I made an incorrect assumption in my initial time as an Aging Life Care Manager. I assumed that once clients would sign onto our services they would stay with us until the end of their lives. Don’t get me wrong, many of our clients do, in fact 56% stay on our service until the end of their lives. For the others that transition their care elsewhere there are many reasons for these changes. The most common situation is the client who chooses to move closer to a family member who lives in another state. Those clients are focused on living closer to a loved one who is eager to see them and spend more time with them while not having to take a plane flight to do so. When this occurs, our role changes and we help with the move and transfer to another state. We help to coordinate such moves from arranging and purchasing their flights, working with a placement coordinator to locate their new living situation, ensuring that they have the supplies and medical resources both during the transition and when they arrive, and to travel with them so that they arrive safely and securely.
Whatever the situation for the change in our professional relationship, it is still a loss and change for us, and likely for that client. Perhaps you wonder: “Why a loss?”. We develop a relationship, based on trust and forged over time with experiences. Sitting with someone in medical appointments, as they share their personal life stories, meeting our clients routinely in their home setting, learning of their successes and challenges in life, and enjoying a funny moment and laugh with our client is a gift. A gift that is shared and treated with respect and care. And when, the time comes that we will no longer see and share time with our client we often experience loss. We are hopeful that our client enjoys being closer to their family members and enjoy an even better quality of life because of that closeness.
And so, we take time on our team to support each other, to reminisce and to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned from each client. We wish them well and know that others are providing the care that we were honored to do so for a period of time.
Written by Joyce Sjoberg, RN, MA, BSN, CMC, Aging Life Care Manager
Categories: Care Managing