Elder Care San Diego

My own experience-not good

Last week I had to have a dental implant. I have been going to the same oral surgeon for years and had several procedures which led up to this major one. Since this was after all surgery I had my daughter Nora drive me and I went pretty much empty handed. When I go there I discovered that of course I needed my credit card to pay for the $3300 plus surgery ( no insurance doesn't cover it). However I was stunned with the office worker said, to me, no credit card no surgery. So I asked Nora to return home for my pruse and credit card, thinking that cleared up any problem. Well no it didn't. You can not have the surgery until you have paid for it." After all this is a business. Come again? I thought it was a doctors office. We will not operate on you you until your daughter returns with the credit card. Excuse me you are holding my surgery up? I asked to speak to the office manager. Another office worker came out and told me she had spoken to the office manager and yes indeed this is the office policy, Not only that but how could I possibly come for surgery not prepared to pay for it? ( I don't know maybe I was thinking of the titanium screw going into my jaw and being laid up all weekend on Vicodin?)
Again I asked to speak to the office manager and they called her on the phone after conferring with each other: what should we do? (Should we let this irresponsible person talk to our manager?) I think the crowning insult was when I asked to speak to the doctor and they said, "He has nothing to do with it". Well the manager gave her permission for me to go forward with my surgery, my daughter brought the credit card and all ended well. One last note: I over heard them scedhuling a patient for surgery telling the person about no eating before hand, get there 15 minutes ahead of schedule etc, but no mention to bring payment in full.

Hiring professional caregivers

Hiring professional caregivers can be an overwhelming task for adult children of aging parents. Most of the time you only have a list of companies given by the hospital discharge planner. Not only that but you need the caregivers yesterday! Your parent wants to go home and usually her doctor wants her to go to a nursing home. Mom will say anything to get out of the hospital, including agreeing to caregivers. You start calling names on the list and whoever costs the least and gets out there the quickest wins the job. It may not matter anyway because mom's plan is to fire the caregivers after a day or so anyway. So you have done all that work, gone through all that stress for basically nothing. And the icing on the cake is mom still needs help so she doesn't repeat the trip to the hospital. Guess who is left holding the caregiving bag? That's right, you.

If this sounds familiar write me and tell me your caregiving stories.

Helping a Senior Move

This week I helped a 79 year old client move. As a geriatric care manager I know that what can seem straight forward and easy to accomplish for a younger person is incredibly difficult for the elderly. In this case I supervised Mrs. M in finding a senior community to move to and hired the movers and packers. The movers are Help U Move and have a fine reputation for working with seniors. Their office number is 760 721 4357.
Mrs. M recently lost her driver's license due to a dementia diagnosis. Any move can be stressful but when you have a mild to moderate case of dementia the stress and forgetfulness combine to cause a huge amount of confusion, so I became, as she likes to say, "her memory". I also became her driver and we shuttled about town doing the things that need to be done for a move. One important thing is I made sure she got some breakfast and lunch the day we packed. I also supervised her taking her medicine so that would not get lost in the shuffle. She is now safely in a senior community where she already knows many of the residents. The senior center is across the street and the library is up the road. I will continue to visit with her regularly as I have done for the past two years.