CSA Journal 52

Important, practical and timely information -- exclusively for CSAs

The award-winning CSA Journal is the leading professional publication in the senior market that focuses on emerging trends and issues in aging and the health, social and financial interests and needs of seniors. 

 The current issue CSA Journal 52, includes:

 

• The newest insights, strategies and tips to help you serve your senior clients even more effectively.

• A Case in Point section with a senior client handout and an option to earn 5 CSA CE credits.

• Tons of resources including handouts, articles  and webinars that you can pass along to your senior clients and colleagues. 

Articles within CSA Journal 52, include:

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

• How We Respond Will Define Us, by Mary Janak

EMERGING TRENDS & CRITICAL ISSUES

• Who's Going to Take Care of Me? Our Impending LTC Labor Crisis, by Lisa Rill Ph.D. 

CSA CE CREDITS: CASE IN POINT

• See Me, Hear Me, Respect Me, by Charles G. Puchta and Evelyn L. Fitzwater
• Case Study: Caught in the Middle, by Charles G. Puchta and Evelyn L. Fitzwater
• Senior Client Handout: Look Closer, See Me,by Charles G. Puchta and Evelyn L. Fitzwater

HEALTH & SOCIAL

• Inflammation: The Silent Killer, by Elizabeth Vierck
• Family Caregivers: The Missing Link, by Amy D'Aprix, Ph.D.
• Six Steps to Help Seniors Make the CPR/DNR Decision, by Viki Kind
• A "Little Secret", by Marilyn Ellis

FINANCIAL & LEGAL

• Veterans May Be Missing Out on VA Health-Care Benefits, by Carlotta Katra
• Long-Term Care: Do Your Clients' Beliefs Put Them at Risk?, by Marlene S. Stum, Ph.D.
• Four Things That Keep Your Clients Up at Night, by Rick Atkinson

Experts Write for CSAs
You will find interesting, informative and educational articles in the CSA Journal - written by experts to help CSAs provide the highest value to their senior clients and to contribute to CSAs’ ongoing continuing education. The CSA Journal articles show a real world understanding and respect for aging-related issues that seniors face and help you open lines of communication with seniors. You will find numerous suggestions throughout the articles on ways to support your senior clients when they make important decisions, as well as benefit and protect seniors' best interests. Through the CSA Journal, CSAs gain a bigger picture of social and scientific breakthroughs that affect seniors and are able to keep pace with new understandings about aging and issues that are important to the majority of seniors.

If you have comments or suggestions for articles or ideas for tailoring the CSA Journal, please email them to JournalEditor@csa.us.

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

What truly is a burden?

Burden is defined as a heavy load; that which is borne with difficulty; obligation.

As we age in life, we each look at different scenarios in our own lives as being burdensome or not. Many times we select a lifestyle that we feel is not causing hardship or burden on our families or friends, but what is the reality? What one person perceives as a burden may not be what another does. Take Esther for example, she retired away from family to live in a nice warm climate. As the years past and health issues became a factor, Esther may feel that moving back to live with or near family may cause the family to feel they are now burdened by her and her health issues. On the other hand, Esther’s daughter, Nancy, feels that it is a burden to have to fly back and forth for her mother’s urgent health issues.

Esther is concerned with giving up her independence, her home, her friends, the climate and the life she created over many years. Nancy is concerned about having to periodically leave her job, her family and her life to take care of her mother in another state and be ready to do so at a moment’s notice. These two women love each other and don’t want to burden the other, but what is the solution?

There is no easy answer, but there is a solution to get to a place of deep understanding. Communicate! We sometimes assume that we know what the other party is thinking or feeling, but in reality we don’t. Esther may think she will be a burden on her family if she lives nearby, but Nancy may want to spend more time with her mother and would enjoy seeing her regularly. Maybe Esther feels happy and at home right where she is and is willing to hire some assistance so she can stay put and Nancy does not have to fly back and forth so much.

Whatever decision is reached, it should be reached through respectful communication, caring and compassion.

Blog posting provided by Judy Rough, CSA

Owner of Carefree Transitions, LLC - a Senior Move Management company.

