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Geriatric Care Managers Now Available to Assist Navigating the Aging Process
August 04, 2021
Family members who care for an older loved one can be overwhelmed by the responsibilities, difficulties in navigating the healthcare maze, trying to understand the changes in physical and mental abilities, arranging home assistance, tackling finances, driving to appointments – all while trying to keep their own life in order.
Geriatric care management can be the answer when an older adult needs assistance but the job is overwhelming for a family member or there is no one to help. Geriatric care managers — healthcare professionals with a background in nursing, social work, gerontology or psychology who specialize in elder issues – can be the solution.
Hartford HealthCare Center for Healthy Aging offers geriatric care management to help individuals and families access much-needed services, coordinate home assistance, and advocate. The Center of Healthy Aging, now with 13 locations, has been helping families throughout the state successfully achieve a better and safer quality of life.
The first step in developing a personalized geriatric care management plan is performing an extensive in-home assessment to determine the client’s needs whether they are medical, functional, cognitive, emotional or social. The geriatric care manager then coordinates the most effective care to ensure ongoing monitoring of the general aging process or a chronic disease. The manager also oversees private aides, provides access to the appropriate community resources, plans for other living arrangements when necessary, and assists with bill paying and paperwork, if needed.
“A geriatric care manager often transports a family’s loved one to the medical appointment, attends the consultation and then follows up with care coordination needs and relays information to family members,” said Nancy Becker, Hartford HealthCare Center for Healthy Aging geriatric care program manager. “People find comfort in this. It’s almost like being there themselves. It’s reassuring for them to know that everything will get done.”
To learn more about the benefits and services of a geriatric care manager, click here or call 1.877.424.4641.