2009 August « The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

A week in the Life of a Geriatric Care Manager

August 28, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Lori Habersaat, GCM | Leave a comment
Tags: GCM, Weekly

As a new Geriatric Care Manager at Distinctive Care of Bergen County, I am thrilled to be here. I am slowly becoming acclimated to my work environment and my wonderful team of professionals. This past week I visited 2 clients that I am very quickly learning about. My first visit with Ms. M. who is struggling with the challenges of her recently diagnosed CVA and the confusion and dependency it has very suddenly thrust apon her. She has made some strides with her recent medication changes and weekly case manager visits have noted her progress. I am slowly making adaptations to her plan of care that continue to allow her to remain living at home.

Speaker – “Defining Dementia” – Sept. 14th

August 19, 2009 at 12:08 pm | Posted in Barbara Siembieda, GC | Leave a comment
Tags: Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Disease, support group

On Tuesday, September 14^th at 7:00 pm. at the September meeting of our monthly Alzheimer’s Caregivers’ Support Group, Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management will host Amy Elizabeth Matthews of the Alzheimer’s Association Greater New Jersey Chapter to speak on the topic of Defining Dementia. The aim of the program is to help gain a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and provide information about dementia and other related disorders. Amy Matthews is the Associate Director of Late-Stage Dementia Care, Education & Outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater New Jersey Chapter. Amy has a long and distinguished career in the field of elder care and will discuss the ten warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the importance of receiving a thorough diagnostic evaluation, current treatment options, and support services available to caregivers. The team at Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management feels it is important to educate the public, especially those most at risk, about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. This event is being held in the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church of Ramsey, 5 Shuart Lane, Ramsey, New Jersey and is open to the public. All are welcome to attend. For further information, to register in advance, or if you have an interest in joining the monthly Alzheimer’s Caregivers’ Support Group, please call Barbara at 201-857-5283

3 Important Caregiver Tips

August 7, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 1 Comment
Tags: Caregiver Burnout, Caregiving, Tips

The following article is from an organization called Women & Co. I found the tips to be very useful and would benefit all of our caregivers out there. Please read on…

3 Tips for Improving Your Role as a Caregiver

Article by Margery Pabst: Many of us will assume the role of caregiver at some point in our lives, and the experience can derail our emotional, physical, and financial well-being. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, currently one in eight persons, 65% of them women, are caregivers in the United States.* This statistic is also increasing as families bring loved ones home from care facilities—the result of current economic pressures. A caregiver is commonly defined as one who provides at least twenty hours of free care per week.Taking care of ourselves and taking some positive steps while caring for a loved one can result in a more empowered place for personal well-being and effectiveness. Whether you are currently in a caregiving role or leading a life that is filled with general caring responsibilities for others, consider these three tips for improving your role as a caregiver.

Tip #1 – Express Your Feelings
Keep in touch with your emotional self as you care for others and communicate those feelings directly and dispassionately. Female caregivers often report that they encourage members of their family to share feelings while they keep their own emotions to themselves. It’s common to stifle your feelings and focus only on the needs and emotions of your family. However, expressing your fears, doubts, and needs to the patient, family, and friends is the first step to your own wellbeing.

To better express yourself you can:

•	Use statements like, “I am scared about the future,” or “I feel so much pressure,” or “I am concerned about making a mistake with the medication.” Your open acknowledgement will encourage others to be honest and forthright.
•	Encourage the patient and family members to express honest feelings and concerns. Once out in the open, mutual concerns can be addressed.

The result? Problems are not allowed to fester, caregiving is more efficient, extra expenses are not incurred, and you may be relieved from needless stress.

Tip #2 – Face Conflicts Head-On
Identifying problems early and dealing with them directly is a good plan. A family conflict can cost you heartache, productivity, and money. For example, a typical family conflict often involves not only what treatments are important but also how much money needs to be spent. One sibling focuses on money being spent while another wants only the best treatment for a parent. If everyone shares concerns and seeks to find common areas of agreement, a strong foundation for dealing with conflict will develop. The caregiver is the key person to set the stage for that exchange of ideas.

