What Does a Geriatric Care Manager/Aging Life Care Professional Do? Read On and You’ll Find Out
Real Life Story
I was introduced to two new clients, ages 90 and 94, by a senior living community representative. He had met them when they attended an event at the community four years ago and remained in touch with them. But the two elderly women repeatedly insisted they were not ready to move because they “didn’t need the care.” That changed drastically, however, after several crises that eventually compelled one of the seniors to call the sales representative.
Both women were very accomplished. The first had entered the Army after high school and was assigned to the Pentagon. She eventually went to work for an employee-owned corporation. The other was a music teacher who later went to London to study international healthcare. At some point, her career included serving as the activity director at a nursing home.
The two women had been living in the same house together for more than 44 years. As I was soon to discover, one of the women developed dementia and decided that she was just going to quit paying the household bills. She was sundowning – that is, becoming confused and restless as night fell each day — and was keeping her housemate awake at night by roaming. Yet, she was still driving the car, with her housemate acting as navigator of sorts. There was little to no food in the house, the kitchen was full of ants, and the house was unsanitary. Both women were smokers and the walls were stained brown. The ladies’ credit cards had been declined for non-payment and they were relying on good Samaritans to bring them food and pay for their prescriptions. I learned that the local sheriff had been called on several occasions due to concerns about the women’ welfare, but somehow nothing came of it. Last but not least, they had hired a realtor and the two acres of land on which the house sat had been for sale for over a year.
After electricity to the house had been shut off for nonpayment , the senior without dementia called the sales representative in a panic. He immediately went over to the house with the community’s executive director, who took a look at the mess the women were in, pulled out one of my business cards and said, “You have to call Donovan,” which the senior did.
I am giving you the quick Reader’s Digest version of this story because it could go on for 1,000 pages. The first thing I did for these newly acquired clients was to dig them out from under two feet of paper on the dining room table, which included documents regarding property taxes and unpaid Medicare supplements that had been cut off. (I had them reinstated.) I didn’t immediately tell the ladies they needed to move out. I visited with them several hours each week and ensured they had enough food. They hadn’t been to their primary care physician for over a year, so I made an appointment with the doctor and told both women that they needed to get checked for eventual admission to the senior living community. They replied, “Fine, but we’re not going now because we don’t have enough money to move without the sale of the property. “ I uncovered enough financial information, including two long-term care policies, to create a spreadsheet to show them and disprove that argument.
One day, I arrived at the house to take my clients to the bank and the person without dementia was sitting in a living room chair and told me she couldn’t walk. I called paramedics to take her to the hospital. I then packed a suitcase for the housemate with dementia and contacted the retirement community representative and told him to prepare a respite room on the dementia floor. After I watched the ambulance pull away, I took the person with dementia over to the retirement community and got her settled on the dementia floor.
After spending 8 hours in the emergency room, the senior who had suffered a medical episode earlier in the day was released and joined her housemate at the retirement community. Since then, I have worked with the realtor to sell the land and have filed their long-term care claims, which have been approved.
As I noted earlier, this is a condensed account of what just one new case in the life of a Geriatric Care Manager can entail, as ADSLA works to serve and protect seniors. Do you think that’s the end of this duo’s story? Not at all. Wait until I tell you about their Powers of Attorney! There’s much to be learned from each and every one of the challenges in senior care. Stay tuned for part 2!