I want to live here for rest of my life. The challenge of case management for rural seniors.

The research on long-term care for seniors clearly demonstrates that efforts to integrate urban case management services with elderly people living in rural settings have not been successful. Presenting findings of the Rural Seniors Assisted Living Study conducted in northwestern Ontario, Canada, this article demonstrates the complexity of providing health and social services for seniors living in small rural communities, services that are often vastly different from those provided in urban communities. The article proposes a specialized Rural Case Management approach with rural elderly clients and identifies four intervention roles: providing direct service, consulting extensively with specialists of other disciplines, constructing and supporting natural helping networks, and resource management. The approach also requires that the rural case manager assume a leadership role at the community level in the development of services for seniors. Having a locally based case manager rather that a case manager who travels out to rural areas from an urban center is essential to the success of this rural case management approach. Finally, the article contends that rural case management differs from urban case management by requiring specialized knowledge, skills and educational programs.