FAQs

Why Do I need Silver Wings Care Management?

Every community is unique and the resources available vary from community to community. We work closely with local service providers, facilities, and medical practitioners. So we know what services are available and we know who is good and who is not so good. Often the best providers do not advertise and are difficult to find unless you are actively working in the community. Knowing real-time information about Skilled Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living communities, such as percentage of occupancy, inspection violations, reputation, and other closely held information, empowers us make quality recommendations and negotiate the best prices.

A Silver Wings comprehensive assessment will provide a road map with solutions and options for the client and their families. We can help implement solutions or you can take the road map and use it on your own. We provide you with the tools to make good decisions, save time, minimize stress, and avoid mistakes. We provide custom solutions that uniquely address your situation.

About Aging Life Care™

What is Aging Life Care™?

A holistic, client-centered approach to caring for older adults and others facing ongoing health challenges.  By working with families, the expertise of Aging Life Care Professional™ provides the answers at the time of uncertainty. The Aging Life Care Professional™ provides guidance that leads families to the actions and decisions that ensure quality care and optimal life for those they love, thus reducing worry, stress and time of work for family caregivers through assessment and monitoring, planning and problem-solving, education and advocacy, family caregiver coaching and long-distance care management.

How does an Aging Life Care Professional™ differ from a Care Manager, Home Health Care Provider, or Companion Services?

Silver Wings Care Management, an Aging Life Care Practice, also known as Geriatric Care Management, is a professional member of the Aging Life Care Association™ (ALCA) and differs from Care Mangers, Home Health Care Providers, Companions, Patient Advocates, Senior Advisors, Senior Navigators, and Elder Advocates are not members of this ALCA and not beholden to its rigorous requirements.

ALCA members must meet stringent education, experience, and certification requirements and all members are required to adhere to a strict code of ethics and standards of practice.

An Aging Life Care Professional is a health and human services specialist who acts as a guide and advocate for families who are caring for older relatives or disabled adults.  The Aging Life Care Professional is educated and experienced in any of several fields related to aging life care/care management, including (but not limited to): gerontology, nursing, psychology, social work, guardianship, or occupational therapy, with a specialized focus on issues related to aging and elder care.

The Aging Life Care Professional assists clients in attaining their maximum functional potential.  The individual’s independence is highly encouraged, while safety and security concerns are addressed.  Our Aging Life Care Professionals are able to address a broad range of issues related to the well-being of our clients.  We also have extensive knowledge about the costs, quality, and availability of resources in our communities.

I don’t think my parents will accept your help.

When we are brought in as a neutral party, the reluctant parent is generally more receptive to hear concerns and they are more open to accepting help. It’s not the children or care-giver making the recommendations, it’s the professional. This helps the family and other caregivers maintain their positive relationships with the client.

Transitional moves are often the most difficult. Assisting clients to move into an assisted living community have become a Silver Wings specialty.  By having the professional Aging Life Care Professional assisting the client, the transitional move should be stress free and successful. Each individual client is different and we customize solutions to fit the situation.

During our assessments and consultations, we strategize about the best way to approach the situation and offer multiple solutions. When utilizing the services of Silver Wings Aging Life Care Professionals, the emotional roadblocks to change are lessoned.

What is an assessment?

Our Master Assessment (assessment) is a thorough evaluation of the individual, their living/social environment, and medical needs. We uncover presenting problems, issues and concerns. The assessment includes an all inconclusive report that provides a road map to accomplish goals and address all of the issues and concerns of the individual. The road map provides the information needed accomplish the stated goals with or without our assistance. There are times when the only service we provide is the assessment.

The assessment documents the best approach to the situation and provides specific solutions. An assessment process includes:

1. A thorough medical, financial, and social history is completed. Information is collected from different sources; family members, physicians, observations, and the client.
2. Several individual assessments are conducted, including: in-depth analysis of the activities of daily living, financial, legal, medications, diagnoses, nutrition, incontinence, sensory, skin condition, pain, behavior, capacity, depression scale, driving and safety.
3. Client information is put into our proprietary software system. This allows us to manipulate the data into many different reports.  We are also able to monitor health trends over time.
4. The Master Assessment deliverable is compiled from this data with specific recommendations to improve the client’s quality of life. The report is provided to the relevant parties and reviewed with them. Referrals to various professionals, services, and programs are included in the report, as appropriate.
5. A plan of care is developed with detailed recommendations and specific action items. These items can be accomplished with our help or without.

The assessment is an important part of the care planning process, it is not required to begin services. The assessment is highly recommended and can be a cost saving tool for families and clients, but if resources are scarce we will serve the client in the way that works best.

About The Company

Do you have any Aging Life Care Managers who are also social workers?

Being a social worker is not a job requirement at Silver Wings.  The state of Florida has more social workers than most other states. Just as with all other services for our clients, we choose the social worker that best meets the client’s needs.  If we need to bring in a social worker, the social worker’s fees are often covered by the client’s insurance.

There are a multitude of social workers to choose from, here.  We think it is unrealistic to assume that we could employ the perfect social workers for all future client needs.  In reality, it is not that often that a client needs social work services.  It has happened with our younger clients and our clients that are homeless.  We were able to screen social workers to find the perfect match and save the client money for social work services, which often cost less than an Aging Life Care Manager.

Are all of your care managers CMC certified ?

Deena Balogh, who is a CMC herself, is the lead care manager and she hires individuals that are either already CMC certified or who are eligible to be CMC certified. She also hires professional guardians and other individuals who are often dual certified.

All employees are also certified in gerontology. We all maintain medical, guardianship, Aging Life Care Manager and legal continuing education credit requirements for our certifications. We all take much more ongoing advanced training than that which is required to keep our certifications current.

Do you work out of an office or a home?

We are a very technology based practice that conducts business worldwide. This allows us to each have everything at our finger tips and we are truly on duty around the clock, every day, 24×7 365 days a year. The money we save by not having multiple offices enables us to be better able to manage our costs and keep our hourly rates very reasonable.

Do you have a lawyer on staff?

The requirements of our code of ethics prohibit this. We work with many attorneys throughout the country. We very carefully evaluate each client’s unique legal needs. Whether the client requires counsel for Medical Malpractice, Constitutional law or Elder Law, we always make our attorney recommendations with painstaking care and scrutiny.