Driving « The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

Driving at an Older Age

June 27, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Pat Linard, PR | Leave a comment
Tags: Aging, Driving, Family, Life, Personal, Tips

I read an interesting article in Bergen County’s The Record yesterday. It caught my eye because it was focused on driving and older drivers. I have both a personal and professional interest in the topic.

On the personal side, I visited my 88 year old mother recently. She lives a couple hours away, lives independently and still drives. Although she is still very self-sufficient, she has lost quite a few friends this year and we looked at an independent/assisted living facility together. Somehow I insisted that she drive with reasons like “I’m too tired,” “I’ve been driving all morning” and “my car is almost out of gas and we don’t have time to stop.” I’m not sure she believed any of them, but she drove the half hour to our destination. Thankfully, I was quite comforted by what I saw. She exhibited the traits that an older driver has like limited lane changing, keeping to the lower side of the speed limit, and totally concentrating on the task.

Not every older driver is unsafe behind the wheel but there are certain things that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating an older driver. We’ve had to deal with this many times with our older clients at Distinctive Care in Ridgewood. As geriatric care managers, we need to make recommendations to the family when we see an older adult that could pose a hazard to themselves or others while on the road. Thankfully, we have had help with driver rehab programs and doctors that are willing to report an unsafe driver to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.

New Jersey is a difficult state to live in without a car, however we have been able to put together programs with other ways of handling errands and getting to events and doctor appointments. Our care plans often include information on online ordering for groceries and many other needed items and low cost transportation services targeted to seniors. And for those who are still able to drive, there is help through AAAExchange (for testing) and CarFit (for car adaptation to reduced physical abilities).

Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management serves Bergen, Passaic, Rockland and Orange County with nurses licensed in New Jersey and New York. We help families dealing with various issues related to their elderly loved ones and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have related to long term care. Please contact us in our Ridgewood Office at 201-587-5283 to schedule a consultation.

My Perfect Job

April 8, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
Tags: Aging, Caregiver, Driving, Family, Life, Love, Personal

I am so fortunate that, as the owner of Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management, I have the opportunity to spend quality time with our Clients on a routine basis. It provides me with an opportunity to observe the Client and make a comparison, not only to the last time I saw him/her, but also to compare what I’m seeing to what I have learned about the Client at our weekly interdisciplinary care conferences. It also affords me the opportunity to be in touch with the families to provide them with my perspective on their loved-one as well as the chance to find out if they have any concerns that I should be looking into.

This week I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with one of our Clients who has Primary Progressive Aphasia. She moved into an assisted living facility several months ago. Last month when I visited I brought her a wreath for her door and spent time with her at her new home observing her and seeing that she was adjusting well to her new environment. It had been a while since I had last seen her, as I had been out on medical leave for some time. After spending time with her I reached out to her daughter and her Care Manager about some concerns I had and we were able to obtain an order for physical and occupational therapy for her. I was able to note a decline in her physical functioning which was not as evident to the family and Care Manager who see her on such a routine basis. The changes were subtle, but since I hadn’t seen her in some time they were very obvious to me.

Anyway, back to this week: I obtained permission from her daughter to take her out for lunch and shopping (two of her favorite things!) but was advised by her daughter that we should only do one thing because it was really difficult to get her into the car. So I arranged to take her to a nearby Lord & Taylor that has a cafe so we could do both.

When I arrived to pick her up she was waiting for me. She was all dressed up in a beautiful purple outfit (my favorite color!) and had beautiful jewelry on. We went up to her room to get her coat and I was able to observe that there was some improvement in her gait since beginning physical therapy. All of the caregivers we ran into were so happy that she was going out and asked if I could purchase her some new pull-on pants in a size medium since she had gained some weight since her move into assisted living (as most new residents do). I obtained the “okay” from her daughter to do so and off we went.

The first thing I noted was that it was not so much that she was having difficulty getting into the car, but that she was doing it incorrectly. I showed her how to do it properly and safely, and had no problem getting her into or out of the car. I will review this with the Care Managers on Monday at the meeting so that when they take her to appointments they will have no problem with this issue. I have already reviewed the procedure with her daughter, who said she understood, and although she has not taken her out since she moved to the assisted living she will keep it in mind when she does.

