What is a Geriatric Care Manager?

A professional Geriatric Care Manager specializes in helping older adults.  As a health and human services specialist, a geriatric care manager assists families in caring for older relatives, while encouraging as much independence as possible and allowing older adults to remain safe and independent in their own homes.

Geriatric care managers can be social workers, counselors, gerontologists or nurses. While they assist primarily older adults, they can also work with individuals who have chronic conditions.

How can Geriatric Care Managers assist family caregivers?

Geriatric Care Managers:

• Conduct elder care-planning assessments to identify problems and to provide solutions; screen, arrange, and monitor in-home care or other services
• Provide short- or long-term assistance for caregivers living near or far away
• Review financial, legal, or medical issues and offer referrals to geriatric specialists
• Provide crisis intervention
• Act as a liaison to families involved in long-distance caregiving, overseeing care and quickly alerting families to problems
• Assist with moving an elder person to or from a retirement complex, assisted care home or nursing home
• Provide consumer education and advocacy
• Offer counseling and support
• Provide family or individual therapy, finance management, conservatorship or guardianship assistance, and/or caregiving services

Where can you learn more about geriatric care management?

Visit www.caremanager.org, and click on “Find a Care Manager”. You will find many resources to help you learn more about geriatric care management including:

• What can a professional geriatric care manager do for me?
• How do I find a care manager?
• Questions to ask when looking for a care manager.