Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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The Holiday Season is Upon Us & Can Be Caregiver Hell

October 21, 2022

Adult children usually see their elderly parents soon on Christmas, Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving- all major holidays.

The Holiday Season is upon us. Thanksgiving, Hannukkah, and Christmas are all coming up when families gather around ritual gatherings. Adult children can notice their aging parents’ struggling with memory, and speech, and preparing those ritual meals. Then midlife siblings may be alarmed by any behaviors that threaten the normal order they always experienced.

When The Holiday Season is upon us ,the discussion will turn to aging parents. Thanksgiving usually involves alcohol. With a normal family, discussing this when alcohol is involved may or may not be a good idea. In an aging long-distance family, this would be the time to set up a family meeting via teleconference or Skype when everyone is sober. You could just ask everyone if would gather ideas and you can discuss it at that time.

With elderly parent’s decline- everyone’s independence is threatened and anger and frustration can be rampant.

If adult siblings did make a  visit to elderly parents before Thanksgiving, it could have been bitter or sweet or it was just plain scary. This is why it is best to set up a post-thanksgiving meeting with all the siblings to discuss care, not when people are drinking more than they should on Thanksgiving.

 

 Adult children may decide they must intercede or offer direct help, even if it is rejected. Then family members who do not live nearby become long-distance care providers, joining 7 million others in the US.

Offer to Facilitate a Telephonic Family Meeting After Thanksgiving

The frightening part often happens when you haven’t seen an aging Mom or Dad for a while. If midlife siblings live long distance, making an occasional visit can set off alarms, especially if they find aging Mom or Dad has gone downhill. If they call you, offer to facilitate the call using your family meeting facilitation skills, to create an agenda with the family, and keep everyone on the topic of parental care in the here and now, rather than fracturing into an argument about the past or old family wounds. With a care manager as a facilitator, they will find your value.

Get Ready for the Holiday Rush
    • SIGN UP FOR MY HOLIDAY WEBINAR –

      The Holiday Season is upon us

      Get Ready for the Holiday Rush

      WEDNESDAY, November 16th, 2022, FROM 2 PM – 3:30 PM PST

       Learn how to create!

      • Pre-Holiday Social media campaigns to reach worried caregivers
      • Pre- Holiday-Materials about the warning signs that a parent needs help
      • Pre-Holiday Marketing to help you sign up families who might face a serious decline in aging parents
      • How to sell services to desperate  post-holiday callers from Normal dysfunctional & long-distance family
      • How to use tools to contain holiday chaos & arrange care in festive family fright
      • How to move the family to New Year’s stability
      • Position Your Agency ahead of Care Managers who do not have great pre-holiday marketing campaigns and lack the clinical skills how to work with Adult Children and families during the chaotic aging family holiday visit when adult kids find their aging parents need care
      • Featuring

       Cathy Cress MSW author of the Handbook of Geriatric Care

      Management        

      The Holiday Season is upon us.

       Find out more about how an Aging Life or Geriatric Care Manager can help.

  • Subscribe to my YouTube channel, Geriatric Care Management, at www.youtube.com/channel/UCaoHdozwS0RvKD23YPpuHIw

  • Visit my website at cathycress.com/

  • Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/cathyjocress

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Alcohol Abuse, Aging Life Care, Aging Life Care Assocaition, aging life care manager, Blog, Christmas webinar, Dysfunctional Aging Familu, elder care manager, Families, Filial Crisis, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Grandchild gifts for grandma, Hanukkah Webinar, Long Distance Care, Long Distance Care Holidays, Marketing aging life care, Marketing during Holidays, marketing pitch, Marketing Strategy, marketing to long distance adult children, Nearly Normal Aging Family, New Years, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Thanksgiving with Dysfuntional Family, Webinar ALCA GCM, Webinar care managers, Webinar COVID Safety Tagged With: aging family, Aging Life, aging life and geraitric care manager, aging life care, aging life care manager, alcohol on the holidays, Black, black aging family, black american geriatric care managers, black american social workers, Black Entrepreneurs, Black geriatric care managers, Black Nurse Entrepreneurs, Black RN's, Black travel nurses, care manager, case manager, crisis with aging parents, drinking on labor day, geriatric care manager, holidays with aging parents, Holidays with midlife siblings, Nearly Normal family inquiry holidays, nurse care manager, Thanksgiving Webinar, Thanksgiving with aging parents, Thanksgiving with dysfunctional family, Thanksgiving with midlife siblings

Rural Living Elders Greatest Risk to Perish in Massive Western Fires

September 17, 2020

ELDERLY 2XMORE LIKELY TO DIE IN 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.

