Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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Who Benefits from Bidens Caregiver Infrastructure Plan ?

April 19, 2021

Who Benefits from Biden’s Infrastructure Bill addressing Caregivers? Three groups

The first and foremost beneficiaries are paid caregivers who serve older people on Medicaid. The problem is they are not paid enough. These caregivers make an average of about 11.50 an hour or $23,920.00 a year, a figure below the poverty line. The goal for the Biden plan is $15.00  an hour which is $31,200 a year. This is above the federal poverty line of 2021 but only if you have 5 people in your family and will in another phase have to go higher.

Biden’s Program Benefits Caregivers Who are Primarily Women of Colorphoto.JPG

Predomitality women and people of color, these caregivers and their families struggle to survive on their present low salaries. In theory, much of the funding for the Biden Plan would be used to improve low-wage caregiving jobs.

Despite this invaluable work, caring mainly for elders and people with disabilities. 1 in 8 of these direct caregivers’ lives in poverty 

 

Why a Caregiver Infrastructure Bill. 

 

This bill repairs the ravaged road to caring for the huge number of elders who need care now and in the future. Why do we need a superhighway to care? The Elderly will grow to

a vast number while caregivers are in decline, leaving a rutted highway that needs major repair- for boomers, elders, retirees, and future older people in the coming to get the care they need 40 years.

Caregivers are hard to recruit because of the low salaries and the pandemic. COVID infected them as they were front-line workers, had to work three jobs to keep financially afloat, and were not in line to get the first shots. So they often became COVID victims and spread it to their own families. The bill will help the salaries of caregivers, which will help rebuild the potholed path to caring for elders now and in the future. The number of Americans ages 65 and older will more than double over the next 40 years, reaching 80 million in 2040. The number of adults ages 85 and older, the group most often needing help with basic personal care, will nearly quadruple between 2000 and 2040.

Why Unionize?

The bill would raise the salary for care providers who are caring for the poorest elders, themselves on Medicaid. It would also give them a right to collectively bargain nationwide through the SEIU. This is why the union needs to be involved. States can randomly lower the $1500.00 an hour plus a union needs to be in place to raise the minimum wage of $15.00 higher in the future to really gets these critical workers out of poverty.

Biden believes Unions Hold up the American Worker

Biden supports unions. They have been decimated over the last three decades. The rejection of the Alabama Amazon union is an example of this.

Not clear yet how the $400 billion would be spent?

Biden’s proposal doesn’t specify how the $400 billion in additional funding would be spent, beyond stating that access to home and community-based care would be expanded and caregivers would receive “a long-overdue raise, stronger benefits and an opportunity to organize or join a union.” The proposal is the second tier of the bill and will be more clearly defined in the next round.

We will look at the next two groups that benefit- senior and aging families -in my blogs in the next few weeks.

JOIN ME FOR MY NEW FREE WEBINAR 

Thursday, May 20th

2 PM- 3:30 PM Pacific Standard Time

Recorded so if you cannot make this will still be sent recording if you do not sign up

 

Successfully Market the safety of your homecare or geriatric care management agency in the Precarious “Semi-Post”- Pandemic Period-When Aging Families Are Still Full of Fear

 

Learn to market the safety of your agency, to overcome hesitation to use homecare as COVID slowly diminishes, vaccination accelerates yet elders are not fully vaccinated, COVID still spikes, variants explode, vaccines are taken off the market, people refuse vaccines, conspiracy theories abound and 8000 American still die each day.

 

Understand how to innovatively sell” trust” in your safe care management services so family caregiver’s & 3rd parties choose you as a safe agency, when family care providers are still hesitant to trust your services because of COVID

 

Learn to Use public relations and marketing to show you are focused on caregiver and care management safety by developed protocols. to  show you do testing, infection control, and procuring the safest personal protective equipment (PPE)

 

 Show you follow the safe new CDC’s leaderships path to safety to overcome the distrust created by the former federal government’s, mixed messaging that left family caregivers confused frustrated, feeling there was no clear path to safety through home care or care management

.

You will learn

 

  • 5 steps to create an e-newsletter with the right copy, to get out the word about your

    safe COVID 19 services

 

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  • 10 steps to set up a Zoom webinar to teach local aging agencies and caregivers about your COVID safe services and other local resources to assist caregivers in the community

  • 7 steps to use social media to alert aging family caregivers to the clear path to your

    GCM agency provides safety from the diminishing but still present virus in the US.

