Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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With Dorian’s Carnage- Do You Need a Midlife Family Meeting for Aging Parent Disaster Plan ?

September 3, 2019

What is MidLife Sibling Hurricane Nightmare

The catastrophic disaster of Hurricane Dorian unleashed on the Bahama’s and heading to Florida should conjure up a midlife sibling nightmare. It brings back the goblins of Katrina -the most gruesome weather cataclysm where 39 elderly residents died, trapped or abandoned in retirement centers and 1400 elder overall died in Katrina’s watery wrath.We just plunged into possible horror again. On Dorian’s heels we may have more hurricanes with hurricane season upon us, and global warming making them , like catagory 5 Dorian, monsters  storms. This should terrify adult children enough to take emergency action to protect their parents.

Midlife Sibling Need Emergency Disaster Plan for Aging Relatives

This recent confluence of hurricane deaths and hurricanes looming right now, should be a deafening roar in the ear of midlife siblings that they need to convene a midlife sibling disaster plan family meeting to protect any aging family members-, no matter where your elderly parents live or what level of care. You need that disaster plan because older people are more likely to die in catastrophes than any other population. As I pointed out in my last blog, just because they are often in a facility in a facility or alone and too frail to escape .Katrina and Irma tell us perhaps they are more in peril. 

 

So before another hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flood, or any disaster hits, you need to have a  midlife sibling family meeting to come up with a disaster plan for aging family members

What would be the agenda of that midlife sibling disaster family meeting?

If your loved ones are in a FACILITY- do not trust the facility to handle the situation. Look at what just happened in Irma.

1)Get a copy of the facilities disaster and evacuation plan.Compare it to state regulations. If it does not include calling the family before the disaster, consider moving your loved one or make sure that is changed.

2)Appoint a sibling to be in charge of reading the disaster evacuation plan and be the contact person.

3)Call your state facility licensing body and find out the state regulations to see if they match the facilities- CCRC, Assisted Living or Nursing Home

4) Have a telephonic family meeting before the disaster if possible

5) Make sure the state requires backup generators for heat and air conditioning- a flaw in Florida’s regulations in Irma

If the loved one is LIVING AT HOME alone or with an adult child.

1) Create a disaster plan for the older person. This would map out what each sibling and family member needs to do

2) Create a disaster team. This would include every adult siblings all over the country, family nearby, caregivers and neighbors.

4) Include someone on the team who can carry heavy objects like wheelchairs.

5) Name a substitute caregiver if the regular one can’t get there.

6) Make an evacuation plan for your aging family member’s house. Where is the nearest Red Cross shelter 

7) What disaster supplies do you do you have on hand? Get list from your local Red Cross 

8)Find out how many people do you need to make the move to safety or a shelter?

9) Put all of the above in writing.

10) Share a copy your disaster plan with everyone. E-mail copies to everyone on the family disaster team including all adult siblings, neighbors and friends.

11) Get everyone’s agreement especially midlife siblings and the older person. Be a unified disaster team.

12 ) Call a geriatric care manager to manage the plan or help you create it with your elderly parents, if you live long distance. They can do the heavy lifting, can help moderate a family meeting- can research state laws, be there in a disaster immediately, create and implement a disaster plan for your parent, that you approve and can be part of.

 

Professionals check out the chapter “ Preparing for Emergencies” in my Handbook of Geriatric Care Management  fourth edition,

Professionals Check out my book Care Managers Working With the Aging Family, Jones and Bartlett, with its chapter on Family Meetings and the Aging Family by Rita Ghatak, director of Stanford’s Aging Program. 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, aging family crisis, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, care manager, caregiver, case manager, elder care manager, Elderly Disaster Plan, Emergency Plan, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Jose, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Nursing Home disaster plan, Siblings Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, care manager, case manager, disaster plan, disaster supplies, E Book on Family Meetings, Hurricane Dorian', Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans opens flood gates, older adults in a dsiaster, Red Cross, sibling, sibling disaster family meeting, sibling family meeting

Afraid of Your Competition ??-You Can Learn How to Position Your Business From Them

January 14, 2019

 

Your competitors can show you how to position your business so you stand out from the competition. Positioning is how you make clients in your area choose you over others in the area you serve. Your ALCA or Care management competition survey, ( which should so yearly by getting a mystery shopper). The Trump administration says there are lots of people out there be a mystery shopper since he shut the government down. These mystery shopper calls ( the coast guard or your staff) let you identify and survey other direct GCM competitors like the area agency on aging which may have a GCM arm or for-profits like accountants or elder law attorneys who include geriatric care management in their service mix.

Identify substitute providers like hospitals, often through their home health services.   These can also be part of your competition to take market share from you. Private duty home care agencies offer geriatric care management to their web site. But you have to discover whether they have a certified aging life geriatric care manager as part of their staff. Tracking this down takes having a secret shopper calling all of these agencies and talking to the actual geriatric care manager and asking for their credentials, prices, services, and many more variables.

Professional Patient advocates in your area should also be tracked as possible competitors.

Non-profits often spin off for profit geriatric care management arms to help with the more needy clients they serve. Many religious denominations have geriatric care as a choice so you can learn how they are leveraging their brand. Area Agencies on Aging offer private geriatric care management and can do a good job of leveraging their respect and brand in the community.

Trust departments or wealth management services can have care management to assist with their elderly clients or the adult children in wealth management, who care for their parents.

All these competition surveys will show you marketing/positioning alternatives in your this competitive landscape. They will show how to better brand and shape your branding message- so you are the top choice of customers.

