Aging with the Experts
Aging with the Experts Podcast is created by the Aging Life Care Association®.
Each episode features expert advice, professional insights, and personal stories designed to help families navigate the challenges of aging with confidence. Whether you’re a caregiver, an aging adult, or an industry professional, you’ll find trusted support and practical solutions here.
For more information about the Aging Life Care Association, please visit aginglifecare.org
Aging with the Experts
Myths vs. Facts in Aging Life Care
In this episode of Aging with the Experts, Lisa Kaufman, MS, CTRS, CMC, C-EOLD, sits down with Kate Granigan, LCSW, Aging Life Care Professional® and past President of the Aging Life Care Association®, to bust the most common myths about aging and caregiving.
You’ll learn:
- The real facts behind the top misconceptions in aging and elder care
- When families should reach out for support
- How to find a trusted expert in your area
- What Aging Life Care™ and care management truly mean
Whether you’re caring for a parent, planning ahead, or supporting clients in the aging space, this episode offers an insightful look at the facts behind common misconceptions, providing guidance for anyone navigating care decisions
For more resources, visit AgingLifeCare.org your go-to source for trusted guidance and expert support in aging life care.
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Welcome to Aging with the Experts, a podcast brought to you by the Aging Life Care Association. Here to connect you with trusted voices and practical advice with real conversations and real solutions to help you navigate the complexities of aging. Whether you're facing the challenges yourself or supporting a loved one, you'll find guidance here.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the Aging with the Experts podcast. Today we're busting some common myths and setting the record straight about aging life care. I am Lisa Kaufman, a certified therapeutic recreation specialist, a certified aging life care manager, fellow of the Leadership Academy, and I'm also a certified end-of-life doula. Joining me today is Kate Granigan, a licensed clinical social worker, certified aging life care professional, fellow of the Leadership Academy, and past president of the Aging Life Care Association. Welcome, Kate. Thank you, Lisa. Happy to be here. I'm happy to be here too. I'm glad we're here together. So we're going to talk about some common misconceptions and some myths that people have about aging and assistance that's available to them. But I think before we get started into that, could you give us a quick reminder of what aging life care actually is and what is an aging life care manager? I'm happy to.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks, Lisa. I think it's a good way to think of an aging life care manager is thinking of a professional quarterback, someone who is there to help you navigate aging and caregiving challenges. We basically look at the holistic assessment and strengths of an individual, and we try to get a whole picture, both medical, emotional, and then financial, social, and safety concerns. And then we try to help create a care plan that supports all of those needs and desires and goals and help someone be as well as possible on the aging journey with autonomy and dignity and choice.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. And when do you think that families should be seeking out or returning to an aging life care manager? What are some calls to action?
SPEAKER_02:Sure. I think often we see families looking for assistance or should consider looking for an aging life care manager's assistance when a loved one is facing a new diagnosis, such as dementia, Parkinson's, when you're unsure whether it's safe for someone to be continuing to live at home or alternative options should be evaluated and considered. I think long-distance family members need uh that need local oversight and support for a person in a different area can be a great time to talk with and consider using an aging life care manager. I think also when people are overwhelmed trying to coordinate multiple providers and services, and we know so much that the systems are very often very siloed and complicated. So having someone that's an expert in that area, help navigate those things can be a true gift. Hospital discharge, when that's approaching and someone needs to discuss and determine next steps, um, that's a great time to bring in our expertise. And also for people who just want peace of mind, that they've done all they can and considered all the options as they look for care and support and needs for their eating loved ones.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for that, Kate. Those are some really great resources that that aging life care professionals can bring to the table. Um, let's talk about some of these myths and misconceptions about aging care. Um, myth one aging care always means moving into a nursing home. Sure. Well, that sure is a myth.
SPEAKER_02:And I think, Lisa, I'm sure you see this in your practice in your world, and I do as well. I think people often think of uh nursing homes as a very different concept of the days when maybe they went to see a loved one or a grandparent or an uh, you know, an aging aunt or uncle in a nursing facility. And it's not like that today. There are a lot more options, and we are certainly looking to do what is best and to meet the goals and needs of our clients, which are very unique. And so a nursing home or what we might consider a skilled nursing community or facility is really only one option in the in sort of in the continuum of care. And so I think really understanding uh individual clients, what their needs are, as we mentioned earlier, sort of understanding all the aspects of their aging journey, including their healthcare, their finances, their social community and commitment to you know staying there or being in a different location, maybe to be nearer to adult children. Um we want to look at, you know, what are their goals as they age, what's important to them, um, and then help them narrow the field of options that fit all of those aspects, right? And not necessarily and none of that maybe uh uh ever entering into a what someone might consider a nursing home. So I think that is a big myth, and I am so glad you brought that up. I think it's an important fact for people to understand.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Well, let's talk about myth number two. Um, aging life care managers are only for the wealthy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that is such an interesting concept. And I will say I've been in this field for I'm getting close to 30 years. And, you know, I think it's like many things. The evolution of aging has really presented us with lots and lots of options. And they are, you know, they're different in different financial um when you're in different financial circumstances. But I would suggest that working with an aging life care manager is almost more important when an unlimited access to wealth is available. I think, you know, aging can be very expensive and your choices are critical and important. And so having an aging life care manager that can spend time with you, you know, really hearing and learning about what your circumstances or your loved ones' circumstances are, and then guiding you through what might be covered by insurances, what might be covered or available through entitlements like veterans benefits, what is not covered by insurance, what private pay uh is required and what the costs look like. So uh when you're when you're navigating aging and you have what we know people living longer than ever, uh, money they'd saved, and pensions and social security may be putting them in an uh in a path that may be limited at some point. And so I think the cost of using an expert that can guide them with you know real information that is objective because we are not benefiting in any way from providing this information other than guiding our clients, um, I think that can be invaluable. And so really, I think we work with people and I think most of my colleagues on all, you know, all ends of the spectrum as they're with their finances. So I think knowing uh knowing what you need to consider and what you need to plan for, how it will be covered, um, you know, does not have to be a long-term commitment with an aging life care manager. It could literally consist of uh a number of hours to get a guidebook that will help you on that journey. And it can save you a lot of money from making mistakes that can be very costly in the future.
