A Helping Hand With Elder Care : A new breed of consultants help find solutions for aging parents as well as their hard-pressed adult children.

Patricia Boldra’s 77-year-old mother fell and broke her hip--and faced a lengthy recovery--and Boldra had absolutely no idea what to do. An attorney and mother of two school-age children, she dropped everything for four months, struggling to care for her mother, who lives in Inglewood, and her family, in Northridge.

But then she was referred by a physician to Tarzana-based geriatric-care consultant Nancy Wexler, one of a new breed of specialists committed to advising families about the care of their aging parents. These consultants can help coordinate services that a parent might need at home--such as Meals on Wheels, home care assistants, emergency response services, physical therapy--and can recommend living arrangements and convalescent facilities that meet specific needs.

Geriatric consultants also can help families deal with their feelings about the whole process, typically a combination of guilt, grief and fear. “Putting a parent in a facility is worse than coping with the parent’s death because there is so much guilt,” she says.

Children of aging parents also want to make sure that they have done everything possible--that nothing has fallen through the cracks, Wexler says. That can be tough to accomplish without having the consultation of a seasoned specialist.

The services that are available, from legal consultation to transportation and health care, are fragmented, and tapping into the needed array of support can be daunting, she says. Increasingly, the children who are seeking answers for their parents are in their 60s, an age when they are just beginning to enjoy retirement and starting to cope with their own health problems. “They want to enjoy their silver years, but they are faced with caring for mother or dad,” Wexler says.

There are about 500 members of the National Assn. of Private Geriatric Care Managers nationwide. All the members have a graduate degree in either social work, psychology, gerontology, nursing, or a related field, and they are trained to deal with everything from crisis intervention to insurance review and financial management.

While most families seek a geriatric consultant at a time of crisis, as did Boldra, the consultants also can provide more long-term services when they are needed. For example, Wexler’s staff can visit a parent each week just to ensure all is going well or to do a basic physical examination to look for early signs of potential problems.

Consultants also can be reached long-distance across the country to help families cope with problems when their parent lives far away. Marilyn Haese, a public relations executive in Century City, found that having her 71-year-old father move from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo a year ago made helping him with the everyday hassles of health coverage difficult.

His health maintenance organization does not have a facility in that city, and numerous calls to Medicare and the Social Security Administration could not unravel the how-tos of switching from HMO to Medicare coverage.

Finally Haese got the answers from CareAmerica, which offers some counseling and problem-solving help for seniors.

The cost of private geriatric care consultants runs about $100 an hour, but there are other low- or no-cost options. Several local hospitals offer ElderMed, a no-cost senior members program with more than 12,000 members.

The ElderMed staff is available to answer calls and make referrals. “We get calls everyday, people wondering if they can bring their aging parents to California from Florida and not lose their benefits, or asking how they can get a home health aide,” says Vivian Slor, care coordinator of Northridge Hospital Medical Center’s ElderMed program.

Boldra’s mother is now wheelchair-bound but living at home, with a part-time nurse visiting daily. Boldra said an expert’s advice helped her cope. “What I needed were options and researched opinions and guidance, and that’s what I got,” she says.

Where to Go

What: The National Assn. of Private Geriatric Care Managers

Where: 655 N. Alvernon, No. 108, Tucson, AZ 85711

Call: (602) 881-8008

What: ElderMed, a no-cost senior members program that answers calls and make referrals

Where: At Northridge Hospital Medical Center, (818) 885-5476; Valley Hospital Medical Center in Van Nuys, (818) 908-8791; Glendale Memorial Medical Center, (818) 502-2396; Verdugo Hills Hospital, (818) 952-3500

What: Pacific Review Services, a Cypress-based nationwide case management program that provides consultation for the care of the elderly anywhere in the country

Call: (800) 223-4276, Ext. 0

What: The Los Angeles Department of Aging

Call: (213) 485-4402

Choosing a Consultant

The National Assn. of Private Geriatric Care Managers suggests families look at these criteria when choosing a consultant:

Credentials: A care manager should have a master’s or higher degree in social work, psychology, or gerontology, or be a registered nurse with public health experience.

Experience: A background in working with the elderly is helpful.

Availability: Care managers should have qualified associates who are available to back them up, so 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week coverage is provided.

Billing practices: Charges should be spelled out in contracts or fee schedules.

References: Ask for the names and phone numbers of other clients and talk with them.