OUR HISTORY
In 1980 Shirley Leteff O'Neil and Joanne Wallace Tuttle received Masters of Arts degrees in Gerontology from the College of Behavioral Science at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Gerontology, the study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging was a relatively new field of study. In Florida there are thousands of elders who have migrated from other localities as active, vibrant retirees and have aged in place, become widowed, isolated, mentally or physically infirm and sometimes unable to drive themselves even to the store or the doctor. The women founded Life Cycles, Inc. and began to research ways to help the aging population in the state. The head of the state's Aging & Adult Services asked them if they would consider doing indigent guardianship. They met with Probate & Guardianship Judges Benjamin Sidwell and Neil McMullen to discuss this. The judges affirmed the need and expressed their concern that someone would come up with a 'public' guardianship program they feared would develop into another "layer of bureaucracy".
Joanne and Shirley went back to their office and began to design a program for indigent guardianship which they called "An Alternative to Public Guardianship". They did a needs assessment study and wrote a proposal which they presented to the State Courts Administrator, after helping to have $195,000 put in the state budget for guardianship with the help of Florida State Representative George Sheldon. They were invited to Tallahassee for a conference with the State Courts Administrator and their proposed program met with approval. The idea was to contract with the state in the same way the large construction companies contract to build roads and highways. It was put out for bids across the state. After the bids were in, contracts went to three separate entities in different parts of the state and the program was called PUBLIC Guardianship. Nevertheless, the local judges were supportive and began appointing Life Cycles as legal guardian in privately funded cases. Life Cycles prospered and started taking pro bono cases also. Over the years, Life Cycles has been guardian for hundreds of people adjudicated incapacitated (incompetent) by the courts in Hillsborough, DeSoto and Manatee Counties..
Life Cycles, Inc. was the first organization set up specifically to do professional guardianship in Florida. After Life Cycles' success, many others entered the field. The way guardianship is allowed to function is very different in each judicial circuit. Sometimes an inflexible or indifferent court system can even be financially or emotionally damaging to an individual who falls under the complete control of the court. Joanne and Shirley began to see that sometimes it is better to avoid the extremity of guardianship. If there is concerned family or a reliable Trust Officer or family attorney, it frequently is possible to ensure the safety and happiness of an frail, incompetent individual without the legal expense and invasiveness of guardianship. Under these circumstances there can be a better way. This better way is called Geriatric Care Management. The women joined the *National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers and became certified by the National Association of Certified Geriatric Care Managers and continued to pursue what they had hitherto called 'contract services'.
In 1990, they had formed a separate entity, Life Cycles Guardianship Foundation, Inc. to contract with the Department of Children and Families and with state mental hospitals and mental health treatment facilities to do guardianship and guardian advocacy for mental health patients.
From the beginning both Life Cycles, Inc. and Life Cycles Guardianship Foundation, Inc., have employed Case Managers with medical backgrounds (RNs and LPNs) for visitation, transport to doctors, etc. This gives an added dimension to the social worker aspect of the care and gives a more rounded approach to each individual case. Each person's plan is individualized, and avoids the 'cookie cutter' approach.
*www.caremanager.org
