Seniors living Independently

Every person views independent living differently. For some it is lonely and a burden to keep up the house and yard. For others it is peaceful and comfortable to live alone. Independent living may mean that you stay in your own home, or, move to a senior community where you have a smaller apartment but a greater social network. As the years pass it becomes harder to continue to live independently in your home or a senior condo. If you want to stay independent for the longest time possible, here are 6 tips to keep happy, healthy, and safe. 

1. Be very organized: Wether you see it or not memory starts to slip over time so keep a date book, write a diary, or mark the calendar on the wall with important dates and appointments. When we are not working days slide together but a good organization system will keep you on top of things.
2. Adapt your house for possible physical limitations: If you are fit now is the perfect time to prepare for the future. Add grab bars, change knobs for level style handles, make the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom as clutter free and easy to use as possible. There are professionals that can audit your home and create a change list that will keep you comfortable year after year.
3. Create and keep updated a medical record: The record should include all medications, each doctor visit and what was discussed and any conditions. This is good for you to check if you can not remember a detail, it can be given to a new doctor for a holistic picture. If you are ever in trouble a friend or family member can make sure care is not delayed with this record. 
4. Set up a network of help for the things you can’t take care of: If you are not living in a community with snow removal and landscaping look into contracting for both. Interview and hire a handy man who can do odd jobs monthly for you so nothing falls apart and you are not tempted to climb a ladder to fix a lightbulb.
5. Keep your affairs in order: Not to be morbid but you would never want to leave behind a difficult situation. You should have a will, a care directive, and your wishes known for any important topics. Similar to your medical record, keep an account of passwords and where your money and important papers are in a safe place and let someone you trust, or your lawyer, know where that is. Appoint a power of attorney and consult a lawyer to make sure all your bases are covered. Make a date yearly to review everything and make sure it is all up to date.
6. Be as healthy as possible: Keep on top of your physical fitness with an exercise routine. Exercise your brain with puzzles and learning new things. Eat right and take your vitamins and medications as directed. Enjoy time with friends and family and have fun.

These six tips should help you keep your independence. If it is important to you to live alone, in your home or a community, then you need to take ownership of that decision and be as proactive as possible.

Elder Care Services

Elder care need has grown exponentially over the last few years as the boomers move to the next age bracket. Adam Smith would be proud that the free market economy has created so many options for the care of the elderly that there is something that suits every need. With so many options is it hard to know where to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the most common options.

In home health aide: This might be a trained person, or, a nurse and they come to the elders home for several hours a day and do a range of activities from bathing and dressing to shopping and cleaning. 

• pro; the elder is still in their own home.
• con; expensive and open to potential issues as there is a stranger with no direct oversight in the home.
• best for; elders who are generally healthy, mentally capable but need some physical help.

Senior living: These are apartment groups with a minimum age requirement that eliminate the outside maintenance worries and offer a more social setting for seniors. Some communities offer more services than others.

• pro; still an independent residence, and, easier to handle.
• con; may not give any special services, may still require an additional aid.
• best for; someone who is healthy but does not want the hassle of home maintenance, and, enjoys the social aspect of a group.

Assisted living: Private studio style apartments in a facility that has a large central dining and social area and 24 hour monitoring for emergency. These facilities almost all offer some personal assistance for the resident and most can accommodate a wide range of needs. There are some facilities that specialize in memory impaired individuals or low functioning seniors who are otherwise healthy but need more personal care.

• pro; meals and aid included in the package. More social because of the central areas. Care can grow with needs. 
• con; expensive and the lost of independent living can hit some seniors hard.
• best for; people with daily care requirements who are unable to live independently, or, need 24 hour monitoring.

Skilled Care facility: Often abbreviated as SNF and the modern name for a Nursing home. Here the staff is more prepared for advanced medical needs such as IV antibiotics where most other facilities can not. Nurses staff these facilities and the state regulates for standard of care. Some enter a SNF to recover from a major illness and the staff goal is to restore health so they can move back to a more independent facility. Other SNF patients are long-term residents and the staff goal is to maintain health and comfort but there is no expectation of regaining a higher level of functioning.

• pro; regulated nurses and medical care. 100% care.
• con; most expensive and least independent.
• best for; seniors who can not function without medical care.

There are many types of each facility described above but there is something to suit the needs of everyone. Finance, medical needs, and personality all play a part in selecting what is best. There are specialists called Elder Managers who can evaluate and recommend a course of action. Hopefully this overview gives you an idea of where to start, next, do your homework and find the best solution.

Seniors Need Caring

It is hard to know you need help at any age. Kids at two will declare “I do it myself!” and they mean it no matter how they may struggle.  As we grow up we know we can’t do everything; we may use Jiffy Lube for the car and we might hire a pro to install the carpet but we easily rationalize that these are tasks we don’t have time or tools for.  As time goes on we might need help with more things like a big project but it is another thing to consider help ‘caring’ for yourself.

Everyone has their own personal definition of caring for themselves. For some it is taking care of the broad physical needs like cooking, cleaning, driving – basically being completely independent. Another part of caring for yourself is mental; motivation, stress relief, ‘getting over’ sadness or depression. Yet another view of caring is the very personal care such as bathing, feeding, and dressing. Your definition depends on many things including gender, social upbringing and personality but at some point you might wonder if you need help.

There isn’t a handy check list or standard symptoms for this one but here are a few things to think about.

1. Do you lack motivation to do things you once enjoyed?
2. Are normal tasks taking longer and longer?
3. Do you ever forget what you are doing or what comes next?
4. Have you accidentally hurt yourself and are not sure how?
5. Do you sometimes not see, or, miss a stop sign or other traffic signal?

