Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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Can Blue Blue Christmas and Hanukkah Come From Dementia ?

December 2, 2020

As Elvis Predicted

Many families have a Blue Blue Christmas-or Hanukkah. Why does an aging crisis occur so often during the holidays? How can so many desperate adult children get care managers on the phone and howl about Mom or Dad in December? There are a million bad reasons, – too much alcohol, too many folks who do not get along and drink that alcohol.  But the physical basis for all of this misery in an elder is often a loss of executive function and IADL’s and ADL’s

Why ADL’s and IADL’s.

It takes  IADLs- (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) shopping for gifts, cooking ritual meals and ADL’s walking to shopping

, decorate serve a ritual meal, climbing ( getting all those decorations out of the attic), grooming ( Mom can be found – in a “messy ensemble” at the feast) by the older person in charge of the holiday to pull it off.  Then add depression to the aging stew – widowhood, loneliness and you have the challenges to an elder, usually the woman in the family,  in managing this entire titanic ritual.

Crash of Executive Skills

The holidays in aging families can be a disaster for another neurological reason. Mom or Dad’s Executive Skills have crashed just like a computer.

Executive functioning involves the ability to organize, plan, and carry out a set of tasks in an efficient manner. It also includes the ability to self-monitor and control our behaviors and multiple other cognitive functions and to perform the goal-directed behavior. It can be described as high-level thinking skills that control and direct lower levels of cognitive functioning.

Planning for the holidays takes those high-level thinking skills -to execute and carry out 25 different major tasks according to a study in the UK- Just think, planning a 

specific holiday ritual menu,( brisket and latkes or popovers and beef prime rib )- then shopping for it cooking it, planning the ritual items in the celebration – a menorah and

Hanukkah bush, Christmas tree, and creche buying them or getting them out of storage on and on.

Why we may end up with burned brisket or turkey.

This is a massive task event/ planning job taken on by one woman usually and as executive functioning power down in her brain- the computer-, which is our aging brain starts to crash- the result- the family freaks out because Mom forgot the ritual steps.

That’s why we need aging life or geriatric care managers to help divide the tasks when Mom cannot do this any longer

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to learn More- Geriatric Care 1 

SIGN UP FOR MY HOLIDAY WEBINAR

FINAL DAY TO SIGN UP!

8 Ways to Tame the Turmoil of the Holidays & Twindemic in the Aging Family

 

 Learn how!

  • How to sell services to the desperate Aging Family during the holiday surge
  • How to give hope to frantic children who call when their aging parent struggling with Loneliness and isolation on the holidays
  • How to help the Aging Family make holiday visits remotely or safely in person
  • How to counsel the Aging Family to track aging decline &Twindemic risk in loved ones
  • How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
  • How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
  • How to use financial forecasting to prepare for business growth during the holidays

Sidestep the Many Care Managers Who Do not know how to work with Dysfunctional family or do COVID Coaching of Aging Families so the client chooses you

THIS FREE WEBINAR IS Thursday, December 3, 2020, FROM 2 PM – 3:30 PM PST

Sign Up Now

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: ADL Loss & Holidays, Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Alzheimers, Alzheimers & Holidays, Blog, care manager, case manager, Concierge Senior, Dementia, Dementia & Holidays, Dysfunctional aging family, Families, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Holiday Rituals in Aging Family, Long Distance Care, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, Alzheimers, alzheimers & holidays, care manager, case manager, case manager geriatric social worker, COVID & Christmas, COVID & Holiday Season, COVID Virtual Hanukkah Visit, Dementia & Holiday Tasks, early Alzheimers, Executive Skills, Functional Assessment, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, holidays with aging parents, IADLs, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

Wonder Woman Saves Proactive , Long Distance Aging Family on the Holidays

December 1, 2020

wonder.woman.05.jpg

 

Geriatric care managers are wonder woman for long-distance care providers

 More than a million people have died of COVID in the past 7 days , according to the CDC.

