Families Caregiving from a Distance

Often family members live in a different city than their elder relative. This becomes a challenge for them when the elder has a crisis or seems to be losing his ability to live at home safely.Caregiving from a distance is costly, time-consuming and often ineffective because the family finds it difficult to assess and monitor the elder's needs. They are frequently unfamiliar with the resources available to the elder and may spend a great deal of time making phone calls and trying to piece together a care plan that makes sense.

Our role as care managers is to create peace of mind for these family members by being available to assess the elder on an on-going basis, coordinate medical or other services, and respond quickly to crisis situations. Professional attention to the elder's care needs will improve the quality of life for the whole family.

Our goal is to help the elders remain in their community and in their homes as long as possible. Because elders suffer many loses in their later years, spouses and friends, driving, walking, and sometimes even eating the foods they used to enjoy, remaining in one's home is our first consideration when assessing the elder.

We work well with families who live out of the area because of our emphasis on communication. Our initial assessment, proposed care plan and follow-up meetings with the elder will be shared with the family through phone calls and email correspondence.

We meet with the client on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending on need. This increases our chances of averting a crisis and gives us an opportunity to monitor the quality of the services the elder is receiving. In situations when a crisis does occur, we manage and monitor the situation, making sure the elder is cared for until the family can make arrangements for travel. We're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.