Who Will Look After Your Parents?
By 2050, every third person in Israel will be caring for an elderly relative. Maanit Shlezinger, CEO of MaanitCare, explains how best to deal with the numerous complexities and challenges involved.
Israel’s elderly population has increased at double the rate of the general population. By 2050, there will be over 2 million senior citizens in Israel, most cared for by their adult children — one in every three of younger Israelis. How will these family carers balance their responsibilities for their own home, work and personal lives while also fulfilling the needs of their dependent elderly parents or relatives? How will they handle their elderly charges who often refuse to cooperate? MaanitCare’s CEO Maanit Shlezinger has the answers.
“During 20 years as a social worker, I accompanied thousands of families on the complex journey of caring for their parents”. “I met wonderful people who were doing the very best they could, but were nevertheless frustrated and ridden with guilt. Lacking both time and the information they needed, they were helpless and burned out by trying to care adequately for their parents.”
Care management
It was to answer this need that Shlezinger created MaanitCare. “We deliver a focused, personal and comprehensive care management service,” she explains. “Care management gives the elderly person the effective, skilled response needed, as well as the professional, personal help sought by the family caregiver. My mission is to empower the family so that care and support of their elderly parents becomes a positive, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. My aim is to help them see aging as an opportunity rather than a problem, a different period of life that, while not always easy, is intimate and special.”
Israel has many services for elderly people, but they are deeply fragmented. The outcome is that nonprofessional family caregivers, unfamiliar with this world, spend long exhausting hours battling bureaucracy, often at the expense of time with their parent.
MaanitCare’s approach is holistic. “We know the field, we know the rights of older citizens and we’re familiar with the entire range of problems, challenges and sensitivities faced by families caring for their elderly members,” says Shlezinger. “Because of this, we’re able to coordinate the care, treatment and services offered by different organizations and providers. We’re also well placed to help families, collapsing under the burden of care, to reach apposite decisions, to support them emotionally, to provide necessary information and to take action as necessary — all of which frees up adult children to spend quality time with elderly parents, time in which they can still be their children as well as their caregivers.”
As vital as MaanitCare’s services are for caregivers living in Israel, they are yet more so for those domiciled outside the country. “Adult children who live abroad need to know that their parents are receiving the best care possible, that their needs, arrangements and appointments are taken care of, and that there will always be someone there in times of crisis,” says Shlezinger. “We assign a professional care manager, equipped with all the tools, techniques and skills for ministering to the third and fourth ages.”
The remit of the care manager, she explains, is to help families get what suits them best, “to request services they didn’t know existed, guide them with medical summaries, help resolve disagreements, sort out paperwork along with whatever else is necessary.”
A road map: setting up care for today and tomorrow
MaanitCare includes in-depth counseling of family members. “Where possible, we go to the home of the elderly person, checking accessibility, sensing family dynamics and seeing how we can improve the fit,” says Shlezinger. “If we can’t do this in person, we use Zoom. The counseling results in a road map for future care, discussed and agreed with the family.”
Whether counseling in person or virtually, the care manager ensures that the family has all the information it needs. Rights are laid out, different treatment options (free, community and private) explained, the setup of the home and its accessibility assessed, and legal recommendations (such as lasting power of attorney) offered.
“The consultation saves everyone money and time,” sums up Shlezinger. “It makes things clear to all, introduces order, sets tasks and ensures that nothing is lost unnecessarily.”
MaanitCare
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