Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

  • Home
  • Products
    • Speakers Bureau Package
    • GCM Operations Manual New 5th Edition
    • VIP Care Management White Paper
    • Books
    • Geriatric Care Management – 4th Edition
    • Mom Loves You Best
    • Care Managers
  • Online Classes
    • GCM Operations Manual Online Course
    • GCM Business Online Course
    • CEUs for Individual Modules
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Past Webinars
  • Recommendations
  • About
  • Blog
    • Aging
    • Geriatric Care Manager
    • Siblings
    • Webinar
  • Contact

How Does Atul Gawande View Quality of Life in Dying ?

September 15, 2021

 

   A good life to the very end 

Atul Gawande’s acclaimed book, “Being Mortal“ opened our eyes to the medical way of death. He showed millions of readers how the quality of life and human interaction while dying trump the number of years gained through questionable painful procedures and dying in an institution.

He tells us that “our ultimate, goal, after, is not a good death but a good life to the very end

 

Quality of Life Can Be There to the End of Life

GCM Nina Herndon brings you that same quality of life message- about dying –where an elder can still live the end of life with joy. Her chapter “Supporting Clients’ Quality of Life: Drawing on Community, Informal Networks, and Care Manager Creativity” in the Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition is a geriatric care management Nina has devoted her career to giving elders a care plan for a happy life and a happy life to the very end.

 Bringing Joy in the here and now of Dying

 Bringing joy in the here and now of dying can be done through using quality of life tools- Spiritual, emotional, intellectual, creative, and physical quality of life. Increasing the spiritual quality of life can mean for a person is dying and wishes to return to a spiritual group she knew before, connecting them to the faith they are familiar with. Even homebound clients can have visits from members of a religious community or a prelate. They can have hymns sung, prayers said or whatever religious ritual their spiritual group follows, like communion, at home. Care providers can be trained to engage them by reading religious texts or playing hymns.

The Power Reminiscence at End of Life

Spirituality can be the environment. I once had a client who was in a nursing home dying of cancer and wanted to go home to die with hospice and 24-hour care. Hisgrandma_holding_rosary_shutterstock_40017103-255x255.jpg spirituality was the environment and he had been a lead volunteer to build a trail in Santa Clara California from Los Gatos up the steep winding highway 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains to the Lexington Reservoir. He had no family so the care manager asked the volunteers he had worked with if they would visit him at his home. They happily agreed and 300 volunteers took shifts, 24 hours a day to sit with him reminisce, tell stories and sing while he died over several weeks. This is what joy that bringing a spiritual quality of life can offer in dying.

Tools for Reminicance at End of Life

Friends emailing short personal videos with good wishes and memories, that a family member can show on a phone or computer- can bring emotional joy at end of life. Sending notes, not of condolences but great memories can be a salve to dying. Volunteering to give respite to family members, if visiting is allowed during COVID or post the pandemic, can give an opportunity to share old memories or look at old photos and give family respite. You may have thought those old photo albums should be dumped but they can bring the joy of reminiscence if shared at end of life or with seniors at any time.

 

 

Subscribe to my Youtube channel 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, care manager, case manager, Death & Dying, Death and Dying, Death and Dying Care Management, death and dying care manager, End of Life, End of Life Care manager, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Good Death, Hospice, Hospice Care, Hospital care manager, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Photo Albums& Reminicance, Quality of Life, Quality of Life and Reminicance, Quality of Life for elders, Quality of Life in Death, Quality of Life in Dying Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, assessing for quality of life, Atul Gawande, Being Mortal, black aging family, black american geriatric care managers, Black Entrepreneurs, Black geriatric care managers, Black Nurse Entrepreneurs, Black start-up geriatric care management, Black travel nurses, care manager, case manager, death and dying, geriatric care manager, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, nurse care manager, Quality of Life at end of life, quality of life in dying, Reminicence Therapy, Reminiscence at End of Life

How Does Atul Gawande View Quality of Life in Dying ?

