Eldercare Illuminated

Host Lenore Tracey speaks with Rebecca Wild-Wesley to explore how aging life care managers (a.k.a. geriatric care managers) help families and individuals get the right services and the best services for their loved ones.

Engaging a care manager can be as brief as a one-time needs assessment or a long-term relationship to manage the complex needs of someone who is frail, ill, or disabled. Another set of eyes and hands, with expertise and connections can make life easier – and better – for the family caregiver and the person receiving care.

Learn more about care managers or find one in your area at the Aging Life Care Association https://www.aginglifecare.org/.

About Our Guest:

Rebecca Wild-Wesley is a former President of the Aging Life Care Association™ New England (ALCANE™). She has over 40 years of experience as a nurse, holds a Master of Arts in Gerontology, and is a Certified Care Manager.

Rebecca realized her long-held goal of providing consultation services to aging families within a
personalized holistic framework when she formed her company, The Aging Space. She left the medical model of eldercare after years of working in home health care and insurance. The Aging Space offers individuals and families help by considering their specific needs and desires and developing a plan. Care managers like Rebecca assess and monitor; plan and problem-solve; educate and advocate; and coach family caregivers — all in service of an aging or ill loved one.

Enjoy this lively conversation with Teepa Snow and learn new ways to think about and work with a loved one with a dementia diagnosis. With the ability to "put your agenda in your back pocket," you can communicate with humor, flexibility, and respect. The result — more success and satisfaction in your caregiving relationships.

Teepa also shares ideas about how to create meaningful activities and help individuals find purpose in life despite the limitations imposed by the progression of the disease.

About Our Guest:

Teepa Snow is an occupational therapist by trade. She founded her company, Positive Approach to Care, in 2005. Today, she is known around the world for her strategies and interaction techniques that are used to improve communication, engagement, and quality of life for people living with brain change. Teepa travels throughout North America and abroad to train professional and family caregivers. She has taught at colleges and universities, from technical to post-doctoral levels. She is much sought after as a presenter and mentor. Find out more about Teepa or her company at https://teepasnow.com.

Contracts may not be your favorite reading material. But if your loved one is moving
to an Assisted Living Facility or a Nursing Home, you need to understand exactly
what you are agreeing to. In this episode, Attorney Christine Boutin shares valuable insights about what these contracts typically contain, what sections you may wish to negotiate, and areas to beware and be wary. Who signs? Who is responsible? And what contract
requirements can you simply reject?

This is a great opportunity to get a close look at some of the details you may be asked to consider when you review such an agreement with or for your loved one.

About Our Guest:

Christine Boutin, Esq. practices law in the state of Massachusetts. She specializes in elder law,
guardianships, and estate planning. An attorney since 1994, Christine is Of Counsel with the firm Levine-Piro Law, PC. She accepts appointments as a guardian ad litem cases alleging neglect of elders and adults with disabilities. She also serves as a guardian, conservator and trustee in cases involving incapacitated persons.

Join this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to hear how this working caregiver and her father are weathering the changes that the last few months have brought. Alison and her siblings were anticipating that driving was about to become a problem for their now 93-year-old father. This and other changes have made it necessary for Alison to spend more time helping out and more time figuring out how to assist in ways that preserve her father’s sense of purpose and independence. Host Lenore Tracey invites Alison to explore how this chapter in her caregiving story is affecting them both.

About Our Guest:

Alison Fox heads Service Operations and Support in her job at Torchlight. It could also be argued that she heads Service Operations and Support as the main caregiver for her family’s aging father. With a great sense of humor and top-notch project management skills, Alison puts her years of experience coordinating client services to excellent use in managing the daily needs of an active nonagenarian.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with attorney Eric Carlson about the problems that nursing home residents and their caregivers may face — and what to do about them. Nursing homes throughout the country are bound by federal laws that are designed to ensure a person-centered, homelike experience for their residents. As Eric points out, even “good” nursing homes may have practices and procedures that violate federal law. This podcast offers insights and practical assistance to help caregivers advocate effectively for their loved ones' rights as nursing home residents.

About Our Guest:

Eric Carlson is the Directing Attorney at Washington D.C.-based Justice in Aging. Formerly the National Senior Citizens Law Center, since 1972 Justice in Aging has worked for almost 50 years to address the health and economic security needs of older adults with limited resources.

Eric has experience in many forms of long-term services and supports (LTSS), including home and community-based services, nursing facility care, and assisted living facilities. He led Justice in Aging’s extensive research (funded through The Commonwealth Fund) on Medicaid-funded assisted living and currently is leading a project to assist consumer advocacy on Medicaid managed LTSS in Florida and New Jersey. Eric also serves as President of the national Assisted Living Consumer Alliance and is author of the legal treatise Long-Term Care Advocacy (Matthew Bender and Co.).

