“This is just one example of why Life Care Managers or GCMs (geriatric care managers) are so important, and perhaps one day will be indispensable. They represent the power of knowledge in a world where we live under the influence of large institutions and complex systems that are sometimes too big for us to grasp – just when we may need them the most and ourselves too little for them to notice.”
That’s an excerpt from a new article by Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. You can read the entire article here.
Coughlin goes on to say “Often, older adults and their families can do but nothing but hope that they will be treated by the health-care system with their best interests in mind. Sometimes they won’t be — not because doctors and nurses and therapists and administrative staff aren’t doing the best work they possibly can to help patients, but because a hospital is a massive institution with an endless stream of work flowing through it, not just a place of healing, but an ever-whirring bureaucratic machine. Successfully navigating that complex system is critical to both your or a loved one’s health outcomes as it is in managing the costs of health care… GCM’s are advocates for older adults. They typically don’t personally provide care themselves. Instead they collect and present information, help to design a care plan, and navigate the health care system to implement and facilitate that plan on behalf of the family that pays them. They are guides for families who must travel the sometimes-bumpy modern road of aging.”
Do you need help managing the care of an elderly loved one in Lynchburg, Roanoke, or surrounding counties?
Contact us at Generation Solutions Care Management (434)455-6500 Lynchburg or (540) 776-3622 [email protected]. We offer geriatric care management, support for independent living, assisted living enhancement, peace of mind for long distance caregivers, and much more. Learn more at https://www.generationsolutions.net/geriatric-care-management/