February 21, 2021

iStock_000003595079_Medium.jpg

 

   A good life to the very end 

Atul Gawande’s acclaimed book, “Being Mortal“ opened our eyes to the medical way of death. He showed millions of readers how the quality of life and human interaction while dying trump the number of years gained through questionable painful procedures and dying in an institution.

He tells us that “our ultimate, goal, after, is not a good death but a good life to the very end

 

Quality of Life Can Be There to the End of Life

GCM Nina Herndon brings you that same quality of life message- about dying –where an elder can still live the end of life with joy. Her new chapter “Supporting Clients’ Quality of Life: Drawing on Community, Informal Networks, and Care Manager Creativity” in the Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition is a geriatric care management Nina has devoted her career to giving elders a care plan for a happy life and a happy life to the very end.

 Bringing Joy in the here and now of Dying

 Bringing joy in the here and now of dying can be done through using quality of life tools- Spiritual, emotional, intellectual, creative, and physical quality of life. Increasing the spiritual quality of life can mean for a person is dying and wishes to return to a spiritual group she knew before, connecting them to the faith they are familiar with. Even homebound clients can have visits from members of a religious community or a prelate. They can have hymns sung, prayers said or whatever religious ritual their spiritual group follows, like communion, at home. Care providers can be trained to engage them by reading religious texts or playing hymns.

The Power Reminiscence at End of Life

Spirituality can be the environment. I once had a client who was in a nursing home dying of cancer and wanted to go home to die with hospice and 24-hour care. Hisgrandma_holding_rosary_shutterstock_40017103-255x255.jpg spirituality was the environment and he had been a lead volunteer to build a trail in Santa Clara California from Los Gatos up the steep winding highway 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains to the Lexington Reservoir. He had no family so the care manager asked the volunteers he had worked with if they would visit him at his home. They happily agreed and 300 volunteers took shifts, 24 hours a day to sit with him reminisce, tell stories and sing while he died over several weeks. This is what joy that bringing a spiritual quality of life can offer in dying.

Tools for Reminicance at End of Life

Friends emailing short personal videos with good wishes and memories, that a family member can show on a phone or computer- can bring emotional joy at end of life. Sending notes, not of condolences but great memories can be a salve to dying. Volunteering to give respite to family members, if visiting is allowed during COVID or post the pandemic, can give an opportunity to share old memories or look at old photos and give family respite. You may have thought those old photo albums should be dumped but they can bring the joy of reminiscence if shared at end of life or with seniors at any time.

 

Serve Your Client until Death Do You Part

 

Join me Thursday March 11 and learn why End of Life Services Are a perfect new service for care managers  

 

In this 1 ½ -hour webinar you will learn how to

 

1.Transition the patient/family through the five stages of death

2.Help clients be active participants in their care

3.Give the family/caregiver tools to manage care

4 Provide family center care to caregiver and family

5 Choose the right support services through all stages of death

6.Introduce Hospice and Palliative care and work with their team

7 Use ALCA End of Life Benefits During COVID

8.Use  COVID -19  Family Coaching for GCM

If you really want to add End of Life to your care management business sign up for this webinar now

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, care manager, case manager, Death & Dying, Death and Dying, Death and Dying Care Management, death and dying care manager, End of Life, End of Life Care manager, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Good Death, Hospice, Hospice Care, Hospital care manager, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Photo Albums& Reminicance, Quality of Life, Quality of Life and Reminicance, Quality of Life for elders, Quality of Life in Death, Quality of Life in Dying Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, assessing for quality of life, Atul Gawande, Being Mortal, care manager, case manager, death and dying, geriatric care manager, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, nurse care manager, Quality of Life at end of life, quality of life in dying, Reminicence Therapy, Reminiscence at End of Life

If Need How Top 10% to Make a Profit at Care Management- Find Them.

March 23, 2020

Why Do a Market Survey before you decide to open a geriatric care management business?

Numerous small geriatric care management businesses have failed after only a few years.

Many of these enterprises made a faulty assumption when developing their business plans. When they looked at the large volume of research and demographic data published in dozens of studies funded they saw a well-documented need for the services provided by private care managers to the tune of 65 million people.

