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Care Management Well-Being Program Home Care Care management promotes peace of mind through professional, person-centered assessment, coordination of personal care, medical, and social needs. Enhancing life and finding joy through activities that increase engagement, fulfillment, and a sense of connection. Personalized care up to 24 hours a day by experienced and registered home care aides. www.LifespanCare.com – (831) 469-4900 HCO# 444700020 Many families find themselves separat- ed from their aging parents during the pandemic and have growing concerns about the safety and well-being of elder loved ones who are increasingly isolat- ed. This stress can be overwhelming to adult children. Con- sider the following examples. Katherine is working remotely from home and supporting two adolescent children with their online schooling while her spouse works fulltime in a medical setting. She receives four or five calls a day from her mother repeating the same stories and questions. Robert lives in a Midwestern state and panics when he re- ceives a call from his mother reporting that his father has fallen and was transported to the hospital where it was determined that he fractured his ankle. The father will remain hospitalized for several days then need more support than his wife can pro- vide as he recovers. Rose, a senior herself, calls a local agency looking for help for her friend Lenore who is increasingly short of breath, has trouble managing her medications, and is afraid to make a visit to her doctor's office during the pandemic. How do busy fami- lies or elders living alone manage such situations with confidence? Profes- sional Geriatric Care Management may be just the solution. Geriatric care man- agers (GCMs) are typically nurses or social workers with extensive knowledge of aging issues and the costs, quality, and availability of local services. A GCM be- gins with a compre- hensive assessment to determine the needs, abilities, and personal preferences of the elder adult and proposes a plan of care to assist that person to a remain safely and as inde- pendently as possible at home. Based on the care plan, the GCM will arrange and monitor services in the home, re- view medical conditions and coordinate health care, and recommend that financial and legal documents be updated if necessary. A GCM may also provide crisis management, support families at a distance, and assist with hospi- tal to home transitions or moves to other care settings. GCMs are often most appreciat- ed for their abilities to advocate for elders in the health care maze. A GCM is able to effi- ciently mix and match specific services for each person based on the assessment, client pref- erences and financial resources, thus lifting a tremendous load from families. Let's see how care man- agement helped the families mentioned at the beginning of this article. A local GCM was referred to Katherine who arranged for a dementia assessment of her mother which revealed early stages of cognitive decline. The GCM coordinated with the health care team to arrange medications to reduce anxiety and slow the progression of dementia. Kather- ine was counseled to work with an elder law attorney to review and update powers of attorney. Home care services were sched- uled to provide sup- port with daily tasks and safety monitoring. Katherine was referred to the Alzheimer's Association where she was able to find an on-line support group. The GCM will continue to monitor the situa- tion and recommend adjustments as mom's needs change. Robert found a GCM in his parents' commu- nity who was able to contact his mother right away and arrange for an in-home assessment for general safety and the short-term needs of her husband. The GCM coordinated trans- port home of Robert's father making sure that adaptive equipment was in place beforehand. Temporary home care services were arranged to help for a couple of hours each morning and evening, offering practical assistance and respite to Robert's mother while his father recovered. Lenore has no relatives available to support her and welcomed the intro- duction to a GCM who first arranged a tele-med- icine visit with Lenore's primary care physician. She then accompanied Le- nore to an in-person visit. The GCM was able to explain and reinforce rec- ommendations resulting from that visit and offered to set up Lenore's medi- cations in pill caddies to make compliance easier. Lenore agreed to a reg- ular schedule of home visits by the GCM to monitor her condition and help her maintain respiratory and general health. If you are concerned about an aging rela- tive or friend, or even yourself, and want to explore the services of a geriatric care manager anywhere in the coun- try, you can find listing of certified individuals at https://www.agingli- fecare.org/. Families separated from Aging Parents by Lifespan Everything about reverse mortagages By Donald Dimitruk, RFC ® RMA In my 40+ years in the mortgage industry I've spent the last 14 years focused only on Reverse Mortgages. That's all I do! It has been very rewarding to have watched the industry grow and change for the better, year over year, enabling my clients to achieve the financial freedom a Reverse Mortgage can bring. So, let's get started! Question; Who owns the home? You and only you own the home. The lend- er does not. Just like a standard mortgage there is a lien recorded but unlike a standard mortgage, a Reverse Mortgage is called a "non-recourse" loan which means that the house is responsible for repayment of the loan, not you person- ally! Since you are not required to make a monthly payment, you can never be late or fall behind in pay- ments, eliminating financial stress and freeing up monthly income. Your only responsibility is to pay property tax and insurance and keep the home in good repair as your primary resi- dence. Even the taxes and insurance may be paid by the loan if requested and equity allows! Question; My home is worth way more than the loan amount. What about the equity? Since you own the home, you also own all the remaining equity and future growth in value of the prop- erty, year over year. As a typical Reverse Mortgage is less that 50% of the home value and current interest rates are very low, the growth in equity may be far greater than the monthly deferred cost and your equity amount may grow even without making a payment. An amor- tization schedule is provided to demon- strate the potential for capturing future equity growth in every proposal for a loan request. Question; How does it end? There are three basic ways a Reverse Mortgage ends. 1. You decide to move and sell the home, just like a standard mort- gage, and pay off the loan. 2. You vacate the home for more than one year which will trigger a loan stipulation that the home is your primary residence and cause the lender to request termination of the loan program and repayment. And 3.the last remaining person on title passes away. The heirs then notify the loan servicer who has been sending monthly statements and begin the process of repay- ment either by refinanc- ing the loan for payoff or selling the home. The heirs will have an initial 6 months to sell with options to extend that time for two 3-month extensions if needed. Donald Dimitruk is a Registered Financial Consultant ® and a Registered Mortgage Advisor and is avail- able for a FREE con- sultation about how a Reverse Mortgage may benefit you at Countryside Financial Services. Please call 831.464.6464