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 are 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, the rate of hospitalizations rises, 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.

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.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY FIRES TURNED REDWOODS INTO INFERNOS 

In my county, Santa Cruz, wildfires in our Santa Cruz mountain forest burnt down 25 % of our county in the past month. Among the many senior facilities damaged was Brookdale Senior Living which was evacuated due to smoke damage and inhalation by residents, along with the Kaiser facility. Both had to send patients to the Bay area, where 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.

TRUMP ANSWER CA MANAGE FOREST- YET FEDS CONTROL 57%- CA 3%

President Trump claimed when he came to California a few days ago that the problem with wildfires was forest management. Governor Newsome agreed but pointed out that 57% of California forests are managed by the federal government and 3% by the state of California. When it was pointed out in that state meeting that the problems with the forest were rooted in climate change, Trump’s answer was, it will get colder, you’ll see..

Trump has rolled back regulations, like auto emissions that prevented climate change- now ravaging our forests .“As a historic figure, he is one of the most culpable men in America contributing to the suffering and death that is now occurring through climate-related tragedy,” Jerry Brown, the former California governor who made climate change his signature issue, said in an interview on Sunday

It seems that it is only getting hotter, harder to breathe more dangerous for all Western residents

but radically  more so for elders, who are number 1 in health problems, number 1 risk in COVID and breathing problems and live at home or in facilities in the middle of these mammoth forests, turned into infernos  of death

 

 

Filed Under: Aging Families and Disaster, aging family crisis, Aging Life Care, ALCA Disaster Plan, Assisted Living Crisis, Blog, COVID-19 & Wildfire, Disaster, Disaster 2020, ELDER FIRE RIsk, Elderly Disaster Plan, FIRES, GCM Disaster Plan, Home care disaster plan, Home Care Emergency Coronavirus Plan, Nursing Home disaster plan, Paradise Fire, Rural Elder Fire Risk, Santa Cruz Fires, Trump Administration, Trump's lack a federal response, Trust Departments, WESTERN FIRES, Wildfire Tornados Tagged With: aging parent care, aging parent crisis, Breathing Problems in fires, California wildfires, care manager, case manager, crisis with aging parents, Elder risk in fires, Long Term Facilities Risk Fires, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, preparing for a disaster, Rural Aging & Wildfires, Rural Fires in West, Rural Risks in Wildfires, Santa Cruz Wildfires, Trump response Ca Wildfires, Western fires & Elders, wildfires in west

Emergency Go Binder -Family Caregivers Need One in Pandemic

August 13, 2020

   In An Emergency, I  Panicked

I live in Santa Cruz County, Ca. , where the disaster of COVID stalks us but we had a double disaster with one of the 30 fires begun by lightning strikes all over California. Our fire set the Santa Cruz mountains, with ancient 3000-year-old redwoods, ablaze, and caused 70,000 evacuations ,as the firefighters did not have enough fire personnel to fight the fire. There were so many fires statewide that all firefighters in the state were not enough to fight the blazes. In addition to the horror, the fast-spreading fire, our three assigned planes to drop water on the inferno, could not fly as smoke and fog prevented it. They went to other California fires.

I Had No Grab and GO, Binder

When all this was announced by emergency alerts we were told to prepare to evacuate too. In spite of just teaching how to put together a go binder for COVID- I had no go binder myself. I had no list of what I would take in an emergency from a 5 bedroom house with multiple family heirlooms, original art by children, grandchildren, and now famous friends, I had never scanned the multiple  photographs of our family in frames to GOOGLE PHOTOS  all over the house and those critical important documents like our trust, birth certificates, passports, insurance info in filing to add a go binder. I  never made a GO Binder. I am doing it now when the fire is 30% contained. 

Prepare for Double Disasters Now

In emergency situations, people sometimes do not think rationally like me. We never know how we are going to react in an emergency until it actually happens. In order to prepare for any situation, hurricanes & COVID, Fires &COVID- creating a grab-and-go binder should be an important part of your shelter in place plan for aging friends or relatives.

With COVID,the older person who is sheltering in place, as safe as the family and elder have been, can still contract COVID and be rushed to the hospital in an emergency. But on top of COVID other emergencies like storms wildfires, floods happen on the top of the pandemic. Think of this summer where hurricanes have already spun up the east coast, making it a double cataclysm of elders’ and family caregivers’ lives.

