What is Aging Life Care™?
Aging Life Care, also known as geriatric care management, is a holistic, client-centered approach to caring for older adults or others facing ongoing health challenges. Working with families who have aging parents, grandparents, loved ones with mental health needs, or chronic care needs, Aging Life Care Professionals™ provide the answers at a time of uncertainty. Families receive guidance to the actions and decisions that ensure quality care and an optimal life for those they love, thus reducing worry, stress, and needing to take time off of work. Family caregivers receive help with:
- Understanding the issues that their family member is facing and monitoring changes in their daily life.
- Planning care solutions and problem-solving.
- Receiving education and advocacy.
- Being coached on the best approach to health care; physical, mental, and emotional.
- Caregiving from a distance.
Aging Life Care Professionals are engaged to assist in a variety of areas, such as:
- Housing – helping families evaluate and select appropriate level of housing or residential options.
- Home care services – determining types of services that are right for a client and assisting the family to engage and monitor those services.
- Medical management – attending doctor appointments, facilitating communication between doctor, client, and family, and if appropriate, monitoring client’s adherence to medical orders and instructions.
- Communication – keeping family members and professionals informed as to the well-being and changing needs of the client.
- Social activities – providing opportunity for client to engage in social, recreational, or cultural activities that enrich the quality of life.
- Legal – referring to or consulting with an elder law attorney; providing expert opinion for courts in determining level of care.
- Financial – may include reviewing or overseeing bill paying or consulting with accountant or client’s Power of Attorney.
- Safety and security – monitoring the client at home; recommending technologies to add security or safety; observing changes and potential risks of exploitation or abuse.
- Long-distance care – coordinating the care of a loved one for families that live at a distance; including crisis management.
Local, cost-effective resources are identified and engaged as needed. A care plan tailored for each individual’s circumstances is prepared after a comprehensive assessment. The plan may be modified, in consultation with client and family, as circumstances change.