A geriatric nursing care manager helps bridge the gap so a client better understands what a health professional wants them to do.
At Secure Aging, Jana Hameed, RN, is a geriatric nursing care manager and co-owner of Secure Aging. She brings her diverse background in home health and hospital settings to Secure Aging.
One important part of what a geriatric nursing care manager does is to accompany clients to doctors’ appointments and help them understand what needs to happen next with their care. “We can explain things to them,” Jana says. This may happen in private practices (at doctors’ offices) or at hospitals. Medical staff are often relieved when someone has a care manager as it takes some of the pressure off of them to help guide patients, Jana says. Education is a big part of what a geriatric nursing care manager does.
Another important part of a geriatric care manager’s job is to review what medications a client uses. With many seniors using daily medications (more than 50% use four or more meds a day, according to AARP), a geriatric care manager can help assess if any meds taken are no longer needed or if they shouldn’t be used at the same time as other medications.
Geriatric care managers may interact with home health nurses or home health assistants who also care for clients, but they don’t do the same job. For instance, if there’s a big-picture problem with home health care, a geriatric care manager may provide a recommendation. Otherwise, they have different roles. With a big push in home health care to decrease rehospitalization of patients, geriatric care managers do their part to help keep an eye on their clients and lower the chance of returning to the hospital.
One example of a typical client who uses a geriatric nursing care manager is an adult child who lives outside the area but who has a parent here in Southwest Florida. “It’s a comfort for family members to have us here,” Jana says. She shares the example of an adult son in Vermont who was relieved that Jana and other staff at Secure Aging could help his father in assisted living, at the hospital, in rehabilitation, and in hospice. “I was able to break things down for him in layman’s terms,” she says. This helped the son to make an informed decision about his father’s needs.
Jana began her early career as a CNA at The Masonic Homes in Central Pennsylvania, where she developed a love for patient care and the aging population. Health advocacy and patient care became an integral drive toward obtaining her first baccalaureate degree in Health Science at Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. This was followed by a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.
Jana started her career as an RN in the greater New York City area at North Shore Manhasset Hospital. Upon moving to Florida in 2007, Jana worked as a Medical-Surgical RN at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. She later joined Tidewell as a hospice nurse, which ignited her passion for palliative and end-of life-care. For the past five years she has worked as a home health nurse, caring for patients within many assisted living facilities across the Sarasota and Venice areas.
If you think that you or a loved one is in need of a geriatric care manager like Jana, give Secure Aging a call. The first consultation is free. Secure Aging also can assist with financial management, such as bill pay.
Call Secure Aging to Find Out How We Can Help Seniors With Care Management
At Secure Aging in Bradenton, we transform the weight of the world into a sigh of relief for our senior clients and their concerned family members. The mission of Secure Aging is to protect and preserve our client’s independence and dignity through careful and thoughtful financial and care management. As our clients age, it is their desire to remain independent and age with dignity. Our services protect our clients from talented con artists looking to exploit and deplete the financial resources of our vulnerable seniors. Secure Aging helps families in Manatee County and Sarasota County and in and around the communities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Myakka City, Palmetto, Parrish, and Sarasota. Call us at 941-761-9338, or visit us online at www.secureaging.com.
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