Download Justice in Aging's Guide: 25 Common Nursing Home Problems and How to Resolve Them (link - http://www.justiceinaging.org/guide-25-common-nursing-home-problems-and-how-to-resolve-them/)

And

Stories from the Field (link - http://www.justiceinaging.org.customers.tigertech.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Stories-from-the-Field.pdf) , a guide for nursing home residents and their loved ones to recognize and address issues that LGBTQ+ individuals may encounter.

Join this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to learn more about hospice — what is on offer for patients and their families. Not just for cancer patients, hospice services can make the end-of-life experience less scary and more comfortable for everyone involved. A hospice team typically includes family members, a hospice physician, hospice nurse, social worker, aides, chaplain, bereavement counselors, and volunteers.

This rich conversation about how hospice works, when it makes sense to involve a hospice team, and what to expect is eye-opening. A better understanding of hospice makes it easier for families to reach out when a loved one is nearing end of life.

About Our Guest:

Beth Rubio, MSW, LICSW is a medical social worker who has worked with seniors and their families for over 30 years. As a hospice social worker, she has extensive knowledge about end-of-life care and the many aspects of both the patient’s and the family’s lives that are enhanced by special attention to social, emotional, spiritual, and medical care. In her day-to-day work, Beth focuses on increasing a sense of wellness, reducing stress, and honoring each individual’s unique life journey.

Beth has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Saint Michael's College and a Masters in Social Work from the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work.

In Season 2, we talked about Aging in Place with the founder of HomesRenewed, which focused on ways to make the built environment work for people who wish to remain in their own homes or apartments and avoid moving into a facility if at all possible.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Sarah Szanton, one of the founders of the CAPABLE Project (https://nursing.jhu.edu/CAPABLE), which takes the problem of aging in place a step further – addressing both the physical space and the functional limitations of the resident. When you pay attention to both the house and the body, the results can be amazing.

Resources mentioned in this podcast include:

-The CAPABLE Project: https://nursing.jhu.edu/CAPABLE
-Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl (originally published in 1946)

About Our Guest:

Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, ANP, FAAN is the Endowed Professor for Health Equity and Social Justice and Director of the Center for Innovative Care in Aging at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

While making house calls to homebound, low-income elderly patients in West Baltimore, Dr. Szanton noticed that her patients’ environmental challenges were often as pressing as their health challenges. As a result of her observations, she and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University developed a program of research on the role that the environment and functional limitations play in the ability of older adults to “age in place” or stay out of a nursing home. The result is the CAPABLE Project - Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders, which combines handyman services with nursing and occupational therapy to improve mobility, reduce disability, and decrease healthcare costs.

Welcome to Season 3 of Eldercare Illuminated, brought to you by Torchlight. Tune in for helpful tips, practical advice, and strategies for caregivers at all stages of helping an aging loved one. Listen to find out what's ahead in the coming months.

Long-Term Care Insurance is the only insurance specifically designed to pay for long-term care - the type of care that many of us can expect to need if we reach old age. Yet not many people know about or understand this type of insurance.

Eldercare Illuminated host Lenore Tracey spends time in this episode talking to Eileen Tell, to explore what’s available, how it works, and whether to consider long-term care insurance for you or your loved one.

About Our Guest:

Eileen J. Tell, MPH is Principal and CEO of ET Consulting, LLC, a woman-owned business focused on long-term care and aging services. Eileen has more than 30 years of experience and industry thought leadership in long-term care. Areas of expertise include policy analysis, market research, product development, and program management and evaluation. Her clients include the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services, US Department of Health and Human Services, National Council on Aging (NCOA) and others. She is a graduate of Tufts University and has a Masters of Public Health degree from University of Michigan.

Meet a speech therapist whose work with adults keeps the conversation going! In this episode, Eldercare Illuminated host, Lenore Tracey, meets with a speech and language pathologist. These professionals work with individuals whose medical issues have impaired their ability to speak or understand. They also work with patients who have difficulty swallowing due to a stroke, surgery, or other condition, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Listen now to find out why these capacities can become impaired, about the various solutions that can help, and how patients and their families can move forward.

About Our Guest:

Julia Haffer is a Clinical Speech and Language Pathologist, trained at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She works primarily with adult patients in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities on a wide variety of speech, language, and swallowing issues. Originally considering a speech pathology career with children, Julia found that working with adults was a challenging and rewarding opportunity, to which she quickly became committed.

