ELDER CARE SOUTH FLORIDA

• Complimentary Initial Telephone Consultation – brief discussion of specific Elder Care Consultants South Florida services, family concerns and gathering of essential client information.

• Crisis Intervention for The Elderly - service provided when elders are no longer able to manage independently and families need assistance on a local level immediately, i.e., emergency room/hospitalization/discharge planning, client or family urgent situation needing care manager involvement.

• Geriatric Assessment/Evaluation - an in-home assessment provides insight into the client's medical, functional, cognitive, nutritional, social, environmental and emotional status which leads to an individual plan of care.

•  Geriatric Medical Care Coordination and Oversight - done by an RN elder care manager during hospitalization, rehab and at home. Oversight includes coordination of all medical appointments, follow up procedures, medication changes/compliance and communication between all health care providers and family.

• Medication Management for Senior Citizens – confirmation of appropriate medications with prescribing physicians, pre-pouring of med boxes, ordering of prescription refills, ongoing review of medications and the monitoring of accompanying side effects.

• Coordination of Elder Care Services– general supportive services you would do if you were here. We oversee your outside home care staff, ensuring your family member is receiving quality care. Our monitoring and on-going visits give us insight into how our clients and their caregivers manage on a day to day basis. We're always watching, suggesting, coordinating so that clients feel secure knowing that although their children are far away they still have someone to “talk to.” We always meet with our clients alone to ensure they're happy with current services. We've taught caregivers to cook to accommodate the needs of their clients as well as suggesting what shoes to buy and where to find them.

• Home Care Information and Referral – ECC can refer to established, reliable providers of home care in the local community who can provide hands on assistance on an hourly or live-in basis.

•  Enhanced Geriatric Companion Services - An elder friend can go out for lunch, to the movies, food shop, prepare a meal, straighten up or do laundry. They assist with daily calendar organization, make appointments and coordinate social outings and events. They arrange for airline tickets to go visit the kids, shop for special occasion outfits, or just hang out when you need someone to talk to. Our companions are mature men and women who are educated and enjoy the company of elders. They're local, know what's going on in town and are willing to make a special elder part of their life. Many are available to travel with their clients.

• Elder Support and Advocacy - Direct one on one support to clients to enable them to function as independently as possible, knowing that there is a local caring team who can act as their advocate and guide whenever they need us. We provide general oversight to monitor their well-being at home or in a facility. We're checking that they are eating properly, bathing on a regular basis, dressing appropriately and receiving proper care in their home or assisted living or nursing facility. We're there when they need someone to talk to.

• Geriatric Household Management – includes monitoring home maintenance requirements, mail sorting, bill paying and financial reporting to family, attorney, financial planner and accountant.

•  Residence and Facility Placement for the Elderly – When residence relocation is necessary, ECC provides guidance and direction to family members and elders. We assist in evaluating the options available in the community as well as long distance choices. ECC has relationships with care managers across the country for information and coordination.

• Assisted Living and Nursing Home Monitoring Visits – our monitoring visits ensure that your family member is getting the standard of care that you expected when you made your placement decision. We review medical charts, nutritional needs, medication changes, speak with therapists and dietary, and observe our clients as well as the facility's performance. We check our client's general physical health and look for weight loss and skin breakdown. We will make recommendations for specific services and request referrals from the attending physician. We coordinate out-of-facility physician appointments. We monitor clothing requirements and toiletry needs. With our unannounced visits on a regular basis, we hope to alert staff to the need to keep our clients safe, clean and comfortable at all times.

• Medicare/Medicaid/VA Entitlements - Referral to all government affiliated programs to insure that medical/residential needs are being met with available funding. Florida Medicaid provides for subsidy for assisted living in certain circumstances.

• Review of Legal Documents - to insure that appropriate documents, i.e., Advanced Directives, are in place so that clients and families are prepared legally for decision making.

•  Review of Long Term Care Insurance for Elderly Individuals To insure that policy terms are met and clients are able to benefit to the fullest extent of their coverage for home health and long term care services.

• Elder Professional and Community Referrals– ECC can provide reliable referral choices in the community to Elder Care, Estate Planning and Guardianship attorneys as well as accountants, financial planners, physicians, physical, occupational and speech therapists to insure families and elders are getting the quality services they require. We are experienced with all local resources and can provide referrals to senior centers, home delivered meals, day care centers, Alzheimer's and dementia programs and support groups as well as counseling options in the community. We can offer the local link to meet all of our client's requirements.