Hospital Discharge Help for the Aging Family

I am writing this blog in Florida where I spoke to the Florida Geriatric Care Managers Association. Compared to the sort of chilly Santa Cruz winter, West Palm Beach is toasty. The folks at this conference have been great and lots of fun to be with

Just a note on something I have forgotten to mention in this blog about advocacy for aging families. My talk here was about the aging family in the hospital. When your loved one is hospitalized- families can be largely ignored.

Yet when the older person is discharged, families are asked to render high tech medical care- pumps, injections, Hoyer lifts. Families are floored by this demand and are flat out unprepared to deliver it. Who knew you would be expected to be a nurse.

There is a great product out now to help aging families prepare for discharge from the hospital. Rarely supported by today’s overwhelmed health care system, family caregivers have little guidance in caring for aging family members when they get home.

Discharge planners have way too many clients to give individual attention and older people come home sicker and quicker in today’s’ broken health care environment.

The product I would suggest for families and professionals is a Hospital Discharge Organizer, published by Sage Eldercare.
The organizer contains


* Checklists to communicate effectively with doctors and medical specialists to understand the older adult’s current status and plan of care;
* An assessment to identify and prioritize the older adult’s caregiving needs and interests that determine quality of care and quality of life;
* A step-by-step process to evaluate the cost and quality of in-home care, including family or hired caregivers, or residential care;
* A framework to estimate financial implications on current income and assets of current care options and long-term care;
* Written templates to bring together specific steps and actions for discharge process and establishing post-hospital caregiving;
* Guidance on how and when a professional care manager may be a valuable resource;
* Steps to identify whether your care plan is working – and if not, what to do and changes to make



The web site is http://sageeldercare.com/resources.html. It’s a great tool for aging families.