The ins and outs of elder care can be a lot to handle, especially if you’ve never done it before. Sometimes family caregivers simply need a professional guide, someone to journey with you as you care for your loved one.
Geriatric care management companies provide family caregivers and their elderly loved ones with elder care professionals, called geriatric case managers. These geriatric case managers support family caregivers and help to improve the quality of life for aging adults.
Are you a family caregiver looking after an elderly loved one?
Do you feel overwhelmed with your personal responsibilities and caregiver duties?
Have you been searching for “geriatric care managers near me?”
In this article, we’re focusing on geriatric care management and how it can benefit family caregivers and their aging loved ones. You’ll learn about various geriatric care management services and get an answer to, “What do geriatric care managers do?”
At the end of the article, we’ll share how to connect with the best senior care management agency in southeastern Wisconsin.
In-home elder care solutions in Southeastern Wisconsin
What Do Geriatric Care Managers Do?
Geriatric case managers help family caregivers and aging adults navigate care. These elder care professionals use their training and experience to accomplish two tasks:
- Resource and equip family caregivers so they can provide quality care and make informed decisions that benefit their aging loved one
- Ensure that aging adults can live comfortably and enjoy a high quality of life into their later years
Here’s a more in-depth look at how elderly care management experts make these two things happen.
Resource and Equip Family Caregivers
Elder care management is a collaborative process between you and a geriatric care manager.
Your geriatric care manager will connect with you and seek to understand your situation. They’ll ask questions about how you’re feeling (they care about you, not just your loved one) and perform a risk assessment to understand what your loved one’s most pressing needs are. As they get a clear picture of what’s going on, they’ll provide more specific solutions and support.
Some of the most common ways that elder care case management professionals assist family caregivers is by helping with:
- Senior housing and relocation
- Relationship management when family members are at odds with each other
- Healthcare coordination and crises
- Home safety evaluations
- Lifecare management
Ultimately, an elderly care management provider’s goal is to ease your stress and burden.
Improve Your Loved One’s Quality of Life
Geriatric management services also exist to help improve your aging loved one’s quality of life.
In order to do this, elderly care management experts often start with a Person-centered Care Assessment. This assessment considers your loved one’s physical, mental, and emotional health to encourage Whole-person Care.
After the assessment, the geriatric care manager will create a personalized care plan that’s specific to your loved one’s needs. And as your loved one’s care needs change, the geriatric case manager will adjust and update their care plan.
Tailored care solutions ensure that your loved one is getting the care that’s truly helpful and beneficial for their unique lifestyle.
When Should You Consider Geriatric Care Management?
Connecting with a senior care management professional can be helpful at any stage of the care process. However, there are specific situations that caregivers can often benefit from some expert assistance.
Here are three times when reaching out to geriatric care management companies could be necessary.
1. You Need Help Providing Care to a Loved One
If you don’t know how to care for a loved one or are struggling with the responsibilities of being a caregiver in general, a geriatric care manager can help.
We’ve already mentioned that care managers can help equip you and resource you for your role as a caregiver. But did you know they can also get you connected to professional in-home care providers and oversee that process?
Some geriatric care management companies have their own caregivers while others have a partnership with an in-home care company. Sometimes getting some hands-on help from a trained caregiver can afford you time to rest and focus on your own self-care.
2. You’re Facing an Important Decision Regarding Your Loved One
A second reason to talk with an elder care case management expert is to get advice on an important decision.
For example, housing can be an area that’s often tough to navigate and understand. Many questions and concerns can arise, like:
- Is my loved one safe living in their home?
- Should I move in with my loved one or have them move in with me?
- Would it be best for my loved one to move into an assisted living facility?
- Are there other housing options to consider?
A geriatric care manager can walk you through all your options and help you decide on the best solution for you and your loved one.
Regardless of the decisions you have, elder care professionals will support you through the decision-making process and resource you accordingly.
3. Your Loved One Needs Specialty Care
Lastly, your loved one may develop a chronic illness or decline in health rapidly. Having a loved one get diagnosed with dementia (a progressive memory disease) is also a possibility.
So, what do you do when this happens?
Most geriatric care management companies offer specialty geriatric care management services, like:
- Dementia care
- Chronic disease management
- Transitional care assistance
- Palliative care
- Behavioral health aid
Not only will a geriatric care manager help you understand your loved one’s new specialty needs, but they’ll also help coordinate healthcare and manage health crises.
Does Insurance Cover Senior Care Management Services?
Unfortunately, neither Medicare nor Medicaid will cover elder care management services. Most often, care management will be an out-of-pocket expense.
However, if your loved one has long-term care insurance, it could help pay for some of the caregiving costs. The only thing to note with long-term care insurance is that your loved one needs to have it before they need it. Otherwise, it won’t be valid for covering home care costs.
One great benefit of geriatric care management, though, is that it’s often billed hourly. This means you only pay for what you need. Even though it’s an out-of-pocket expense, most family caregivers find that it’s worth the cost to speak with a trained professional for a few hours whenever they need it.
Stowell Associates: One of the Best Geriatric Care Management Companies in Milwaukee, WI
Looking after an aging loved one can leave family caregivers feeling stressed and burned out. The extra care responsibility on top of personal life tasks can easily overwhelm family caregivers.
Fortunately, family caregivers aren’t alone.
Connecting with a geriatric care manager can help alleviate caregiver burdens and ensure elderly loved ones get the care they need. Whether you’re just starting out as a family caregiver or have been looking after a loved one for some time now, geriatric care management services can help you navigate the complexities of elder care.
Are you searching for “geriatric care managers near me in the Milwaukee, WI area?”
If you are, then Stowell Associates is the company you’ll want to connect with.
At Stowell Associates, we’ve been providing elder care solutions to families for nearly 40 years. Our Geriatric Care Managers are all trained elder care professionals with a passion to equip and resource family caregivers. They come alongside you to make complex situations easier to understand and work through. We’ve also joined with another home care company, TheKey, to provide families access to experienced in-home caregivers.
Contact us today to learn more about Geriatric Care Management and how it can benefit you and your elderly loved one.
In-home elder care solutions in Southeastern Wisconsin
