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Creation of a Long-Term Plan for an Aging Senior

 

Senior Care of Sacramento CEO Therese Johnson being interviewed by Jim Chong on Money 105.5 FM’s Senior Moments show. Therese explains how the creation of a professional geriatric care management plan pays for itself, resulting in a better quality of life for your loved one. A professional assessment will significantly reduce medication hazards, safety hazards in the home, and eating problems. Financial benefits include obtaining the correct medical and prescription insurance, VA benefits, and Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Care Directive planning. Peace of mind benefits come from having a professional advocate who can be your eyes & ears for an out-of-town family member, especially in a crisis.

 

 

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Jim Chong: We have a very special person of course — Therese Johnson of Senior Care of Sacramento. Therese how are you?

Therese Johnson: Hey Jim! Good, and I enjoyed my music song. Did I give you the song too? That was awesome.

Jim Chong: Yeah, it’s really pretty incredible. And, I know today, as we go ahead and think about the using of hip-hop the rap, and we have people that we know that are getting older. And I’m very excited about what you’re gonna be talking about. You know, just the benefits of working with your loved one, especially if they’re older, and the importance of having the right direction through geriatric caring advise. I know you’re gonna to be talking about that, and if you can go ahead and just give us more specifics and what you want us to know about having somebody that really understands how to guide us in helping people that are seniors. Therese?

Therese Johnson: Yeah, I just wanted to give some of the benefits and talk about how geriatric care management pays for itself. So some of the things are — we offer a better quality of life for your loved one because if your loved one’s life is better then your life is gonna be better too. You sleep better knowing that your parents are cared for properly. Having someone to consult with, to know that you’re making the right decisions. It is usually really helpful in making you feel more confident about your decisions for your loved one. We help. We can help reduce risk by eliminating medication hazards. We can uncover hidden problems and safety hazards in the home, eating issues, medications. We can uncover unused benefits to help with the finances for financing cares such as medical and supplement prescription insurances, veteran’s administration benefit. So we also can be your eyes and ears for out of town family members. We advocate for them, so we can keep your family apprised of the situation if you’re not living in the same area as your parent. We can save money. We’re able to reduce unnecessary services, like if there’s overlapping, caregiver shifts or doctors exams. For example, we’re neutrals, so, sometimes the family members need a non-bias voice. We can provide that for the family. So we let you be children and let you focus on your work. And, that way, we can handle crisis’s and solve problems so you can be the loving sons and daughters that you are, and, maybe, even take a vacation or have a day off. So, let the job get done right the first time. And it’s better to put your money toward people who are expert in care management. That’s what we do.

Jim Chong: When is a good time to get involved and find out this information with a geriatric case manager? A care manager, when is good time to connect with them?

Therese Johnson: Well, like you said, and when we’re talking about last week, planning is crucial, so, anytime is good time when you’re putting together your financial care plan. And, especially when you’re doing your power of attorney or that kind of thing, and your advanced healthcare directive, that’s when you wanna be looking at it. Or, if your family member is diagnosed with a chronic illness, that’s also a good time. Anytime that things change in the environment or the situation, or the finances, you wanna reevaluate and update, we create long-term care plans for people, their budget, their environment, their location, and their health condition. So, pretty much, and especially for the time you’re gonna retire or before that, just before that, maybe I would say that would be an ideal time to create a long-term care plan with your budget and finances especially.

Jim Chong: And what would happen, like a lot of people were running through life, like some people forget even the basics of paying themselves first, or, even saving or investing the money. They spend it and then later they find out “Wow, I really don’t have enough money to live on,” what is the cost to you if you don’t get that information ahead of time?

Therese Johnson: Well, it’s like you said, the better you plan, the more choices you have, The less you plan, the less choices you have. And, if you have no money, then the choices are made for you. So, it’s the same with healthcare, and when you need caregiving services, it’s gonna boil down to that all mighty dollar, unfortunately, and your choices.

Jim Chong: When you work with people — just a last question — I know you’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of people and families. So, when they visit with you, when they talk with you, what do they leave with, you know, what experience or feeling do they leave with when they get the information they need?

Therese Johnson: They leave with knowing that they’ve looked it all their options, all their choices, what resources, are available to them, and which ones they’re eligible for. And they leave feeling confident, that they know how to make a plan. Either they know what the future holds for them, what they have to do different, way to make it better, or, what is available to them, in the moment, in that current time frame, in what they can do. So they leave feeling confident they can make it an informed decision.

Jim Chong: Great. I think you said the key word — ad informed decision. And its better definitely to plan before a situation happens. Because you’re kind of reacting rather than really responding. So thank you so much Therese – just for being with us today. And I know tomorrow you’re gonna be speaking a little bit in our section on finance and romance. And I think that’s gonna be very exciting as well. Therese, just with what you do for the community at hand, and, you know, I know tomorrow we’re gonna be featuring you on a section dealing with that, because money drives everything. And, if you don’t have the right things in place, that could be something that definitely gets involved and really affects your personal life as well. But we’re gonna have a lot of fun tomorrow and we look forward to having you back. And this is Therese Johnson with Senior Care of Sacramento. You can go ahead and find her, again, at SeniorCareOfSacramento.com.

 

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