ALBA Aging Navigation

Services at a Glance

Professional consultation, advocacy, coaching, education, and strategic navigation for aging-related decisions and challenges.

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How ALBA can help

Select a category to see individual services and what they involve.

Assessment, Planning & Decision SupportSituational assessment · Early support and aging in place · Problem-solving · Decisions · Planning · Solo aging
  • Situational Assessment & Analysis: Evaluating complex circumstances, identifying concerns, recognizing gaps, and determining what needs attention.
  • Early Support & Aging-in-Place Planning: Evaluating everyday needs, identifying practical supports and changes that can make life at home easier, maintain independence, and support social and emotional well-being.
  • Strategic Problem-Solving: Untangling complicated or stalled situations, identifying barriers, and developing realistic approaches to moving forward.
  • Decision Support: Helping individuals and families evaluate choices, weigh competing priorities, understand tradeoffs, and make informed decisions.
  • Planning & Prioritization: Developing practical action plans, establishing priorities, clarifying responsibilities, and preparing for anticipated changes.
  • Solo Aging & Support Network Planning: Helping older adults with limited family or other support anticipate challenges, identify vulnerabilities, build support networks, and plan for future needs.
Advocacy, Communication & Family SupportAdvocacy · Family meetings · Communication · Caregiver coaching · Dementia · Decision-makers · Appointment support
  • Individual Advocacy: Addressing concerns, navigating barriers, and working toward resolution with healthcare providers, care organizations, and agencies.
  • Self-Advocacy Coaching: Building the knowledge, skills, and confidence to communicate needs, exercise rights, ask effective questions, and advocate independently.
  • Family Meeting Facilitation: Planning, structuring, and guiding productive family discussions about care, responsibilities, concerns, and decisions.
  • Family Dynamics Consultation: Navigating complicated relationships, conflicting priorities, resistance to assistance, changing family roles, and challenging interpersonal dynamics.
  • Difficult Conversations & Conflict Navigation: Developing communication strategies for sensitive, emotionally charged, or contentious situations.
  • Caregiver Coaching & Support: Addressing caregiver challenges, setting boundaries, managing expectations, and adapting to changing responsibilities.
  • Dementia-Related Behavior & Communication Coaching: Helping families and caregivers understand changes in behavior, recognize possible contributing factors, and develop practical communication and response strategies.
  • Support for Designated Decision-Makers: Guiding individuals serving as powers of attorney, healthcare representatives, or other designated decision-makers through unfamiliar systems, complex care considerations, and practical responsibilities.
  • Healthcare Team Communication: Helping clients prepare for and participate in productive discussions with physicians, hospital personnel, care teams, and other professionals.
  • Appointment & Meeting Support: Serving as a second set of ears during important medical appointments, care conferences, or other meetings; helping clarify information, ask questions, and identify needed follow-up.
Care, Services & TransitionsSocial connection · Care options · Crisis navigation · Discharge · Coordination · Medicaid · Care quality · End of life
  • Social Engagement & Connection: Identifying opportunities for meaningful activities, relationships, and community participation, and addressing barriers that may contribute to isolation.
  • Care Options Consultation: Evaluating whether additional support or care may be needed and considering different options in relation to individual needs, preferences, circumstances, and resources.
  • Crisis Navigation: Helping individuals and families respond to urgent, non-emergency changes or complicated situations by assessing priorities, identifying available options, and developing a practical course of action.
  • Hospital Discharge & Care Transitions: Identifying concerns, anticipating obstacles, facilitating communication, and helping develop practical transition plans.
  • Short-Term Systems Coordination: Coordinating communication, resources, and specific actions among involved parties during defined situations or transitions.
  • Medicaid & Long-Term Care Navigation: Providing an overview of Washington's long-term care Medicaid programs, basic eligibility considerations, and available pathways, with referrals for specialized planning and application assistance.
  • Care Quality & Consumer Advocacy: Helping identify and address concerns about care quality, resident rights, provider accountability, and appropriate reporting or resolution pathways.
  • Serious Illness & End-of-Life Navigation: Supporting difficult decisions, care preference discussions, family communication, and navigation of palliative care, hospice, and related services.
  • Community Support Planning: Identifying and evaluating combinations of services and resources to address daily living, caregiving, social, and practical needs.
Education, Research & TrainingIndividualized education · Research and analysis · Professional resources · Workshops and training
  • Individualized Education: Explaining complex aging-related issues and systems in understandable terms, tailored to the client's circumstances and level of knowledge.
  • Personalized Research & Analysis: Investigating relevant options, evaluating information, comparing practical implications, and translating findings into meaningful guidance.
  • Professional Resource Consultation: Identifying when specialized expertise is needed and helping clients connect with appropriate professionals and organizations.
  • Education, Workshops & Training: Developing and delivering tailored educational programs and training for family caregivers, community organizations, and professional groups.

Education and guidance

Topics ALBA Can Help You Understand

ALBA can provide guidance and education on a wide range of aging-related topics, including:

  • Aging-related changes, needs, and challenges
  • Dementia, cognitive changes, communication, and dementia-related behaviors
  • Personal autonomy, safety, risk, and decision-making
  • Family caregiving, caregiver stress, roles, and responsibilities
  • Complex family relationships and caregiving dynamics
  • Aging in place and available home-based supports
  • Social engagement, isolation, and community participation
  • Solo aging, support networks, and future planning
  • In-home care, home health, assisted living, adult family homes, memory care, and skilled nursing
  • Medicare, Medicaid, and Washington's long-term care systems
  • Long-term care costs, funding options, and public benefits
  • Healthcare systems, professional roles, and care coordination
  • Hospitalization, rehabilitation, discharge, and care transitions
  • Consumer rights, care quality, and regulatory oversight
  • Advance care planning, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives
  • Palliative care, hospice, and end-of-life considerations
  • Respite care, community resources, and caregiver support programs
  • Planning for future care and support needs

ALBA provides non-clinical consultation, education, advocacy, and navigation services within a defined scope. Services do not include medical treatment, legal or financial advice, residential placement, or indefinite ongoing care management. When needs extend beyond ALBA's expertise or service scope, appropriate referrals to qualified professionals or organizations will be made.

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