Welcome to the Sharing Ageless Wisdom Podcast! In this episode, we invited special guest Marlene Lieberman, a local expert in Care Management and Director of Senior Care Planning, who has helped so many seniors and families get the help they are searching for. Marlene answers questions relating to senior care, elder law, financial benefits, and much more.
Where to Watch/Listen
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Topics Discussed
- What is care management?
- How to choose the right care manager
- How a care manager can provide more accuracy for doctor visits
- The nuances of Medicaid and Veterans’ benefits
- The importance of end-of-life care and hospice
- Collaborative success stories
- Additional services that Marlene Lieberman provides that makes her different from other care managers
Podcast Summary
With over 40 years of experience, Marlene shares insights on various aspects of the senior care industry, offering guidance on finding and choosing the right care managers, understanding the nuances of Medicaid and veterans benefits, and the importance of end-of-life care. This engaging conversation highlights the critical need for licensed professionals to help navigate the ever-changing healthcare landscape, ensuring that everyone gets the support they deserve.
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Prefer to read the conversation instead of watching/listening? Click here for the full transcript.
You can reach Marlene Lieberman at: seniorcp.com
Or call Marlene at 954-806-6035.
For more information on Seniors Helping Seniors® Southwest Broward, visit: seniorcaresouthwestbroward.com
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What is Sharing Ageless Wisdom?
Sharing Ageless Wisdom aims to feature senior industry experts in South Florida who will share valuable insight to help our viewers prepare for aging. We will also cover topics related to in-home senior care, caregivers, family, and more. We hope you’ll benefit from this essential information.
Sharing Ageless Wisdom is a video podcast hosted by Diana Cabassi, a Certified Senior Advisor and life coach in Broward County, Florida. Diana has over a decade of experience in caregiving and running Seniors Helping Seniors® Southwest Broward, an in-home senior care service serving families in Pembroke Pines, Davie, Cooper City, Weston, Southwest Ranches, Miramar, Sunrise, and Plantation, FL.
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FULL TRANSCRIPT for Sharing Ageless Wisdom – Episode 2
The Care Connection with Marlene Lieberman – Connecting You to the Right People to Care for Your Loved One, How a Care Manager Can Provide More Accuracy for Doctor Visits, and More
Diana Cabassi: Thank you for tuning into the Sharing Ageless Wisdom Podcast. Our podcast aims to feature senior industry experts in South Florida will share valuable insight to help our community prepare for aging. We hope you’ll benefit from this essential information.
Hello everyone. Welcome to our podcast. My name is Diana Cabassi, and today it’s my pleasure to introduce you to my dear friend and esteemed colleague, Marlene Lieberman.
Marlene is the president of Senior Care Planning and has an extensive background in the medical and senior care industries. And she uses that knowledge as an aging life care manager to help individuals facing ongoing health challenges and to navigate the healthcare industry. I came to the senior care industry after a long career in human resources and didn’t know anything about this world.
When I met Marlene, she quickly became a trusted advisor who generously shares her wealth of knowledge with me. Good morning, Marlene. Thanks for coming to the show.
Marlene Lieberman: My pleasure. I’m excited to be here.
Diana Cabassi: I’d like you to share a little bit about yourself with us today.
Marlene Lieberman: All right. Well, I am Marlene Lieberman and I have a bachelor’s degree in health education and I have a master’s degree in social work. And I have a big passion of working with older adults and I hold a nursing home administrator’s license and I’m certified as a assisted living administrator. And my passion started where I had two elderly parents who constantly called me about every hour on the hour saying, could you help me? Can you help me? I need help. And my mother had a twin sister and she had a husband. And so they always needed help with medical appointments. They were in the emergency room all the time. So I was constantly helping them. And I started my career actually working in a nursing home. As a director of social work and admissions, and I opened that nursing home and then eventually it evolved to becoming an assistant administrator and then an administrator. And I worked with that company for 28 years. And so I think that I just love problem solving, love connecting people, got to know the healthcare world, actually very deeply. And so I was able to help my parents, help my family, and then just continued on my path of. Opening my own business. And so I’ve had my business over 14 years as a, a healthcare professional and as an advocate and helping families navigate this crazy system because every day it’s forever changing. We know as our, um, health healthcare system changes, our government changes, the rules changes, everything else changes that I know that I can make a difference for everyone. So what it is about me.
Diana Cabassi: A huge difference you make, Marlene.
