Not everyone lives nearby to their loved ones and relatives. If you oversee the care and wellbeing for an aging parent, injured or ill family member, and you live a distance away from them, caring from afar can be a challenge. Engaging the services of a Private Nurse Case Manager or Care Manager can make this a far less challenging experience, while ensuring the highest level of appropriate care, independent living (to the extent possible) and best medical outcomes.  Balancing the Organizational Difficulties of Care  Care for aging persons is an act in organization. Increases in medi ..read more

Use these downloadable, printable interview sheets when you interview prospective home care agencies and contact references. Having a single set of the same questions for all of the references and providers you interview will help you see patterns, consistencies, and inconsistencies in the responses you receive. Naturally, you should feel free to add or personalize your questions as needed. Choosing a home care company is a very important decision. We hope these make your journey more streamlined and better informed. Home Care Agency Interview Checklist     Image is only an example ..read more

Is Your Holiday Home Ready for Senior Visitors?  Christmas, Hanukkah, and the holidays are wonderful times to gather with friends and family. For many seniors, it is a time they look forward to all year long—a time when they can spend time with their family and see members who are difficult to connect with. Life is busy and full of pressures and family can often be spread near and far. So, coming together for the holidays and enjoying each other’s company is a true gift.  It’s very important to make sure that that time together is not marred by accident or injury. It’s easy for those ..read more

10 Things You Can Do to Brighten Your Senior’s Holiday Season    It doesn’t take gift-giving to bring holiday cheer. For seniors, the holidays just may not be what they once were. There are many reasons. Some are due to a decline in health or physical ability; some to motivation; some due to stress, depression, loneliness or isolation; and some to living situations or distancing from family.  Often the reason is just that the dynamics of the home and family have changed. Changes to holiday observances and celebrations are, in part, a natural progression.  There’s no right ..read more

40+ Signs Your Senior Needs In-Home Help  Though they may not be obvious, there are signs and signals that tell you it is time to arrange in-home care for your senior loved one. These signs can often be missed. They are easy to attribute to other things that are going on in your senior’s life. They are easy to absorb into your and your family’s daily life and routine as you continue to care for senior, without realizing the impact of these changes.   That absorption often comes at a cost. You may not even realize that cost, because it might hide in things like increased levels ..read more

Elder Abuse and Fraud Reporting Resources in Massachusetts Elder abuse takes many forms, including psychological, physical, and financial, sexual, or neglect. It may not always be clear to friends, family, or victims that they are experiencing abuse. An estimate of 10% of elders residing in the community are abused in some way. That is a number that is far too high. Any number at all is far too high.   This is precisely why it is so important to spread the word, increase awareness of the prevalence of abuse of older adults, and share resources so that elders, their caregivers, and th ..read more

There are a number of risks involved with hiring and managing home care on your own. When you choose to hire a private caregiver for you or your loved one, the risks that are normally assumed and managed by a home care agency become yours. This can open you and your loved one up to issues of liability, and to issues of safety and wellbeing for the care recipient.  Working with a quality, professional home care services agency not only affords you peace of mind, but it affords you and your loved one protection, too. There are several areas in which this is true.  7 Ways Home Care Agen ..read more

Older adults want to stay in their homes as they age. Who can blame them? After working hard to build a comfortable life, who would want to give that up in the years when they finally have time to enjoy it?  “Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (88%) between 50 and 80 years of age said it’s important to remain in their homes as they grow older” — University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging via U.S. News and World Report  Aging in place and living at home has been a priority for seniors for a very long time. It took on emphasized importance during and following the Covid-19 pandemic, a ..read more

At its heart, the job of a Private Nurse Case Manager is to be an all-around care coordinator. Just what that looks like in practice can be harder to define. The job entails many tasks and responsibilities. Also, there is not one definition of the job, because it differs from case to case and from specialty to specialty. It also varies depending on the setting in which the case manager works.   For example, a nurse case manager working in a hospital setting will have a different set of tasks and a much shorter length of involvement in a case than a private nurse case manager. In a ho ..read more

Get to Know CNA’s: Facts About Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides   Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides provide the majority of direct care in both home care and long-term care facilities. The National Network of Career Nursing Assistants reports that as much as 90% of the direct care provided to residents in long term care facilities is provided by nursing assistants and aides.   Looking at the facts and figures, there is a lot that is great about nursing aides and nursing assistants. At the top of the list is a dedicated field of professionals who are in it for the ..read more