WHAT IS A GERIATRIC CARE MANAGER?
Pamela J. Braun, MSW, LCSW, CASWCM, LF, President, Geriatric Assessment, Management & Solutions
A geriatric care manager (GCM) is a professional who specializes in assisting older people and their families with long-term care arrangements. Care managers have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or substantial equivalent training in gerontology, social work, nursing, or counseling.
GCM’s perform the following services:
- Conduct care-planning assessments to identify problems, eligibility for assistance, and need for services.
- Screen, arrange, and monitor in-home help or other services.
- Review financial, legal, or medical issues and offer referrals to geriatric specialists and conserve assets to avoid future problems.
- Provide crisis intervention.
- Act as a liaison to families at a distance, making sure things are going well and alerting families to problems.
- Assist with moving an older person to or from a retirement complex, care home, or nursing home.
- Provide consumer education and advocacy.
- Offer counseling and support.
The role of a geriatric care manager is to support and empower individuals who are “aging in place” and making all attempts to remain independent and reside in their own homes. To maintain the client’s living environment as long as possible, care managers strive to coordinate services for individuals to maintain this choice and style of living.
Often, safety issues, health and personal care needs, behavioral and cognitive problems, and costs can make this a challenging task for families. If necessary, an older person may need to move into a retirement community, memory-care or assisted living or nursing home. After reviewing medical, legal and financial issues, appropriate referrals for specific follow-up is suggested and discussed. Crisis intervention can be provided to clients and their families to make certain the client’s needs are being met and communicated to families. Geriatric care managers have extensive knowledge about the costs, quality, and availability of services in their community.
Families can hire geriatric care managers to work as consultants to assist with family members who have multiple medical issues, behavioral health needs, and/or complex psychosocial issues, specializing in the least restrictive setting and empowering individuals to live as independently as possible.
If you need geriatric care assistance, professional fiduciary services or any additional information, contact Pamela J. Braun at 623-214-9595 or gamspjb@aol.com