Judy works with seniors and their families on the emotional, as well as the physical aspects of moving. She can be reached at  judy@carefree-transitions.com or 480-200-3415

How to Network Without Giving Your Practice Away - an educational webinar

"I want to be successful!" This is something that all of us either hear or express regularly. Our success is what drives us out of bed each morning, sometimes it keeps us up until late at night. Overworked, underpaid and exhausted. How many of us say we need clients, more clients, quality clients? But we are too busy doing our own work to take the time or to find the energy to develop our client base. In short, we can’t do it alone. This is where networking comes into play. How can we get others to help us grow our practices without wasting what little time we have and without having someone walk away with our practice in the interim?

To grow our practices we have two choices: network or advertise. Once we have determined who our ideal clients are, reaching out becomes our next step. Advertising can cost an arm and a leg. Networking costs too, not so much in terms of money, but in trust and time. Although time is crucial in networking, the results are usually more controlled and on point with our goals and needs.

The Society of Certified Senior Advisors is hosting an educational webinar, How to Network Without Giving Your Practice Away on Thursday, August 23, 2012. This webinar is designed to help guide the participant and give them a direction and an understanding of the mechanics of networking and some of the potential pitfalls. We will discuss and compare private networking groups and commercial networking groups. We will look at how to build relationships by creating mutual trust and a desire to help each other. Possibly the most important issues we will discuss are the tools to protect you and your practice from potential liability and worse, having someone you trust walk off with your practice. We will cover nondisclosure, noncompetition agreements, and a general understanding that anyone to whom you refer business carries your reputation on their shoulders. Let us learn how to build a practice through the use of an interactive referral network.

Register for this event now by visiting www.csa.us/upcomingevents.

How to Network Without Giving Your Practice Away, presented by Paul W. Vukeles, JD, CPA
Date:  Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
Time: 11:00AM (PST); 12:00Noon (MST); 1:00PM (CST); 2:00PM (EST)
Cost:  Free for Members of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors; $49.00 Public


Blog posting provided by Paul W. Vukeles, JD, CPA
BV Tax & Accounting, PLLC
O. 480-949-7171

Meet CSA Spotlight, Joe Holm

Joe Holm is a CSA Trailblazer. He is president and executive director of Let’s Go Fishing of Minnesota, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and a member of the Million Dollar Round Table.

After a successful career in the financial services industry as a regional district manager, Joe made a career change. Seeing the need to give senior citizens the chance to get out on any of Minnesota’s beautiful 10,000 lakes, Joe reassessed his life priorities and founded the Let’s Go Fishing nonprofit in 2002. Life-threatening medical conditions in his wife and daughter made Joe realize life was about so much more than “me, myself and I.” He made a commitment to give back to those who had given so much.

For numerous reasons, many seniors can no longer get out on area lakes and rivers. Some have lost their life-long fishing partners, others lack the gear and tackle or the knowledge of where to go. Health and physical stamina are also barriers. Let’s Go Fishing was designed to help.

With a small group of volunteers, the first chapter board was established in Willmar, Minnesota in 2002 and took out more than 350 seniors. Over the next 10 years, Let’s Go Fishing grew to more than 2,100 volunteers in 28 chapters taking almost 20,000 people per year out on Minnesota lakes and rivers. Now that’s living a dream.

From stacks of thank-you letters to smiles from individuals as they leave an outing, it is obvious that Let’s Go Fishing is changing lives and impacting people. As one resident from a care center pointed out, “You have no idea how much this means to me! I was so looking forward to getting out on the water; I even had trouble sleeping last night,” said Marie Freese, a 101-year-young guest of Let’s Go Fishing.

The year 2012 promises to be another exciting one for Let’s Go Fishing. The mission field has expanded to include grandparents with their grandkids, veterans and youth. Let’s Go Fishing continues to find new opportunities to serve and continues to grow. With people too busy to even take their kids fishing, Let’s Go Fishing has developed a Youth Class to pull kids away from TV and technology and teach them how to fish. Then, the area chapters give the kids a true “on the water” experience with their own equipment.

