What are Eights Steps a Care Manager’s Takes Before a Terminal Diagnosis ?

The aging life or geriatric care manager takes many steps before a terminal diagnosis.The GCM client may begin to see disturbing symptoms and realize they must see a doctor.  This pause before death is not spelled out not a single flash -more  a period of time when the older person undergoes physical examinations, various tests, and ultimately ends when the individual is told they are suffering from a terminal illness

But before the judgment, what does the Geriatric care manager do for the elder. Let’s look at eights steps 

1. Visit the older client on a regular basis to monitor their symptoms, care and support them in the quest to find answers.
2. Maintain up to date medication list and care plan
3. Schedule medical appointments for the client so they can see the various doctor
4. Drive client to medical appointments to advocate take notes and make list questions  to ask to best use those 10 minutes of a typical doctor’s visit
5. Assist family, who are often unnerved, to get questions answered by health care professionals, which can be daunting in this maze of medical providers.
6. Provide a “Whole Family Approach” to centrally update all family members and meet their emotional needs around the older person
7. Lend a hand to family to organize legal and insurance documents that may be needed for possible hospitalization
8. Help Family set up a personal health record to store  all of the important medical information, questions and concerns This can be a piece of paper, file folder, USB drive or personal medical record software like Microsoft Health Vault  

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  Gwendolyn LAZO Harris MA, CT,Seniors at Home , San Francisco and Diane LeVan MA both highly expert care managers, created a seminal chapter on Palliative Care and End of Life Care Manager in my book Care Manager’s Working With the Aging Family