care manager Archives ⋆ Page 3 of 12 ⋆ Cathy Cress

Technology Tools to Help with Reminicsence Over the Holidays

December 17, 2017

Reminiscence isn’t new. Before the printing press, storytellers and bards were how history was recorded- in the new mind not on tape.

Oral storytellers gave us the Odyssey and another valiant tales. History exists in their family, and Ulysses or Penelope might be sitting in their living room this holiday season.

Here are some tips to use if their want to capture these family tales during this holiday season—a perfect time to do this. Use empathetic listening if you can. Make all the messages you are are giving the older person— tone, how fast you speak, how they are sitting- say, “I want to listen to you.”

Ask questions that prompt the story but don’t make judgments. If there are going to record the family tale, do it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the older person from talking. Recording on your i phone , ipad etc is simple and non-intrusive

Start somewhere. If the elder isn’t going to tell stories on his or her own, start the story and see if they will follow along. “That chair there are sitting in, where did their get it, Mom?” Pick an ornament off the Christmas tree and show it to dad to see if he can tell its story.

Reminiscence is sparked by the senses, and buried memories flow into our brains. That’s why the holidays are a perfect time to have their older family members share stories with them. The sense of taste spurs memories. Just think of making that pie that tasted a lot like their mom’s, a brisket, traditional Christmas pudding, latkes

Here are two technology tools to help you with this legacy building for your older client

Life Bio

Grandma’s Pie

Check out my Book Handbook of Geriatric Care Management with more tools for legacy building written by David Lindeman Director Of the Center for Technology at UC Berkeley and Julie Menack of 21 st Care Solutions

Are You Ready for Post Thanksgiving Inquiry Calls From Long Distance Care Providers

November 27, 2017

Long Distance family members are caregivers under constant stress. They have been flying or driving to both visit aging family members for a long time. These caregivers at a distance usually understand that their parents are deteriorating with age and are savvy enough that they have researched options and already found you on the web ( a reason to have a great website).

When the family gathers on Thanksgiving and everyone can see problems with an older person like memory loss or ambulation problems- the family may agree to call a care manager. Or the very stress of the holiday season on top of caring for an aging parent long distance may push the designated long distance care providers over the edge to seek help and call you.

More than 7 million American Families care for older family members from afar. This holiday season many of those long-distance families will come home to an elder Mom or Dad’s house and find a scene they saw coming but still fill them with white fear.

Unpaid bills litter Dad’s desk. He refuses to go to church when he was a devoted churchgoer all his life. When the daughter put the post-turkey leftovers in the refrigerator she finds moldy food on every shelf. When asked about the bills and the moldy food, Dad gets really angry when he was an easygoing guy all his life.

At that point, the daughter may pull out her phone and call an aging life or geriatric care manager because she cannot fly home without getting help. Are you ready for these desperate calls?

Give frantic adult children hope when they frantically call this holiday.

So be prepared for their inquiry and know the needs of long-distance families well plus the resources in your area that you can suggest in your inquiry call. Do not give away the store in your call but let them know that you are an expert in the needs of long-distance care providers and an ace navigator in your area that can find services and choices that are perfect for their needs.

When Cut Off in The Family is a ” Phantom Limb” at Thanksgiving – Katie Holmes Brilliant Role

November 22, 2017

Thanksgiving can be the gateway to the dysfunctional families worst time of year- the holidays. You face family across the table you despise or just both love and hate. Or there is that empty seat- the uninvited guest- the brother-sister, aunt, son, daughter who you never invite- the cut off-family member.

But since this leaves the family with that “phantom limb”- like the awful sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still attached and where it was is pulsating in pain- families reach out for someone to fix it.

The ordinary aging processes are made far tougher when a family has a history of dysfunction. Aging professionals, like geriatric care managers, have their greatest challenges in working with these “difficult” families around this time of year.

Dysfunctional families are not able to organize themselves effectively in the face of eldercare challenges and crises. These families are under more stress as they move from long-established roles into uncharted territory.

What if they “ cut off” their Dad years ago and now he had a severe stroke-what do they do?? Someone has to take over Mom or Dad’s care and these dysfunctional midlife adult kids are heavy ambivalent or just don’t want to do it.Now that the holidays are arriving – they have the same attitude about attending the family Thanksgiving dinner.

