Client Profile:

Mrs. Edelman is an 85-year-old widow living alone in a townhouse. She has been a SeniorBridge client for more than 3 years. She has early Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and heart disease and takes 7 different types of medications. Mrs. Edelman requires assistance with eating, bathing, and dressing. Her primary caregivers are two nieces, one living nearby and the other in another state. Before SeniorBridge, she was living in an extremely cluttered and filthy house, and was herself disheveled looking and unable to care for herself.

Situation:

Mrs. Edelman’s husband had died 6 months before we first met her, and her conversation centered almost entirely upon him and their life in the past. They had lived reclusively, working from home as children’s book illustrators and writers, although they had been politically active when younger. Now she couldn’t face the present or the future. The house was extremely cluttered and filthy, and Mrs. Edelman was not able to bathe and groom herself. Besides signs of memory loss, she had arthritis, which challenged her mobility, and heart disease. She had only a cat for regular companionship and liked it that way, yet cheerfully received visitors. Reading was her passion. Her geriatrician contacted her niece because he thought she was not taking her medications and should move into assisted living. Her nieces visited regularly and would find her asleep on the living room couch or distracted, not eating, and living in squalor. After a small fire, marshals warned her that she was living in a firetrap with piles of newspapers on the stairs.

Solution:

Mrs. Edelman’s nieces were relieved to find SeniorBridge and asked us to evaluate their aunt’s living situation and keep her safe and sound. A care manager visited her twice weekly to provide medication oversight and take her to physician appointments. She recommended a part-time home health aide to assist with daily meal preparation and cleaning. At first, Mrs. Edelman resented having an aide intrude on her privacy, but tactfully and in small, incremental ways, the aide helped her with personal care and housekeeping. She is still our client 3 years later. Her home is clean and relatively free of clutter. She goes for walks with her aide, is well nourished and groomed, and takes medication regularly. Her mental state has improved, she enjoys a better quality of life, and her passion for reading and her cat continue unabated. She speaks more about what she is reading today than her past to visitors and has even started inventing children’s stories again.

Prognosis:

Tactfully aiding a creative life to thrive again.