Patrice Antony, PT, BS, GCS, CAPS, calls herself the wedding planner of elder-care services, but instead of planning matrimonial magnificence, Antony designs individualized care plans filled with elements from across the elder care spectrum to optimize her geriatric client’s quality of life.

It’s a skill she’s been developing for more than 30 years, 20 of which she spent as a geriatric clinical physical therapist, and one she wouldn’t possess without her PT background.

“I know how to do falls and balance assessments, I know how to speak the language of pharmacology and poly-pharmacy issues; I know how to do medical screenings; I am certainly comfortable in a doctor’s office,” Antony says. “The care management thing was a natural fit because I was doing those things as a PT anyway, just not getting paid for it.”

A decade ago, Antony gained certification as a geriatric care manager and founded Elder Advocates Inc. in Orlando, Fla. As a GCM, Antony conducts comprehensive physical and medical assessments; clarifies and works within her clients’ financial situations; locates, suggests and puts into place governmental benefits; coordinates social services centering on hobbies and interests; and secures appropriate housing.

“It’s all about being able to step back from a situation, look at the big picture and say, ‘Where do we go from here?’” Antony says.

Logical Career Move
Certified geriatric care managers hail from a variety of backgrounds. According to the 2,000-member National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, members can hold a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree in a field such as counseling, psychology, nursing, social work or gerontology.

But the skill set PTs possess is especially well-suited to the profession, says Christine Rose-Franks, PTA, BS, MPA, RCFE, CMC. “It’s been exceptionally helpful from the viewpoint of understanding people’s physical function and how that supports or contradicts their desires,” Rose-Franks says. “You can never take that out of me — my eyes and ears are always looking at the physical environment, safety risks, making the environment for the person who wants to stay in the home and training [other] caregivers to make the person strive for the highest level of function.”

Familiarity with physiology, disease pathology and pharmacology also is a boon to clients whose care plans are steeped in physical considerations, Antony adds.

More than any ability she possessed, Antony says the interpersonal and collaborative skills she developed as a PT advanced her career. “Sometimes you’re dealing with a family with five siblings and they all want different things for their parent, so you have to act as a mediator and bring people to the same page so you can get the outcome achieved,” she says.

Further, experience working with other medical specialists is a boon to the profession, says Rose-Franks, who began her physical therapy career in sports medicine and later geriatrics and skilled nursing before gaining her care management certification and joining the staff of Eldercare Services in Walnut Creek, Calif.

“The team extends far beyond your walls into the wider world,” Rose-Franks says. “I work with a team of about 20 geriatric care managers and it’s a nice balance. In my case, it’s nice to know that I have a team around me there I can bounce ideas off of.”

The Ins and Outs
While the experience PTs possess might facilitate a segue into care management, the multifaceted field requires ingenuity and expertise that goes beyond a typical scope of practice.

“There is a definite learning curve,” says Rose-Franks, explaining that the time she spent working under the supervision of a seasoned care manager was a wake-up call to the potential mistakes she could make, the difficulties of working with multiple clients and the multiple variations of care plans she could develop for just one client.

Antony says she maintains a comprehensive list of elder care attorneys and advocates who keep her abreast of the constantly changing elder care laws. “And if I don’t know something, I don’t pretend to know it — I will research it before I go anywhere and am not afraid to say that I don’t know that — let me check on it,” Antony adds. “You have to be a big picture person to be in this business, and you have to have a huge network of other professionals to call upon because you can’t possibly do everything.”

Challenges and Rewards
Like many geriatric care managers who own their businesses, Antony is always on duty and expected to provide solutions to unexpected crises 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“There can be lots of big disconnects on this stuff — logistics get lost and little things can become huge things,” Antony says.

Her ability to make connections coupled with her dedication toward her clients has required Antony to do things she never would’ve imagined. “I had a lady who broke her hip and didn’t want to go to the hospital because she didn’t want to leave her dog. So guess who ended up dog-sitting for the weekend?”

But it’s that innovation in finding solutions that makes their jobs worthwhile, care managers say.

“There’s reward in the options, suggestions, ideas and recourses that you provide someone that can directly aid in helping their quality of lives,” Rose-Franks says. “You’re on the front line helping facilitate the minutia and details that they can’t. And many times we’re on the front lines where the parent lives so we become the surrogate child.”

In fact, it’s the relationships she develops that give Antony the greatest job satisfaction. “So many times when you’re working for a hospital or clinic, your productivity standards are set for you and you are under pressure to produce,” she says. “When you’re working for the client, when your client is your only focus, the only agenda is meeting their goals and it’s very rewarding to see them get there.” •

Robin Huiras is a freelance writer.