I’m often asked, “What’s the difference between a geriatric care manager and a family transition coach?” In a nutshell, the geriatric care manager deals with a situation once it is happening, and tends to focus on the physical and clinical care for the care recipient. On the other hand, a family transition coach is involved...Read More

Are you a baby boomer? If you answered “yes” then you are probably staring a life transition in the face. Is that face scary or serene? To some degree, that’s up to you. Life transitions, such as getting married, having a child, changing jobs, dealing with health issues, getting divorced, taking care of aging parents,...Read More

Caregivers often struggle with how much to talk with their loved ones about the end of life. In a way, it seems easier to do so when it is abstract, long before it seems like an impending reality. As it turns out, doctors struggle with this too, but recent evidence suggests that quality of life...Read More

There is a terrific article in the May 25, 2009 issue of Forbes, “How To Set Up A Multi-Generational Household.” The author, Ashlea Ebeling, writes, “One of the side effects of the economic contraction is that Americans are about to rediscover the virtues of three-generation households. This is how families used to take care of...Read More

I thought I’d take a moment to bring an important caregiver support tool to your attention. I learned more about it in an interesting article from the WSJ Sunday page in today’s Naples Daily News. The author, Jane Zhang, talks about the federal government’s efforts to improve the quality of nursing-home care and their recent...Read More

If you are the adult child of aging parents you have probably asked yourself how you would know if they need more help. If you live many miles away from your parents and don’t see them very often you either worry about this every day, or will be in the thick of it one day...Read More

Caregiving is all about control. As the caregiver, you want to control everything so that “nothing bad” happens. The person being cared for wants to remain in control so that they continue to feel like a complete person. If you can remember that control is at the core of every action and every reaction, it...Read More

One of the hardest parts of long-distance caregiving is keeping all of the balls in the air. The more organized you are, the less stressed you are. Checklists and calendars are a great help, and there are many wonderful tools available to facilitate communication between you and the person you are caring for, as well...Read More