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I know the above question addresses a topic that is not too popular. When my Father passed away due to a stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, my Mother was in her seventies and independent. She will be ninety-two on Tuesday, and she is still pretty independent. However, I am in an enviable position because one of my brothers lives close enough to her so that he can stop and take care of her errands every day. The other brother commutes to Chicago for his job and lives with her at night. Therefore, her needs are pretty well covered. However, the situation can become much more serious when each parent needs a different level of care. Could one survive on his/her own if one passed away? Please read on and be advised what could happen if you do not give this topic some thought.

REAL LIFE STORY

My client is a cherished friend from my childhood. I have known his parents since I was 6 years old, a fact that made my job a bit difficult from a personal standpoint. My friend (who lives out of state) contacted me because we had re-connected on Facebook. He was aware that I am a Certified Care Manager and asked me to assist with planning for his parents. His Father would be celebrating an 80th birthday in the near future. His Mother was in her late 70’s. When this story began, I was informed that his Father had suffered a fall at home. He was receiving treatment at a hospital that was located in an extremely busy area. My friend’s Mother was having some issues with her memory, and was driving to the hospital to visit her husband on a daily basis.

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Join Us At Cantata, 8700 West 31st Street, Brookfield, Illinois, 60515, on October 24, 2013 from 2-5 PM, as a panel of experts discusses the best ways to organize, smart-size, simplify, and plan ahead for a move to a new home.

The panel of experts will include:

– A Certified Professional Organizer – Patty Wolf – A Senior Living Advisor – Andrea Donovan – A Real Estate Specialist – Roz Byrne – People who’ve conquered the clutter and made the move – and are happier for it!

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In the past several weeks it seems like I have been deluged with cases involving senior citizens who need to give up there driving privileges. My own Mother is 91 and still independent. Yet, she had enough common sense to relinquish the keys when she realized her age and the effects of her medications could cause her to have an accident. We live in such an auto-dependent society that most seniors don’t take charge of the fact that memory impairment coupled with the effect of medications can impair visual -spacial abilities, reaction time, and concentration behind the wheel.

As a senior living advisor, I have collected copies of the transportation schedules from over 400 communities. Many of the retirement communities offer transportation options that are quite flexible and could be a saving grace in a child’s quest to encourage a parent to stop driving. My REAL LIFE STORY exemplifies how retirement community transportation may help in that regard.

REAL LIFE STORY

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Great FREE seminar coming up to discuss the overwhelming decisions that everyone will need to make one day regarding their or their family’s real estate, senior housing, financial and estate matters. Leave feeling better prepared to assist those you care for to make a successful transition into senior living! I was pleased to have been invited to speak at this event offered through the Lyons Township Adult and Community Education Program. It will take place at the Lyons Township High School – South Campus – 4900 S. Willow Springs Road, Room B115, Western Springs, Il. The date is Tuesday October 8, 2013, from 7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. If you would like to attend, please call Andrea Donovan Senior Living Advisors..

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I am usually hired by the child of a senior who engages my services and entrusts their loved one’s placement or geriatric care management to me. The child often lives out of state. I would like to share a, “Real LIfe Story,” that not only emphasizes the point in the title, but stirred a deep appreciation for how tirelessly the paid and family caregivers must work.

REAL LIFE STORY

My client is the child of an 86 year old senior. The child lived out of state and hired me to find permanent placement in a nursing home for the parent. The senior was currently completing some short-term rehabilitation under Medicare. The community normally had a waiting list for its long term care beds. The child asked me to find three communities that were within a certain location parameter so that the other sibling and family members. It was also to be of a certain religious affiliation.

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Many of my clients have asked me if they are making a mistake by “preparing too soon,” for a senior loved one’s life changes. My response is you can avoid an emotional and financial crisis by educating yourself with regard to the options for your loved one. Please read the following “Real Life Story” to learn what one of my clients experienced when they were forced into a “rush” decision.

Real Life Story

My clients are a woman and her elderly parents. There is a large age difference between the parents. One is in his/her mid-nineties, while the other is in his/her early eighties. The older of the two parents is totally independent and functioning very well. Unfortunately, the younger parent has dementia, can walk without any assistive devices, and recently began wandering. When a person with dementia wanders once, they will do it again. The parent had held a very prestigious job and was able to talk to me about past responsibilities.

