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Author: Michelle Brown

Balancing Life and Care

The demands of modern life often leave families with no choice but to divide their attention among many different areas. For those with senior family members, this means the direction of the elder's care might fall to them. This is where care management can come in and help quite a bit. For seniors or other family members who need some extra help now and then, it's very much like having a life coach. Care management helps families steer the whole ship, making sure that everything is taken care of so that the individual in need can lead a more normal life.

Finding Your Perfect Support System

An excellent aspect of care management is that it greatly simplifies the task of finding and establishing in-home care services for families. When it comes to that urgent matter of selecting a care agency, many families feel daunted by the decision that looms over them. A care manager can take the lead in assessing the prospective client's needs and in researching agencies of both local and national repute. After that trip to the virtual bookshelf of the Internet, a care manager is positioned nicely to help a family make a decision when the matter at hand is so fraught with emotion and necessity. And if a care agency is selected, a care manager can help with the transition of services to a loved one in a very capable and competent way.

Staying Tuned to Client Needs

Effective care management includes regularly scheduled check-ins. A care manager touches base in person or by phone with the client as often as dictated by their needs. They inquire about health changes; how the living conditions are holding up; and if the client is happy with the care they're receiving. One of the crucial reasons for doing this is to stop potential problems from snowballing.

Solving the Medication Maze

Another area in which care managers prove their worth is medication management. It often becomes a real challenge for older adults, who typically have more prescriptions, to keep their medications organized and to understand how to take them. A care manager assures that a client takes the right medications and reminds clients of the right times to take them. If a client is getting low on a medication, a care manager can prompt the client to call the right person so that a refill can be ordered before it becomes an emergency.

Care managers can also deal with the reverse problem: ensuring that a client does not take too many medications and monitoring clients to be sure they don't have dangerous or even life-threatening interaction between two or more medications.

The Emotional Backbone of Care Management

Providing emotional support is another necessary and significant aspect of being a care manager. Enough cannot be said about the emotional and psychological toll caring for an aging loved one can take on families. Care managers can certainly offer calm and collected reassurance to families. They also might serve as an organizational backbone for families and provide advice as to how they might proceed with the help of certain services. Some families might be able to manage most of the things that need to be done in a day, but others might just find themselves at the end of their rope. Care managers can also serve as connectors to services and support groups that families might need to reach out to.

Your First Encounter with Care Management

For families thinking about care management services, the first step is usually a conversation with a care management professional. During this initial meeting, the care manager will assess the potential client's needs, talk with the family about what their concerns are, and outline what services and solutions might work for them. The care manager does this because it's a good idea to make sure that families and care managers are in sync. After all, they are both ultimately trying to achieve the same goal: the best possible care for the loved one.

Orchestrating a Symphony of Support

Resource management could be an invaluable tool for families with loved ones in care. It could help manage whatever needs to be managed. Tell the family what the care team is doing and what the family can do to help. Be this family's GPS. As long as the care management system gets the loved one to the route of high-quality, individual need-comprehensive care, the family's doing all right. They just have to let go and let experts handle everything else.

References:

The Advantages of Securing a Private Caregiver - Assisted Living Selection: Tips For Finding The Perfect Place. http://hotel-caramulo.com/2023/12/20/the-advantages-of-securing-a-private-caregiver

Elderly Home Safety Checklist | Lockly. https://lockly.com/blogs/news/elderly-home-safety-checklist-how-to-choose-the-right-security-system-for-your-parents-home

Have you seen the signs? 5 Signs you must know! - Senior Options Inc.. https://www.senioroptionsfl.com/have-you-seen-the-signs