Geriatric Care Management is the profession that serves and assists families who face difficult or complex issues surrounding the advanced aging of an older member of the family.  Balancing economic goals with quality of life is a difficult process, at best.

Advanced aging brings with it a host of complex issues including dementia, (such as Alzheimer's disease); injuries, including slip and fall from lack of balance; hospitalizations; medications management; Hospice and Hospice-planning; discharges and discharge planning; Medicare, long-term care insurance, and related issues; the involvement of Adult Protective Services; home care and care-giver management; just to name a few.

Moreover, whatever initial issues present themselves, in advanced age, the most likely scenario is that life will become more complicated, and the burden on the family will increase, not decrease.  This brings with it possible inequities within the family, especially in families in which the adult children live great distances from their aging parents, or play different roles in the care of their parents.

While each family has a variety of different resources available to it for the benefit of the older adult, care management is the process by which all of the different resources are managed, conserved, and implemented.

Living at home may involve finding and coordinating care-givers; hospitalizations may involve medical advocacy and discharge planning; skilled nursing facility stays may involve similar issues; adult children may live out of the area; there may be dementia or physical ailments which make care-giving much more difficult.  A geriatric care manager can help alleviate the burden, bring clarity to the situation, and implement a care plan that achieves economic, social, and emotional goals.

Clark Consulting is a private geriatric care management firm.  We serve the greater San Mateo County region (located in the San Francisco bay area), including the Peninsula (from San Bruno to Los Altos), the Coastside (Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, and Pescadero), and all parts in between (including Woodside, Portola Valley, and Skylonda).

Please call us at (650)879-9030, or send us an email at clark@southcoast.net.

Jeannine Clark-Gananian is a Member of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.