Looking at this large and growing need for services, they confused “need” with “demand.” The fact is that the services of private fee-based geriatric care managers are only affordable to a very small percentage of the population.

Income inequity in the US means top 10% of the US population controls most of the wealth

Only this 10% can afford geriatric care management

 

The target market for a GCM or ALCA business is not the 65 million families who need geriatric care man­agement services but the much smaller subset of those families, who can afford to hire a care manager, which is a huge ethical dilemma but what we face with income inequality in this nation.  

Learn about Private Revenue Sources for GCM’s and why you have to work with the top 10% who can afford GCM’s

Webinar-Sales and Marketing to Find the VIP Concierge Client

March 31, 2020 -2PM -3:30 PM PST

Concierge Clients are the only way a GCM or ALCA care manager can make a profit and have their business thrive. Find out who are they, how you find them, design GCM Products they will purchase, and create a marketing plan and gold standard services to have them sign your contract and use your services long term

Learn

Who They Are- 4 Types

How to Locate them in your service area                             

How to create a strategic marketing plan to sell to them

How to Develop Gold Standard GCM Products and Services

 

SIGN UP NOW

 

Get the new Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition   now– out in Kindle or Hardcover

 

 

Filed Under: Aging, Concierge aging clients, Concierge Client, Concierge Senior, ETHICAL DILEMMA, FREE MARKETING WEBINAR, FREE WEBINAR, GCM Start -Up, geriatric care management emergency proceduress, geriatric care manager, geriatric care manager start up, geriatric social worker, Marketing aging life care, marketing ALCA /GCM, marketing care management, marketing geriatric care management, marketing to concierge clients, marketing to the top 10$, marketing to wealth managers, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Sales in geriatric care management, Selling GCM Business, Webinar ALCA GCM Tagged With: adult children of concierge parents, aging concierge Clients, aging family, aging life care manager, care manager, case manager, Concierge Care management, Concierge Client Sales, concierge marketing, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, My Geraitric Care Management Operations Manual, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, reaching top 10% elder, top

How Do Geriatric Care Managers Give Quality of Life and Joy to LGBT Clients?

June 14, 2019

As June is LGTBQ Pride Month, let us celebrate it by being aware that Senior  LGTBQ Elders are bullied, isolated, lonely just like LGTBQ younger people.

A recent report found that LGBT elders tend to have more medical problems, higher poverty levels social isolation than straight elders. Same-sex partners are not allowed many of the resources afforded to spouses and biological family members during the aging process.  LGBT elders tend to lack support from many mainstream aging programs such as senior centers and places of worship or they are afraid of the stigma and discrimination that could result from joining those programs.

Mainstream retirement communities often deny LGBT elder couples the right to live in them. They often continue to live on their own, even if they need access to the services offered by those communities. These elders may fear discrimination and being ostracized by housing staff and often stay in the closet to obtain housing. Because large numbers of gay elders choose to live alone, they have fewer opportunities for social interaction than their heterosexual peers.

As a result, many LGBT elders live in the community and can really benefit from the quality of life activities that geriatric care managers can bring into the home through a personal assistance service and reminiscence therapy 

One LGBT program in California created social connections by arranging dinner parties, shopping trips, and grocery shopping.

Finding activities that help elders grow and nurture their emotional, intellectual, physical, and/or spiritual quality of life can help to nurture an older person’s whole life and bring back joy. 

Escorting  LGTBQ Elders to movies about gay elders or renting them through Netflix and watching with them is a great activity. There are terrific, even academy award winning film like Beginners, you can watch together and talk about, as activities.

But what about the quality of life for LGBT aging clients. This recent article in the New York Times shows how one retirement community responding and found joy for LGBT clients, where many LGTB aging clients have to fight for acceptance.

 

If aging life or geriatric care manager want to find resources for LGBT aging clients or more about their issues, The Journal of Aging Life Care has an article with many resources to help you serve these vulnerable clients in finding Joy and acceptance.