This is an important message for care managers to use before the upcoming holidays. Getting on a plane to travel is dangerous for the long-distance care provider in the

highest national spread of COVID. Plus they might carry the deadly infection to their aging parents, the most vulnerable group to die of COVID. This gives these distant caring family members every reason not to see their parents- but what will they then do to keep them safe- Hire a Geriatric Care Manager.

Add This to Your Ad Copy or Website

If You live Long Distance from an aging parent during the COVID spread, it’s a preventative and prudent idea to have a geriatric care manager in the town where your older relative resides. If your parents are sheltering in place, they can make sure they are safe and use tools to prevent the loneliness and isolation that can set in over the holidays. If there is a crisis, like a COVID diagnosis,

they are right there to professionally manage it. In an urgent situation, a care manager can go to the hospital or emergency room.  This is saner, safer, and more cost-effective than you getting on last-minute, expensive flights without any social distancing protection for you or your aging parents when you see them. Geriatric Care Managers are good insurance.”

Use Telehealth to Market to 3rd Parties Over the Holiday

You can make marketing visits to 3rd parties through HIPAA-compliant video

.

conferencing services like elder law attornies or wealth managers. You can pitch “Before any crisis,  the GCM do an initial assessment and visit your long-distance older client on a regular basis. This is preventative. That way a professional is there for your client  1-1, when you need them and has a health care background to solve the problem.”

Here is a better line for long-distance adult children:

“Think of care managers the way you do one of those blow-up beds. You can pump them

up when you need them in a crisis—perhaps avoid that crisis, and you yourself can sleep more soundly and with more peace of mind in your own bed.

Some of the things a geriatric care manager can do for long-distance care providers are:

1. Save your worry, fear of COVID, and money by helping keep your parent safe from COVID and out of the hospital and you off dangerous emergency long-distance flights.

2.Help your parents avoid loneliness and isolation by arranging virtual quality of life activities to keep them socially engaged while sheltering in place.

4.Facilitate a family discussion of needs, resources, and division of labor among friends family

5. Recommend ways to proactively prepare and plan for a parent’s possible health care crisis like COVID.

6. Work on family cooperation to formulate a realistic parent-care plan.

7.Assess the strengths and weaknesses of all of the potential caregivers if needed

7. Help adult siblings resolve conflicts, if any, about care decisions.

8. Help the long-distance care provider deal with guilt and frustration that may result from their inability to provide more of the day-to-day care.worriedwoman300dpi-copy-e1425605439440.jpg

9. Locate aging resources in your elder parents’ area quickly and without you having to do it.

Learn more about gaining new long-distance care provider clients -this coming holiday season.

SIGN UP FOR MY HOLIDAY WEBINAR

8 Ways to Tame the Turmoil of the Holidays & Twindemic in the Aging Family

ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT to SIGN UP

 Learn how!

  • How to sell services to the desperate Aging Family during the holiday surge
  • How to give hope to frantic children who call when their aging parent struggling with Loneliness and isolation on the holidays
  • How to help the Aging Family make holiday visits remotely or safely in person
  • How to counsel the Aging Family to track aging decline &Twindemic risk in loved ones
  • How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
  • How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
  • How to use financial forecasting to prepare for business growth during the holidays

Sidestep the Many Care Managers Who Do not know how to work with Dysfunctional family or do COVID Coaching of Aging Families so the client chooses you

THIS FREE WEBINAR IS Thursday, December 3, 2020, FROM 2 PM – 3:30 PM PST

Sign Up Now

 

 

Filed Under: Aging, aging family crisis, aging life business, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, care manager, case manager, elder care manager, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Holiday Meltdown in Aging Family, Holiday Rituals in Aging Family, marketing care management, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Webinar Tagged With: aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, case manager, COVID & Holiday Season, COVID Danger Holiday, COVID VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS VISIT, COVID Virtual Hanukkah Visit, Dangerous Travel on Holidays, geraitric assessment, geriatric care manager, help with elders, holiday misery, holiday with aging parents, long distance care provider, Long Distance Family Holiday Visit, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Proactive Aging Family

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