Senior care is a significant concern for many, and Western New York is no exception.
More than 300,000 of the roughly 1.5 million residents in Western New York are over age 60, according to U.S. census data.
Michelle Spencer operated on the social work side of nursing homes more than 20 years before deciding to pursue a different path.
Now, she is a certified care manager and runs her own business. She started Aging Well Care Management in 2019 to help “older adults and their families navigate the challenges of aging.” The role has afforded her a different perspective of the senior care field, Spencer said.
“Prior to being a care manager, I worked in facilities, and so, I didn't really see the broad picture. I had what I had to do,” she said. “I worked strictly for the facility, and now, I am not affiliated with any service, or community, or facility, so I see the broad spectrum of things that are out there. I know way more of the services that are available.”
Despite the amount of emphasis now placed on senior care, many seniors or their family members are unaware of the resources available to make life easier, Spencer said.
“If they know that their loved one may qualify financially and physically for Medicaid, we can help with that,” she said. “If they just don't know what services are out there, like I had mentioned before, we can help them through that. There (are) adult day centers, there's, you know, respite care -- just things that people don't realize they're out there.”
One of the most difficult aspects of senior care is the conversation when it’s time to move a family member into a care facility full-time, Spencer said. It often is a balancing act between what seniors want and what might be the safest option, she said.
“Nobody says ‘yay, I'm going to a nursing home.’ So those are super difficult conversations to have with people,” she said. “Not so much with the family, because a lot of them realize that (the seniors) aren't safe at home, they can't be taken care of safely. But a lot of people in that generation had said, ‘Whatever happens, never put me in a nursing home.’”
