Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

Connecting a Functional and Caregiver Assessment

PDF-Cover-of-11-10-12My-Geriatric-Care-Management-Agency.jpg

 

How do you connect aging client assessments? For example, if you find through your functional assessment that the client’s clothes are dirty and they are not bathing, start with self care deficit in your care plan then list that manifestation of the problem. If you find your caregiver assessment that the family caregiver is depressed and angry and is on the edge of placing the older person even if they are at the level of care- start with caregiver burnout and then list the manifestation of that burnout. You have then connected two different assessments.

Pew Trust Study on Caregivers Shows they are Tech Savvy

cress3e_20120811-190334_1.jpg

 

A just released stuffy by the Pew Family Trust on Care, Pew Internet Project and supported by funding from the California HealthCare Foundation found a fact professional ‘s working with seniors already know – almost a third of us are family caregivers. That includes midlife siblings, and wives. The much anticipated study found the 30% of US adults are caregivers.

 

Plus the study confirmed another fact that caregivers and aging families know but is now substantiated. Technology and the Internet is a key tool that sibling and more often spouse caregivers use to render care to aging family members.

 

According to the Pew report caregivers are “ voracious health information consumers. They outpace other Internet users often by double-digit margins,

Family caregivers are use technology as a care-giving tool. Compared with their noncaregiving peers, family caregivers are more likely to

• have a cell phone or other mobile device, such as a smartphone (90% vs 82%);

• use the Internet or email (79% vs. 71%);

• have a desktop computer (64% vs. 58%);

• have a laptop computer (55% vs. 51%).

• According to the Pew Report:

Are you a family, sibling or spousal caregiver and use technology? Check out this report.

 

If you are a aging professional, this is important information on how to reach your potential clients.Professional geriatric care managers  should check out Julia Menack’s Technology to Support Aging In Place in the third edition of Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 2011.

 

Midlife Sibling Care Giver Overload From Gender Bias- Have a Family Meeting

cress3e_20120811-190334_1.jpg

 

According to the AARP a typical family caregiver in the U.S. is female, approximately 46 years old, has at least some college experience, and spends an average of 20 hours or more per week providing unpaid care to someone 50 or older. They are usually an adult child and and female sibling. In addition, this adult sibling/daughter usually works a paid job as well.

 

Gender bias in caregiving is a critical issue to cover in a midlife family meeting. Dividing up caregiving tasks so that they are gender equal and don’t fall hard on the female midlife siblings shoulders, is key to that female midlife sibling’s health and emotional balance. It is also key to maintaining a health happy  midlife sibling team to care for elderly parents. Team members, like midlife sisters, need to feel they are being treated fairly by male/ brother siblings.

 

Find out why and how to reorganize your midlife sibling caregiving team so that your aging parent gets the care he or she needs and your sister sibling is not overwhelmed by caregiving.

 

Robot and Frank-Aging Technology, Aging Heartache and Aging Cat Burglary

cress3e_20120811-190334_1.jpg

 

Parent care technology hits sci-fi and aging is one giant wallop in the new film, 2012 Sundance winner, Robot and Frank . Veteran stage and screen actor and three time Tony winner, Frank Langella is 74.In a recent NPR interview he told Dave Davies, subbing for NPR’s top gun interviewer, Terry Gross, he only agreed to do the film with one condition.

 

Seventy four year old Langella wanted to bring his own perspective on aging- in the here and now-  into the script. He was able to talk the young director Jake Schreyer and young writer Christopher D Ford into shaping the script to include a budding late life romance with Susan Sarandon and the real losses of the elderly. One aging decrement brought into the film is Langella’s character Frank has early Alzheimer’s and his adult son ,supported by his world traveling absent sister-sibling Madison, brings the robot to be what  is called, in the film promo, a mechanical butler. In real aging, we call it telecare.

 

The film is set in the near future but reflects the real present, as the Robot could be a any form of parent care technology called telecare systems . Telecare ,well defined in Julie Menack’s chapter, Technologies That Support Aging In Place, in Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 3rd edition ,Jones and Bartlett.

 

The thing is, the Robot is in the present not in the future and the movie is a comical yet philosophical take on the ethical side of aging technology.  The midlife siblings concerned about their Dad, think they do the right thing. Frank is a cat burglar and teaches the Robot to help in his heists , renewing his life.

 

So Robot and Frank is well worth seeing for anyone including baby boomers, the old/old and aging professionals,like geriatric care managers  plus maybe any aging cat burglars who need new tricks .

 

NRP Story Today- Baby Boomers Unsure How to Pay for Long Term Care

Baby Boomers were covered today on NPR on  with their doubts about how to pay for long term care  and what will happen to Medicare yet with optimism about the future.  What is the Baby Boom generation and what are the sibling rules , economy, circumstances and roles  they grew up with?

Contact

Use the form on the
Contact page to email Cathy.

Email

Connect with Cathy

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