I have been working with a lot of families who are not familiar with the differences between types of services that are provided at the independent living, assisted living, and nursing home care levels. The result is that they waste a lot of time touring communities that are inappropriate for…
Whether you are moving your loved one into a high end assisted living community or a nursing home that will eventually accept public aid, it is mostly a heartbreaking event that is stressful for the senior and their family. Because it is such an emotional event, you need to be…
For the first time in the seven years that I have been a senior living advisor, I actually told a prospective client not to move their loved one out of the current long term care community. About 50% of my clients come from the children of elderly loved ones who…
In this past week, I have had many clients approach me with long term care placements involving potential shortages of funds. All of them were approaching what I call the long-term care “black hole.” Let me explain exactly what I mean by that as it will vary according to the…
I have been reading a number of articles that sing the praises of senior move management companies. During the past several years there has been a huge influx of people entering into this aspect of the senior living industry. These organizations don’t act as the actual movers. They are actually…
I attained the designation of Certified Care Manager issued through the National Association of Certified Care Managers. I can help by acting as a neutral third party when difficult family issues involving a senior arise and connect people with appropriate medical and non-medical services. Here are some of the services…
I was recently contacted to conduct a placement for a gentleman who has alcoholic dementia, also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff’s syndrome. The affect of years of chronic alcohol abuse causes loss of short-term memory. The disease usually affects men between the ages of 45-65 who have a history of heavy drinking.…
As a Certified Guardian, I am often asked to act as a senior’s Power of Attorney for Health Care when s/he doesn’t have a family member who is willing or fit to act for him/her. Simply stated, the Power of Attorney for Health Care grants the designated “agent” control over…
As a senior living advisor and Certified Care Manager, I always conduct a face to face assessment of my client. This gives me an opportunity to evaluate him/her from a cognitive and functional standpoint. I observe the environment s/he is living in, talk with the family about the individual’s personal…
I have been involved in two recent cases where I was hired to provide a second opinion to seniors who were seeking to move to a Continuing Care Retirement Community* (CCRC) in Cook County of Illinois. I wasn’t surprised to learn during my initial consultation that neither of them knew…