Care and medical issues for a loved one can create many stressful burdens for the family caregiver, no matter if the family is near or far away. Our care plans have the objective of significantly reducing stress for the family caregiver. Supporting family caregivers can ultimately serve the senior by clarifying misunderstandings and misperceptions held by family members. Having been family caregivers ourselves, we appreciate the worries that may keep you up at night. As experts in aging services with more than 45 years of experience, you can count on Champion Advocates LLC to see you through when you may, otherwise, feel alone. We believe in Compassionate Aging for senior and caregiver, alike.

Understanding what, when and how much care is realistically needed is a key to successful Aging in Place. We help assess care needs based upon life goals, health needs, mobility issues, cognitive and memory problems, social and spiritual needs as well as other contributing factors. Generally, other interventions can be put in place to help provide greater independence. Adaptive equipment and modifications made to the home can often reduce safety risks and the amount of care needed, while at the same time improving a person’s self-determination and sense of wellbeing.

Innovations made to the home can offer simple solutions for better living. We provide comprehensive Home Safety Assessments for every room in the residence by evaluating the routine usage of each room by the care recipient and any caregivers. Our Home Safety Assessment and resulting recommendations are intended to support the goal of aging in place. Many times, our assessments will include simple and practical recommendations that offer significant results to the senior, yet do not require major remodeling and the related expenses. For more involved home modifications, we have worked closely with general contractors to ensure that the appropriate changes are made to meet specific and individual care objectives. Modifications made to key components of the home can improve the home not only for the currently residing individual or couple, but may increase the home’s value and overall appeal.

Helping you get the best results from your medical providers means facilitating clear communication. Your medical providers need to clearly and precisely understand your goals and wishes. Consequently, you need to clearly and precisely understand medical recommendations and diagnoses. In a system that can be fast moving and impersonal, we take the time and effort to make sure your needs are fully met and and your wishes are respected. We ‘champion’ your cause, so your health care serves you better. A case manager can attend medical appointments, make communications by phone or fax and advocate as needed to keep your health goals on track.

Knowing how to get the most from benefits and resources can help you realize your goal of aging in place at home. We are experts in health and long term care insurance and have helped many clients with Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Drug Plans, Medigap, Retiree Insurance, PERS, Veteran’s benefits, Medicaid, Private Long Term Care insurance, Group Long Term Care Insurance and Long Term Care riders to other policies. Champion Advocates can help you maximize all of the benefits for which you may be eligible. We are able to review plan documents and insurance contracts with you. We can assist you in obtaining your long term care insurance benefits including eligibility determinations and claims. We have been very successful in obtaining positive outcomes for insurance appeals and can provide help with insurance appeals, if needed.

There are many different types of dementia ranging from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s, Frontotemporal to Hydrocephalus, Vascular dementia to Dementia with Lewy bodies, Mixed dementia and many others. We have been able to help people with cognitive impairments and dementias age in place at home to the end of life. Helping families get an accurate diagnosis of the type of dementia a loved one is experiencing is the first crucial step. By knowing the type of dementia, correct courses of treatment, the right medications and practical strategies for more positive outcomes can be offered to caregivers and families.

Discharges from a hospital or other care setting can be nearly as upsetting for a family or a spouse as the moment they learned of a patient admission. A hospital discharge is actually more difficult than the original admission, since many supports are gone once you leave the hospital. Home Health is rarely more than a stop-gap solution and often withdraws before a senior is solidly on their feet. Families usually want and need more care planning, support and services put into place than can realistically happen in the time allotted by Medicare and other insurance. We know discharge processes and have worked with many families and individuals through these challenging events.

You want to be sure that the documents you have in place are adequate to address your current needs. We can review your estate planning documents with you to make sure they reflect your needs and have been designed for your life goals and not simply for your heirs. We help you re-look at these documents with care needs in mind and can provide recommendations for your attorney as needed. You also want to be sure that documents such as your Advanced Directive for Health Care will protect and serve your specific goals and wishes in the future. A case manager can meet with you and your medical provider to help you craft a document that is effective in protecting your wishes. Champion Advocates can also help your appointed Healthcare Agent better understand your medical needs as well as your wishes and intentions regarding treatment.

Financial planning for care is essential for aging in place at home. You must first have a clear understanding of how much and what types of care you need currently in order to begin the process of financial planning for care. With over 45 years of experience in senior services, we can help you anticipate your care needs and care costs into the future. Champion Advocates wants you to have a solid care plan as a foundation for your aging in place goals. We discover how you can maximize your resources and plan adequately for care costs for the long term.

We can connect you with appropriate and vetted services to enhance and complement your care plan. By understanding your overall goals and needs, Champion Advocates works to find the best fitting services and then follows up with comprehensive coordination and oversight of those services to make sure you are supported well with whatever you need. We have identified and coordinated services for clients ranging from bookkeeping and housekeeping to personal trainers and personal chefs to professional attorneys and professional fiduciaries… and many others in between.