Make a Plan to Discuss Your Parents’ Care Needs
Please watch the segment by clicking here: Baby Boomers Handle Sudden Caregiving Demands with Help at Home
Recently, television’s CBS “The Early Show” featured two sisters handling the caregiving needs of their mom. The sister’s were faced with making sudden changes in their lifestyles in order to provide day-to-day assistance for their 87-year-old mother.
Their mother, previously independent and active, suffered confusion following a fall and was ultimately diagnosed with a brain tumor. The sisters noted that their first challenge came from meeting their mother’s daily needs and their second challenge was finding the financial, medical, and insurance information that they needed to help their mother.
In a survey conducted by Home Instead Senior Care:
1. Almost one-half of the Baby Boomers responded that they could not name at least one of their parent’s medications.
2. Approximately 34 percent of the respondents did not know if their parents maintained a safety deposit box for important documents.
3. About 36 percent of the adult children did not know where their parents’ financial information was location.
As this family’s situation highlights, senior care professionals recommend that adult children have a clear and candid conversation with their parents before a health crisis prevents communication. Topics of conversation should focus the family’s financial situation, health history, and parent’s lifestyle preferences.
Ideally, these conversations should take place early and often — as family needs evolve and change.
Also, if you are looking for more resources about preparing for the care of family members, please check out: senioremergencykit.com or call Home Instead Senior Carin Baton Rouge at (225) 819-8338.
We hope this was helpful. If you have any questions or if you know of a senior that could benefit from our vast array of home care services in Baton Rouge, please call us at 225.819.8338 or email us. Most long term care insurance policies will reimburse us for our services and we have a team of over 200 bonded and insured CAREGivers covering the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area.
