Waveny’s Care Management Team Provides Personalized Assistance and Support to Caregiving Families

Becoming the primary caregiver for an older parent can be a highly stressful and unexpected experience. Feelings of helplessness, confusion, indecision and deep sadness often accompany this type of role reversal. Fortunately, a service has been developed that helps families face the overwhelming task of providing care and support for aging parents. The field is called “Geriatric Care Management,” and Waveny Care Network has one of the largest and most advanced geriatric care management teams in Fairfield County. Credentialed members of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, Waveny’s care managers are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Carole Edelman, an advanced practice nurse who serves as director of Geriatric Care Management at Waveny, says that the goal of care management is to provide highly personalized assistance in locating and selecting appropriate services for older individuals so they can function at home as safely and independently as possible.

“We do as much or as little as is needed to make the situation work and the individual and family to feel comfortable,” said Mrs. Edelman. “We make sure that everything we do is something they want us to do. Our work with a family can be as minimal as a one-hour consultation or as intensive as ongoing care management. There is no minimum or maximum.

 For example,” said Edelman, “an adult child of an older person may contact Waveny’s care management team and say ‘I’m taking care of my mother and I’m lost. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing for her.’ A single counseling session may be all that is needed to determine whether the current type of care is appropriate. In other instances, a family may require a more complete range of services, perhaps encompassing a total care management plan.” 

The practice of geriatric care management marries components of nursing, social work, counseling and gerontology. This unique blend of expertise allows Waveny’s care managers to assist multiple individuals with different needs within a particular crisis situation. Edelman cited one case where an adult daughter of an elderly Fairfield County couple lived in California. A visit home to the East Coast confirmed that her mother was severely depressed. The daughter sensed that being the lone caregiver for her father, who has Parkinson’s disease, was too much for her mother so she contacted Waveny’s care management team for help.

“We worked with both of them,” said Edelman. “We got the mother involved in psychological programs that were very helpful to her, and we located a 24-hour live-in caregiver to help care for her husband. While the mother received counseling and the help she needed, her husband was also cared for at home. Everything worked out really well for both parents and the daughter.”

A trained mediator, Edelman feels that professional mediation can be an important method of exploring family conflict. “I sometimes work with families that have a number of siblings involved, and each one may have a different approach to the parent’s care,” said Edelman. “We arrange a conference and discuss short- and long-term planning so the adult children can feel comfortable with the decisions made and the entire planning process.”

Sometimes, families may request Waveny’s care management team to assess a loved one’s home environment to determine what types of interior modifications may benefit the individual’s quality of life. “The family or I would then continue to monitor the situation,” said Edelman. “In some instances I also coordinate the individual’s medical care and make sure that his or her doctors are informed of all medications being taken as ordered by other physicians.”

“Family members approach us to help them determine which specific types of care and services are appropriate for their loved one, and also to assist them in locating qualified caregivers,” said Edelman. “Waveny’s Geriatric Care Management team often turns out to be a convenient solution for adult children who live out of state and need someone to supervise their elderly parent’s care. In these cases, we sometimes find ourselves assuming the roles of surrogate family members.”

Seniors who have no family may also find peace of mind by placing their care in the hands of Mrs. Edelman and her team. For those who live independently, a care manager can provide reassurance by offering guidance with health care decisions or by acting as an advocate if the individual requires hospitalization or medical assistance.

Attorneys who are conservators for the elderly often enlist the help of Waveny’s care managers in arranging comprehensive care plans for their clients. “The attorney focuses on the individual’s financial affairs while our team coordinates their healthcare needs,” said Edelman.

Waveny’s care managers work with the protective service branch of the State Department of Social Services in situations where abuse or neglect have been uncovered. They perform assessments, formulate care plans and make recommendations. They may also be called upon to appear in court to report their findings or serve as expert witnesses.

The team is also equipped to aid seniors who may be relocating or embarking upon a big move. “Our team can manage all of the details for an elderly person who is leaving the area to move closer to a family member,” said Edelman. “We can coordinate travel arrangements, locate a qualified caregiver to accompany the person en route, and even find professionals to help close the person’s home, right down to arranging for a tag sale. For someone who has lived in his or her home for 40 or 50 years, this is a very useful service.”         

“Like all of Waveny’s programs and services, our geriatric care management program is not just for New Canaan residents,” said Edelman. “We work with families from all over lower Fairfield County – from Greenwich to Fairfield to Ridgefield —as well as from neighboring towns in Westchester County.”

Waveny Care Network provides a comprehensive continuum of healthcare to serve the growing needs of older adults from all areas. Waveny is a not-for-profit organization that offers independent living at New Canaan Inn, assisted living for people with Alzheimer’s and memory loss at The Village, and skilled nursing at Waveny Care Center. It also includes the Brown Geriatric Evaluation Clinic, a Geriatric Care Management team that provides 24-hour coverage, an Adult Day Program available six days a week with flexible hours, inpatient and outpatient Rehabilitation Services, and respite and hospice care programs at The Village and Care Center. For more information call (203) 594-5200 or visit www.waveny.org.