Marlene Lieberman: Well thank you.
Diana Cabassi: I am always impressed with your wealth of knowledge. Even last night I sent you something.
Marlene Lieberman: You did. Diana got a call last night and said somebody called me and needed help. Didn’t have many resources. Their air conditioner broke and they needed fixed, and it was gonna cost a fortune. What do I do? So I quickly texted her and said, call this person. Call this person. And it was just great to be able to answer her.
I think it was like 10 30 at night.
Diana Cabassi: I know it’s always.
Marlene Lieberman: it was great. So I hope she gets some help.
Diana Cabassi: I certainly hope so too. And so Marlene, not too many people know what care managers do. And care managers have a couple different titles. You’re referred to as Aging Life Care managers. Right? And Geriatric Care Managers. Can you talk to us a little bit about the different titles that your work hold?
Marlene Lieberman: Sure. Many people call themselves many different things and some care managers are social workers, some are aging life care professionals. Some are called advocates, some are called geriatric care managers. And we do have an association that’s called the Aging Life Care Association. And you have to meet criteria, you have to have a master’s degree, and you have to have a certain amount of hours behind you that are supervised and then you have to take an exam. So the Aging Life Care Association has a website that you can actually go on and some people who are searching for professionals go on the website and you can find professionals that belong to the association. And you can find people by zip code and you can actually narrow it down by zip code and you can locate a professional.
And some are full profession or some are full members and some are associate members. And then you have other people that are social workers that can not belong to the association if you don’t meet the criteria. But they call themselves advocates. So those are the many different things that people call themselves.
And so I, I think the next question will be how do you find somebody that can do these things? So a lot of people don’t know where to find professionals to help them. And the next thing I’ll get into is like, what do care managers do? Because there’s a lot of different things that people do. Um, but how do you find someone?
So most of the time, families are overwhelmed and don’t know where to turn. And a lot of times people will go to their friends, they’ll go to neighbors, they’ll go to people who have had challenges before, what did they do? Or maybe they’ll find someone like you who does home care, who provides amazing resource to help people stay at home. So a lot of times they’ll just find resources anywhere they’ll go into, we used to call Yellow Pages, or I don’t know if anyone, I mean, they’ll, they’ll find the community directory for things. Now people use the internet, so they’ll just Google: My mother needs this, my father needs this, I need help at home, or I have a, a loved one. Or they’ll look for different things. And so sometimes you don’t even know what you’re getting. You don’t know who you can trust. Now we have things like Next Door where there’s things in the community where people write things and say, do you know someone who have helped you before? I sometimes get referrals from the internet, from people from Next Door in the community. So a lot of times people do Google searches and they’ll find things on Google. Um, like I have reviews on Google. Sometimes I get people because they see my reviews. So it’s very widespread. So a lot of times you just don’t know where you’re getting your resources from. That’s how people don’t know.
Diana Cabassi: And it’s critical to deal with licensed individuals, people who have a wealth of knowledge such as you do. And the funny thing is, is you mentioned the Yellow Pages. So when I first started the business. I had an elderly woman call me up and I always ask people how they heard about me.
And when I first started the business in 2012 I put in a listing in the White Pages, in the Yellow Pages, and I asked her how she found me. And she said: Well, I found you in the White Pages. How else am I gonna find you? And so I don’t even think that they deliver those pages anymore. I can’t remember the last time I saw one.
I don’t even if they’re published in print, but anywhere. You know, I am as you know, very grateful for all the support that you have given me and others in the community. And so can you share a little bit with us about the type of things that you do to provide assistance?
Marlene Lieberman: Certainly. So it’s interesting ’cause a lot of times people will call and they’ll say, you know, tell me what you do. And I say to people, well, you know. It’s almost impossible to tell you all the things I do because there’s so many. Why don’t you tell me what you need? Right? And so um, I in the podcast, I think what I’ll do is just touch on a few things about, they’re really important.
They’re kind of like an overview. And then at the end, I’ll give you my website so that way people can, can look. So the first thing is when people call, what I like to do is say, well, you know, if you need something, there’s something called an in-home assessment and it’s like an evaluation. What I would do is go to the home if that, if that’s possible, but that’s just one thing that I do. Do an evaluation to just see what is it that you may need if you don’t know what you need for your loved one. So I would go and I make it very, um, very unobtrusive. Like it’s more like a friendly visit because people get intimidated. So just have a friendly conversation. How are you doing if their loved one can communicate, you know, how are you doing?