Helpful ways to communicate are:

•	Plan a family meeting. Bringing a family together as soon as possible is important because caregivers can identify both areas of agreement and disagreement and then can avert some potential conflict while finding compromise in areas of concern. Disagreement, discussed in a group setting, allows everyone to be heard and to feel included in decision making.
•	Ask everyone to consider feelings, concerns, and needs ahead of time and even write them down before the meeting.
•	Be a sleuth and listen for comments that signal current and future points of conflict. Comments like, “Ray never knew what to do when any of us were sick,” “Mother has always known that I was the one to be trusted,” or “We don’t need to let Helen know about this yet” are red flags for possible conflict to come.
•	Develop a repertoire of questions and statements to assist in building consensus like “What can all of us agree on?” and “Let’s start with the ideas that are the easiest and move to the most difficult.”

The result? Conflicts are dealt with early, consensus can develop, and money may be saved.

Tip #3 – Delegate Responsibilities
Seek help by continually building a caregiving community from your network of family, friends, and professional contacts. As caregivers we can wear ourselves out emotionally, physically, and financially if we attempt to go it alone. Life is skewed and everything suffers because we can mistakenly think, either out of guilt or from some deep-seated value, that the caring role can be assumed by only one person.

If your tendency is to want control and to do everything yourself, consider the following steps:

•	Begin with one trusted person and one task and delegate it. Starting small will help to reassure you and will build your confidence with one person who shares your concern and understands the plan for patient care.
•	Identify your success in terms of your emotional, physical, and financial well-being. (What did you accomplish by delegating?)
•	Proceed to identify additional trusted family and friends and delegate tasks that match their abilities.
•	Write down what benefits you, the patient, and your trusted caregivers are receiving as a result of your delegations.
•	Include professional contacts like your attorney, accountant, and financial advisor in your caregiving community.

The result? A broader caregiving community of people to help you in one of life’s most stressful roles.

Your professional caregiving community should be advisors who consider you and your needs in the total context of your life. They are people who will not only want to discuss your finances or legal issues, but will also want to ask about your personal challenges, family issues, and put them into the context of your overall wellbeing.

Don’t let your role as a caregiver derail your emotional, physical, and financial well-being. Expressing your feelings, dealing with conflicts and expanding your caregiving community with a broader set of contacts may provide you with more peace of mind making you more a more effective caregiver.

*Family Caregiver Alliance, San Francisco, 2006. www.caregiver.org

Margery Pabst is the co-author of Enrich Your Caregiving Journey (Expert Publishing, 2009), which includes over 130 steps for caring for yourself during the caregiving process. For additional information, visit www.pivotalcrossings.com.

Dementia? The Time is Now to Fight it!

August 6, 2009 at 9:39 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a comment
Tags: Dementia, News, Tips

The Bergen Record the other day published a great article by Linda Shrieves detailing a number of tips to help younger adults “beef up their brains” in an effort to stave off dementia in later life.

Here are just a few of the 20 tips she listed:

4. Take dance lessons. In a study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.

7. Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process and store information. Likewise, writing (not copying) stimulates many areas of the brain as well.

11. Take classes throughout your lifetime. Learning produces structural and chemical changes in the brain, and education appears to help people live longer. Brain researchers have found that people with advanced degrees live longer — and if they do have Alzheimer’s, it often becomes apparent only in the very later stages of the disease.

15. Pray. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system. And people who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report happier, healthier lives.

17. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted sleep and dementia.

20. Eat at least one meal a day with family and friends. You’ll slow down, socialize, and research shows you’ll eat healthier food than if you ate alone or on the go.

For the entire list, and the original article, head over to the Bergen Record!

Helping Older Drivers

August 5, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 2 Comments
Tags: AAA, Driving, News, Safety

I want to share an article I read in the July 30th edition of the Bergen Record written by Karen Rouse with you. It is very informative and I found some interesting facts and tips in it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Did you know AAA offers resources specifically for aging drivers and the challenges they may face? The transition from an independent driver to passenger who must depend on others to get around can be painful for many aging motorists.

