Seabury Resources For Aging Community Relations Manager Jennifer Brown joined Raquel and Ryan on The Senior Soup Podcast to discuss geriatric care management, which is also known as Aging Life Care Management.

Founded in 1924 in Washington, D.C., Searbuy Resources began as a women’s retirement home with deep roots in the faith-based community. Next April, Seabury will celebrate its 100th birthday - and yes, they are throwing a big party!

At the beginning of the podcast, Jennifer discussed her background in the healthcare industry and her role as Seabury’s community relations manager.

Jennifer discussed the care management services that Seabury offers older adults, and she shared the appropriate time for someone to reach out to a care manager for help with their aging loved ones.

The care management field is relatively new, Jennifer explained. It started locally about 30 years ago and is a specialty area of licensed social workers who are available to assist older adults and their families with various care needs, social needs, and housing needs.

Care managers are hired to provide the same care and support that a next of kin would do for an older adult with no next of kin or a family far away.

Care managers develop care plans to connect older adults and their families with home care agencies, primary care physicians, specialists, therapists, elder law attorneys, daily money managers, house cleaning services, and so many other resources.

Aging life care managers also advocate for older adults, ensuring that their needs and safety are considered. They help mediate and arbitrate between family members who may have different opinions about the best course of action for an older adult.

Families can contact aging life care managers when an older adult's situation declines or if the extended family is having difficulty managing their loved one’s care.

Care managers' hourly rates run between $150 to $170.

Call Seabury Resources for Aging today at (202) 364-0020 if you or a loved one could benefit from the services an aging life care manager can provide.

The Senior Soup Podcast hosts Raquel Micit & Ryan Miner spoke with LifeSpan Network President Kevin Heffner about the organization's mission, membership, public policy advocacy in Maryland, COVID-19, and the organization's upcoming events.

This is episode 15 of The Senior Soup Podcast.

LifeSpan Network is the largest and most diverse senior care association in Maryland and Washington, D.C., with 350 institutional members that provide a wide variety of care services for older adults, including retirement communities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, home care, hospice, and adult daycare.

LifeSpan Network’s job is to serve its association members’ needs so that they can more effectively and efficiently serve the needs of seniors in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

They serve their members through various mechanisms, including the Beacon Institute, LifeSpan’s educational foundation providing its members with educational services, classroom-based education, and conferences, namely its annual Ocean City, Maryland conference in late September.

Lifespan is also heavily involved in public policy advocacy and legislative outreach.

The organization’s lobbyist, Danna Kauffman, represents the members’ interests in Annapolis and Washington, D.C. The organization focuses on state legislation that impacts senior living, home care, and skilled nursing homes. It monitors legislation affecting its members, such as state minimum wage legislation and family medical leave. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Maryland’s senior care industry faced difficulty recruiting and retaining staff due to healthcare workers taking leave due to exposure to the virus. LifeSpan worked with state lawmakers to help healthcare workers having difficulty entering the senior care services industry.

Maryland has traditionally made it difficult to become a nursing assistant, requiring certification as a CNA and GNA.

LifeSpan is advocating for a bill to require certification only as a CNA. There is also a bill to reconstitute the Board of Nursing so that it can report directly to Maryland’s secretary of health, helping streamline the process for people to become certified as nursing assistants and help with certification recertification.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, The Senior Soup welcomed Leora Hoffman, the founder and owner of Leora Hoffman Associates LLC, to discuss senior matchmaking and helping couples find meaningful, long-lasting relationships with their partners.

Leora, originally from New York, began her career as an attorney - but when her sister called her to ask her thoughts about working with a matchmaker, Leora decided to use it as the inspiration for her next career.

She wanted to create a matchmaking process in the DMV area that catered to single professionals and, later, older adults. Liora committed to never “do dating” the wrong way, understanding that everyone’s experiences are different and unique. Leora is the author of Catch Me a Catch: Chronicles of a Modern-Day Matchmaker. In her book, Leora discusses dating in later years, and the anxiety couples experience over money and sex. She shares plenty of anecdotes about people struggling with their sex lives and how couples if motivated, can work through the challenges of their relationships. This book is not only for singles searching for love in their senior years but also for couples working on their relationships and learning to understand one another better.

Throughout Episode 14, Raquel, Ryan, and Leora discuss Leora’s matchmaking services and her approach to helping older adults find meaningful relationships.

Leora takes a personal approach to each client, beginning with a phone call and then a face-to-face consultation to get to know them and discuss what services she can offer.

Once the client decides to move forward, they complete a psychologically-minded questionnaire and become a member of Leora’s organization. Depending on the membership chosen, Leora is proactive in finding her clients their perfect matches.

Raquel, Ryan, and Leora also discuss:

• Dating non-negotiables and wishlist attributes.
• Leora’s matchmaking process focuses on the personal touch; it’s fundamentally different than creating an online dating profile, which is often based on a superficial analysis of a one-page profile and photo.
• Leora’s matchmaking mission is to help her clients find committed, meaningful relationships and to truly get to know them before matching them.
• Dispelling the stereotype of matchmakers from reality television.
• Leora navigates her clients through family dynamics and finding shared values and common interests.
• And so much more!