FAMILIES
customers-families-life-care-management-help-IKOR

Caring for an aging family member, for an adult with disabilities, or planning for the future of your child with special needs, once you’re no longer able to care for them, is a concern for many families.

Families contact us to help manage medical appointments, deliver in-home care services, coordinate and oversee home repair and many other areas. Our professionals address these needs for your loved ones in person and through emerging life care technology. This technology helps us to stay connected and support your loved ones to maintain their safety and give you peace of mind. Our personalized service options can meet almost any need.

IKOR helps families care for their loved ones through technology for seniors image

How we work depends on how the individual is functioning in their environment.  If we’re not helping someone plan for the future, our process usually begins with an assessment to understand the individual client’s situation. We need to understand the level of functioning and the client’s current support network, as well as their medical needs, their current medications, and providers. The assessment process involves interviewing the individual, gathering relevant medical records, developing an individualized action plan, and discussing the options with anyone involved in the care.

Through our assessment process, a Life Management Advocacy Plan (LMAP) is developed based on individual circumstances. We have several assessment tools that we use based on the individual’s unique needs, and we continue to assess the needs as we support the individual’s ongoing circumstance. The Life Management Advocacy Plan (LMAP) is updated at least yearly and evolves in consultation with client, family and other professionals who are involved with the client as the situation develops.

Families most often come to us for help with one or more of the following activities:

  • Medical or Disability Advocacy, Medication, Health & Wellness and Disability, Medical Power of Attorney with a family member to support family members who live at a distance
  • Technology to support extending independence and improving safety for the family across town or around the world
  • Crisis Intervention or Hospital Discharge Planning and execution
  • Cognitive Assessment, Support, and Oversight
  • Visits to Care Communities to address quality of care
  • Financial – Daily Money Management/Routine Bill Payment, support for a family member with Durable Power of Attorney 
  • Environmental Areas, Housing, Home Maintenance, Safety, Mobility and Modifications
  • Aging at Home with a Plan Assessment and Planning
Our professionals care-related needs for your loved ones in person and through emerging life care technology image
What to expect when you work with us

 

A professional, trusted and reliable presence — We work to support your loved one’s best interest, build trust, inter-connection, and instill confidence by being a reliable presence in good times and in hard times.

Confidentiality We work to earn your loved one’s trust. We recognize that we are involved in the most intimate details of their life. We go out of our way to ensure your confidentiality, and privacy.

Innovation focused on results — Often care related service providers focus on how they’ve always done it. Many providers want your loved one to fit into the way they operate, sometimes they do have to adjust to a different way of doing things, but not always. We know how public programs and systems work and we use our experience to make programs work better for your family members individuals needs when possible. Our IKOR of Western Pennsylvania team is known for creating results through innovation in our work and in our programs and when services can adjust to your loved ones needs and expectations. 

Organizational and personal accountability — We strive to create and work culture that is transparent and accountable to the families of those we support. Through our web based Datikor 2.0 system, our invoices and notes, and our conversations are specific and detailed focusing on transparency in every interaction when the client themselves approves or when a family member is a power of attorney.

Collaboration — We work to leverage collective genius among our team, and families whose loved ones’ we support. We work to create teamwork among all stakeholders and mediate conflicts.

Commitment to your best interest — We support a fiduciary level of care. We work in unison with any other professionals and those your loved one designates while always keeping your best interests the main focus of any discussions or activity.


FAQs by Our Family Customers

Your loved ones accountant is an expert at taxes and bookkeeping; their financial advisor takes care of growing their money. Their attorney addresses legal areas and helps decide on the power of attorney concerns and how your legacy and Willrelated areas are distributed after death. We coordinate with your loved ones, PCP, and your specialists. Our focus as Life Care Professionals is to address care and wellbeing to help your loved one in medical and carerelated areas. We help them find purpose and maintain dignity in Aging. We understand how they are functioning in their living environment, their medical concerns, medicationsare they getting what they need socially, what is happening cognitively, how is their mental health. We can help define and understand what plans are needed for Aging by asking these questions:  What does dignity mean to them? Do their plans for Aging meet with their spouses plans for Aging? Financially, does their vision for aging match their finances? What does care cost? Are there programs or veterans benefits that they are eligible to receive? How do these programs work? We can function as your bill payer or power of attorney, or we can support your loved one and family in these areas if they are not already being addressed.

We get to know how you are functioning in your environment We work to create a customized program for our clients and their families. We work to make systems of care work in the best interest of our clients. We usually start with an assessment that is a certain number of hours where we learn about your loved ones medical and carerelated needs. We set short and long-term goals to support in any area of care. Our assessment is looking for areas where your loved one might be vulnerable to reduce the risk of a crisis. We have a menu of services and programs that are customized based on the individual needs of our clients, and we can help anticipate ongoing needs during and after the assessment. We are open and thorough in discussing the pricing in our no-cost consultations with our clients and their family. We work on billable hours as needed, and other work is based on customized packaged programs to meet your individualized needs. We do all that we can to reduce the risks of a crisis. Crisis work is based on billable hour rates work outside of packages. We work to make your costs affordable for budgetconscious clients. We focus on bringing value by reducing risk and improving the quality of life. Crisis work can become expensive when the crisis is complex. That is why bringing us in long before a crisis to reduce risks is always the best solution.

The assessment is conducted by an RN Patient Advocate who works through a comprehensive checklist to understand all areas of life. The RN Advocate gathers information and then writes a 10–30-page report on your loved one. While writing the assessment, we look for where your loved one might become at risk now or in the future and create goals to avoid crises. Then the RN Advocate shares the information with our mental health/social services team to address areas of concern around socialization, cognition, and mental health. When there is a bill pay concern, we pull in our financial advocacy team; someone needs to address the power of attorney or estate planning.

Yes, your loved one will have a care manager who is usually a Registered Nurse, with a backup Registered Nurse who also knows your loved one for vacations or schedule conflicts. If you would benefit from the support of social services or mental health experts, or they need help to pay bills or need Power of Attorney support, we can also help in these areas. We communicate and update family as needed, and often we do monthly or quarterly in person or zoom calls with anyone involved in supporting your loved ones care. We also offer concierge services, life enhancement support, and home maintenance expertise when assistance is needed in these areas.

It depends on what happened and when it happened, and how your family chooses to engage us, but we attend medical and carerelated appointments. We show up at the hospital to address any concerns and help with discharge planning. We anticipate needs in every interaction, acting in the clients best interest. We become experts on your loved one, medical care, wellbeing and advocate for your loved ones dignity and best interest in every situation. When we understand your financial situation, we can also guide and advise you on making the most of your money, so you are making decisions based on your financial goals, not just on how things are feeling on an emotional level. If you need to move to a care setting, we assess your level of care and understand your wishes, so we work to find the care setting that meets your financial and carerelated needs. Then we offer oversite and support through different levels of care, using your Medicare or Medicaid benefits or long-term care insurance benefits to your advantage.

I often reflect on how difficult this situation would be for myself and my family without IKOR. The responsibility is onerous, but with IKOR’s help my family has gotten the care needed.

Our Customers / Families