SPEAKER_01:Agreed. I I don't I totally agree with that. I don't think I have much that I would even add to that. Um one thing that I do think is important is that because of our code of ethics, we want to help our clients to be the most cost effective with the options and to find the best providers at the best rate because we know what the cost should be.
SPEAKER_02:Correct.
SPEAKER_01:Sometimes there are very affluent people who just throw money at stuff because they can, but it doesn't mean that they have to. Yeah. So that's that's I think important.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I love that you're pointing that out. That, you know, we are working with people with all kinds of options, um, you know, including, you know, their financial means. But it's our our mandate is still the same, finding the best possible solution at the best possible cost, you know, that's going to meet their unique and individual needs. And that we do no matter if you have endless resources or not, right?
SPEAKER_01:That's right. That's right. Well, let's go on to myth number three. Um, you only need help when there's a crisis.
SPEAKER_02:Boy, I wish we this is a myth that I wish we could sort of shout from the rooftops. Aging life care managers are well equipped and certainly able to help in a crisis. We're we're we I like to think of us as calm in the chaos. And, you know, there's a lot of things and a lot of moving parts when we're working with older adults in crisis, and that is for certain. But I think the reality is, and what we all know, and it's like many things in our lives, the more we have an understanding and have a plan, uh, even if it's not perfectly, you know, going to be followed, um, if we have an idea and some guidelines in any circumstances, we certainly are going to be better when the crisis hits. Having the knowledge and the understanding and the connection with an aging life care manager ahead of a crisis uh allows us to get to know our clients when they're well and help them uh share with us all of their deep, uh, unique experiences, interests, and values, and then helps us to help them uh navigate that when they can articulate it for themselves or more importantly, when they can't. And so I think being involved at an earlier age and earlier uh circumstances uh pre-crisis is absolutely a better option. Um, but as I said, we of course are good at navigating all phases of that. And even when people come to us in crisis the first time, uh having a relationship beyond that, getting things stable, and then knowing how to proactively avoid crisis in the future is also a significant value that an aging life care manager can bring to a family and an older adult.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. And having experience and a level head calm in that situation, as you kind of mentioned before. So thank you for that. Yeah. How about myth number four? Families can just figure things out on their own.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I think that is um such an interesting one. Families, it's certainly true that we have very, very, you know, brilliant family members with all kinds of, you know, experience in navigating, running businesses and, you know, doing doing literally doing brain surgery and rocket science, right? But the reality is that those skills don't often transfer into the aging space. And so while they may have the intellect to navigate that and come to answers eventually, I think we have a butt of an upper hand for a number of reasons to help families really get to answers and information quickly. You know, we're not committed, we're not uh we're not in the emotional state that a family member is when things are happening with their loved one. We don't have the past history, we don't have the family dynamics, yeah. And so we are able to sit in an objective professional position of expertise that can help identify the pros and cons of choices, we can help uh identify um risks uh versus benefits of choices, but we are not in, we're not in the mix. And so we can sit with uh ambivalence and resistance to those decisions, and we can still help uh be a partner. And so while I think we can give families some coaching and information that they then can take out on their own and do successfully, uh use successfully, I think having an aging life care manager at least guide the initial process of, you know, navigating some of the information, managing expectations, what is and isn't realistic in the industry and in these some of these settings, and then help them prepare as an educated consumer. I think those are the tools we can give someone in the least to then navigate the um the aging sort of journey.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I do think having an aging life care manager, um, I say on speed dial, you know, can often be really reassuring because once you know what it is that's you know out there, you also begin to see that it's not always a smooth uh, you know, road. And so even if we may take a big step back after that initial engagement, being able to be available, already familiar, and jump in when needed is also something that families tell us is really invaluable.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree with you. I think a couple of other points, if I may. Um, it's really hard to care manage your own uh family, um, even for us as professionals, um speak from experience. And the emotional toll makes it so much harder to make those objective decisions. Uh, it can be really challenging. And uh, you know, it's nice to have uh somebody else with the heavy lift of medical management so that your clients can really stay in their original role of family member. They don't have to take on being the medical manager, they can be the daughter, they can be the spouse. And the client, the patient, the senior, doesn't always want to be medically directed by their family member. So that's a that's a tough spot for families to navigate.