Senior care employment opportunities are growing as the baby boomer population ages.The number of people working in elder care is expected to rise over the next 10 years.Families need to plan for the financial and physical needs of adequately caring for seniors.Elder care consulting employs people to help plan and set up proper management for older people.An elder care consultant can also be a geriatric manager.Find out how to become an elder care consultant.
Step 1: You can volunteer in a hospital or nursing home.
You will be able to see if you can deal with the challenges of elder care.Working with seniors can be mentally taxing because you have to deal with memory loss, death and health issues on a daily basis.
Step 2: You can get an associate's degree in nursing, counseling, social work, or geriatric care.
It is a good idea to get a 4-year degree if you want to be a geriatric manager in the future.The degree programs will teach you how to work in elder care.Adding a semester to your CNA certification will allow you to complete the geriatric care degree.This is a good path to take if you want to work as a home health aid, physical therapy aid or a patient care technician.To begin an associate's degree in geriatric care, you will need to complete a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training course and show proof of your high school diplomas or equivalency.
Step 3: It takes about 2 to 5 years to work in elder care.
You can work in a wide variety of jobs, including hospital and clinic tech or assistant, RN, CNA, nursing home/assisted living aid, personal careassistant, at- home nurse or assisted living or hospital administration or customer service.The diversity of issues in which you become knowledgeable is the value of your experience.Handling 1 of the issues for 5 years may be more valuable than learning how to handle legal, financial, medical, dementia and therapy issues over 2 years.The experience of handling a family member's geriatric planning is very valuable.It is possible to understand how a family will respond to issues.In order to better understand the health care system, you may want to volunteer or work in an institution for a year before becoming a consultant.
Step 4: You can get a master's degree in geriatric care management.
Financial planning, legal planning and the physiology of aging are some of the topics covered in the degree.You can be billed as an elder care expert once you have this diverse training.If you don't want to get a master's degree in this field, you can take classes in other areas.To be an elder care consultant, you should be able to advise a family on all of these issues.
Step 5: Look for a job as a geriatric care manager.
Hospitals, clinics and assisted living facilities are hiring people to help with senior planning.You can apply for jobs at a health facility if you are not ready to start your own consulting business.
Step 6: Get a membership to the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
You will be able to list your services on their site with access to courses and industry news.It will be helpful to your business if you can give your practice more professionalism.
Step 7: Start your own elder care consulting practice.
You can start a website, home or outside office if you have all the credentials and experience you need.A professional website is one of the things that should be considered when starting an elder care consulting business.Extra attention should be given to your services, credentials and appointment scheduling on the website.People can give testimonials about your services if you have a review board.You can connect with local nursing homes, clinics, hospitals and health care professionals.Many facilities can't afford to hire a geriatric care manager.If they see a family that needs help with elder care issues, you can refer them.Price your services according to the competition.It is possible to give a free consulting session in order to show people what you can do in person.Customer service is your first priority.Most business comes from referrals from satisfied customers or health care professionals.You will need to make sure you don't over promise, you provide excellent value and you contact the family frequently to encourage these referrals.