 

  • 5 steps to get local media coverage of your COVID -19 safe services, care providers, and general excellent care management and home care products free PR with radio and TV coverage plus pick local newspapers where ads may pay off to sell your COVID Products

 

  • 5 steps to understand how to generate word of mouth customers for your COVID -19 safe services using your continuum of care in your community

  • 10 steps to use the powerful new tool of Video to market your agency’s COVID safety and excellent services as the pandemic diminishes but is still in your community, state, and country

SIGN UP

 

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: May 20, 2021, 02:00 PM Pacific Time (the US and Canada)

REGISTER NOW

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, Caregiver Infrastructure bill, Caregiver living wage, Caregiver low salary, caregiver mental health, Caregivers contracting COVId, coaching caregivers, COVID, Covid 19, COVID19 Deaths Essential worker, Essential Workers deaths, Expanding Medicare to Home Care, Families, FOLLOW THE MONEY, FREE WEBINAR, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Home Based Care, Medicaid Caregivers, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Unionization for caregivers, Woman of color caregivers Tagged With: aging life geriatric care manager, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Caregiver & COVID, caregiver low wage salary, caregiver shortage, caregivers for the elderly, caregivers live in poverty, covid -19 geriatric care manager, improving caregiver wages, Medicaid caregivers, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, problem recruiting caregivers, recruiting caregiver, SEIU and caregivers, unionization of caregivers, Women of color caregivers

What is President Biden’s New Infrastructre Caregiver Plan?

April 14, 2021

President Biden announced the American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion investment in infrastructure, jobs, and home care. It includes a $400 billion investment to expand access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS)

Why This Plan for Home-Based Care?

Only 15% of U.S. seniors 80 or older receive care at home. In Switzerland, Denmark, Mexico, and Sweden, that figure is above 30%, with numbers even higher in Israel and Lithuania.

Medicaid has slowly evolved over the years, placing a greater emphasis on home- and community-based services. But the ground gained has been relatively minor compared to investments in other settings like nursing homes.

In 1995, Medicaid spent about 18 cents out of every long-term care dollar on HCBS services. Today, that number has reached 57 cents per dollar.

The Scale of the Problem is Mamouth

The number of seniors is projected to grow by more than 40 million, approximately

doubling, by 2050, while the population older than 85 will nearly triple. Unlike most other industrialized nations, the United States does not provide a public long-term-care benefit for all older adults.

Only10-15% of Americans can Afford Private Duty Homecare

Because Medicare does not pay for home care, only the top 10-15 % can afford private duty home care, while in many other nations it is a right and free to all through the government. What Biden’s new plan does is take a giant step in making home care possible a greater number of Americans.

The plan calls for expanding access to and quality of HCBS to help more older adults and people with disabilities live in the community and extending the Money Follows the Person program to help individuals who are in nursing facilities and other institutions return to the community. 

What The Pandemic Has taught us about Aging and Dying

at Home

What the continuing pandemic has painfully taught us is when we are ill- we want to be home in the arms of our family. When we are threatened with or facing death, we do not want want to be in a sterile hospital with only anonymous caring nurses and zoom to comfort us in our last minutes in this world. We want to be at home- in the arms of our family and loving caregivers.

Long before the COVID-19 emergency, health care policy experts have increasingly recognized the value of home-based health care. A recent AARP survey found that three in four adults 50 years and older would prefer to age in their homes and communities. And a growing body of evidence suggests it is less expensive to deliver care in the home.

Indeed, for years we’ve seen hospitalized patients more quickly returning to their homes and communities to heal and recover safely, reducing costs for themselves and the health care system.

The Plague of Isolation on top of the Plague of COVID -in Locked Down Nursing Homes

Home-based care addresses negative health effects of social isolation and loneliness, which drive poorer health outcomes that annually cost billions of excess health care dollars. 

Isolation is also equal to 15 cigarettes each day. Elders in a nursing home during the pandemic were isolated from the families and their fellow residents so much so that despair may have led to the 174000 deaths as of March 2021. 

So Biden has launched a bill the builds the infrastructure of home care for the lower 30% on Medicaid until in America’s future, Medicare and home care for all is reached.

