Senior Spotlight: Caregiving Navigators Are Gaining Traction
22 million family caregivers are struggling in often unknown territory; help is on the horizon in a new & growing community role to help.
"We're failing tens of thousands of older adults and their families,” states Nexus Insights Founder Bob Kramer, a think tank champion focused on the future of aging services. And I think this is something every caregiver has experienced – the challenge of a loved one falling into medical crisis and the weight of the world on your shoulders overnight. For 22 million family caregivers in the US, the reality of caring for a loved one, navigating their needs and determining a suitable living arrangement is undeniably overwhelming.
A new Nexus Insights report titled "Where Am I, Where Do I Go: The Missing Entry Point to Long-Term Care Solutions for Older Adults and Their Caregivers” proposes a solution: caregiving navigators. Individuals in this role would serve as navigational centers or ‘hubs’ as central doorways to existing supports and services—whether it’s home-based care, transportation or meal services, senior housing or nursing home care. Navigation hubs “…should have a national presence but a local focus with counselors, or navigators, who understand the resources available in their communities and how to help older adults and their families access them.”
The four primary responsibilities of this support would be:
• Discover & Assess the long-term care needs of older adults, their families, and caregivers.
• Educate older adults, their families and caregivers on the housing and caregiving support available to them as well as funding sources.
• Select & Connect older adults with the best long-term care setting, supports, and services that meet their needs.
• Reevaluate the needs of older adults as their health and financial statuses change.
Next Avenue likens the idea of a hub as “…the long-term care equivalent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's counseling service on reverse mortgages, home buying, renting and foreclosure avoidance” or “… the Affordable Care Act's Navigators, assisting people shopping for health insurance policies.”
The United Kingdom already offers a similar service to its residents through the free, national Age UK Advice Line which provides access to trained navigators and is supported by charities. In the US, the closest prototype is a new NaviGuide program from United Church Homes in Ohio, which is a subscription-based service with 32 service coordinators ranging from social workers to affordable housing managers and more. Employers are already receiving requests from employees who want this NaviGuide Service offered to them with insurers slated to join the program in 2024.
You can read more about this detailed concept at the resources below.
- One Way to Help Family Caregivers: Caregiving Navigators
- Navigating Long-Term Care: How Navigation Hubs Would Help Older Adults and - - Their Families
- National Family Caregivers Month
Do you feel that a caregiving navigator could have benefitted your family in the past, or could in the future? We sure do!
Bobbi
Bobbi Decker
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