Senior Advocate – Advocacy for Seniors, Aging Parents

A senior advocate is someone who supports and looks out for a person’s best interest as they are provided care in the medical system and their home.

An advocate can benefit both seniors and family caregivers, by helping to ensure the right information is provided, coordinating communication, making sure your rights are protected and other support.

The importance of senior advocacy

Not everyone understands why a senior advocate might be necessary to ensure you get the best care and the right treatment. Here is an example that can help illustrate that.

Personal or parent’s’ illness

What if you or your parent were seriously ill and were very quickly thrust into a situation where there were:

• Multiple weekly appointments over the course of months.
• Countless forms to fill out.
• Papers and information to gather and organize for healthcare team, family or other professionals.
• Information to review about the best treatment options, care teams and clinics/hospitals and aging in place options.

Being ill, it could be overwhelming to have to deal with all of these things and more. During this time, you or your parent should be focused on your own healing, not navigating the healthcare machine or looking for aging in place resources.

Not to mention, being inundated with so much information, appointments, advice and data can contribute to a person making poor decisions.

I want to help make sure that doesn’t happen to you.

» Call 503-858-0271 to learn how we help ensure the best care for your parents

What does a senior advocate do?

A Senior advocate comes alongside a person to help them navigate medical care,the medical system and aging in home resources. Here are a few ways I can help you or your parents be protected and ensure the best care possible.

Be your ally – Support and coach you through healthcare and aging in home issues.

Listen to you – Your concerns about your health, care or caregiving issues, aging in place concerns and where you feel challenged or may need extra support.

Assessment – Gather and correlate information about your health, social and home environment history and using it to conduct a comprehensive evaluation. That information could include medical evaluation, quality of life, environmental, functional, nutritional or psychological and behavioral assessments, social/family dynamics and caregiving requirements.

Decision support – Provide support in the various decisions about aging in place, medical needs or caregiving options.

Better communication – Improve the quality and amount of communication with you, your family, healthcare team and caregivers.

Mediation – Helping to ensure your wishes are honored and personal rights are protected.

Health coaching – Support to help improve health, by identifying and working towards goals, and lower health risks.

Planning – Help you, your family, caregivers and healthcare team create a comprehensive plan to improve your health and improve your overall quality of life.

Resources – Help identify and coordinate resources and services, providers, physicians to ensure your health and aging in place needs are met.

Go to appointments – Go to doctor and other professional appointments to ensure your questions are answered and you have the information you need to make good decisions for yourself or your parents.