Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

Rural Living Elders Greatest Risk to Perish in Massive Hawaii Fires

RURAL LIVING ELDERS AT GREAT RISK IN FIRES _ELDERLY 2XMORE LIKELY TO DIE IN FIRES

Rural Living elders are at great risk of fires. The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that older adults are more than twice as likely than the general population to die in fires. One-quarter of the Paradise residents, in the devastating fire that burnt down an entire California town in 2018, through PG&E Malfeasance had a disability which is double the statewide statistic. One geriatric care manager who lives there lost his home and practice trying to rescue a local older client.

Rural Living elders at great risk in fires

 

Rural Living elders at great risk in fires showed up again in the present Hawaii fire. The devastating Hawaii fire that just destroyed the entire town of Lahaina on Maui where over 90 people have now been found dead and this number is growing fast and 1000 are missing. This fire is rated above the Campfire which destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018. Many of those suspected dead in Lahaina are thought to be older people who could not escape quickly enough as it was a fire that was swept by Hurricane Dora’s 80-mile-an-hour winds spread the fire so fast that many many just could not escape. Lionel Montalvo, retired fire chief in Lahaina, said that many dead elderly would be found 

Decades of research confirm that the physical limitations that accompany advanced age make it much more difficult to escape disaster, but so do the social isolation and stubbornness that experts say is common among the elderly.

BREATHING PROBLEMS FOR SENIORS UBER RISK IN FIRES

The elderly are at the greatest risk for fire-related breathing problems according to the CDC.So if they just live in fire-prone areas and do not lose their home the very air they breathe can make them ill or actually kill them. Wildfire smoke can in the worst cases be deadly, especially among older people. Studies have shown that when waves of smoke hit, and patients experience respiratory problems, heart attacks, and strokes.

In 23 counties, older Californians overwhelmingly choose to live in fire-prone areas. Including in San Luis Obispo County, where 82% do live in rural areas.

Rural Living elders are at great risk of fires. That means nearly 2 million older Californians live in areas where wildfire is a formidable threat. It is not only the elderly who are losing homes in these rural Forest fires but those in facilities.

According to NPR in San Francisco, there are more than 10,000 long-term care facilities in California, from six-bed assisted living homes to large nursing centers.

Their analysis found that 35% of these facilities are in risky areas. With as many as 105,000 residents to safeguard if fire comes, these care home operators must now consider how to evacuate during a pandemic, a more complicated and difficult task.

California is aging faster than the rest of the country. In 10 years, the state projects the number of people over 65 will grow to 8.6 million.

RURAL LIVING ELDERS AT GREAT RISK IN FIRES SANTA CRUZ COUNTY FIRES TURNED REDWOODS INTO INFERNOS

In Santa Cruz, California, where my home and my home office are located wildfires in our Santa Cruz mountain forest burnt down 25 % of our county in 2020.  Of the two most damaged areas in the county was Bonnydoon, a rural area overlooking the Pacific which is very beautiful and rural. Among the many senior facilities damaged was Brookdale Senior Living which was evacuated due to smoke damage and inhalation by residents. They had to send patients to the Bay area, and in the Brookdale case, frail confused elders were sleeping on cots close to each other, risking COVID-19 and exacerbating their confusion, according to one daughter who moved her mother to her home in Santa Cruz permanently.

ELDERS COLLIDE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

“There is absolutely a colliding of the events of both population aging and climate change,” said the University of South Florida gerontologist Kathryn Hyer. The elderly population represents 1/5 of our population and growing. Climate disasters as we can see from one climate catastrophe after another this year -like the Maui fire explode in power and frequency. According to the EPA, these colliding statistics are a formula for a disaster in a disaster.

Climate change is having a significant impact on wildfires according to the National Oceanic &Atmospheric Administration 

Rural Living elders a great risk of fires and it is only getting hotter, harder to breathe more dangerous for all worldwide US residents reflected in the heat wave in Arizona and Texas with a high-risk population of aging individuals but radically  more so for elders, who are number 1 in health problems and live at home or in facilities in the middle of these mammoth forests, turned into infernos of death

 

 

Sell GCM or ALCA to wealth managers?

 

 

 

What makes 3rd Parties Like Wealth Managers Refer to Care Managers?

Do you want to sell to wealth managers? Why would third parties like wealth managers trust officers, sell to  GCM or ALCA by referring clients to a care manager If you have an Aging Life or GCM business you need to know. It is the benefits you bring to the 3rd party and their aging client.