Join this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to hear how one working caregiver helped her father move from his home of 50+ years into a facility. Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader spends time with a friend and colleague who is juggling parenting, career, and eldercare as a thoroughly modern caregiver. Alison Fox — working mother and working daughter — is the primary caregiver for her 92-year-old father. She generously shares what she’s learned in the course of helping her father move from the home he shared with his wife for decades. Next up for Alison: Helping Dad retire from driving. We’ll learn how the family plans to make this happen with respect and dignity, and we’ll check in with Alison in a few months to learn how things went.

About Our Guest

Alison Fox heads Service Operations and Support in her job at Torchlight. It could also be argued that she heads Service Operations and Support as the main caregiver for her family’s aging father. With a great sense of humor and top-notch project management skills, Alison puts her years of experience coordinating client services to excellent use in managing the daily needs of an active nonagenarian.

In this episode, Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader, Lenore Tracey, discusses aging in place with Louis Tenenbaum. A 2014 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, Housing America’s Older Adults - Meeting the Needs of an Aging Population, reported that “the existing housing stock is unprepared to meet the escalating need for affordability, accessibility, social connectivity, and supportive services.”

As one of the nation’s leaders in shaping a vision to make aging in place possible, Louis shares new ideas and initiatives aimed at making home modifications more affordable and easier to accomplish.

This episode explores emerging and proposed solutions as well as some low-cost ways to start to improve a home for its older residents.

About Our Guest:

Louis Tenenbaum was one of the first contractors to focus his remodeling business on aging in place. More than 80% of adults say they want to stay in their own homes as they grow old, but their homes are not prepared for their new needs. He wondered why so few people were making home modifications, since it’s such a good idea. That led to the creation of Louis’s visionary white paper, Aging in Place 2.0: Rethinking Solutions to the Home Care Challenge, published by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

A leading authority on Aging in Place, Louis’s work straddles the building, aging, and policy worlds. In 2016 Louis was named a Next Avenue “Influencer in Aging” and won a HIVE (Housing, Innovation, Vision and Economics) award from the building industry.

He founded HomesRenewed™ recognizing that spreading the word, and working with stakeholders to create subsidies and incentives would be critical to market development.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey and elder law attorney Cathy Sikorski shed light on an enduring misunderstanding about Medicare coverage for skilled services.

For years, Medicare recipients have been denied coverage for services, such as skilled nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, based on the notion that they have plateaued or there is a lack of restoration potential. For example, patients were told (and are still being told) that Medicare would no longer pay for physical therapy because there was no potential for improvement in their condition. Perpetuated for years, this notion has resulted in patients not getting needed services to which they are entitled and from which they can benefit.

Cathy shares the facts and the strategies you need to dispel this myth and advocate effectively for your loved one. Listen and learn.

Then check out additional information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (and print materials to bring with you) so you have all the information in hand if you need to get your loved one’s providers up to speed.

1. Updated Publication from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), because federal court found that 'virtually no effort' was made to promote the Jimmo vs. Sebelius settlement.
https://www.cms.gov/Center/Special-Topic/Jimmo-Center.html

2. Frequently Asked Questions associated with the above publication:
https://www.cms.gov/Center/Special-Topic/Jimmo-Settlement/FAQs.html

Caregivers, you make such a difference in your loved one’s lives!

About Our Guest:

Cathy Sikorski has been a caregiver for the last 25 years for seven different family members and friends. A published author and humorist, Sikorski is also a practicing elder law attorney. Her legal expertise and sense of humor have made her a sought-after speaker where she tackles the legal issues that affect those who will one day be or need a caregiver (which is everyone).

Cathy’s first book is a humorous memoir Showering with Nana: Confessions of a Serial (killer) Caregiver. That was followed by Who Moved My Teeth? - a humorous and informative book with practical and legal tips for caregivers and baby boomers. Cathy maintains an active blog “You just have to Laugh…where Caregiving is Comedy…”.

When Deb Hallisey became her mother’s primary caregiver, her pace as a busy working daughter changed her relationship with her mom — and not for the better. Since then, Deb has slowed down and become a different type of caregiver. The benefit of doing so has accrued to both mother and daughter, and opened the door to better communication and a different perspective. The result — less frustration, more joy.

Tune in to this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to learn about the small, easy-to-implement changes that can transform your caregiving relationship with your loved one. Then, share them with the other caregivers in his or her life.

Fast food or a lovingly prepared home-cooked meal? You decide.

About Our Guest:

Deb Hallisey has over 25 years’ experience as a consultant building and enhancing corporate training programs with Ernst & Young and Huron Consulting group along with smaller boutique firms. In 2015 she became responsible for her mother after her father’s death.
Today, she offers caregivers advice and support on her website Advocate for Mom and Dad. The mission of Advocate for Mom and Dad is to build a community that helps families determine their best answers to the questions of “what do I do?” and “where do I start?”

