For estate planners, financial planners, and other professional advisors to senior citizens and their families. This presentation shows you how to serve clients with needs beyond financial advice by referring them to resources like geriatric care managers and other specialists.http://www.careisthere.com

1. The Trusted Advisor
Guiding Your Clients Through
Elder Care Decisions
Elizabeth Swider, Care is There Geriatric Care Management, www.careisthere.com
Charlottesville, Virginia February 2012

2. Trust and Care
“My financial advisor talks about the quality of
my life, not just the quantity of my money.”
• You are a technical expert
• You provide solutions
• You are a symbol of protection
• Your clients will look to you for
advice when elder care issues
emerge
• And…you care.

3. The Resource for Resources!
Financial Background
• Education in accounting/finance; Executive MBA from UCLA
• Professional experience in
– Auditing
– Financial planning and analysis
– Executive management (VP and CFO of Dole Packaged Foods Company)
– Entrepreneurship
Elder Care
• Founder and Owner, “Care is There” Geriatric Care Management
– (Charlottesville and surrounding counties; Staunton; Harrisonburg)
• Partner in “Quality Caregiver Placement”
• Certified Senior Advisor
Community Leadership and Resource Development
• Founder and webmaster of www.cvilleseniors.org
• Author of the blog “The Caregiver’s Secret”
• Author of the newsletter “Independent Lifestyles”
• Chairwoman of the Aging in Place Business Round Table from the Charlottesville Regional
Chamber of Commerce

4. What we do at Care is There
Help families manage the lives and care of their elderly loved ones:
• Organize comprehensive plans of care and implement them with our own Lifestyle
Coordinators and outside experts
• Help find home health aids and companions and supervise their work
• Accompany to doctors appts, get prescriptions filled
• Advocate within the health care system, including during emergencies
• Visit our clients in their homes and handle whatever comes up
• Handle mail, documents, bill paying
• Arrange and supervise home modification
and repair
• Find appropriate living situations including
assisted living placement
• Manage transitions
• Communicate with family using a website
that organizes information and emails the
whole family whenever we do work for a
client

5. Your Traditional Role
Build, protect, and plan the distribution of financial
resources
• Investment advice
• Tax planning including trust and estate planning
• Wills
• Insurance, including long term care insurance
• Resource liquidation
• Financial power of attorney
• Veterans benefits
• Medicaid planning

6. Your Extended Role
• Managing cognitive impairment – dementia
and capacity
• Advance medical directives/Do Not
Resuscitate Orders
• Managing care expenses
including care choices
and family dynamics
• Referring clients to
lifestyle services

7. Win-Win
Benefits:
• You give your clients the solutions they need while staying
true to your chosen role
• You demonstrate your commitment to the quality of your
clients’ entire life experience = client satisfaction and
referrals
• Warm fuzzies for you!
Resources:
• Formal education: Certified Senior
Advisor Program
• Local information and referral
resources
• Networking

8. Typical Scenario
• Your client’s parents are in a moderate decline
• A sudden crisis occurs – a fall, a stroke, the death of a caregiving life
partner (or memory problems surface)
• Your client gets on a plane to manage the situation and has to make
many important decisions quickly
– Should my parent move? If so, where? Who will care for them? How
will it be paid for?
• Family dynamics surface, with disagreements about living
situations, roles of family members, disposition of financial
resources, etc.
• The short term crises is dealt with and longer term issues can be
brought up: POA, wills, trusts, advance medical directives,
Medicaid planning, competency, long term care
• The stage is set and your clients can begin to plan for their own
aging process

9. Managing the Traditional Role
• See the Wall Street Journal article called “The 25 Documents You
Need Before you Die”
• If elder law is not your technical strength, partner with an elder law
attorney.
– Note: laws change and they differ by state.
• Most common misconceptions:
• Medicare pays for assisted living (no)
• Medicare pays for long term home care
(no)
• Assets can be easily hidden from
Medicaid (five year look-back period)
• Did you know there is a tax credit for
certain home modifications?

10. Managing the Extended Role:
Medical Care
• Advance medical directives and Do Not Resuscitate orders
can be done easily but must be done right.
• Both documents must be known/discoverable in a medical
crisis, so make sure they are obvious to first responders and
hospital personnel.
• Consider the “Five Wishes” advance directive document,
which is recognized in almost all states and isn’t “legalese.”
• Be sure the client’s health care
advocates are authorized via
HIPAA forms.
• Ultimately, the system requires a
person to watch over it.

11. Managing the Extended Role:
Capacity
• When mild cognitive impairment arises, plan for
transfer of financial authority. (Try to avoid resorting
to legal competency hearings.)
• Dementia often progresses slowly, and there can be
periods of suspicion and resentment.
• Expect family dynamics.
• Encourage families to find a
resource they trust that can
keep an eye on things if their
parents live at a distance.

12. Managing the Extended Role:
Lifestyle Services
• Eldercare decisions often revolve around
where an elder should live, how they should
be cared for, and how the care will be paid for.
• There are many specialized services that can
help families:
– Choose a living situation
– Downsize and move
– Modify a home

13. Managing the Extended Role:
Lifestyle Services
• Various care services are available including
– Care management and lifestyle coordination
– Mediation services (for families in crisis)
– Several different models of residential care
– Home modification experts
– Senior move managers (moving and downsizing)
– Seniors Real Estate Specialists (realtors)
– Several tiers of home care (non-medical, personal care, medical, OT/PT)
– Devices (hearing aids, walkers, emergency alert systems)
– Check-in services
– Vender vetting subscriptions
– Bill paying services
– Medication management
– Specialized transportation
– Social opportunities (senior center, etc.)
– Adult day care
– Dementia consultants
– Support groups
– Hospice

14. Referring Clients to Lifestyle Services
• Referring clients to lifestyle services ensures they have
the assistance they need without your direct and
continuing involvement
– Elizabeth Swider, Care is There Geriatric Care
Management, www.careisthere.com, 434.326.5323 ext 2,
elizabeth@careisthere.com
– Meet service providers at the Chamber of Commerce
Aging in Place Business Round Table: Elizabeth Swider,
434.326.5323 ext 2
– Call JABA information and referral: Susan Seidler, (434)
817-5222
– Alzheimer’s Assn: Annie Marrs, (434) 973-6122
– www.thecaregiverslibrary.com
– www.cvilleseniors.org

15. Contact Me
Contact me with questions for your clients
Care is There does a free consultation for all clients and I’m
happy to share any information I have.
Elizabeth Swider
434.326.5323 ext 2
www.careisthere.com
elizabeth@careisthere.com
facebook.com/careisthere
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