What is Geriatric Care Management? 
Feeling anxious and overwhelmed as a family caregiver? A geriatric care manager can relieve your stress by helping you make care giving decisions, navigate the elder care system, provide dementia strategies, advise in housing/legal/financial issues and supervise care. Our RN Geriatric Senior Care Management professionals can use their expertise to serve as a surrogate family member to assist in dealing with the most complex issues.
Reasons geriatric care management could help your family?
1. Save Money
It’s counter-intuitive, but true for many people. Hiring a GCM either for a one-time assessment or for ongoing support is likely to lower your expenses in the long run by helping you plan ahead and avoid hasty decisions that might prove unnecessary or overly expensive.
If you care for a loved one at home, for example, a GCM can help you decide which home care services may be necessary, and help you supervise that care. A GCM may help with financial planning for future care, working as a liaison with a person’s power of attorney, elder law attorney and financial planner, perhaps helping caregivers avoid costly mistakes. GCMs should also be able to give you information about entitlement programs and benefits for veterans.
2. Make better decisions
A GCM can assess a person’s living situation and recommend changes such as modifications to their home or a move to a facility.A GCM could assess an individuals ability to care for themselves when they still live alone, assess ability to drive, and offer suggestions for the next steps to take.
3. Navigate the medical system
Geriatric care managers may attend doctors’ appointments, help you communicate with health care professionals, and make sure doctors’ orders are understood and followed. In addition, according to Nataly Rubinstein, a geriatric care manager and author of the book Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: The Caregiver’s Complete Survival Guide, if you need help getting an accurate diagnosis for your loved one, a geriatric care manager can help you find the right specialist and then walk you through the evaluations necessary for receiving a diagnosis.
An ongoing relationship with a GCM should also help you avoid unnecessary hospitalizations for your loved one.
4. Supervise care and advocate for your loved one in a facility
A GCM can coordinate all aspects of a loved one’s move to a facility, or simply serve as an extra and discreet pair of eyes and ears to visit the facility at odd hours and check on a client’s physical care, emotional state, activity level, and social engagement. A GCM can also help facilitate communication between family caregivers and facility staff.
5. Find caregiver support
A GCM can help save your sanity as a caregiver. Family caregivers often try to take on too much—either out of guilt, a feeling of being obligated, or just love and good intentions. A GCM can not only share the burden of weighty decisions, but gently suggest ways you can pay attention to your own needs. GCMs should be able to recommend sources of caregiver support in your area such as respite care, caregiver counseling, and adult day service centers.