Find out how you can position your own GCM/ALCA  agency, over your competition and be chosen by clients seeking care for loved ones.

Join me in my new FREE Webinar
Learn to Market Like Your Business Depended on it!
When: January 23, 2019
2PM-3PM PST
Learn

How to position your agency so it stands out from your competitors
How to develop or rewrite a strategic marketing plan in 2019 that brings more customers
How to use branding to build positive gut feelings about your agency
How to develop lead generation and tactics through third parties
How to set up leads generation with both a speakers bureau to do co-presentations & join the rubber chicken circuit to reach adult children and targeted audiences:
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Filed Under: Adult children, ADULT SIBling, Aging, Aging Family, aging family crisis, aging life business, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, brand, branding, care management market sizing, care management start-up, care manager, case manager, competition survey, Concierge aging clients, Concierge Client, Concierge Senior, elder care manager, Families, GCM Start -Up, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maris, ife care manager, inquiry call, Intake, Intellectual Quality of Life, John Mc Cain, Jose, Late Life remarriage, LGTB elders, Long Distance Care, marketing, Marketing 4P's, Marketing aging life care, marketing ALCA /GCM, marketing care management, Marketing plan, marketing to concierge clients, marketing to long distance adult children, marketing to the top 10$, Mission, Narcissistic Personality, Nearly Normal Aging Family, News, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Nursing home abuse, Nursing Home disaster plan, Oral History, Palliative care manager, patient advocate, Poor Nursing home staffing, positioning, postioning, Private Duty Home Care, Quality of Life, Quality of Life for elders, Quality of Life in Dying, Quality of Life with Dementia, Reminiscence Therapy, Respect, SIBLING, sibling rivalry, sibling sharing care, Siblings, Social Media, Social Media for Care managers, Social Media for eldercare, Speaker's Bureau, Spiritual Quality of Life, Stepmonster, Sweetheart scam, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Parent crisis, Third Party Referral, Timeline, Town Hall, Transgender Elders, Trust Officer, Wealth Management Departments, Webinar, Written Geriatric Assessment Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, care manager, case manager, competition survey, geriatric care management, geriatric care manager, nurse care manager

Why Did Eight Elders Die in a Nursing Home in Florida & What is the Moral of the Horror Story?

September 14, 2017

 

Eight older people just died in a Florida Nursing Home after Hurricane Irma ravaged Florida. Their deaths appear to be from extreme heat when their backup generator failed air conditioners after 1/2 of Florida’s power has not been restored. It is at present a criminal investigation.Now all Florida nursing homes are being inspected

This points to two disaster preparedness steps I suggest —-first to families of elders and second for professionals.

Alert to families, even if your loved one is in s skilled nursing home or assisted living, don’t assume they are safe.  Know when you place them (and update each year), the facility disaster’ and evacuation plan. Make sure before you choose a facility this complies with state codes.Call The state Ombudsman.

As Irma approached, I suggested to a friend here in California, that she find out her parents Florida Assisted Living facility, disaster, and evacuation plan. They lived in an independent apartment in a CCRC. The Dad is 98 and the Mom 96.

Mom is mid-state Alzheimer’s and Dad is mentally clear but frail. My friend had never thought about a disaster plan even with a looming hurricane that would envelop the entire state.

As the Monster cat 5 hurricane approached,  she thought her parents in safe hands in a what she termed a ” great” facility. When she called, her contact at the facility was in Rhode Island, which I thought strange in a disaster like a hurricane. Since her parents lived in an independent apartment, the contact told her they had to make their own arrangements. There had been a meeting telling residents how to prepare but, she had no idea if the Dad had was at the meeting.

I was floored. The family knew nothing about this disaster preparedness meeting. The Dad was 98. What was the evacuation plan, did they have safety supplies – like flashlights days of food, water? My friend was in California.

Here is the moral to the story.

 My advice to any family with a loved one in a facility of any kind, do not just assume your elders are safe. Get a copy the facility emergency plan, evacuation plan, know that they will contact you and if not why (in the case of my friend they said folks in independent living were in charge of their own emergency plans. )Make this a check off in shopping for a facility for loved ones. Global warming has brought an increase in these mega disasters and no matter where your parent resides they are vulnerable to earthquake, flood tornado, hurricane, polar vortex or fire – it is not if but a big when you need to do this.

 

For professionals –have this information on file about any facility a client is placed. Make sure they adhere to state laws, update it each year and if it does not make sense to you, do not use them.

For more information, the University of Florida,  Home of Disaster filled hurricanes has a great set of directions.

Call a geriatric care manager to manage the plan if you live long distance and make sure the facility is inspected and safe in a disaster.

Professionals check out the  Preparing for Emergencies-chapter in  Handbook of Geriatric Care Management  fourth edition, by Liz Barlowe on Disaster planning 1284078981.jpg

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, care manager, Care Plan, case manager, elder care manager, Elderly Disaster Plan, Emergency Plan, Geriatric Care Manager, Long Distance Care, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Nursing Home disaster plan Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, Aging Life GCM Emergency Plan, aging parent crisis, care manager, case manager, facility evacuation plan, Florida Nursing Home Crisis, Geriatric care management operations manual, geriatric care manager, nurse care manager, nursing home emergency plan, nursing home evacuation plan

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Cathy Cress is the leading national expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management. She is author of Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition, Jones and Bartlett, published 2015 and known as the bible of geriatric care management. Continue Reading >

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