I just read something amazing about how to help more people in my business. According to Dr. Symeon Rodger (Dr. Symeon Rodger [MemberServices@MindsetBootcamp.com]), who sends wonderful tidbits, and teaches marvelous full courses in the Law of Attraction (you know, "The Secret"(r)), instead of focusing on what I WANT, I need to be focusing on what makes me passionate. What I am passionate about is helping people in a unique way. When family members call me, and they tell me, "Why didn't I know about you 6 months ago!" When I am able to help them with problem-solving, with finding the right housing location, with advocating for a long term care facility not to discharge their parent without a viable discharge plan. I get very passionate about that. I love it.
I'm going to start focusing on this passion, and appreciate the fact that I do help people in a way that no one else really can except for other trained Professional Care Managers who see the big picture, and work specifically for the good of the client and not for a facility or insurance conglomerate.
I'm smart. I'm intelligent. And, by golly, people like me!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Seniors: Safety versus Denial
I sat with a brother and sister last week who needed to vent about their widowed, childless aunt. Aunt Edna, we'll call her, was supposed to attend the meeting as well, but she conveniently decided to go shopping with her grand-nephew when he came over earlier to see how she was getting along. "It's nice that your son helps out when he can," I observed. "But that's just it!" lamented the niece, "We offered to take her shopping yesterday, and she refused. She knew we were having this meeting and didn't want to be here, so when he came over she rooked him into taking her. She takes advantage of us and we have to find a better solution than this piecemeal kind of scheduling!"
I was visiting as a home health social worker in this instance, I contract with several agencies in town, making up to two visits to help people find resources and educate them about long term care issues to keep them out of the hospital as long as possible. This scenario is typical. Grown "Sandwiched Boomers" have become caregivers for their parents and other aging relatives. They still work fulltime, have grown kids and grandchildren of their own in many instances. And sometimes the senior just isn't interested in changing anything about the situation. They helped create it. As I told this brother and sister, "She's trained you very well." They rolled their eyes exasperatedly.
One of the primary referrals I wanted to make for this 90+year-old woman still living in her own home, alone, was for an Emergency Response System (ERS). I had offered it on my first visit, and she had refused. This time, when she returned from shopping, she agreed to the referral and I had her niece and nephew as witnesses. An ERS (remember: "help, I've fallen and I can't get up") is one way to increase a senior's safety and successful retention of their independence. Even if they do fall, if they receive help within an hour the chances of returning home are around 80%. If they lie on the floor for hours, there is an 80% chance they will spend the rest of their lives in a nursing facility.
So, I made the referral, to the relief of the caregiver family members. Two days later I received a call from the ERS company: she politely refused to have them install the system. Two days after that I received a call from the nephew: "Aunt Edna is in the hospital. She fell and no one found her for about 4 or 5 hours. We need some help with planning for the next stage."
I hope I can get her home with assistance. She'll probably need extensive rehab. She was dehydrated, of course. Had she had the system, she would have been rescued before dehydration had set in.
Some people just don't listen. It's frustrating. I keep trying anyway.
I was visiting as a home health social worker in this instance, I contract with several agencies in town, making up to two visits to help people find resources and educate them about long term care issues to keep them out of the hospital as long as possible. This scenario is typical. Grown "Sandwiched Boomers" have become caregivers for their parents and other aging relatives. They still work fulltime, have grown kids and grandchildren of their own in many instances. And sometimes the senior just isn't interested in changing anything about the situation. They helped create it. As I told this brother and sister, "She's trained you very well." They rolled their eyes exasperatedly.
One of the primary referrals I wanted to make for this 90+year-old woman still living in her own home, alone, was for an Emergency Response System (ERS). I had offered it on my first visit, and she had refused. This time, when she returned from shopping, she agreed to the referral and I had her niece and nephew as witnesses. An ERS (remember: "help, I've fallen and I can't get up") is one way to increase a senior's safety and successful retention of their independence. Even if they do fall, if they receive help within an hour the chances of returning home are around 80%. If they lie on the floor for hours, there is an 80% chance they will spend the rest of their lives in a nursing facility.
So, I made the referral, to the relief of the caregiver family members. Two days later I received a call from the ERS company: she politely refused to have them install the system. Two days after that I received a call from the nephew: "Aunt Edna is in the hospital. She fell and no one found her for about 4 or 5 hours. We need some help with planning for the next stage."
I hope I can get her home with assistance. She'll probably need extensive rehab. She was dehydrated, of course. Had she had the system, she would have been rescued before dehydration had set in.
Some people just don't listen. It's frustrating. I keep trying anyway.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Time - where does it go?
When I first started blogging I intended to write daily, or at least weekly. Looking at the dates of my posts, it is evident that my life is busier than I expected. Where does the time go? How do we find the time, make the time, for our families and the things that are important in our lives?
My senior clients tell me that their grown children do not have time for them. The sandwich generation struggles with balancing time between their aging parents, their growing children, and their own careers and relationships. Time is one thing we can't reproduce. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
Too many regrets fall from the lips of people at the end of their lives: "I should have seen my parents more often." "I should have spent more time with my children growing up."
Someone told me recently: "Things are not important. People are."
If we keep that thought in the forefront of our minds, perhaps there will be fewer regrets at the end of life.
My senior clients tell me that their grown children do not have time for them. The sandwich generation struggles with balancing time between their aging parents, their growing children, and their own careers and relationships. Time is one thing we can't reproduce. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
Too many regrets fall from the lips of people at the end of their lives: "I should have seen my parents more often." "I should have spent more time with my children growing up."
Someone told me recently: "Things are not important. People are."
If we keep that thought in the forefront of our minds, perhaps there will be fewer regrets at the end of life.
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