The future is bright for Let’s Go Fishing, with eventual expansion into the five-state region. Given the passion and fortitude Joe Holm has for leading Let’s Go Fishing, the best is yet to come. If you would like to bring a Let’s Go Fishing chapter to your area, give Joe a call at 320-905-7711 or visit the website www.lgfws.com.


Blog posting provided by the Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

NOISE!

Today it’s the roar of the air conditioning unit. Over the weekend it was the neighbor’s leaf blower. In a few months time it may be his snow blower. These are some of the background noises that can be either mildly irritating, or they drive us to distraction. And just as we have different aesthetic tastes, certain noises can be more irritating to some of us than others.  It’s not just the number of decibels that determine what we consider to be excessively noisy.  Duration and frequency (high or low) of unwanted noises can have detrimental effects on our wellbeing.  For example, very high or very low pitched sounds are more damaging than middle frequencies.

To find out more about the detrimental effect that excess noise can have on our health – and why seniors are especially at risk—read the following article, Noise Pollution – A Health Hazard for Seniors, in the current issue of Senior Spirit.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Queenan offers an amusing take in his article, “The Sound of One Neighbor Misbehaving”  on the topic of inconsiderate neighbors who get their weed whacker out on Father’s Day.

Some countries choose to limit the effects of noise pollution by regulation. Most federal states in Germany have laws forbidding the use of noisy appliances on Sundays or between the hours of noon and 3pm. If you’re driving in Italy, you’ll encounter this road sign as you enter a municipality. Hands off that horn!

Please comment if there are any noises that drive you to distraction.

Blog posting provided by the Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

How to Survive the Stress of Care Giving

The statistics are staggering. Today there are 54,000 people over 100 years of age living in the United States. That number is projected to soar to an incredible 350,000 by the year 2050. The fact is that people are living longer with chronic illnesses and 21 percent of adults today care for someone an average of 20 hours per week. That unpaid care equals 18 percent of our national health care spending and these numbers are set to increase drastically.

Elder care giving can be especially complex given the personal, health and financial challenges that accompany caring for an older family member or friend. The stressful situations that occur between adult children and aging parents can be detrimental to the health and well-being of all concerned. In these situations, it is especially important that caregivers manage their own well-being at all times.

Dr. Jim McCabe, Geriatric Care Manager, President of Eldercare Resources and CSA Instructor, is on the front line of these complex issues every day. Over a period of more than 25 years, he has assisted hundreds of families in planning elder care and long term care planning. Jim was the host of last week’s timely CSA webinar “CAREGIVER BURNOUT: Managing the Challenges of Caregiving”. CSAs can view the webinar in the Member Resources section of the CSA website.

Communication is Key
Jim provides some tips for caregivers to help lessen the physical, emotional, behavioral and financial stresses associated with the complicated situation of caring for a loved one in need. Caregivers should recognize that caregiving is often difficult. Role changes, family history and generational differences are often complicated by communication problems. Most families have little or no experience talking about medical or financial issues so there is no history or ground rules for these conversations. One way to combat this is to have these conversations at the most optimal time and to understand the reservations that your loved one has. Is your mother at her best in the morning? Does your father communicate well after his nap in the afternoon? Is your mother-in-law comfortable talking about her health and her money? Is privacy the first concern for your uncle? Knowing how they feel about these issues and speaking to them when they are best able to participate in the conversation will help to make the difficult conversations a little easier.

Respite Care Is a Necessity, Not a Luxury
Many caregivers do not survive the caregiving process. Physical and emotional stress can lead to chronic illness, substance abuse and isolation. Managing your own well-being is as important as taking care of the one you love. It is important to remember to vent your feelings. A support group can be a great outlet for sharing and networking. Everyday stress management is important and meditation and keeping up your leisure activities goes a long way to sustaining well being. By simplifying life, developing plans and building networks a caregiver can help ease the stress of caring for a loved one.

Many of you have become Certified Senior Advisors as a result of your own experience caring for a loved one. Have you found caregiving stressful? How has your experience benefitted your clients? What networks have been the most helpful? Please share your story with us.


Blog Posting provided by the Society of Certified Senior Advisors
800.653.1785
www.csa.us