Aging Life Care Professionals Gather in Raleigh for Conference Sept. 12-14

Considered ‘hottest career trend of the decade,’ aging life care managers meet to enhance skills

(Wake Forest, N.C., July 15, 2019)—Aging life care professionals, whose occupation has grown with the increased population of senior adults, will gather in Raleigh, N.C., Sept. 12-14, 2019, for a conference featuring the latest topics and information on aging.

The professionals attending the conference work in Aging Life Care™, also known as geriatric care management. Aging life care managers are health and human service specialists who act as guides and advocates for families caring for older relatives and work collaboratively with a wide range of other service professionals.

The Raleigh conference is being organized by the Southeast chapter of the Aging Life Care Association® (ALCA), a national organization helping families and caregivers navigate the challenges of aging.

According to a Sept. 2018 white paper released by ALCA, aging life care managers are one of the hottest career trends of the decade. Statistics like these are the reason:

• Boomers age 65 and older are expected to increase at a 2.3-percent rate while the number of family members available to care for them will increase at less than 1 percent, according to The Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University.
• The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 16 million Americans giving 18.5 billion hours of care valued at nearly $234 billion provide unpaid assistance to people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias.

There is great pressure on families, particularly women, desperate to find help coordinating care and advocating for their loved ones.

“We’re fixers. We help stabilize a crisis and guide families to actions that ensure quality of life for their loved ones,” said Carla Payne, chair of the ALCA Southeast Chapter Conference Committee that is planning the conference.

“We use our expertise, experience and resources to coordinate needed services, such as keeping the lines of communication open between family members and health care professionals and answering questions during times of uncertainty,” added Payne, who is an aging life care manager and owner of Aging Care Matters, in Wake Forest, N.C.

The three-day conference at the Brier Creek Embassy Suites in Raleigh will feature speakers, sessions, discussions and networking opportunities for aging life care managers. With a capacity for 300 attendees, the conference is also open to social workers, students, therapists, counselors and others who work with aging adults and their families.

Jennifer Szakaly, ALCA Southeast Chapter president and owner of Caregiving Corner, LLC, in Charlotte, said conference attendees will have the opportunity to earn continuing education credits (CEU) for sessions on clinical and client-centered care.

“Certified care managers must complete CEUs annually to maintain their ALCA national certification and ensure they’re providing the highest level of service,” Szakaly explained.

More information, including a search tool to find local aging life care managers, can be accessed at www.sealca.org/annual-conference.

About ALCA SE Chapter: The Aging Life Care Association® (ALCA) Southeast Chapter consists of care managers from six states, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Each year, a different city hosts the regional conference. ALCA was established in 1985 as the National Association of Private Geriatric Care Managers. Today, there are more than 2,000 aging life care manager members located across the United States in nine regional chapters. www.aginglifecare.org