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with elder law attorney and humorist Cathy Sikorski.

Cathy has been advocating for her clients as well as her own family and friends for many years. Today she is sharing expert strategies and tips to help you get what you need for your loved one. Whether it’s dealing with Medicare, other health insurance, your loved one’s assisted living or nursing home, or other providers of care and services, knowing how to get stuff done on your loved one’s behalf is an invaluable skill.

Listen and learn from a pro: who to call, how to get involved, when to push, and when to back off.

About Our Guest:

Cathy Sikorski has been a caregiver for the last 25 years for seven different family members and friends. A published author and humorist, Sikorski is also a practicing elder law attorney. Her legal expertise and sense of humor have made her a sought-after speaker where she tackles the legal issues that affect those who will one day be or need a caregiver (which is everyone).

Cathy’s first book is a humorous memoir "Showering with Nana: Confessions of a Serial (killer) Caregiver." That was followed by "Who Moved My Teeth?" - a humorous and informative book with practical and legal tips for caregivers and baby boomers. Cathy maintains an active blog “You just have to Laugh…where Caregiving is Comedy…”.

Welcome to Season 2 of Eldercare Illuminated, brought to you by Torchlight. Tune in for helpful tips, practical advice, and strategies for caregivers at all stages of helping an aging loved one. Listen to find out what's ahead in the coming months.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey talks about what to do when your regularly scheduled aide doesn’t make it in for his or her shift.

It happens to everyone at some point. The caregiver doesn’t show up, and the day’s schedule is out the window. It doesn’t matter if the reason for the snafu is totally understandable - appendicitis, the trains aren’t running, bubonic plague. It still wrecks your day.

With a little preparation, a plan, and a sense of humor, you and your loved one will manage!

About Our Guest (and Host):

Lenore Tracey is Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader. She has been writing about and providing eldercare for more years than she cares to count.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with social worker and geriatric care manager, Betsy Ross, about how best to communicate with a loved one who has dementia. Betsy shares her years of experience working with caregivers and their loved ones with a dementia diagnosis. From dealing with difficult behavior to alleviating the frustration experienced by both parties, Betsy has great suggestions for helping families cope. Small changes in the way you approach a situation can make a big difference.

About Our Guest:

Betsy Ross MA, LICSW, NHA, is a social worker and geriatric care manager practicing in the Boston area. Throughout her career, Betsy has provided her expertise to seniors and organizations whose mission is to serve them. She has worked as a social worker, nursing home administrator, executive director of a hospice, home care agency, and assisted living and adult day program. Today, Betsy focuses on working with elders and their families through her company, Boundless Options. Betsy is also adjunct faculty at the Simmons College School of Social Work.

What’s a Death Café? It’s part of a growing movement designed to help us squeamish Americans stop being so fearful of talking about death. Does your family discuss issues around death and dying? Have you and your loved ones expressed your wishes openly and honestly? Do you understand all of your options? In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with Heather Massey, cofounder of the Cape Cod Death Café, and Julie Lipkin, one of the Cape Cod Death Café’s regular facilitators. Tune in as Heather and Julie relate their experiences and insights on how to bring death back into life through shared conversations with other people in your community. By bringing this often taboo subject out of the shadows, you and your loved ones can make sure that individual wishes are understood and followed.

About Our Guests:

Heather Massey is the cofounder of the Cape Cod Death Café, a representative of the Funeral
Consumers Alliance of Eastern Massachusetts, a death educator, and a Home Funeral Guide with In Loving Hands: Family Directed and Home Based Funerals.

Julie Lipkin is a journalist and editor with the Cape Cod Times. She also works as a freelance writer and editor and is one of the regular facilitators at the Cape Cod Death Café.

Go to www.deathcafe.com to find a DeathCafé in your area, and start the conversation.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, Torchlight’s VP of Product, Attorney Carolyn Romano chats with Elder Law Attorney, Harry Margolis, about how planning for short- or long-term care needs can protect family assets. In addition to learning what to do today to begin preparing for a loved one's future (or your own), you'll also find out how an Elder Law Attorney can help your family: 1) address the complexities presented by government programs and entitlements, such as Medicare and Medicaid; 2) understand the options seniors and their families have in the evolving regulatory environment; and, 3) how families can still find solutions in a crisis, even if little planning has been done beforehand.

About Our Guest:

Harry S. Margolis has been representing seniors, individuals with special needs and their families since he started ElderLawServices, the predecessor of Margolis & Bloom, in June 1987. His firm has helped thousands of clients pay for long-term care, grapple with the incapacity of a family member, and plan for safe and productive futures for their children and grandchildren. Harry is a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” since 2005 and has been recognized as one of the top 100 attorneys in New England.