CINDY HUTSON, RN, CCM

Elder Care Coordinator

Care Coordinator Cindy Hutson guides clients and their families as they navigate the long-term care challenges of aging and disability. She completes in-home assessments, suggests changes to the home or alternate living arrangements to improve safety, coaches families through transitions to facility living, recommends ways to maximize happiness and independence, and attends care planning meetings for facility residents to ensure delivery of the best possible care. She also evaluates elders’ eligibility for public benefits such as TennCare CHOICES and VA Aid and Attendance and works with the legal team to prepare successful applications. Cindy’s contribution to the ELET team includes a wealth of medical and benefits knowledge and excellent client relations. She has a broad background as a Registered Nurse with experience in critical care, case management, and public benefits and has been a TennCare Certified Qualified Assessor since 2013. Cindy loves working with elders and their families, quickly establishes rapport with her clients, and enjoys building long-term relationships with the families she serves.

Education:

St. Mary’s Medical Center, Diploma in Nursing, 1985

Certifications:

TennCare Certified Qualified Assessor
Certified Case Manager
MoCA Certified

Memberships:

Case Management Society of America, Tennessee Valley Chapter
American Nurses Asociation
Tennessee Nurses Association

What is the problem you are best at solving for your clients?

I am willing to spend the time to listen and pay attention to actions and behaviors when I am with clients. This allows me to catch things that are perhaps not being said. Sometimes what’s not being said can be just as important as what is said. It is something that has allowed me to obtain information to get medical evaluations for public benefits approved when others couldn’t.

What excites you about your work and the contribution you make to the ELET team?

Each client has their own unique situation and needs, which makes it exciting and challenging to develop a plan for them that will address those needs. Implementing the plan and being able to follow the client through the process is rewarding. I enjoy seeing a plan that is working for a client, but being flexible enough to make adjustments to the plan as the client’s situation changes.

What do you love most about ELET?

It is so gratifying to work with a group of people who have the same passion that I do to support our clients and help them get the assistance they need. I love that everyone gets along and works together to attain that shared goal for our clients.

Where can we find you when you’re not working?

Working in my yard. My yard and gardens are my therapy! Early mornings I can be found on my patio drinking my coffee and enjoying the birds that come to my bird baths and many feeders. I enjoy spending time with my husband of over 30 years and my parents. My husband and I enjoy spending time with our adult daughter, her husband, and our granddaughter. Our son is active duty in the Navy, so we cherish the few times we have him home.

Fun facts:

As a teenager, I did a lot of babysitting. I kept records of who I sat for, how long, and how much I made. Most of them paid me in cash. I used to iron it so that I would have nice, crisp, warm bills that were all turned in the same direction. The bank tellers loved it when I made deposits!

CCM