Care Management: Flourishing Together

As a CICOA Care Manager who is passionate about each of my clients, I am always looking for new ways to do a better job, to push case management to new heights, and create an experience for my clients that will help them have a better today. The branding of care management with the term Flourish gave me a new perspective through which I can accomplish this.

CICOA’s Vision Statement is: “A Central Indiana community where older adults and those of any age with a disability flourish.” What exactly does this mean and how can I accomplish this? The word flourish means to “grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.” I think I speak for many care managers when I say that vigorous is not a term used to describe the majority of our clients.

With this is mind, I asked myself, how can I help my clients flourish in their own ways and within their own abilities? That’s when it occurred to me: moments. I can give my clients moments to flourish. I started thinking about how the things I do as a care manager are directly responsible for making these moments available. Each time clients are able to transfer more independently because of an approved lift chair, they flourish in that moment. Each time clients are able to pay a bill without worrying if they will have enough for food because of home delivered meals, they flourish in that moment. Every time clients are able to ambulate to the bathroom on their own because of a walker or wheel chair I have helped them obtain, they flourish for that moment.

There is no one single service that provides our clients with the “greatest possible independence, dignity and quality of life.” My job as a care manager is important because of all of the little things that make my clients’ lives better. We provide them with that “particularly favorable environment” when we complete tasks such as requests for application (RFAs), finding that one right provider, and having GPS emergency response units installed to allow clients to leave home with that extra layer of safety. All of this is part of my job as a care manager, making these moments possible for my clients to flourish in their own unique and important ways.