 

Filed Under: Age at home, AGING IN PLACE, American Jobs Plan, Blog, COVID-19 Recover at Home Plan, COVID-19 Safety, Expanding Medicare to Home Care, FOLLOW THE MONEY, geriatric care management emergency proceduress, geriatric care manager, Geriatric Care Managers value, geriatric social worker, Good Death, Home Based Care, home care, Home Care for All, Home From the Hospital, LOSING CLients TO COVID, Monet Follows the Person Program, Quality of Life, quality of life -COVID-19, Quality of Life for elders Tagged With: aging life and geriatric care manager, aging life care management, aging life care start up, aging life geriatric care manager, aging life or geriatric care manager, American Jobs Plan, Biden's Home Care Plan, Biden's Infastructure Bill, Deaths in Nursing Homes, Expanding Home Care, Home and Community Based Care, Home Based Care, home care, Isolation in Nursing Homes, Medicaid & Community Based Care, Medicaid funded Home Care, Medicare for All, Money Flows to the Person, nurse advocates, nurse entrepreneur

GCM Agency Lifespan Wins Top Awards

April 11, 2021

Geriatric Care Management Home Care Agency Wins National Award

Lifespan a 35-year-old geriatric care agency in Santa Cruz, California won prestigious awards from both national and local groups this month. Home Care Pulse awarded the care management home care agency ” Provider of Choice Award” for being best in class for rendering quality care to their clients, being trustworthy, and providing outstanding home care services the award was based on customer and staff surveys. Locally they also won the Santa Cruz Good Times Award for “Best of Homecare “award while competing with all home care agencies in their county.

Lifespan helped build trust during the “annus horibillus ” year of COVID  through their own website.Clients could see their extreme COVID safety precautions prominently provided on the navigation bar of their website. 

Outstanding Home Care in the year of COVID

The award recognized their outstanding home care services providing quality care through impeccably trained COVID safety-equipped and monitored home care staffing during the pandemic, building community trust. Clients in Santa Cruz, California needing care management services during COVID and ongoing were provided geriatric care management services developed over the agencies 35-year history and fine-tuned for clients’ needs during the epidemic

Quality of Life as Well as Quality of Care

The agency continued to offer Well Being – a service for lonely and isolated seniors who dramatically suffered during the pandemic from sheltering in place. Lifespan not only served the quality of care needs of clients but also the Quality of Life Needs  answering isolation and loneliness in a pandemic

Videos Showing Home Care Safety Build Trust

Finally, they showed the community their excellence and safety through videos in their email newsletters for 6 months, done with a phone by a talented staff member. The agency provides Quality of Life activities and adds videos about  Lifespan‘s Well Being Program. They upload them to their YouTube channel another great way they build trust with their agency. Market safety from Covid-19.

During the continuing but diminishing pandemic, as clients begin to use services like care managers and home care again, it is critical that you build that trust by showing customers you are safe. In Lifespan’s case, you can also win awards for this.

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, Covid Safety Video, COVID-19 Safety, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, home care, Home Care Award, Home Care Covid Safety, Home Care Pulse, Home Care Trust, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, PPE, PPE Nursing Homes, Private Duty Home Care, Provider of Choice Award, Quality of Life, Videos Tagged With: aging family, aging life and geraitric care manager, aging life care management, aging life care manager, aging parent care, care manager, case manager, Community Award, COVID Safety Precautionss, geriatric care manager, geriatric care manager private duty home care, Home Care Pulse, Home Care Pulse Awards, Home Care Trust, Lifespan, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Outstanding Home Care, private duty home care

Start-Up Geriatric Care Management Marketing and PR Checklist

April 7, 2021

 

To grow an ALCA or Geriatric Care management business, you must use-  marketing and public relations (PR). ( usually social workers and nurses have never done )Here is a helpful start –

 

 Start-Up Geriatric Care Management PR/ Marketing Checklist

1. Brand Identity- including logo design and collateral material design

Services needed to complete

Research competition, develop key differentiating features, develop a brand positioning statement, and develop business names, graphic design for the logo.

, colors for business communication. Consider consulting a branding firm.

2. Business Identity            –

Get coordinated business card envelopes, note cards, and folders                                  

Services needed to complete

Graphic design, printing, and delivery

3. Products sheets or Sell sheets, Brochures

Services needed to complete- Copywriting, graphic design, printing, and delivery

4. Identified and 3rd party targets – including a prospect profile

Services needed to complete-

Identify targets ( elder law attorneys, assisted living, concierge physicians, trust/wealth management departments) in your services area.  Research develops prospect profiles, mailing lists, key factors in specific communication messages per target audience. Add to marketing excel sheets.

