The Le Catos like to watch the boats at the City Marina from their sunroom.

Joanne Osbon, director of home health services at Care for Life, visits Maurine and John Le Cato once a week to discuss and organize their medications.

Maurine and John Le Cato take in the view of the City Marina from their sunroom. Joanne Osbon discusses one of John Le Cato's medications with him. John and Maurine Le Cato knew there would come a time when they would need help getting through the day. The Le Catos have no children and thought they would have to leave their private home for some other living arrangement when that time came.
But that hasn't happened, John Le Cato says.

While the Le Catos are in their mid-80s and no longer can manage many aspects of their lives, they aren't about to move into an assisted-living facility or nursing home. Like many seniors, they have found a more satisfying solution. It's one that has been around for about 15 years and allows them to remain in their home at the Ashley House and be as independent as possible, for as long as possible.

They have hired a geriatric care management agency.

"Neither one of us ever learned to drive a car," Maurine Le Cato says. "We were dependent on public transportation, but the little bus that used to take us was discontinued by CARTA. Taxis are hopeless. Sometimes they come and sometimes they don't. We needed someone to get us to doctors' appointments and to the grocery store and things like that."

They hired Care For Life, one of three care-management agencies in the Charleston area, for transportation, but found they enjoy some of the agency's other services as well. "When we got started with Care For Life, they wanted to do things to make life easier for us," she says. Maurine Le Cato says that if she doesn't get the dishes or some other chore done, the helper from Care for Life will. She says the helper always knows exactly what to do and how they want it done.

"I don't know what we ever did before," she says.

Geriatric care is an option that experts say is particularly well- suited for seniors whose close relatives live in other states and are not available to monitor them. For them, geriatric care management is a way to maintain their quality of life.

"Any one of five reasons -- nutrition, medication, safety, hygiene and home maintenance -- or unaddressed medical problems, can cause an older person to fail in the home," says Mary Peters, a former hospital administrator and president of Care For Life.

Agency staff members who assist the elderly are trained to look for clues as to how well seniors are continuing to function, Peters says. Changes are noted and discussed with family members and health care providers.

The structure of the agencies varies, but the services they perform are similar. They begin with an assessment of a senior's physical and mental health, social life, home environment, general ability to function and coping techniques.

The agencies also develop care plans based on the assessment; screen household help; review financial, legal and medical issues; perform crisis intervention; act as liaisons with long-distance relatives; find assisted-living and nursing homes when the time is right; provide consumer education; and offer counseling and support.

"During the initial consultation, the nurse takes information on their medications, problems, doctors, telephone numbers, family telephone numbers, even where will they be going should we have a hurricane," Peters says.

Read More >>