Where can I find a geriatric care manager, and what exactly would that person do?

Does anyone know the fees associated with a Geriatric Care Manager?

Geriatric care managers are still a relatively new profession, so hopefully you can find one to help care for your dad. I don’t know what kind of luck you’ve had since you were looking.
Click on this link:
www.AgingCare.com/Find-Senior-Care/
Enter the location and “Geriatric Care Managers” and click search. It will bring up what is available near you, and you can develop a list of people to call based on that. Carol Bradley Bursack, our community moderator, has pointed out that these individuals are not yet uniformly regulated, so it is important that you ask lots of questions and get references.
I am including some links to articles on Geriatric Care Managers:
www.AgingCare.com/138976
www.AgingCare.com/132479

I hope this helps. Thank you for being a caregiver.

Dani
AgingCare.com Editor

A geriatric care manager offers eldercare counseling and support. You first meeting should start with a care planning assessment for your elderly parent, mom or dad. This assessment will identify problems specific to your situation and the possible solutions to each.

Especially important to your situation - long distance caregiving for a parent – the care manager can act as a liaison selecting and overseeing care, and alerting you to problems that arise.

My first meeting with a care manager included a review of financial issues where we learned my grandmother was eligible for VA assistance of $800 per month because my grandfather (deceased) was a WWII vet. We also discover there was stock issued from a demutualized insurance company from an old life insurance policy. It turned out to worth a few thousand dollars.

You can find geriatric care managers on this site in the ‘Find Care’ section.

Hope this helps.

You were asking what the geri case manager does. I had one watching after Mom when I had to fly home (2000+miles away). Mom was in a nursing home (NH) after a fall, in order to recover. At one point, the NH moved Mom to a different floor in their facility. The case manager checked in on her at the NH about every 2 weeks or so. She reported the new room was bad, too far from the nurses, she was getting less care, and a bunch of negative developments. I called the NH, and demanded they move her back closer to the action and to continue her rehab per MD orders. They did and she got better. She also found somebody from the school of nursing to come sit with Mom and talk to her and The geri case mgr was like a guardian angel for Mom. I think she would have died without her careful watching over her. And the NH had to watch the quality of her care closer because they knew somebody who knew what was going on was coming in and reading the notes, talking to the patient, observing therapy. You would be putting a lot of trust in this person, so investigate the case manager carefully before hiring them.

We live within 75 miles of some fairly large cities, yet the only geriactric care manager we have found is three hours away. I am guessing that the money we spend on that would be better spent on actual daily care. I don't know if a care manager three hours away would be of much benefit to my family. Everything we read is on how the numbers of ALZ patients are increasing, so why aren't the services also increasing. (Just venting frustration)

Missy, I hope that you have been able to find a care manager in your area. They can be a huge asset to you as a caregiver by way of assessments and support. I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that you are a wonderful person for taking care of your mom. Dementia is a disease that most people dont really understand but it is so time consuming to those of us as caregivers. Again, you are an angel for your caregiving role. God bless you! Shon

What is the first step needed in finding a geriatric care manager in my area if none is listed in this webpage?

you can find a qualified geriatric care manager through the Aging Life Care Association website.

I hire a geriatric care manager to check in on my disabled brother once a month, for I live 5 hours away. She charges $90 per hour. She is such a positive person, she cheers him up - and me up, she is very good at listening and affirming, and she works well with professionals who surround my brother when she visits. I have helped him stay in the community somewhat, and he goes to a Brain Injury program 4 days a week - so she visits him once there and the next month at the nursing home - and she would walk outdoors with him as he uses rollator on the neighborhood flat streets to the library. I've found her not too useful to stand up to plans made in either institution - I do that, and she encourages me. But her reports are detailed, her background in education is useful in terms of offering good activities or checking on them. I can share her direct reports (after tweaking them at times), with my other family or professionals. We all find it worthwhile to have someone local to be my eyes and ears when I can't get there as often as I used to do, when I was younger.