Building a Bridge Between Gerontology and Case Management: The Social Service Worker License

The need for case managers continues to rise as the number and needs of the elderly are projected to increase. The future o f case management lies in its ability to be a cost containment tool by utilizing alternatives, such as less expensive community based programs. Alternatively, the case manager needs to emerge out o f the traditional fields of medicine and social work and progress to a more multi-disciplinary field o f gerontology. This project suggests a new way of educating traditional Social Service Workers by offering a future course o f study that includes the fields o f medicine, social work, and gerontology. This project looks at the rationale behind the requirement o f having a Social Service Worker license. Finally, this project helps to connect the fields of social work and gerontology by building a bridge between them.