Benefits you bring to the 3rd party and their aging client.

Clients in the upper 5% of income will call you because their wealth manager or bank trust officers referred them. But the wealth manager needs to know what benefits you offer them and their clients if they are to make referrals to your agency. On the feeding chain of referrals, they are one of your most important sources to feed income for your business. because these clients can pay privately for many years with their mammoth incomes and investment. You have to deliver what benefit you promises sell Benefits, not Features to Wealth Managers to Grow Your$ Bottom Line

Sell benefits not features to wealth managers is a key to great marketing. Do you know how you do that? When you market Geriatric care management, what makes the final sale is ” What’s in it for me the 3rd party. “Benefits answer that question for your targets. Learn how to make a great marketing presentation and sale to 3rd parties, like wealth managers or bank trust Departments, by understanding the benefits geriatric care management brings to them and the rest of your target audiences.

 

[Read more…]

Merging Care Management with Homecare Gives You a Competitive Edge.

 

Merging Care Management to Homecare Gives You a Competitive Edge.

Merging care management with home Care gives you a competitive edge, but you need to do a Competition Survey to find out how to position your merged agency ahead of all your completion.

Why should you add geriatric care management to your private-duty home care agency?

It can make a client shopping for a Care Managed homecare agency chooses you instead of your competition because you offer one-stop shopping. The adult child does not have to hire one agency to manage care and a second to do homecare. You offer an enticing package for the beleaguered, stressed caregiver desperately seeking help.

MARKETING POSITIONING. Product, needs,

That’s called positioning.

Merging  care management with home Care gives you a competitive edge and shows what makes you different from your competition.  Adult children in a struggling with their aging parents learn that geriatric care management plus private duty home care is an added bonus to families in a crisis. Thus a care management service can be an important differentiator for agencies offering home care. It helps you get more clients and outstrip your competition. So you need to find out through the competition survey if there are any care-managed home care agencies and what you can offer that they do not in their menu of services like care management like Move Management or Home From the Hospital, all offered in my operations manual.

 A geriatric care manager can do a great job of teaching clients and families why they need care. A geriatric Psychosocial and functional assessment and care plan is a very clear way for families to understand care needs and recommendations and to plainly see all the options for providing this care and choose your agency. The GCM is looked at as a desperately needed guide, not a salesperson, to get services started.

Care manager assessments are broader in scope than a private duty home care assessment and include not only family and social supports and home safety but spirituality, Quality of Life, finances, legal, nutrition, environment, mental status, depression,  sibling rivalry, dysfunctional families, relocation options and assistance and death and dying. A GCM assesses for alcoholism and drug abuse, domestic violence, sleep quality, sexuality, activity tolerance, personal values, and cultural beliefs. So they offer an in-depth overview of clients’ and families’ problems.  

 Your geriatric care manager’s care plan gives recommendations and options to consider so the family and client can make the best choices for providing this care.  The bonus to you is this lengthy, very valuable assessment is billed.

Plus, the Family feels like they have a very involved individual concierge to solve their problems

Free Webinar 

SIGN UP FOR MY LATEST WEBINAR- LAST DAY TO SIGN UP 

New  FREE Webinar-Why Merge Home Care and Care Management

 

Webinar-Why Merge Home Care and Care Management

When-May 18, 2023 -2 PM -3:30 PM PST

The first and most important reason to merge care management to home care is money. You will be able to capture billable hours that you and now giving away for free. The second reason to add care management to home care is market positioning. Clients will choose your agency if you offer this merger and competitors do not. A third reason is that a care manager is perfect for introducing home care to family caregivers. Care Managers sit down with the family and review the geriatric assessment and care plan they created for the client. Last, this 1-1 care manager meeting introduces a concierge guide through the labyrinth of caregiving, showing exactly what homecare plus care management will do to solve the client’s problems, increase their quality of life and offer relief to the sometimes-desperate family members. Find out more by signing up for this free webinar

Learn

How this merger creates more Profit for both Care Management and Home Care

The Advantages of Merging Home Care and Care Management

Competition Survey to make third parties and Adult Children Choose you

Co-Branding the merged agencies.

Technology for both home care and care management

Co-Locating both staff.

Marketing Merged care manager home care.

Critical Success Factors for the Success of the Merger

LAST DAY TO SIGN UP

Link-SIGN UP NOW

 

Contact

Use the form on the
Contact page to email Cathy.

Email

Connect with Cathy

Get Cathy’s “10 Critical Success Steps to a Profitable Aging Life or GCM Business”