What to put in Go- Binder

You want and binder with all the emergency contacts, documents like advanced directives, DNR power of attorney and family contacts, You the family cannot physically go into the hospital or evacuate but this Go binder can take your place. With important information about your family member when they are admitted without you by their side. Your go- binder should contain your family members’ most important information and documents. This will include.

  • Medical information
  • Emergency Contact List
  • Advanced Directives 
  • Critical medical, insurance, social security, Trust/will docs                                                                                                             
  • Check out The new 5th edition of my GCM Operations Manual with  5 new COVID-19 Coaching products to use with Telehealth to Assist Family Caregivers to guide older Loved ones to:

  • Shelter in Place in Long Distance Family
  • Shelter in Place in Long Local Family
  • Recover at  Home If Do not enter the Hospital
  • Recover after discharge from the hospital in Long Distance Family
  • Recover after discharge from the hospital if Local Family
  • Find Out More Below

GCM Manual New 5th edition

Filed Under: Advanced Directives and Covid-19, advanced directives& COVID-19, Aging, aging family crisis, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, ALCA COVID-19 Crisis, ALCA Disaster Plan, ALCA Products for COVID_19, Blog, Coronavirus Coaching, Coronavirus emergency plan, Coronavirus safety elders, coronavirus shut down, CORONAVIRUS Stay at Home Plan, COVID, COVID-19 & Care Management, COVID-19 & Wildfire, COVID-19 &Shelter in Place Plan, Covid-19 and GCM SERVICES, COVID-19 Emergency Go Binder, COVID-19 Emergency Plan, Covid-19 GCM Products, COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Plan, COVID-19 Plus Hurricane, COVID-19 Recover at Home Plan, elder care manager, Emergency Go Binder, Emergency Plan, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: 5th edition GCM OPERATIONS MANUAL, ADVANCED DIRECTIVES & COVID-19, aging parent crisis, care manager, case manager, COVID GCM Procedures, COVID- 19 GO Binder, COVID-19 PRODUCTS, Covid-19 Telehealth, COVID-19& LONG DISTANCE CARE, crisis with aging parents, geriatric care manager, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, parent care crisis

What is Best Care Management Marketing Copy for Upper 10%

February 17, 2020

 

What is Secret Sauce To Marketing to rich and famous’?

As you market to the top 10% of elders and really to their adult children, here is some marketing copy from a story in the New York Times. When you do an intake you have to find ” where is the pain” for the adult child. So use these care manager pain relievers as marketing copy showing how as a geriatric care manager offers soothing relief from aging parent pain.

 

Breaking Barriers

 

Aging life care managers negotiate barriers for adult children. Geriatric care managers are like personal chefs, personal shoppers, and concierge physicians. You serve the top 10% of adult children who buy privacy, exclusivity, time, human contact and a navigator to negotiate barriers for them.

Purchasing your services, offer adult children caregivers, privacy and exclusivity simultaneously just like the New Yorkers in this NYT article.

 

Buying Privacy

As this Times article states,” in the age of social media that privacy has become a rare commodity”. By purchasing at-home services for their parents, “they are buying private, exclusive services that offer a much-needed product- parent – care.

The upper 10% of your market demands a one to one personal physician, chef, shopper or care manager because they recognize their status by delivering gold standard care. As a one to one service, you find personal chefs, drivers concierge physicians. They can pay for these services to buy that recognition

Buying Navigation to Parent Care

As aging life or geriatric care managers, you are a private concierge to navigate the adult child to the best services for aging parents. Just like the New Yorkers in this article, adult children have to negotiate everything, their kids’ schools and college, problems, their jobs, their budget, their clothes for the high powered job, their work, their commute, on top of their aging parent’s crises.

Use Upscale Continuum of Care Local Resources

The upper 10% of affluent New Yorkers, like most Concierge clients, want everything done for them, including the most painful part (besides teenagers-) help with their aging Mom or/Dad. This is where you come to the rescue. You offer a human service they buy in their busy, hectic life. You negotiate everything to help their aging loved ones.

