Eldercare Illuminated

Join this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to hear how one working caregiver helped her father move from his home of 50+ years into a facility. Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader spends time with a friend and colleague who is juggling parenting, career, and eldercare as a thoroughly modern caregiver. Alison Fox — working mother and working daughter — is the primary caregiver for her 92-year-old father. She generously shares what she’s learned in the course of helping her father move from the home he shared with his wife for decades. Next up for Alison: Helping Dad retire from driving. We’ll learn how the family plans to make this happen with respect and dignity, and we’ll check in with Alison in a few months to learn how things went.

About Our Guest

Alison Fox heads Service Operations and Support in her job at Torchlight. It could also be argued that she heads Service Operations and Support as the main caregiver for her family’s aging father. With a great sense of humor and top-notch project management skills, Alison puts her years of experience coordinating client services to excellent use in managing the daily needs of an active nonagenarian.

In this episode, Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader, Lenore Tracey, discusses aging in place with Louis Tenenbaum. A 2014 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, Housing America’s Older Adults - Meeting the Needs of an Aging Population, reported that “the existing housing stock is unprepared to meet the escalating need for affordability, accessibility, social connectivity, and supportive services.”

As one of the nation’s leaders in shaping a vision to make aging in place possible, Louis shares new ideas and initiatives aimed at making home modifications more affordable and easier to accomplish.

This episode explores emerging and proposed solutions as well as some low-cost ways to start to improve a home for its older residents.

About Our Guest:

Louis Tenenbaum was one of the first contractors to focus his remodeling business on aging in place. More than 80% of adults say they want to stay in their own homes as they grow old, but their homes are not prepared for their new needs. He wondered why so few people were making home modifications, since it’s such a good idea. That led to the creation of Louis’s visionary white paper, Aging in Place 2.0: Rethinking Solutions to the Home Care Challenge, published by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

A leading authority on Aging in Place, Louis’s work straddles the building, aging, and policy worlds. In 2016 Louis was named a Next Avenue “Influencer in Aging” and won a HIVE (Housing, Innovation, Vision and Economics) award from the building industry.

He founded HomesRenewed™ recognizing that spreading the word, and working with stakeholders to create subsidies and incentives would be critical to market development.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey and elder law attorney Cathy Sikorski shed light on an enduring misunderstanding about Medicare coverage for skilled services.

For years, Medicare recipients have been denied coverage for services, such as skilled nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, based on the notion that they have plateaued or there is a lack of restoration potential. For example, patients were told (and are still being told) that Medicare would no longer pay for physical therapy because there was no potential for improvement in their condition. Perpetuated for years, this notion has resulted in patients not getting needed services to which they are entitled and from which they can benefit.

Cathy shares the facts and the strategies you need to dispel this myth and advocate effectively for your loved one. Listen and learn.

Then check out additional information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (and print materials to bring with you) so you have all the information in hand if you need to get your loved one’s providers up to speed.

1. Updated Publication from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), because federal court found that 'virtually no effort' was made to promote the Jimmo vs. Sebelius settlement.
https://www.cms.gov/Center/Special-Topic/Jimmo-Center.html

2. Frequently Asked Questions associated with the above publication:
https://www.cms.gov/Center/Special-Topic/Jimmo-Settlement/FAQs.html

Caregivers, you make such a difference in your loved one’s lives!

About Our Guest:

Cathy Sikorski has been a caregiver for the last 25 years for seven different family members and friends. A published author and humorist, Sikorski is also a practicing elder law attorney. Her legal expertise and sense of humor have made her a sought-after speaker where she tackles the legal issues that affect those who will one day be or need a caregiver (which is everyone).

Cathy’s first book is a humorous memoir Showering with Nana: Confessions of a Serial (killer) Caregiver. That was followed by Who Moved My Teeth? - a humorous and informative book with practical and legal tips for caregivers and baby boomers. Cathy maintains an active blog “You just have to Laugh…where Caregiving is Comedy…”.

When Deb Hallisey became her mother’s primary caregiver, her pace as a busy working daughter changed her relationship with her mom — and not for the better. Since then, Deb has slowed down and become a different type of caregiver. The benefit of doing so has accrued to both mother and daughter, and opened the door to better communication and a different perspective. The result — less frustration, more joy.

Tune in to this episode of Eldercare Illuminated to learn about the small, easy-to-implement changes that can transform your caregiving relationship with your loved one. Then, share them with the other caregivers in his or her life.

Fast food or a lovingly prepared home-cooked meal? You decide.

About Our Guest:

Deb Hallisey has over 25 years’ experience as a consultant building and enhancing corporate training programs with Ernst & Young and Huron Consulting group along with smaller boutique firms. In 2015 she became responsible for her mother after her father’s death.
Today, she offers caregivers advice and support on her website Advocate for Mom and Dad. The mission of Advocate for Mom and Dad is to build a community that helps families determine their best answers to the questions of “what do I do?” and “where do I start?”

