About Ellen Waldman, M.A., CMC
Ellen has been providing consultation, care management, advocacy and education services to older adults and their families since 2000. She guides individuals through all aspects of the terrain of aging, including legal, financial, medical, housing, family dynamics and end-of-life. She has extensive training in addressing the special needs of those diagnosed with Alzheimer's and other related dementias. Her Master's degree is in Transpersonal Psychology, and she is Care Manager Certified as an advanced professional.
Ellen is also an educator and presents at seminars, professional conferences, and other speaking venues. She consults with families, other professionals, and businesses across the country. She serves her community through memberships on several local boards of directors, and in professional organizations. She calls Ashland, Oregon her home, since happily moving there in 1990.
To purchase her book, "Aging Happens, One Year of Columns from the Ashland Daily Tidings," — click here>>>
Client Recommendations for Ellen Waldman
Thank you so much for your time, services, recommendations and caring! This journey would have been much more difficult were it not for you and your guidance. The information we got from you provided us with the peace of mind that the direction we were taking and the organizations we engaged during the past several months were the right choices for us and especially for Mom to give her the best care and comfort during her last "adventure" with us. Most importantly, we felt like we finally had a direction.
Additionally, you wrote a newspaper article awhile back with the list of what to do when a loved one passes, we have reviewed this list ourselves as well as shared it with others who have experienced loss or are anticipating / preparing for that time. So helpful!
Blessings for your continued service to the aging community,
K.B., Ashland
Ellen Waldman helped our family make decisions about our mother's care in the last few years of her life. In the beginning, our mother was involved in those decisions, and she had a high level of trust in Ellen. Later, when Mom was unable to participate in the decision-making, we continued to have that trust in Ellen's sound judgment. Ellen assisted us in many ways, including helping us:
Understand the effects of aging on our mother's ability to make decisions and care for herself;
Learn specific and effective ways of communicating with Mom once dementia became a factor;
Evaluate different facilities and the levels of care they offered; and
Evaluate the financial implications of different types of care.
Ellen also offered her professional opinion about which facilities might be a good fit for our mother. Throughout our work with Ellen, my brother and sister and I lived in different cities. Yet we were able to work very effectively with her via conference calls. Ellen carefully planned these calls to achieve a specific purpose, and followed up with emails and information relevant to the decisions we were facing.
Ellen also visited Mom for us when we could not. She observed things relating to Mom's care that we might not have even noticed as non-professionals. She also helped strengthen the fabric of Mom's safety net, because Mom liked her and trusted her. That was very important to us.
Ellen's careful work made it clear that she had our mother's best interests at heart. In addition, however, her gentle and non-judgmental manner helped us feel supported throughout this difficult process. She was always a pleasure to work with.
If the day comes when our children need help with the challenging task of planning our care, we hope they have the assistance of someone as smart, kind, and compassionate as Ellen Waldman.
Teresa Patton, St. Paul, MN
O. John Fett, Sacramento, CA
Diana Candee, Millbrae, CA