SeniorBridge Client and Founder of "Empowering Family Caregivers" Podcast Spotlights His Positive Experience and Invites Eric Rackow, MD to Discuss Reducing Hospitalizations of Frail Seniors

eCareDiary - July 15, 2011 - Excerpt:

"We went through a couple of other agencies and we found SeniorBridge to be terrific. One of the things you specialize in is long-term care continuum and that's what it turned out my father needed. I wish I knew about SeniorBridge at the beginning of his need for care and I'm really glad I finally found you....

"My father didn't get re-admitted to the hospital when he was with SeniorBridge until the end when he had a stroke. He had been in and out of hospital and emergency room for the better part of 18 months before that."

- eCareDiary's Co-founder, John Mills

As a person gets older, not only do they develop illnesses but they develop functional limitations and need support.

Three-quarters of people over 65 have at least two chronic illnesses. As you develop chronic conditions you also develop functional limitations so you don't remember so well.

You start to lose memory. Usually as an older person starts to lose memory, the first they lose is what's called short term reasoning. So your parent or your grandparent can remember all grand children's names, every birthday, everything they gave on that birthday, but they can't remember if they took their medications this morning.

They develop other limitations in terms of mixing up medications and getting mixed up. There are so many medications that are all different colors. Generic medications are a different color. Often a pharmacy switches generics. Often you have a brand and a generic medication and it's confusing if they are the same of different. Managing medications is a very big issue. When you put all that together:

Organizing how a person can function with a professional care manager - which is what SeniorBridge does- allows that person to stay healthy and more functional at home, and stay out of the hospital

I'll tell you a little statistic form our experience. We reduce hospitalizations rate, ER visits, rehospitalizations by more than two-thirds in the patients we take care of by care managing.

That's the common story, A lot of it is blocking and tackling at home. You have to have a professional in the home who knows what to do - but it's making sure that things are taken care of.

To view the full show, click here