care?