What’s, you know, what’s going on? And I can even eyeball an assessment without anyone even telling me anything about what’s happening. I can do a safety evaluation, look at the house, see what’s, what’s happening, like if there’s any safety issues. But it, it’s, it’s comprehensive, but very little needs to be set. So that way I can make a recommendation and have a plan of care even on the first visit, and then talk to the family separately if that’s appropriate. It’s not always appropriate. That’s just one thing that I can offer. Uh, I can also do a Zoom call if that’s possible, but sometimes that’s not even in the picture, but that’s just one thing available. The other thing is that sometimes people have family members that live out of town and their loved one. It has to go to the doctor. And sometimes when people go to the doctor, they don’t always get an accurate assessment of what’s going on. The doctor doesn’t with their loved one. Or an older adult will go to the doctor and then the doctor says, how are you?
And they go, oh, I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. But they’ve had six hospitalizations, multiple falls, and you never get an accurate picture. As you well know when you’re, when your caregivers go to the doctor. Yeah. You know, or they won’t let them in the room. You never know what’s going on.
So as a healthcare professional, I’ll go with your loved one. Go to the appointment, get an accurate picture, and tell the family. Oftentimes I slip doctor’s notes and I’ll say, this is what’s really happening, but please don’t share it. Just have a conversation. Or I’ll even encourage the family to be on a speaker phone during the appointment. So when you don’t have a professional with your loved one, those things don’t happen. Then I will write a summary and send it to the family. The other thing is I can help families track appointments, make sure they get where they’re going and those kinds of things ’cause sometimes people can’t get to their appointments.
So I do that as well. Um, the other thing is too, sometimes families call and they don’t know what is appropriate type of living situation for their loved one. So what I do is I can do an assessment and talk about should they stay at home with home care is, you know, someone like Diana’s company, appropriate to.
Provide home care to keep someone at home. Do they possibly need an assisted living community? Do they need a nursing home? Um, you know, do they need to build daycare? Can they just maybe be out of the house during the day and have meaningful activities and maybe get a, a meal during the day? Do they need meals on wheels? You know, those kinds of things, because a lot of times. Families don’t know what settings are available for their loved one. They just think they have to leave the house, but that’s not always the case. But what kind of financial commitments do they need to have do all these things they may not know. So I try to give people all those options so they understand what’s available to them. Then the other thing, the next thing is about, um, legal and financial things about referring people to people in the community for that are professionals. I don’t know everything. I know that there are professionals in the community that people need to be connected with. There are elder law attorneys. Um, do people have powers of attorney? That is the thing that I ask the first time I speak with someone. Do you have a power of attorney for your loved one? Do you have a living will? Do you have a healthcare decision making document? Because if your loved one at some point cannot execute a document, you cannot get that anymore.
How important those things are in the beginning. So I always ask that. And even for them, sometimes people feel that, oh, I’m young, I don’t need one. Well, if you’re over 18, it’s something to think about. So I always educate people on those kinds of documents. And then the biggest thing I get when people call me are: Oh, I can’t afford to pay for a lot of things, but my loved one isn’t eligible for Medicaid because this is what someone told me, and I say to them, well, that’s not a hundred percent accurate. There’s so many ways to be Medicaid eligible. Let me refer you to an elder law attorney. And those are the things that people really are not very well aware of.
So I always refer to professionals in the community who are able to help them because I work in conjunction with all of these healthcare professionals, but they need another level that I cannot give them. it doesn’t mean that I don’t continue to work with them in collaboration with these other professionals.
So another thing. And, um. The, the one last thing that I think is really uncomfortable before I get into how I met Diana and how we kind of work, work together is about end of life care. And the thing I get a lot, and Diana and I have talked about this a lot, is about how uncomfortable people get talking about end of life care. Which a lot of people call is hospice care um, when sometimes there are no other alternatives to care. and then people recommend hospice, which I just had a case the other day where three family members were not in, um, in sync with end of life care when all the medical professionals said this is appropriate. People often think that that end of life care. Is, oh, they’re going to end the life of my loved one. it’s a very uncomfortable discussion to talk about, what do you mean there’s nothing more we can do? I always say is that end of life care is really sometimes a really wonderful thing where you can provide quality of life at end of life, and give support to family members, and give quality of life to someone where maybe there is nothing more other than giving love and support to someone at end of life and that it shouldn’t be a scary thing. It should be a beautiful thing where you can just get all the kind of support that you can get at end of life if that’s something that’s appropriate for someone. So it shouldn’t be a scary thing.
