Care-Managed Home Care
By Dianne Boazman, LCSW, CMC, and Betty Landreaux, LCSW, CMC, Home Care Solutions, New Orleans LIVING WELL Magazine
Elder care issues are often complicated, chronic and complex. Finding the most viable and sustainable solutions for such needs takes understanding. This is particularly true with care-managed home care – a fresh approach and new national trend in non-medical sitter/companion services. By adding professional care management services to traditional home care, care managers help counsel and support individuals and families who are overwhelmed by care decisions.
This holistic, professional method for home care services not only looks at the immediate needs of arranging and monitoring sitter/companion care, but also takes a comprehensive approach to care that begins by fully assessing the following:
- Medical history and functional status
- Psychosocial needs and personal history
- Emotional and cognitive status
- Review financial, legal and medical issues
Care-managed home care provides families with an objective assessment and access to a broad range of supportive services. These assessments are conducted by professional care managers, credentialed experts in geriatric care with specialized training in social work or nursing, who work closely with each individual and/or family to understand their specific situation.
In this unique model, the care manager develops a personalized plan, including the right mix of services, to ensure that a client’s needs will be addressed –– all while honoring their values and independence. The array of client services might include the following:
- Consult, assess and make recommendations for care
- Coordinate medical appointments
- Manage crisis situations
- Act as liaison to families at a distance and need a local professional they can trust
- Evaluate residential options
Increasingly, families across the country seek more comprehensive elder care services for their loved ones and welcome the availability of professional geriatric care managers. With care-managed home care services, they can maintain the wellbeing and dignity of their loved one while considering their own needs and resources.
Dianne Boazman, LCSW, CM, and Betty Landreaux, LCSW, CMC, NCG, are professional geriatric care mangers and owners of Home Care Solutions, offering non-medical home care and geriatric care management services. They can be reached at 504-828-0900 or www.HomeCareNewOrleans.com.
