By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-02-02 10:26:21 | Word Count: 664
What are Geriatric Care Managers? They are the professionals who help families to deal with all the many different aspects of caring for the elderly. Many people think that caring for seniors basically means getting them good quality healthcare. This is only partially true. Although healthcare is a big concern for seniors and their families, the realities of managing everything, from help with daily activities, to estate planning, to obtaining medical supplies for home use, can be overwhelming.
Geriatric Care Managers (GCMs) are basically there to assess your family’s situation, to educate you on how to care for yourself/ your senior family member, to figure out what area of need is not being met, and to provide you with resources and solutions. As licensed professionals who operate as private case managers, they can be hired for $75 to $250 per hour, but the guidance they can give you is priceless.
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For example, you or your elderly family member may have a chronic illness that impairs their mobility or even their judgment. A geriatric care manager can identify what level of care is needed to improve their quality of life and arrange for in-home help, including screening applicants and monitoring the care your family member receives. They can preliminarily review the assets of an aging member of the family and refer them to the right tax or estate planning attorney in your local Pittsburgh area. Not all attorneys or tax preparers are equipped with the appropriate knowledge to successfully handle a senior’s need to protect their home, their assets, retirement income/pension and life savings against estate and inheritance laws that could leave their descendants with no legacy. Finding someone who has sophisticated knowledge about laws that pertain to people 65 years and older, who can execute a will or living will and who can safeguard everything seniors have worked for, will be a source of comfort to a senior for years to come.
Geriatric care is multi-dimensional. GCMs can also provide you with long term or short term assistance through various means to help you financially or logistically to care for an elderly person in your life, such as helping to arrange transportation services or to locate state and federal programs that will cover some of a senior’s medical costs. Geriatric Care Managers are especially useful when they act as a liaison between families who live far away from the elderly members they have to care for. GCMs can monitor the elderly family member’s care by overseeing everything and by communicating with the families far away on a frequent basis. They will also be able to alert the family to any emergent problems that crop up. They will also be there to assist you when it is time to move your family member to an assisted care home, a nursing home or a retirement complex.
Geriatric Care Managers can be your advocate and provide support to you and your family through times of crisis, including offering intervention when it is needed. With their comprehensive knowledge of all the things that impact a senior’s life, their expertise can be a guiding light to families who don’t even know where to begin. Visit GericareFinder today to learn more about GCMs and to find one in your local area.