Care Managers break the barriers through confusing aging services in the city, state and nationally-to get their parents the best care. You, the concierge, take over the top major, the painful obligation in their life– negotiate for Mom or Dad’s  aging P

Buying Human Contact

Adult kids buy human contact. The professional relationship a care manager has with an adult child is emotionally caring just like a concierge physician. It bridges personal chefs and shoppers because you assess their problems (like a Dr. does tests) and find out intimate relationships, facts, and secrets. In a world where bedside manner is gone, a concierge physician gives that human contact. In a world where the family no longer lives next door and supports each other, geriatric care managers give that human contact and support that is gone in most working families living long- distance from their clan.

 

 

 

Marketing Copy for You

These are all sales points to use when you do an inquiry with an adult child or sales presentation with a third party: privacy, exclusivity, time, human contact and a navigator to negotiate barriers for adult children.

 

Aging life care managers negotiate barriers for adult children. Geriatric care managers are like personal chefs, personal shoppers, and concierge physicians. You serve the top 10% of adult children who buy privacy, exclusivity, time, human contact and a navigator to negotiate barriers for them.

Join me in my new FREE Webinar
Learn to Sell Benefits not Features to Third Parties to Grow Your Care Management Bottom Line

When: February,20th 2020
2PM-3:30 PM PST
Learn
 

What is a benefit vs features and how to find benefits for each 3rd party you market to?

What specific problems you solve for wealth managers, elderlaw attorneys, and concierge physicians  

What specific problems to solve for upscale Assisted Living, accountants, financial planners, MD’s  

Step by Step how to set up meetings with 3rd parties to make the sale

SIGN UP

Filed Under: Adult children, aging family crisis, aging life business, Aging Life Care, Aging Life Care Assocaition, aging life care manager, Assisted Living, Assisted Living Crisis, Benefits vs Features, Blog, care manager, Concierge aging clients, Concierge Client, concierge clients, Concierge Senior, elder care manager, geriatric social worker, Marketing copy, marketing geriatric care management, marketing pitch, marketing to the top 10$, marketing to upper 10%, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Wealth Management Departments Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging life marketing copy, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, ALCA marketing, Care Manager as Pain reliever, care manager marketing, case manager, concierge marketing, crisis with aging parents, geriatric care manager, marketing aging life or geriatric carre management, marketing geriatric care management, marketing to adult children, Marketing to Concierge Clients, marketing to entitled adult children, Marketing to upper 10%, New York Times, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

How Do You Make $ at Care Management By Changing Your Mind?

August 14, 2019

 

Geriatric care manager must change their mind-set and mission to bill 85% of their client time.

Your mission must suggest that you are 100% clear you want to make money.It must appeal to the top 10% of the eldercare population seeking help with a senior.You use marketing and copywriting skills. A mission can be your tag line” Understanding Concierge Care Needs: Delivering Gold Standard Solutions” . Watch my You Tube above to learn how the craft billing for geriatric care managers for care managers and social workers who start and run ALCA and geriatric care management businesses and have never gotten an MBA and usually have an ethical dilemma in the mind about billing.

We as nurses and social workers have been educated in social worker or nursing to give things away.

26patient_600-1.jpgWe willingly joined a service industry that is about healing not billing. Often because we are , as an industry mostly women, been born hard wired to give  to others not take from them ( aka billing ).

So we have to change our mind-

This means your mind-set in your business .If you own an ALCA or geriatric care management business you have to  understand that profit to good- that the only way we make a profit on a balance sheet ( need to know what that is as well and how to read it). – IS TO BILL.

Learn how to change your mind and mind – set and MAKE MONEY in my new FREE webinar-quickly coming up in 8 days

 

 

 

FREE WEBINAR-

Break Through Barriers to Billing & Profit: Financial Management for GCM &Aging Life Care Managers

 

 THIS WEBINAR BEGINS: Wednesday August 21 2 PM PST Ends 3:15PM PST

DURING THIS FREE WEBINAR YOU WILL LEARN

How to Give Your Customers Have a Commitment to Pay You

To maintain Cash Flow 

To choose the Right Billing Software  

To develop Financial Literacy  

Why You Must Bill 85%  

Understand How To Hire Care Managers Who Can Bill 85% 

Understand How to train your Staff 85%

How to Thrive financially at ALCA or GCM

 

Sign Up Here    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: aging life business, Aging Life Care, billing, Billing 85%, Blog, care management start-up, case manager, elder care manager, Emergency Plan, failing business, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Mission, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging life care manager, barrier to billing, Billing 85%, billing for geriatric care management, care manager, case manager, crisis with aging parents, Ethical Dilemma with Billing, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, webinar billing care management hours

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