A care manager may be a social worker, nurse or gerontologist who specializes in assisting older people and their families in navigating and evaluating the health care services available to them. Whether short-term or long-term, care managers can be helpful health care advocates for you and your loved ones.
Care managers are experts in working with individuals to identify their goals and locate the specific support services that enhance quality of life and well being.
Short term care management may involve finding the right rehabilitation facility when being discharged from an acute care hospital, the right skilled nursing care or home health and companion care with the needed medical equipment to be in the home. A family may need guidance from the social worker in finding the right care community with the appropriate level of care.
Long term care management may include helping the older adult “age in place,” assisting the elderly with their special needs adult child, organizing and managing medical bills, medical appointments and insurances. And so much more.
You are not alone. Let a care manager shorten the path for you and your loved ones in their aging transitions.