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with elder law attorney and humorist Cathy Sikorski.

Cathy has been advocating for her clients as well as her own family and friends for many years. Today she is sharing expert strategies and tips to help you get what you need for your loved one. Whether it’s dealing with Medicare, other health insurance, your loved one’s assisted living or nursing home, or other providers of care and services, knowing how to get stuff done on your loved one’s behalf is an invaluable skill.

Listen and learn from a pro: who to call, how to get involved, when to push, and when to back off.

About Our Guest:

Cathy Sikorski has been a caregiver for the last 25 years for seven different family members and friends. A published author and humorist, Sikorski is also a practicing elder law attorney. Her legal expertise and sense of humor have made her a sought-after speaker where she tackles the legal issues that affect those who will one day be or need a caregiver (which is everyone).

Cathy’s first book is a humorous memoir "Showering with Nana: Confessions of a Serial (killer) Caregiver." That was followed by "Who Moved My Teeth?" - a humorous and informative book with practical and legal tips for caregivers and baby boomers. Cathy maintains an active blog “You just have to Laugh…where Caregiving is Comedy…”.

Welcome to Season 2 of Eldercare Illuminated, brought to you by Torchlight. Tune in for helpful tips, practical advice, and strategies for caregivers at all stages of helping an aging loved one. Listen to find out what's ahead in the coming months.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey talks about what to do when your regularly scheduled aide doesn’t make it in for his or her shift.

It happens to everyone at some point. The caregiver doesn’t show up, and the day’s schedule is out the window. It doesn’t matter if the reason for the snafu is totally understandable - appendicitis, the trains aren’t running, bubonic plague. It still wrecks your day.

With a little preparation, a plan, and a sense of humor, you and your loved one will manage!

About Our Guest (and Host):

Lenore Tracey is Torchlight’s Eldercare Practice Leader. She has been writing about and providing eldercare for more years than she cares to count.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with social worker and geriatric care manager, Betsy Ross, about how best to communicate with a loved one who has dementia. Betsy shares her years of experience working with caregivers and their loved ones with a dementia diagnosis. From dealing with difficult behavior to alleviating the frustration experienced by both parties, Betsy has great suggestions for helping families cope. Small changes in the way you approach a situation can make a big difference.

About Our Guest:

Betsy Ross MA, LICSW, NHA, is a social worker and geriatric care manager practicing in the Boston area. Throughout her career, Betsy has provided her expertise to seniors and organizations whose mission is to serve them. She has worked as a social worker, nursing home administrator, executive director of a hospice, home care agency, and assisted living and adult day program. Today, Betsy focuses on working with elders and their families through her company, Boundless Options. Betsy is also adjunct faculty at the Simmons College School of Social Work.

What’s a Death Café? It’s part of a growing movement designed to help us squeamish Americans stop being so fearful of talking about death. Does your family discuss issues around death and dying? Have you and your loved ones expressed your wishes openly and honestly? Do you understand all of your options? In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, host Lenore Tracey speaks with Heather Massey, cofounder of the Cape Cod Death Café, and Julie Lipkin, one of the Cape Cod Death Café’s regular facilitators. Tune in as Heather and Julie relate their experiences and insights on how to bring death back into life through shared conversations with other people in your community. By bringing this often taboo subject out of the shadows, you and your loved ones can make sure that individual wishes are understood and followed.

About Our Guests:

Heather Massey is the cofounder of the Cape Cod Death Café, a representative of the Funeral
Consumers Alliance of Eastern Massachusetts, a death educator, and a Home Funeral Guide with In Loving Hands: Family Directed and Home Based Funerals.

Julie Lipkin is a journalist and editor with the Cape Cod Times. She also works as a freelance writer and editor and is one of the regular facilitators at the Cape Cod Death Café.

Go to www.deathcafe.com to find a DeathCafé in your area, and start the conversation.

In this episode of Eldercare Illuminated, Torchlight’s VP of Product, Attorney Carolyn Romano chats with Elder Law Attorney, Harry Margolis, about how planning for short- or long-term care needs can protect family assets. In addition to learning what to do today to begin preparing for a loved one's future (or your own), you'll also find out how an Elder Law Attorney can help your family: 1) address the complexities presented by government programs and entitlements, such as Medicare and Medicaid; 2) understand the options seniors and their families have in the evolving regulatory environment; and, 3) how families can still find solutions in a crisis, even if little planning has been done beforehand.

About Our Guest:

Harry S. Margolis has been representing seniors, individuals with special needs and their families since he started ElderLawServices, the predecessor of Margolis & Bloom, in June 1987. His firm has helped thousands of clients pay for long-term care, grapple with the incapacity of a family member, and plan for safe and productive futures for their children and grandchildren. Harry is a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” since 2005 and has been recognized as one of the top 100 attorneys in New England.