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Sometimes you must face the fact that you are in denial about your senior loved one’s needs. I am sharing the following Real Life Story with you to emphasize that point.

My clients are a family of ten children who attended my, “Senior Living Myths Unmasked,” presentation over three years ago. Their elderly Mother was living alone in a large home. At that time, she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia. The children were divided in their opinions on whether to keep their Mother at home with a caregiver or seek placement in a long term care community. After countless conversations with them, they decided to hire a caregiver on a part-time basis.

The family contacted me recently to advise them on their Mother’s situation which had changed dramatically. The caregiver was helping their mother on a full-time basis. Her finances had changed drastically. Reportedly, she was down to her last $30,000. She owed no money on her home, but the house was not on the market to be sold.

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The popularity of reality TV shows has brought about an overwhelming interest in the disorder of hoarding. I delivered a presentation on the subject this week and was overwhelmed myself by the number of people in the audience who thought they had the disorder themselves. As a senior living advisor and certified care manager who works closely with hoarders, here is a summary of what I shared with my audience.

Hoarding is a disorder that is comprised of three components. First, a person accumulates too many possessions. Second, the person fails to get rid of them. Third, the individual fails to organize the “stuff.” The bottom line is that living spaces that are intended for other uses are so cluttered that they can’t be used for the purpose for which they were designed. The result is that the hoarder suffers distress due to the hoarding.

Here are some of the signs of a chronic hoarder:

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Yesterday I heard a report on Newsradio 780 in Chicago that Illinois was cited as one of the two worst states for nursing home care. The report was very brief and sketchy, so when I had an opportunity, I logged onto their website and read the article. It was only several paragraphs in length so I will just paraphrase what it said.

The report was produced by an advocacy group called Families For Better Care. Their executive director said , “his non-profit reviewed federal data from three groups and put much of the blame on the number of nursing home employees. The staffing in Illinois is nearly abysmal. They practically have skeleton crews working in nursing homes.”

My question is, federal data from what three groups? I am assuming he is talking about the three components that make up the Medicare five star rating system, meaning the annual survey from the Illinois Department Of Public Health (IDPH), the quality measures, and the staffing. As a senior living advisor, I always tell my clients that the five star system has its faults. The only component of that system that I trust somewhat is the survey from the IDPH. The other two components, quality measures and staffing are reported by the nursing home employees. I don’t trust anything that is self- reported.

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This week I was delivering my “Senior Living Myths Unmasked,” presentation to a group of business owners. The discussion on nursing home safety always stirs a lot of emotion and discussion. This week’s presentation wasn’t exempt from a lively discussion regarding the use of bed rails in long term care communities.

I shared a story with the group about a nursing home that had a reputation for terrible care. I had been hired by a client to move his wife from that particular nursing home to one of better quality. In the process of my research, I found that they had incurred 42 deficiencies during their inspection from the Illinois Department of Health (the average number of deficiencies in Illinois is 7), which is a feat that is next to impossible. Upon further investigation, I found that the home had a death in the records with regard to using a bed rail that was unsafe. The details of the death outlined the fact that a resident had a history of constantly climbing out of his bed. He required a bed rail that was waist high to assure his safe entry and departure from the bed. The nursing home maintenance department didn’t have the materials to install a railing at the right height. Some railings can cost as much as $200. Instead of a waist high railing, they installed an eye high railing. When the resident tried to climb out of the bed, he hit his forehead on the rail. His neck became compressed between the rail and the bed. He fell between the mattress, suffocated and died. Unfortunately, a resident may not be able to inhale or scream. At the end of my story, a member of the audience put his hand up and said, “Yes, but my parents were recently in a nursing home in Ohio, and there were no bed rails there. Instead, the home’s staff placed my parents’ mattresses close to the floor.”

Note that the story I shared with the audience occurred a number of years ago and I assured the individual that guidelines for bed rails had changed. The accident that I shared with them is one of the most common tragedies that occurred with the misuse of bed rails. Since the accident, some guidelines for the use of bed rails have been established. Hospitals and nursing homes do not allow the use of four bed rails at once, which is considered to be a restraint. Bed rails may be used with an order from a physician. What you may see are 2 rails used near the head of the bed that can assist the patient or resident with his/her mobility. The Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services does not allow the use of restraints and will no longer pay for treatment of falls if it was caused by an accident with a bed rail.

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