GETTING HELP WITH SH*T
ELDER EXPERTS
new york times: when eldercare problems escalate, you can hire an expert (article)
“Last week, my colleague Walecia Konrad offered advice on how to find ‘respite care,’ someone to temporarily help you tend to an elderly parent or loved one so you can have some time for your own life. This week, I am writing about what to do when you feel the situation calls for the equivalent of a case worker. Happily, such case workers can be found. They are called geriatric care managers.”
naela: national academy of eldercare lawyers (site)
“Members of NAELA are attorneys who are experienced and trained in working with the legal problems of older Americans and individuals of all ages with disabilities. Elder and special needs law includes helping such persons and their families with planning for incapacity and long-term care, Medicaid and Medicare coverage (including coverage of nursing home and home care), health and long-term care insurance, and health care decision-making. It also includes drafting of supplemental needs and other trusts, the selection of long-term care providers, home care and nursing home problem solving, retiree health and income benefits, retirement housing, and fiduciary services or representation.”
aging life care association (site)
“Aging Life Care management is a holistic, client-centered approach to caring for older adults or others facing ongoing health challenges. Working with families, the expertise of Aging Life Care Professionals provides the answers at a time of uncertainty. Their guidance leads families to the actions and decisions that ensure quality care and an optimal life for those they love, thus reducing worry, stress and time off of work for family caregivers through: assessment and monitoring, planning and problem-solving, education and advocacy, family caregiver coaching.”
On the Podcast:
HOME CARE
Very rarely will your elder just drop dead quickly (the lucky ones) … or pass peacefully in hospice surrounded by family and friends (the luckiest ones) … or Pass Go efficiently on the way from their own home to a beautiful and affordable rest home or nursing home that you and they feel absolutely FANTASTIC about. Instead, there is usually a long, laborious and multi-stage physical, mental, and emotional decay that leaves everyone feeling depleted and depressed, especially when caregivers are at a distance. If you, like I did, find yourself facing such a moment, these two programs are INVALUABLE for steadying the ship while you figure out your new normal.
Yours truly, Irreverent Rachel
home instead: senior in-home care services (site)
“From personal care to Alzheimer’s care to transportation, Home Instead services make life easier for seniors and their families. Your local office will match compassionate, reliable CAREGivers with each person’s personality and needs.”
medicaid.gov: program of all-inclusive care for the elderly (site)
“The Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) provides comprehensive medical and social services to certain frail, community-dwelling elderly individuals, most of whom are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. An interdisciplinary team of health professionals provides PACE participants with coordinated care. For most participants, the comprehensive service package enables them to remain in the community rather than receive care in a nursing home.”
Sometimes “home care” means taking care of getting elders out of their home. When I had to move my parents from the house they’d been in for 30 years into two separate apartments in two separate states (see: Origin Story), the local Junk King franchise made an otherwise emotional and overwhelming process unbeLIEVably thoughtful and easy. Facing the debris of what was left behind, I rolled up my sleeves to organize items into garbage vs. donate vs. recycle in adherence with Junk King’s thoughtful “eco-friendly” model. The owner stopped me short, saying, “That’s what WE do.” I could have kissed him. Within hours the house was empty and ready to hand over to the flipper who would breathe new life into it for a future family. After my husband’s father died in CT, we tried to repeat the same experience with a national removal vendor by another name. The experience was dismal. We watched in shock as they destroyed perfectly good furniture and hauled everything straight to the landfill. When I looked up Junk King for this post I was not surprised to learn they’re based out of San Fran. If only all businesses were so thoughtful about “a better tomorrow.”
Yours truly, Irreverent Rachel
junk king: north america’s best junk removal and hauling service (service)
Junk King is an eco-friendly junk removal company headquartered in South San Francisco, CA. We focus first and foremost on you, the customer… we understand all of us share resources to make our communities, small and large, work more effectively. This is why we are the only national junk removal with sorting facilities in our locally owned locations. We sort, reuse, recycle, and donate as much as we possibly can to be a responsible waste removal partner for a better tomorrow.