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's such a great point. And just to really put a point on that, I think even just not even just the medical, but a lot of families don't share things about their financial, you know, situations. They don't share things about, you know, their goals and wishes because they're worried about burdening or worrying family members. They, you know, they're not necessarily as comfortable having intimate conversations and end-of-life discussions and all of those things initially with family, because they're, you know, again, a lot of times it's it may be a privacy issue, um, but it also may be a burden issue. They don't want to put that on family, where we, as you well noted, we're not in that circumstance. So we can be a different uh support and then help translate that to family in a way that is, you know, with permission and you know, the, you know, the allocation of appropriate information to different parties, we can help do that in a way that's different. Um, and also, yes, I think every one of us in this industry, if we're lucky enough to have, you know, aging one loved ones live long enough, um, have hired our own care managers or aging life care managers for our family. I certainly have. I can be the first to say um being a daughter, no matter what your expertise is, um, is is you know a unique role. And overlapping that with uh, you know, doing all of these other things can can certainly be burdensome, challenging, overwhelming. Or, you know, it really takes away from our ability to just enjoy our, you know, our mom or dad or loved one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. Um, I'm gonna throw in this sort of optional myth number five just because you like it. My doctor or social worker will handle all of this.
SPEAKER_02:Oh boy. You know, I think it's so hard because there's a lot of people out there serving older adults that want to be useful and resourceful. And so there might be the, you know, the discharge planner at the the, you know, um rehab facility, or it might be the the case manager at the hospital, or the doctor, or the, you know, the social worker or nurse case manager that is hired in the doctor's office. And what the reality is they may have some ability to interface around some of these issues. But what we know and what's unique about aging life care managers is those folks typically have a role and an obligation to a certain, you know, entity, whether it's the insurance company or the hospital or the you know, other you know, hiring or providing resource where aging life care managers are working for their clients and only their clients. And that means we get to work with them across all these areas. We can go with them to the doctor's office and we can work in collaboration with those folks, but then we can also go to your you know legal counsel or financial planner and help you navigate that and provide information that's critical to decision making. You know, we can follow you from home to a move to a community, a different uh, you know, assisted living community. Um, we get to interface with our clients through throughout and in the continuum of their care.
SPEAKER_01:That's huge. It is huge. So that's in a very important piece and being healthcare being as it is these days, siloed, as you said earlier, it is really tremendously valuable to have the ability to have some continuity.
SPEAKER_02:I agree. I agree. And we obviously, as age and life care managers, do not duplicate services. So if there is a role that someone is playing that is meeting a need, we are not intending to take that over or interfere, but rather collaborate and then allow for continuation beyond their setting. Exactly. Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for that, Kate. So we've talked about some of these myths just now. And if someone is listening today and they need to find help for themselves or for their loved ones, where should they start? Sure.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I would say the the best place to start is on the Aging Life Care Association website. Um, I think there you can log in, you can learn a lot more about aging life care managers. Um, and then you can also use a very handy tool, which is uh at the top of the page, which is a find an expert tool. And you can use that to put in your zip code or area, you can do a more advanced search, um, you can expand the area, and you can find people in your area that are doing this work. And, you know, it will give you contact information, website, location. You can, you know, contact them or a number of people to see who feels like a right bit, and you ultimately will get a sense for you know who is out there that can help you on this journey. Um, and I just to give you the website, it's www.aginglifcare.org.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. Well, how about we sort of summarize what we've talked about? We've had a lot of different myths. We've talked about the challenges for families to do this on their own, um, how complicated the family dynamics can be. Any other closing thoughts that you might have, Kate? Sure.
SPEAKER_02:I guess overarchingly, really, to just don't be afraid to ask for help and explore what options are out there. You don't have to do this alone. Um, many, many, many people are are also embarking on this journey. And it can be wonderful and rewarding, but it also can be exhausting and challenging. And so, you know, I would encourage people, whether it's again for themselves, and they may be a solo uh ager that's you know, not not having immediate family or accessible um family or community, having an aging life care manager as your partner is wonderful. You know, exploring that option, exploring how we might support you in your journey. There's no harm in asking and connecting. And even if it's not for right now, it's an amazing resource to have in your back pocket if you should see the need. And so start the conversation today. Learn from, you know, the reality of you know, free planning is better. You know, proactive aging rather than reactive aging is always an option. And we can certainly help with that guideline.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Thank you so much, Kate. Kate Grant again, past president of the Aging Life Care Association. I want to encourage our listeners to learn more. Stay tuned. This is episode two of our podcast. There will be more coming. If this was helpful to you or made you think of a loved one or friend who might enjoy or learn from this, please share our podcast. And we thank you for joining us on today's episode of Aging with the Experts podcast. To learn more and find an expert near you, again, please visit AgingLifecare.org. And until next time, take care.