We had a wonderful time. I helped her to order her lunch and observed how she did when eating. She had no problem and used the appropriate utensils and did not demonstrate any difficulty swallowing. Of course I did all the talking since she has really declined in this area. But she can still laugh, and we had lots of fun while I poked fun at her and her hearty appetite.

Then off we went shopping. I had to remind her frequently to take bigger strides when ambulating, but other than that she did fine. She was able to follow directions and we went to see if there were any pants she liked. She picked out two pairs and also a blouse that matched well with both of them.

We had so much fun trying on colorful scarves and I modeled several pairs of shoes for her in the shoe department. (Everyone who knows me, knows about my wild taste in and huge collection of shoes.) She was laughing and smiling the whole time! And I was having a wonderful time too!

After almost 4 hours it was time to go home and when I dropped her off I gave her a kiss goodbye and she spoke the only full sentence of the afternoon…”You really listen to me!”. What a wonderful gift…what a wonderful day!

Distinctive Care is a full-service geriatric care management practice. All of our Care Managers are Registered Nurses and we have a Transitional Coach on staff who assists Clients as they experience the changes that come with aging. We are located in Bergen County, New Jersey, in Ridgewood, New Jersey. We serve northern New Jersey including Bergen, Passaic and other counties as well as Rockland, Orange and Westchester County in New York. We can be reached at 201-857-5283.

Should Mom or Dad Still Be Driving?

February 9, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Joanne Jordan, Office Manager | Leave a comment
Tags: Driving, License, Road Test, Safety

This is one of the tougher questions family members may face as their loved one ages. It’s an especially difficult topic because no one likes to admit that they are no longer able to do something that they were once proficient at, and this particular ability represents freedom and independence—privileges that most of us are loathe to part with.

Often, the decline of driving skills as we age goes undetected by family members until the changes are quite significant. And the driver may not be aware of these changes, nor may s/he want to admit to them. If you have doubts, talk to your loved one’s family doctor. You or the doctor may need to make a referral to the Motor Vehicles department in your state, for a re-assessment of driving skills. Here in New Jersey, the process is as described on this page.

The results of a review are not necessarily all-or-nothing. Perhaps avoiding night driving is all that’s necessary, or restricting travel to roads with speed limits under 50 MPH. The important thing is to address any concerns before something catastrophic happens to your family member or anyone else who shares the road with them. A geriatric care manager can be instrumental in assessing the elderly client’s physical, mental and emotional health and coordinating the appropriate resources to best assist the client to remain as independent as possible.

Here’s another helpful website for more information.

What Happens When Mom is no Longer Safe to Drive?

July 6, 2010 at 9:35 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
Tags: Driving, GCM, License

Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management received a call last week from an adult daughter who had been in to see me during the summer. When I first met her she was gathering information about services that would be available for her mother in the future as she had noticed some decline in her mother’s cognitive ability. We talked about lots of different options, but a major concern she had was her mother’s ability to drive. This is a concern that so many people come to me with and these adult children are so scared that their parent is going to hurt herself or somebody else…but how do you speak to your mother about this very difficult to broach subject?

I received a call just a few days ago from this daughter advising me that her mother, who lives in Ridgewood, was driving to another location in Ridgewood one afternoon. At 8pm she received a call from the owner of a diner in Hoboken, New Jersey advising her that her mother was lost, he was providing her dinner and would be calling a cab to drive her home (to the daughter’s house, who also happens to live in Ridgewood). Of course the daughter was terrified and didn’t know what to do, so she called me.

Thankfully the diner owner would allow the car to remain in his parking lot until she could pick it up. Interestingly enough initially her mother insisted that she was not lost, but had stopped at the diner because she was hungry. She was 22 miles from home! At this point the daughter was ready for Distinctive Care to do an assessment of her mother and agreed that when she picked up the car she would not return it to her mother but would bring it to her house for safe-keeping until a plan could be formulated. I made plans to visit with her mother the following day.

Stay tuned for my visit with mom, who I’ll call Jane going forward.

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!