Scott Tolan, Geriatric Care Manager
It’s been a busy season here at ACE Senior Care Navigators, and we are thrilled to announce our newest geriatric care manager, Scott Tolan. Scott joined us in November, and while he may be new to ACE, he is anything but new to the field of aging. Scott comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience working with older adults and their families, and we are so excited to introduce him to you.
Scott, you’ve worked in the field of aging for a long time. How did you get started in geriatric care management?
Well, I had been in the older adult services field for some time and was looking to make a job transition when I was approached by the owner of a geriatric and special needs care management firm, Life with Dignity about joining her group with the focus as a geriatric care manager, a position which I happily accepted. What I liked about this role is that it combined many of the skills and experiences that I had already developed in the broader field of working with and for Seniors and their families. My work in this position was highly varied. In some instances, I was checking in with Seniors on a consistent basis, whether they lived in their own home or in a community, just to make sure they were doing well and had no outstanding needs. In other cases, I was taking a much more active role in my clients’ lives, such as coordinating health care needs and providing guidance on navigating the health care system. I really learned how much of a knowledge gap exists for a significant percentage of Seniors and their families in accessing resources for care and related matters.
It sounds like Life with Dignity was a really transformative experience for you and your career. Can you tell us about your earlier experiences in the aging field?
Certainly. After having obtained an MA degree in Gerontology I began seeking out opportunities in this field. My first position was as a Director of Community Relations with Sunrise Senior Living. My fundamental role here was to market the assisted living and memory care residences being built by Sunrise. It was what is referred to in the field as a “blue sky” project since the physical community did not yet exist but was under construction. Working out of a well-decorated double-wide trailer, my goal was to help Seniors who anticipated needing this level of care in the near future feel comfortable with their decision.
After that I worked for AARP in their corporate offices in Washington DC. As many Seniors know, AARP offers discounted supplemental insurance plans to their members. In my role as a Customer Satisfaction Researcher, I surveyed the members who purchased those plans to see how satisfied they were with the product and then presented those results to the insurance companies. It was an interesting experience.
Since then I have worked in various capacities in long term care, behavioral health, adult protective services, and home care in addition to the work I have done as a geriatric care manager.
You have such phenomenal breadth and depth in the field of aging, Scott. I know that over your years of experience you have developed an expertise in the area of dementia. How did that all come about?
Yes, well pretty much from day one as an aging specialist I developed a passion for learning as much as I could about dementia, dating back to my first experience with Sunrise where part of our initial training involved spending time observing the Reminiscence units at several of their properties. This gave me great insight into what it was like to work with people with memory impairments. Eventually, when working on the home care side, I was able to help develop a specialized at-home memory care program for those with dementia and their families. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.
The program worked to create a customized level of service for clients living in their own home who had some form of memory impairment. Activity and engagements were tailored to the individual, as was the support provided by caregivers who went through specialized memory care training that I prepared. These caregivers were largely responsible for carrying out the details of the program. My role was to coordinate the services for each client in the program. We had a couple of real success stories where clients who had basically stopped their engagement really blossomed and produced music and art, for example, that they hadn’t done for a long time. This was great to see.
This is humbling to learn about, Scott. How are you able to use your skills in dementia care in your current role as a geriatric care manager?
That’s a good question. I’ve found that given the prevalence of cognitive impairment in the general population that it is likely a number of our clients will face some form of memory impairment ranging from MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) to various stages of dementia. This means that having an understanding of all the potential resources available to these individuals and their families is a huge asset for professionals like ourselves working with them. Having experienced untold numbers of individuals in this situation I also think it is incredibly valuable knowing how to relate to them and their family members. Unfortunately no set of circumstances is the same when it comes to dementia and so your skill set here needs to be quite broad.
One of my most rewarding experiences as a geriatric care manager came when I was working with a woman living in a memory care community and she was reaching the end of her life. She had recently been hospitalized and had returned to the community only to be looking at yet another hospitalization shortly after that. At that point, I spoke to her doctor about hospice care and after her condition further deteriorated he agreed that was the right consideration. She died a short time after that in the comfort of her memory care community which had become her home.
Scott, thank you so much for sharing your background and expertise with us. Scott has already started working with a few clients and is looking forward to continuing to make a difference for older adults and their loved ones with ACE. Click here to learn more about our geriatric care management services, and reach out today to schedule a complimentary consultation or to learn more about Scott and the ACE team.