The Journal Of Aging Life has a resources list for a research tool for aging LGBT clients edited by  Jennifer Crittenden 

 

The Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition has a seminal chapter written by geriatric care manager Nina Herndon with a quality of life assessment to help you pinpoint the quality of life needs of all clients.

 

 

Nina also has developed the first activity kit for the quality of life, Joyful Moments .
Care Managers can use this activity kits to develop quality of life activities with their clients and home care and care managers that have home care can utilize the kit to teach their careproviders to create quality of life activities that give seniors they serve Joy in addition to care ‘

My GCM Operations Manual  includes a product Concierge Companion that offers geriatric care managers a quality of life service  that provides quality of life activivies to seniors through rereactional therapy aides who follow a GCM Care plan to indivualize quality of life activities for elders at any stage of their aging including dementia. 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Quality of Life for elders, Webinar Tagged With: aging family, aging family crisisaging life care manager, aging life care, aging life care management, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, Assisted Living, care manager, geriatric care manager, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, home care, home care activities, Journal of Aging Life Care Association, Joyful Moments, LGBT elders, monitoring in home care, Nina Herndon, nurse care manager, Sage Elder Care

How Do Geriatric Care Managers Give Quality of Life and Joy to Aging LGB and “T”ransgender Clients?

September 1, 2018

The lives of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture . But Photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults.

An article in the New York Times  in the past week talks about the book and the void in not only the public’s mind about transgender elders but I might point out the aging community. It is time to pay attention. These older men and women rarely have families and retirement communities often present so much bias that these elders still live alone

A recent report found that LGBT elders tend to have more medical problems, higher poverty levels social isolation than straight elders. Same-sex partners are not allowed many of the resources afforded to spouses and biological family members during the aging process.  LGBT elders tend to lack support from many mainstream aging programs such as senior centers and places of worship or they are afraid of the stigma and discrimination that could result from joining those programs.

Mainstream retirement communities often deny LGBT elder couples  the right to live in them so they often  continue to live on their own, even if they need access to the services offered by those communities. These elders may fear discrimination and being ostrasized by housing staff and and often  stay in the closet to obtain housing. Because large numbers of  gay elders choose to live alone, they have fewer opportunities for social interaction than their heterosexual peers.

As a result many live in the community and can really benefit from quality of life activities that geriatric care managers can bring into the home through a personal assistance service .

One LGBT program in California, created social connections through arranging dinner parties, shopping trips and  grocery shopping .

Finding activities that help elders grow and nurture their emotional, intellectual, physical, and/or spiritual quality of life can help to nurture an older person’s whole life and bring back joy. But what about the quality of life for LGB or Transgender  aging clients. This recent article in the New York Times shows how one retirement community responding and found joy for LGBT clients, where many LGTB aging clients have to fight for acceptance.

 

If aging life or geriatric care manager want to find resources for LGBT aging clients or more about their issues. An article in the Gerontologist has a resources list for research tool for aging LGBT clients.

Besides reading speaking to older LGTB groups in what a geriatric care manager can do to understand their needs and how your services can help. I will be speaking to my local local group in the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County this fall , just to do that. Reach out to your LGTB community. It can grow your business and help elders who are often without support.

 

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, aging family crisis, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, Cut Off, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, LGTB elders, marketing care management, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Quality of Life for elders, Transgender Elders, Webinar Tagged With: aging family, aging family crisisaging life care manager, aging life care, aging life care management, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, Assisted Living, care manager, geriatric care manager, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, Journal of Aging Life Care Association, Joyful Moments, LGBT elders, LGTB Elders, Nina Herndon, nurse care manager, Sage Elder Care, Transgender Elders

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Contact

Use the form on the
Contact page to email Cathy.

Email

Latest trending news

Connect with Cathy

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

  • Home
  • GCM Manual New 5th Edition
  • Books »
  • Services »
  • About
  • Recommendations
  • Blog »
  • Contact

Copyright © 2012–2023 CressGCMConsult & Cathy Cress - Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management | Developed by wpcustomify