The AAA New Jersey Automobile Club hopes to make it easier for mature drivers to know not only when it’s time to make that transition, but how to do it better. The organization recently announced the launch of www.AAASeniors.com a web site that addresses such challenges. The number of drivers 65 or older in the United States is estimated to grow to 30 million – about one in four drivers – by 2030 according to AAA.

“Our research found that many children of older drivers are unaware of the resources available to help them effectively address the issues of safety and mobility of their aging parents,” says Michelle Mount, director of public affairs for AAA New Jersey.

“People are remaining active and living longer than ever before. The driver safety tools and resources found on AAASeniors.com are designed to keep seniors safe and mobile for as long as possible”

The site features resources on senior mobility, how aging affects ones ability to drive safely and how to have a conversation with older drivers about whether they should continue driving and how to choose a vehicle. It also helps people assess whether an older family member or friend who is having driving problems by looking at the following signs:

Does the driver have difficulty working the pedals – a signal of waning strength?
Does the driver have difficulty merging on freeways or turning onto busy streets – an indication of visual problems?
When merging, changing lanes or backing up, does the driver rely only on the mirrors rather than turning fully to check for blind spots over his or her shoulder? That may indicate a stiff neck.

For these and other assessment tools check AAASeniors.com.

I checked out the site and as a care manager I found it to be a very useful tool for adult children who are concerned about their loved-one’s continued ability to drive. It provides useful information to help extend their time behind the wheel safely.

Thank you Karen for a providing us with the information regarding this new web site and resource for adult children caregivers!

Assisted Living

August 3, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 1 Comment
Tags: Assisted Living, Tips

One of the things I do as a geriatric care manager is assist families with housing options when their elderly loved-one can no longer remain home alone. Last week I spent an entire day with two brothers who were looking for assisted living placement for their mother. They were amazed at the options available and felt so much better with their decision after we finished touring all the communities.

With this in mind I thought I would provide you with a definition of assisted living; if you and your loved-ones are faced with this decision, you’ll have a good understanding of this housing option.

Assisted living is a congregant housing option available to those people who require supervision or assistance with their activities of daily living but do not require complex medical care. They are generally known of as “communities” and each resident has their own apartment. (Some folks choose to share an apartment.) The apartments each have a kitchenette which includes cabinets, a sink and a refrigerator. Some communities provide a microwave or permit residents to bring their own. Although most of the apartments are small there is plenty of “community space” available to participate in recreational activities and visit with their families.

Each resident is provided with an individualized care plan to ensure their needs for assistance are met. For some residents this includes assistance with medication administration. Independence is always encouraged.

Meals are provided with lots to choose from. There are snacks available throughout the day. Family members can usually join their loved-one for a meal for a nominal fee. And most assisted living communities have a private dining room available for special occasions.

Quality assisted living communities have wonderful activity programs with such variety that there is always something to do for everyone. Many have “mens clubs” for the gentlemen. And outings are routine, from shopping to lunch to day trips, and more; the residents have an array of things to do to keep their lives active and full.

If you need assistance finding the “right” assisted living community, Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management can help. We are also available to assist your loved-one through the transition from home and our counselor helps during this adjustment period. We have offices throughout Bergen County, in Ridgewood, Tenafly and Dumont and can be reached at 201-587-5283.

Working Past Retirement

August 1, 2009 at 8:38 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
Tags: AARP, Health, Retirement, Work

69% of baby boomers plan to work past retirement. Recently the IRS and the Peace Corps have joined AARP’s National Employer Team, which is an expanding list of organizations seeking older employees. Employers report that older employess can lower turnover rates and bring a wealth of skills and experience to the workplace.

The older adult also benefits from working past retirement. These include decreased risk for dementia, depression and social isolation. The care managers at Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management recognize this and together with the Client and family we frequently care plan and assist older adults to find both employment and volunteer opportunities. Our Clients who are interested in this aspect of care planning have thrived when provided with these opportunities and report an increase in happiness and the joy that comes from feeling both needed and productive. They have a reduced incidence of illness and report that they sleep better as well!

If your older adult loved one is interested in employment or volunteer opportunities, contact Distinctive Care at one of our three Bergen County offices by calling us at 201-857-5283. One of our care managers will be happy to provide you with the information you need to get started!