Want to know more?

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 3rd party targets, Aging, Aging Family, aging family crisis, aging life business, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, ALCA Disaster Plan, brand, branding, branding ALCA business, Branding GCM Business, care management start-up, care manager, complementary consultatiom, coronavirus marketing, e-newsletter, GCM emergency procedures, GCM Sales, GCM Speaker's Bureau, GCM Start -Up, GCM Webinar, Geriatric Care Management Business, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Logo, marketing, Marketing aging life care, marketing ALCA /GCM, marketing care management, Marketing copy, marketing geriatric care management, Marketing plan, Marketing Sell sheets, Marketing Strategy, Marketing to top 10%, Marketing Tools 2021, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Public Relations, social media marketing, START UP, Start-up Marketing, Third Party Tagets Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, Benefits vs Features, Brand identiy, care manager, geriatric care manager, geriatric care manager private duty home care, home care care manager, Home care marketing, marekting, marketing geriatric care management, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, PR for geriatric care management

What are Three Key Ways to Market Your ALCA or GCM Business in 2021

April 4, 2021

How should you market your ALCA or care management business in 2021?

As we are still in the throes of COVID, slowly pulling out, three marketing methods will increase your business this year. The first is email marketing, the second videos and the third is marketing your safety as an agency. Since we still cannot see third parties like elder law attorneys,  trust officers or concierge physicians in person, an email newsletter is a ticket to reach contacts who can make referrals. During the pandemic, most business people work from home and are glued to their computers.   Snail Mail only shows a 29% return on your marketing dollar while digital (email specifically) explodes with a whopping 124% return on your money.

Success Tip 4 email Marketing

Choose from email marketing bases likes Constant Contact   Survey Monkey  Other choices. Provide content worth reading. Grab the reader with a powerful headline/subject. Questions work best. Write for your audience. Do emails for your different care management services and match with your third-party audience. Keep it short and simple- more space – fewer words-no paragraphs. Use great photos, from good photo sites   Use photos to punctuate what you are saying. Keep sending on a regular basis once

a month every two weeks.

 Videos are the new  powerful  Marketing Tool

Use videos in your e-newsletters. The importance of video marketing shows in its growth to a $135 billion industry. Brands everywhere are realizing the value of video and creating them. According to ALCA’s marketing guru Courtney Pulitzer,75 million people watch videos every day and stunning viewers retain 95% of the message while watching compared to only 10 % of reading text.

 

Videos are not hard to make

You just need a smartphone tripod and a person to do the videoing. I have a YouTube Channel on Geriatric Care Management for years. Tips to make one a video are, keep it short, script it out, practice, include a “call to action”, and have good lighting. If you want a professional the Aging Life Care Association’s “Coffee Talk has an entire list of sites that will do the videos for you.

.

Lifespan, a geriatric care management agency, in Santa Cruz California, has been adding videos to their email newsletters for 6 months. It is all done with a phone by a talented staff member. The agency provides Quality of Life activities and adds videos about  Lifespan‘s Well Bring Program. They upload them to their YouTube channel  another great way to market

 

Build trust with your company

Market safety from Covid-19. During the pandemic, as clients begin to use services like care managers and home care again, it is critical that you build that trust by showing customers you are safe. Market trust through your website and email newsletters. On the front page of your website, the main marketing tool, list why your agency is safe to work with during COVID-19. What % of you of office staff, caregivers, have been vaccinated against COVID-19; a partnership with your County Health Department; your staff is wearing PPE & type that is safest: staff and caregiver screening for COVID- temp checks, etc. Lifespan’s website has an excellent first page on its company safety from COVID

 

Use these marketing tools in 2021 to help your agency thrive.

Reach Cathy in Social Media

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YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaoHdozwS0RvKD

Social media links

YouTube channel:  Website: https://cathycress.com/

 

Blog: https://www.cathycress.com/blog/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Gerontologist/Cathy-Cress-MSW-633836950007072/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cathyjocress

Email: cressgcm@got.net

 

 

Filed Under: Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, COVID-19 Safety, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Marketing aging life care, marketing ALCA /GCM, marketing care management, Marketing COVID Safety, marketing geriatric care management, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools 2021, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

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