Pieces if April is my favorite aging dysfunctional family ” cut off ” Thanksgiving film. Made as a comedy in 2003, it touches death and dying, sibling rivalry, mother-daughter estrangement, interracial love- and Alzheimer’s all fueled by deep family fault lines and how to cook a turkey on a broken stove.The film manages to make the old theme of fraught family Thanksgiving, crisp, funny and ultra worth watching.

Shot in 3 weeks for a measly $350 K, it received a Sundance Film award and accolades for its pedigree cast including 21 year old Katie Holmes as the grunge Goth daughter who her family has ” Cut Off”,.Patricia Clarkson as the dying Mom who distains then forgives her rebellious eldest child and Alice Drummond as the demented grandmother who comes along and plays the most rational person in the film in her obliviousness to the family holiday freak-out.

Watch this classic before the holiday

How To Do an Aging Family Inquiry Call and Make the Sale on the Holidays

November 14, 2017

How To do a 2 Part Inquiry Call from the Aging Family and Make the Sale

Intake is the most critical point in opening or losing a case. A successful intake means increasing your aging life or geriatric care management business. Over the Holidays you will get many desperate calls from adult children visiting their family and discovering- unwrapped gifts, a disheveled Mom – trouble they may not have known about if they lived long distance or just saw Mom infrequently.

Here are steps to success over the holiday intake or any inquiry
1. You must assure the caller that your geriatric care management services can be counted on to thoroughly assess the elderly person’s and family caregiver’s situation at the intake, determine the level of care and level of GCM monitoring to sell your services.
2. You sell these services through convincing the caller that you offer highly personalized and compassionate approach to the family and older client. This breaks down to gaining client and family trust that your GCM services are the very best path leading them the care they desperately need- led by a professional guide they can count on.
3. You persuade them that they will get unbeatable customer appreciation, you will exceed their customer expectations, ensure the quality of life for the older client and offer a concierge driven service.
4. You explain how your hands on professional staff can make families relieved and happy because they understand they save precious time and overwhelming stress by using professional GCM’s.
5. You show them you can access all community services and resource options they could not find alone and are now available to them through your services.
6. In this one sometimes short call, you show potential new clients how your concierge care management service will solve their problems through -you the GCM being there for them every step of the way.
7. You persuade them that by scheduling the next step, a free complimentary consultation call, you will help them make sound decisions based on reality and assessment.

The GCM sells all of this through a free complimentary consultation done by a compassionate and highly skilled professional the director of the agency

Aging Dysfunctional Concierge Family Calls During Holiday- Can You Sign Them Up As Clients?

November 5, 2017

More than half of the aging families who call you inquiring about services during the holidays, starting with “Turkey Day” will be dysfunctional families. The great majority of calls will come from adult children. If you want to make the sale during the inquiry you have to know how to handle these dysfunctional family members on the phone and give them enough trust in you to sign your contract and give you a deposit for your services.

So when they call inquiring about your services you must identify them in the beginning of the inquiry call.

Signs to look for when they describe the problem

History of Divorce or cut off
Stepsiblings
Blaming the aging parent or siblings
Old conflicts with the parent or siblings
Unable to agree or work with other family members

If you have dysfunctional family members calling, do not disagree with them or say anything that they may read as critical. They are ultra-sensitive to criticism, may become defensive and are easily disappointed. Be objective and calm if they have intense emotional reactions.

Most of all give them hope that you can solve the problems with their parent but do not promise anything you cannot deliver. You risk never getting the case.

Learn the 2-part inquiry using a complimentary consultation to make the sale to the needy yet always dissatisfied entitled / concierge family

Master the 10 tasks in holding a family meeting during a holiday crisis with adult siblings and family during the frightful, not festive family chaos

Understand 5 tools necessary to work with long distance concierge and entitled families in a parent care crisis over their thankless Thanksgiving and blue, blue Christmas or Hanukah

Join me for this free webinar and learn how to come to the rescue of Concierge Entitled families who find coal in their stockings.

Wednesday, November 8 @11am Pacific Time

2pm CST/ 4pm EST / 8pm LONDON / 5am SYDNEY (Find your local time)

NACCM has pre-approved this program for 1.5 contact hours”

Sign Up Here –

When Cut Off in The Family is a ” Phantom Limb” at Thanksgiving – Katie Holmes Brilliant Role

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