Field Notes
This is a question I’m repeatedly asked. Since January 2013, I’ve been working as a care manager. During my second maternity leave, our family decided to move from the north side to the south side of Indianapolis. My first concern was how I was going to handle my north side caseload? While I was on…
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As a care manager assistant, my job is to complete various tasks for other care managers. Since being hired, I’ve particularly noticed the heartwarming impact home modifications have on our clients and caregivers. At first, home modifications were daunting tasks because of the numerous steps involved. Now that I’ve mastered and seen the positive outcomes…
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Dr. Healey, a geriatrician with St. Vincent’s Center for Healthy Aging, made a presentation to CICOA’s care management staff in May about the need for a paradigm shift in the medical field from disease-centered to person-centered care management. As a care manager, this presentation hit me like a ton of bricks at exactly the right…
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The role of care manager is important. It’s also a role with no concrete job description, and that is one of the aspects that I love most. A Client in Need of Compassion I had a client, Jimmy, who was a bit of a salty character with no friends, no family and new to case…
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By Julia Ollikainen and Trellie Johnson, MSW Interns A question we get asked often is, “Why social work?” For Julia, it felt like something she was called to do. For Trellie, it was having a job that had a purpose. We currently are first-year graduate students at IUPUI working on a Master of Social Work…
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A care manager reflects on a client’s passing Connie was unlike anyone I have ever known. She lived with post-polio syndrome for most of her life, which left her with limited movement in her upper body and none in her lower body. Nonetheless she lived a full, beautiful life. She was a loving mother to…
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No matter where I am or whom I encounter, I always want to be inclusive and respectful, as well as create a welcoming and safe space. That requires a “self check-in” every once in a while to ensure how I conduct business still fits into that mantra. I recently attended a training called “Serving our…
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By Shannon Harshman, Flourish Care Manager Independence, dignity, and quality of life. The manifestation of these three goals differs with each client, and it is the CICOA Flourish Care Manager’s role to address individual needs for clients in achieving these goals. But, we don’t stop there. We “step it up a notch” to devise a…
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–by Chad Bales, Assistant Director of Flourish Care Management, and Tami Vernon, Care Management Supervisor Having worked a combined 32 years at CICOA, we have seen the amazing impact that holiday assistance can provide. CICOA’s Very Merry Days not only impacts our immediate clients and their families, but also the numerous volunteers that give of…
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“What do you want to do when you graduate?” is a question I hear frequently, and my answer is always changing. I currently am a student at IUPUI in the Master’s of Social Work program while holding my job as a care manager at CICOA. My advice for those working while attending school is that…
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