It should be something to maybe be open-minded, but sometimes religious. Religious beliefs get in the way of that. And that’s okay too. It’s not for everyone. But just consider that that’s called hospice. And um, it’s something that if you maybe just wanna hear about it, that that’s okay.
Diana Cabassi: So, um, many of you, of course most of you don’t know me, um, but Marlene knows me very well and I did lose my mom about a year and a half ago. And, um. She did towards the end of her life around, I would say about the last eight or nine months of her life, she was on palliative care hospice where basically they were just keeping her at home comfortable.
And then the day that the time came for her to transition to a better living, um, we actually were told you know, she has less than 72 hours to live. Then we went into End of Life Hospice, and I have to tell you that the experience that we had with Hospice for Mom’s transition was just amazing.
These people are incredible people. The people that do this hospice work are such loving, caring people. So as Marlene says, it’s nothing to be afraid of. On the contrary. We need to embrace that because if we’re alone in the end, we don’t know what to do. But these people know exactly how to proceed and how to do things.
Um, and so did you wanna share something else, Marlene?
Marlene Lieberman: Yeah, I wanna say on that note, both of my parents were on hospice and, and as a professional who knows this and does this all the time. It still was very difficult, and no matter how much I know it, I still needed that support and for both of my parents, and so I agree with you is that it really helped me a lot.
Diana Cabassi: It’s funny because sometimes, you know, as professionals, we know things professionally and intellectually, but when it comes to things of the heart and people that we absolutely love, it sort of doesn’t register anymore ’cause you’re into your emotions about it. But anyway, so, you know, Marlene, over the years I have referred many of my clients to you for assistance.
And can you share a couple of instances where you were able to help some people that I referred to you for help.
Marlene Lieberman: Yeah, so, Diana and I met at a conference and we just really connected and it was, it is really a nice synergy because I refer to companies like Diana who provide support and she refers to people like me who provide the support that I do. And so what was really nice is one day Diana comes, she goes, you know, I have a family that really needs your help and they need to get some financial assistance and it’s my family. And I was really touched by that because anyone who can refer their personal family member to you is really nice. And that meant a lot to me. And so I helped them all the way through getting them on Medicaid and getting the financial assistance they needed. And then a year later they called me back to do the renewal for their Medicaid. And that meant a lot. And then throughout the years, Diana has referred to me for people who need assistance and she’ll call me and say, oh, Marlene, I don’t know. These people really need help. And so I’m able to get them care management services and she’s able to provide them with a companion.
And then it’s just this synergy where we work together all the time and she does the companion care and I do the care management and we’re constantly in communication, and the family is just so grateful because it’s really teamwork. It’s teamwork and it’s synergy and um, sometimes you know, it comes back, you know, and then they stop a little bit and then they come back.
But they’ll always remember the kindness that Diana gave because her caregivers are just amazing.
Diana Cabassi: Thank you, Marlene. Well.
Marlene Lieberman: They really are.
Diana Cabassi: You know, we, it, it takes a village, as they say, and, uh, and we, we have to work together for the better of all of the people on this planet. So,
Marlene Lieberman: Mhm
Diana Cabassi: you know, is there something that we didn’t talk about that maybe you think would be important for people to know about care management?
Marlene Lieberman: I think the most important thing when people are looking for care managers, it’s important that they really talk to the individual. They have to connect with the person that they’re dealing with. Just like if they’re looking for home care, they have to feel good about who they’re working with.
You know, sometimes people will call me and they’ll say, oh, well that person was less money than you or that person, this or that person. And I would say, you know, you just have to feel good about what that person’s going, you know, what, what the connection you have personality wise. So some people, care managers may have 10 care managers in their business. And the person you talk to, it may not be the care manager that you’re hiring. And so I am a sole practitioner. It’s only me and you get me. Some people you get like when you call maybe a doctor’s office and they tell you X and you may get 10 other people. So I think it’s important to know, is it only you? Is it somebody else? What happens? You know, what happens if something happens? Like people will say, well, if it’s only you, what happens when you’re not there? You know? Yes. So those kinds of questions, but I think it’s important to know that if there’s 10 people in practice, who are you talking to?
