You Need a Team: Why Aging Safely Takes More Than Just Family
If you’re like most middle-income families, you think you can figure this out.
Your mom’s still living at home. She’s in her 80s. She’s starting to fall more, forget appointments, maybe miss a few meals. But she’s still herself—and you want to do the right thing.
So you start asking questions.
And very quickly, you realize:
There is no single door into the aging system.
There’s no clear next step.
Just a maze of agencies, eligibility rules, and dead ends.
That’s when I tell families the same thing I’ll tell you here:
You need three professionals to get through this safely.
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1. A Geriatric Care Manager
You can find them through MaineHealth, Martin’s Point, or Northern Light—but not every provider makes this easy to access.
A care manager becomes part of your parent’s long-term support system.
They:
• Help you plan care before a crisis hits
• Attend medical appointments (when possible)
• Coordinate across specialties
• Support both the older adult and the adult children
• Help monitor changes over time
This is not about a rehab stay or a discharge plan.
It’s about staying ahead of the curve—because by the time you’re reacting, the options shrink.
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2. An Elder Law Attorney
You need one before you think you do.
An attorney helps you:
• Protect your parent’s assets
• Prepare for MaineCare (Maine’s version of Medicaid)
• Understand the five-year look-back
• Create a clear Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive
• Avoid crisis-mode decisions under pressure
MaineCare is not simple. If you guess, or wait, or follow advice from the wrong place, you could lose tens of thousands of dollars—or worse, the ability to make the right decision when it matters most.
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3. Maine Aging Partners
That’s where I come in.
I’m not a care manager. I’m not an attorney.
I’m the person who helps you map the care landscape and actually move through it.
I work with families every day to:
• Understand what kind of care is even available
• Compare options that make sense financially and logistically
• Decode what the sales teams are telling you—and what they’re not
• Know when to wait, when to act, and how to prepare for what’s next
• Keep your parent safe without losing your sanity or your savings
I don’t take referral fees.
I’m not aligned with any one provider.
I’m here because I’ve been behind the scenes—and I know how this system really works.
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Aging shouldn’t require a full advisory board.
But right now?
That’s the only way families make it through without burning out—or going broke.
So if you’re navigating this for a parent, or you’re an older adult trying to stay in control, build your team:
1. A geriatric care manager
2. An elder law attorney
3. And Maine Aging Partners—to help you navigate everything in between
Because doing this alone is too much.
And doing it without a map?
That’s how families lose time, money, and peace of mind.
Let’s change that—together.
