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The Geriatric Care Manager
By Cheryl Ellis, Staff Writer
Care managers may also find services
that are low or no cost (such as respite care), that
will reduce or eliminate the need for paying for
companions or aides. The ability to “find money” is part
of a geriatric care manager’s skills. They reduce the
time expenditure in trying to find particular services,
which also helps with caregiver stress.
Evaluating a care manager involves
cost per hour, but only in part. Years in the field,
degrees currently held (LPN, RN or higher degree), and
any additional specialty credentials (finance management
or paralegal training) should be considered. Caregivers
must also be comfortable and able to communicate with
the manager, because this is where information of all
types can be obtained. If the ability of the care
manager to communicate with effectiveness and compassion
is not present, it would be better to continue
interviewing others, regardless of any credentials. This
individual will be a caregiver’s first line of hope, and
help.
Rather than viewing a care manager as
someone who takes the family out of the senior care
equation, they should be seen as a resource of
information about the individual needing care. Regular
contact with the care manager creates a feeling of
well-being within the family structure because the
constant anxiety of questioning how the senior is doing
is subtracted.
When a care manager steps in to
assist client and family, a new dimension opens up in
the relationship between senior and caregiver. The
deeper bonds of relationship are no longer submerged
beneath stress, tension and fear of “doing the wrong
thing.” True feelings of love and compassion are free to
surface. Health of both senior and caregiver can improve
dramatically when the right changes are made.
One person is no longer “in charge”
of another, and the feelings of resentment and/or guilt
that can breed between caregiver and elder dissipate.
Individuals move to a new level of relating to one
another, and the geriatric care manager can also guide
this journey, too.
Caregiver and senior may have to
adjust to new circumstances, but their relationship
ultimately becomes renewed.
To find a Geriatric Care Professional
near you, visit the National Association’s website at:
http://www.caremanager.org/
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