And make sure you get that person. Um, because not everybody connects on the same way. Not everyone’s as supportive as you think, and you, you have to feel good. And, um, not everyone does the same thing. I’d have a very comprehensive business. A very, you know, I do a lot of things that some other care managers don’t do.
So you just have to know, you know, ask the right questions, know what you need, and, uh, you know, move forward.
Diana Cabassi: So Marlene, I know that you do a lot. Of extra things. Can you maybe give us a little bit of idea of what those things are because, you know, you totally go outside the box, right?
Marlene Lieberman: Yeah. So some of the extra things that I do is if. People need to go to assisted living and they need Medicaid assistance. So for assisted living for people who cannot afford to pay the full price of assisted living, I guide people on how to get on the wait list for Medicaid to be able to get Medicaid. I get them in the right direction. And then if they’re not eligible, I refer them to elder law attorneys. If they need placement for assisted living, I help them with placement. If they need help in nursing home placement, I guide them and try to help them for nursing home placement as well. Some care managers do not do placement for either assisted living or nursing home, and some people don’t do Medicaid as well. So I will help. Them with Medicaid applications. And again, if they’re not financially eligible, I will refer them to elder law attorneys as well. Some care managers don’t deal with Medicaid and sometimes they call me and refer their clients to me because they don’t really work with Medicaid at all. So that’s something different that I do, that some other ones don’t.
Diana Cabassi: And it’s a very valuable service because, you know, it’s unfortunate that many people get to the elderly state, if we wanna call it. But you know, we’re all on that path where we’re getting older and not necessarily able to pay for our care. You know, a lot of people think that the government’s gonna take care of you.
And that’s not necessarily the case. So it it’s critical to have an advocate on their side.
Marlene Lieberman: Another thing is about veterans benefits. So a lot of times people will call me about veterans benefits because they think that everyone’s entitled to veterans benefits because their loved one was a veteran. But there’s a lot of strict rules about veterans benefits that they may not be aware of.
So I personally do not do veterans benefits, but I will refer them to someone who does, or, or guide them again to another healthcare professional or the VA because there is a lot of money out there for the VA, but it just depends. Everybody’s circumstance is just so different. So, that’s where I’ve been doing this for so long, like over 40 years, and so I have a lot of good contacts and relationships that I can send people to that I feel so confident that they can help them, and that’s what I love doing is that I can connect them to the right people because so many times people can make 30 phone calls and get 30 different answers, and I think that’s the part that frustrates me the most is they get poor information.
Diana Cabassi: That’s for sure. I can’t tell you how many people always come to us as well. And you know, they’re like that lady last night. They need help with financial assistance. And so, you know, you always have the right answer.
Marlene Lieberman: We try.
Diana Cabassi: We try, yeah, you do, you may not try. You do. And so is there a way that people can get in touch with you that they would get directly to you?
Marlene Lieberman: So there’s a few ways. So, I have a website and for people who are computer savvy, it is seniorcp.com. That will take you directly to the website, seniorcp.com, and the CP stands for senior care planning.com. And otherwise, I have a phone number, which is 954-806-6035.
Diana Cabassi: Perfect. Thank you. Is there anything else that you wanna share, Marlene?
Marlene Lieberman: No, other than I love working with you and I appreciate you having me on your podcast and uh, it is always a pleasure.
Diana Cabassi: It is my pleasure always working with you. Thank you so much, Marlene, for all this valuable information. For all of you tuned in, we will also put Marlene’s contact information in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed this conversation and found it valuable. If you want more content like this in the future please subscribe to our podcast.
This is podcast number two. And follow us on social media because we’re always pasting, posting whatever the right term is, uh, good content. Um, let us know what you think about the show too. It’s hopefully of value and we certainly expect that we will be as time goes by providing much more content.
And so if there are any topics in particular that you want to hear about, let me know that too. And also if you’re inclined to perhaps be a guest on the show and are in South Florida and the senior care industry leave us a message and we’ll get back to you. So thank you so much for tuning in today.
We’ll see you in the next show. Have a great day.
Marlene Lieberman: Thank you!
Learn More About
Seniors Helping Seniors®
Southwest Broward
Seniors Helping Seniors® in-home senior care services is an exceptional program of care and compassion that matches active seniors who want to help with those who need help. Our companions can assist with meal preparation, grocery shopping, transportation to doctor appointments or any other errand or outing, light housekeeping, medication reminders, overnight stays, 24/7 care, and much more.
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