When Slowness Isn’t the Problem in Aging Care
By Amy Pierce, RN, CMC
Fifteen years ago, long before I became an Aging Life Care Manager®, I was working as a nurse in a busy, insurance-driven medical practice. Like many offices, we were constantly behind schedule. The pace was fast, the pressure was real, and efficiency mattered.
One morning, a nurse I worked with was escorting an older woman from the waiting room to an exam room. The patient was using a walker and moving slowly. As they made their way down the hallway, the nurse kept glancing back at me, clearly frustrated.
Eventually, she got the patient settled and returned to the nurses’ station visibly irritated.
“She was so slow,” she said. “We are never getting out of here.”
I remember pausing and thinking, “Is the problem that she is too slow, or is the problem that we are moving too fast?”
That moment stayed with me.
In traditional healthcare settings, older adults often do not fit the system designed to serve them. Appointments are short. Schedules are tight. Questions take time. Stories unfold slowly. In an environment driven by productivity and volume, aging bodies and aging minds can be perceived as obstacles rather than individuals.
I had begun to notice a pattern. Older patients were frequently told that their symptoms were simply “part of getting old.” Concerns were brushed aside, time was limited, and no one was tasked with stepping back to see the full picture.
Even then, I knew there had to be something more intentionally designed for older adults. A model of care that allowed for time, patience, and dignity. A system that recognized complexity rather than rushing past it.
Years later, while working in hospice, those early observations came into sharper focus. I watched families struggle to coordinate care, manage medications, understand medical recommendations, and make decisions without clear guidance. Everyone was doing their best, but no one was responsible for holding the whole picture.
It was during this time that I discovered the Aging Life Care Association®.
For the first time, there was language for what I had sensed years earlier. A professional role built around coordination, advocacy, and understanding the medical, functional, emotional, and family dynamics that shape aging. A role designed not for speed, but for clarity.
Looking back, I can trace my path to that moment in the hallway. To the quiet realization that older adults were not the problem — the system was.
Aging Life Care Management exists because aging requires more than efficiency. It requires presence. It requires someone willing to slow down, ask better questions, and honor the full story.
For families seeking this kind of support, an Aging Life Care Manager can be found through the Aging Life Care Association, where a national directory connects you with experienced professionals in your area, visit aginglifecare.org.
For those called to this work, I encourage you to connect with the Aging Life Care Association. Individuals come to this career from many different paths. Whether you are looking for guidance or inspired to provide it, this profession offers a path grounded in compassion, expertise, and a commitment to seeing the whole person.
About the Author:
Amy Pierce, RN, CMC, is an Aging Life Care Professional with over 20 years of nursing experience and is certified through the National Academy of Certified Care Managers. She works with families navigating complex aging care decisions and is a co-founder of Coastal Care Partners, a Aging Life Care Management practice in Savannah, Georgia.