How We Work
Professional care management advocates to help you and your aging family members live the best life possible.

How We Work
Professional care management advocates to help you and your aging family members live the best life possible.
We assess your needs.
Golden Pond care managers meet with you at home or some other convenient location to learn about your needs and preferences. We learn about your goals for aging or for the loved one you are caring for.
With the information our clients and their families provide, our care managers complete a comprehensive evaluation of well-being. This includes health, daily living, financial resources and legal issues.
We advise on a path forward.
We identify and address immediate needs. Our care managers provide ongoing help as needs change. We never lose sight of the long-term plan that fits each family’s needs and budget.
We help clients age in place with appropriate support. Or, we find the right senior community.
Our care managers navigate all the steps so that nothing blocks your way. We know how to navigate the healthcare, rehabilitation and insurance systems. We involve other trusted, reputable professionals, such as attorneys specializing in elder law. We facilitate access.
More than care managers, we are your partner.
We strive to provide solutions, access, and peace of mind. We are tireless advocates for each client’s well-being. Our care managers get the care you need, when you need it.
We provide care coordination, facilitating communications and collaboration between all care team members. We can go to healthcare appointments, meet transportation needs and handle many other details of elder care.
Each client is an individual. We never lose sight of that. We customize the care management approach for each person.
Questions We Can Help Answer
We know you have so many questions. Here are a few that we hear often. Please feel free to contact us to talk about your specific situation.
What makes Golden Pond different from a home health care company that provides aides?
We are healthcare professionals with bachelors and masters degrees, certification in care management, and extensive experience in comprehensive planning and resources for aging adults. Our focus is creating a plan, identifying the resources, and monitoring for success and emerging needs to prevent a crisis. We coordinate a team to help our clients live their best life.
Home care companies provide care givers who are companions or certified nursing assistants (CNAs) to provide assistance with activities of daily living and provide companionship. CNAs have 40 hours of training, pass a test, and obtain a license to perform basic activities of daily living. They are not trained to do physical assessments, are not well equipped to make decisions about health concerns.
The agencies provide initial and on-going assessments to supervise their care givers. Unless the company has a care management component to the business they are not offer care coordination and problem solving.
What exactly is "care management" and why do we need it?
How do I know when it's time for me, or my elderly loved one, to have more help?
- Have you created a plan for your retirement with a contingency plan should you need additional assistance?
- Are you worried about your personal safety where you live?
- Do you have difficulty coordinating and getting to doctors’ appointments, getting errands done, grocery shopping, preparing meals, getting housekeeping done, paying bills?
- Would you feel relieved if someone was nearby or helped you shower to prevent a fall?
- If you had some help with bathing, dressing, light housekeeping, and laundry would it preserve energy for you to do the things you love to do?
If the answer to these questions is yes then you would benefit from care management to assess your needs and preferences to create a plan and assemble the resources you need. Sometimes the solution is moving to a more ideal living situation to meet your needs.
How do I approach my loved one about arranging for more help without hurting our relationship?
Initiating a Care Management Consultation offers your loved one the opportunity to problem solve the challenges they are experiencing with an expert. The care manager is an advocate for the client, providing options with associated costs and benefits.
My elderly loved one wants only me, but I have so many responsibilities and I just can't be there all the time. How can I transfer some of the time-consuming responsibilities to someone else without making my elderly loved one feel abandoned?
A care manager can take on the responsibility of coordinating and accompanying the client to medical appointments and communicate the results to you, implement the healthcare plan, managing medication, and recommending care giving services as needed (for help with bathing, dressing, toileting, meals, light housekeeping, laundry, etc.) As your loved one has pleasant and helpful interactions with others, they will feel better and you will feel less stressed and guilty.
I just don't know how to talk to my mom or dad about end of life issues, including finances, advanced care directives, power of attorney, and getting the help that's needed. How do I get started?
Each situation is different. Here are some options to consider.
The death or medical crisis of a friend or family member presents an opportunity for a conversation.
When you create your own plan — is a good time to ask your parents—what are your plans?
Asking parents for the gift of providing direction regarding their decisions is another approach. Many adult children don’t even know if their parents have long term care insurance when it is needed and the parent can no longer remember to mention it. Having a plan and sharing it with you decreases stress, saves time and frustration, and streamlines the implementation of your parent’s plan.
National Healthcare Decisions Day – April 16, was established to facilitate education and action on decision with resulting legal documents. This National initiative is a starting point for conversation.
Five Wishes, published by Aging with Dignity, is a tool to guide conversations, document advanced directives and express directions about end of life decisions.
Do you help younger people with chronic conditions or is your practice limited to elder care?
We offer our services to all adults with medical, cognitive and functional conditions. 25% of our clients are 55 or younger.
Do companies that offer both care management and care giving services provide more value?
On the contrary, there is an inherent conflict of interest. When a care manager does not have the freedom to bring in the best company to meet the clients’ needs, the client does not get the best care.
What is the difference between placement services and having a care manager help me find the right place for me to move when I need to downsize or need more support?
Placement services companies establish contracts with willing senior care communities and are compensated for bringing you to them. This placement fee can range up to $10,000 and more. Care managers do not accept placement fees.
Care managers will always place your loved one in the community that fits their needs without compensation from the community. Sometimes a care manager can negotiate reduced rates and better amenities for their clients because we don’t take placement fees from the communities.
Contact us Today, We're Ready to Help
Golden Pond Elder Care Strategies, LLC
703.723.3737
Golden Pond serves the Northern Virginia region, including Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties including Middleburg, Purcellville, Leesburg, Gainsville, Manassas, Sterling, Ashburn, Broadlands, South Riding, Reston, McLean, Vienna, Oakton, Fairfax, Falls Church, Arlington, & the District of Columbia (Washington DC).