DCare

February 26 2018
Umbrella Care Management is a God sent! I first met the company's President, Barabra Wilhelmy, when she was hired by my mother’s long-term insurance policy to do a face-to-face assessment one year ago. Barbara was patient, kind, understanding, and knowledgeable. I was very overwhelmed at the time, and desperate to get my mother some assistance. My mom had been diagnosed with Dementia by her physician a few months earlier, and I was totally overwhelmed as to where to begin. Barbara was very reassuring and gave me her card, (Geriatric Case Manager), in case I ever needed help with anything in the future. It wasn’t long before I used that card to call Umbrella Care Management. My mom was deteriorating quickly and, being her only child, I had to manage the entire situation. I talked on the phone for quite some time, with an Umbrella care manager, and then I hired Umbrella to help me get my mother’s life in some sort of order. Mom was living alone and in total chaos. She wasn’t allowed to drive any longer and couldn’t make meals for herself or even remember to eat. Umbrella helped me find agencies to interview people to come to my mother’s home to care for her, and drive her where she needed to go. Umbrella set up the appointments for me, and a care manager sat in the interviews with me. A member of the Umbrella team brought my mother to the doctor appointments during times I was unable to take off of work to bring her, and then gave me thorough follow up information. They got my mom’s 11 medications set up with a pill card through a local pharmacy so she would not have to worry and stress over separating all her pills herself. The medication is now delivered to her house weekly, set up by the day, for the three different times she needs to take them daily. When the caregiver we hired through the agency did not work out because my mother thought she was stealing from her, (which she wasn’t…it was just my mother’s paranoia), Umbrella set her up with a lovely woman she knew who came by to take her on walks and slowly earned her trust. It wasn’t too long before my mom was comfortable with her and would allow the woman to help care for her. Umbrella gave me the name of an attorney to help me with elder law issues and get my POA set up correctly. And then suddenly I was also responsible for my mother’s older sister, who is in assisted living nearby, because my mother used to take care of her. Once again, an Umbrella care manager helped me by stepping in and going to the assisted living agency to find out what needed to be done to properly take care of my aunt. I could go on and on about how wonderful Umbrella has been over the past year. Anytime I reach out, they promptly return my calls, and are always reassuring and patient. I really do not know what I would have done without Umbrella’s help this past year. I continue to reach out when I am overwhelmed with my mother’s continual digression. Umbrella is a great resource; if the team is not sure of something, they will find out and get right back to me. Umbrella looked into an Adult Day Care nearby and got my mom set up to go there a couple of times a week now. My mom loves going there to socialize. I highly recommend Umbrella for any help you may need with dealing with an aging parent or elderly person. I am so grateful and feel blessed that Umbrella happened into my mother and I’s life!