Sonja W. Kobrin,
M.P.S. Geriatric Care Manager
V.I.P. Care Management, Inc.
Lantana, Florida 561-588-5151
If your elderly parents live far away, who will be your eyes
and ears? Who will educate you about the confusing elder care system? Younger
folks have never had to learn about Medicaid, Medicare, Veteran Benefits and
Long Term Care Insurance. Most are unaware of the hidden politics of doctors,
hospitals, nursing homes, insurance providers and home health care companies
which bias them when they offer you options and solutions for your elderly
parents.
Every professional seems to have an opinion about what is
best, but sometimes these opinions conflict. The doctor wants to send the
patient home. The hospital social worker is arranging for nursing home or
assisted living facilities to do an assessment for facility placement or
rehabilitation. Your parents may be rejecting the idea of hiring a home health
aide. Who will be your parents’ unbiased advocate? Even if concerned children
rush to their parents’ hospital bedside, how will you know all of the options
and most importantly, what these options will cost? Geriatric Care Managers are professional elder care
consultants hired by families to represent their
interests and only their interests. A
legitimate Geriatric Care Manager takes no referral fees from any company or
facility to whom they make a referral. Care Managers are paid by the patient or
family to guide the family through the elder care system and to make sure the
patient’s needs are met. It is best to hire a care manager who does not own a
Home Health Company or Assisted Living so you can easily make changes if you
are unhappy with those services.
It is common today for people in the northern states to
retire in resort areas like Florida and Arizona, leaving their adult children
behind. The problem comes ten to twenty years later. The now aged parents have
needs, but their children are living far away. The first time the kids hop a
plane to respond to a family emergency, it is no problem. When the problems
escalate and that child is now taking significant time away from work and
family to assist their parents, the situation becomes critical. As a Care
Manager I have met many couples whose marriages and bank accounts are strained
by caregiver duties.
Most caregivers are unaware of financial programs which may
help offset expensive health care costs. When costly services are needed,
families need to know what to expect. Seniors who lived through the Great
Depression sometimes distrust their children when it comes to financial and
medical decision making. They may feel money is a private matter or have
negative opinions about the way their children have spent money in the past.
Either way, the concerned children may be dismayed to find that their parents
will listen to the advice of a stranger rather than the advice of their own
family. Care Managers can be that “concerned outsider” whose expert advice will
be heeded. Once the situation is professionally assessed and the solutions put
in place, the adult children living afar can work together with the local Care
Manager as a partner in their parent’s care.
