 Maine is National Geriatric Care Manager Month. These elder care professionals work with families to help them meet the challenges that come with aging. Leslie spoke with Lisa Fuller, the Director of Lifestages at VNA Home Health and Hospice, about the support that this program can provide. Well, Lisa, Maine is Geriatric Care Management Month. That's right. Well, we know what geriatric care is, but what is geriatric care management? It's a relatively new field, and that's why I think this is the first year that it's been, and now it's being recognized as a national organization across the country for geriatric care management. It's basically people who are experts in aging, who know all about the issues and the challenges that come for families who are dealing with aging parents, and they are usually certified professionals, like within VNA, ours are geriatric care managers, our nurses, and social workers, and therapists. So they're all certified? They are all certified, yes. So anyone coming to you with issues of dealing with elderly parents or siblings or spouses can have the full range from A to Z of, okay, here we can do this, here we can do that? Right. The challenge right now is people are living a lot longer. The age is over 85 is the fastest growing segment in our population. So the downside is they're living longer with more chronic issues, and all of a sudden it's falling on families, that all of a sudden their parents are getting older, they're hitting their 80s and 90s, and they're not doing as well, families don't know where to turn. Usually what happens is they end up in crisis, and then they're overwhelmed, because our long-term care system is very complex. And so having this hair manager basically becomes their guide and their advocate, and you can use them for as little or as much as you want. You can come in with just some questions and give a consultation, and we can help guide you on some of the options that are available to your family, or we can actually come out to your home and do a full assessment. We find out exactly what does your parent or older adult want for their quality of life, what is important to them, and then we put a plan together, taking a look at their medical needs, their social needs, their housing needs, and help families implement something so that they know they're doing the right thing. The families that we work with, they all want to do the right thing. The challenge is they don't know what the right thing is. And that is so true. I've just dealt with that with my elderly parents. They were in their 90s when we had more or less a crisis situation and had to make decisions without having any sort of knowledge about what was available. That's it, exactly. And we also have families that aren't close to their parents. Their parents are living here, and their states, they're away, and their parent might end up in a hospital, and there's nobody close by. So are you able to? We're definitely able to do that. We'll go out, and like I said, we'll do an assessment. We'll get to know the parent. We'll understand their medical needs. We'll have access to their medical records and their physicians. They ever end up in a hospital. We're right there being their advocate in the hospital, from the ER to wherever they go. We'll be right by their sides until the family can get there. And then help the family understand what's going on as well. That is wonderful and incredible service and so important right now, as you say, with people living longer and this sort of sandwich generation having to deal not only with children and grandchildren, but elderly parents. Exactly, and what they're finding is that you can't do it all. It's just too much. There have been studies out of families that have used geriatric care management, and 100% by using a care manager have peace of mind, and they enjoyed their time more with their parent because they could actually spend time with their parent as their child versus their caregiver and worried about all the issues. They had that weight just taken off their shoulders. Yes, because like I said, now they know what they need to do. We help them plan. We also take a look at their finances and work within their finances. And one of the great things about coming to V&A is we're multidisciplinary. So basically, if there are services that can be covered in Medicare, we make sure they're getting that so that 83% find that their costs go down when they use a care manager because we're helping them find insurance and other abilities to be able to manage their needs. That they may not have known about without your guide. Exactly. I wish I'd known about this before. Everybody, I tell that says that. So you also help them stay in their homes if that is what the family wants. Yes. Aging in place is something that we're very, very focused on because when you, most people, if you ask them, I know for me, when I get older, I want to stay in my home. Oh, yeah. That's where your memories are. That's where your family has grown. So we do everything we can to do that. We find that it's very possible, too. And that's what people don't realize. Sometimes a family might find out the terrible diagnosis of Alzheimer's for their parent and think, oh my goodness, now I've got to move them to a facility. That's not necessarily the case. I think this is absolutely wonderful. I wish I'd known about you now. Everybody in our viewing audience knows about you. How do they get in touch with you? The police just called B&A. We're in South Portland, 780-8624. And I asked for Lisa Fuller. That's me. And I would be more than happy to talk with them about what the challenges that they're dealing with and help guide them in terms of next steps. Thank you. I think it's crucial. Thank you very much.