You can still be 90% independent while getting help with that last 10%. You will be happier and healthier with help; someone doing the lifting, or cooking, or driving or just coming to visit and chat to keep the brain in gear.

At some point others around you, who love you, might start to insist that you need help because they are seeing things slipping. They mean the best but you might feel compelled to fight it just because it is not your decision. Just like loosing weight or quitting smoking, you need to make the choice to be truly comfortable with it. However, if you want to own the decision and the situation then you need to look inward and at your need, see the truth, and then act on it. There is no shame or failure in taking charge of your life and looking for help, in fact, it is far more graceful than the ostrich philosophy.

Once you acknowledge what you need help with, you’ll quickly learn that most people around you love to be asked. Helping others often makes them feel useful and important. Most of your friends or family can help to do the everyday things; cooking, shopping and regular normal tasks and motivating and supporting your self-confidence regarding the changes you are making. There are plenty of levels of professional care givers that can help with the more skilled or personal tasks that you might feel comfortable with.

Realizing you may need help caring for yourself is a hard thing to do, but, taking charge of how you fix the problem is completely in your control.

Managing a Tight Budget

There is no retirement age for budgets. As we move into the retirement years we hope that what we have put aside, invested, and earned enough social security to see us through. Many seniors find themselves on a tighter budget then they would hope for but like anyone on a budget there are millions of ways to stretch a dollar. Caregivers have a special role in the lives of their senior and they can make living on a tight budget easier.

The first thing a Caregiver can assist a Senior with is creating a sound budget. Some people had the fortune to not need a strict budget going through life, for them this is a harder lesson to learn. Others have lived their whole lives with a budget of one size or another and upon retirement they adjust to the new paramaters. All good budgets have the same basic components; a dollar amount coming in, a list of reoccurring bills, and then the difference between those numbers is hopefully positive. Having someone outside the situation assist in making a budget may be all the help a Senior needs in the finance department, check online for great tools for budget creation and work with your Senior to create a budget they can be comfortable with.

Some Seniors with early dementia who can still live full productive lives may need someone to keep track of the details of day to day finance. Here a Caregiver is a trusted partner who can assist the senior with money handling and bill paying. The best and most simple way to help is to keep track of due dates and make sure things are paid on time and in full. This will save the senior from fees and penalties, both worthless budget busters, that rack up all to fast when someone forgets to pay. Depending on the situation, a Caregiver may help physically write the checks or pay online or just supervise to insure everything is done in a timely manner. When budgets are tight the best thing is to not loose money!

A budget stretcher for anyone is found in the kitchen. Many Caregivers already help prepare meals, but, to make a budget last longer cooking large batches of food and freezing in portions can save both time and money. Using coupons, shopping sales, and buying bulk nonperishables will all help make a tight budget go further. A Caregiver can help with all these tasks from helping lift large bulk items to helping find the sales or do the shopping.

One more way to help your Senior live well on a budget is to assit them with gift shopping. Everyone wants to keep up holiday and birthday traditions and with the help of an internet savvy Caretaker a tight budget can go far. Use all of the normal internet tricks; go through a portal site so the purchase ‘earns’ money, google for coupons, and of course comparison shop. Physical stores often have senior discount days, and, many organizations like AAA or AARP broker discounts – Caregivers who track down these deals can help enormously. Finally, by shopping year round you can also help spread out the expense.

A budget is just a frame work and with some help and planing even the most tight budgets can be stretched. A Caregiver who assists with these budget stretchers is worth their weight in gold.   

Medicare Annual Enrollment

Every year from approximately October 15 to December 7 Medicare has an Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). This is when those already enrolled in Medicare have the opportunity to enroll in a Medicare Advantage or prescription drug, change an existing plan, or move to a new one or even dis-enroll. Outside of this window there is not much that can be easily done to change your current selections but that does not mean you can’t do anything.

The reason most people want to change annually is because of changes in their prescriptions , or, changes to what their plan covers. If you miss the window and your medication is now not covered you have a few options. None of the plans cover 100% of all medications BUT they are all required to carry at least two drugs in each category and class – discuss with your doctor if one of the medications that is covered would work for you. Maybe for a year you can work with the hand you have and mark your calendar for October.

Medicare Supplement, also known as Medigap, is another option if you miss AEP and something major is now not covered. Medigap is an insurance service that helps pay for what Medicare does not. This service comes at a cost and requires monthly premium payments so you need to research if the cost of premiums is worth what holes in will cover in Medicare. Depending on where you live, you might be able to enroll any time, or, there is an open enrollment for your state so this is something you will need to research.

Investigate Special Needs Plans (SNP) in your area. Special Needs Plans are a version of Medicare (still is Medicare) where treatments such as doctors and medications are specialized around a single specific medical need such as liver disease or cancer. They range in cost but the bright side is you can usually enroll any time, and, most still carry the general coverage you have in part A and B. The negative is that while they cover a large number of conditions they do not have a special needs plan for every condition in every area. Use this resource for more detailed information; http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11302.pdf

These solutions are assuming that nothing else changed in your life because just as with ‘regular’ insurance a ‘life changing event’ is an allowable reason to make a change to medicare outside of the normal Annual Enrollment window. Work with the Medicare office and they will do what they can to assist you. Even if you simply forgot, or, didn’t notice a change in what was a perfect plan last year (they do like to change the details far too often!) it never hurts to politely discuss your situation with a Medicare official. Even if they can’t let you change your enrollment, they should be able to tell you what your next best options are; the three listed above are just a few of many solutions.

Medicare is a very big system and often people feel lost in it. Never be afraid to go ask an expert, it is complex and ever changing and healthcare systems befuddle people of all ages.

Special note; Annual Enrollment is just one name for this, it is also called “Open Enrollment Period,” and/or “Annual Election Period” all three are the exact same thing.