In This Issue

	When Is the Right Time to Move a Parent to an Assisted Living Facility?
	If you answer yes to any of these questions, Hurley Elder Care Law can help
	Life Care Planning Goals
	The 2007 Hurley Elder Care Law Handbook of Resources

When Is the Right Time to Move a Parent to an Assisted Living Facility?

	It is difficult to know when the time is right for moving an aging parent to an assisted living facility. Such a move can be especially difficult for older adults who are used to complete independence and have enjoyed maintaining their homes for many years. For those older adults, the thought of leaving the family home place and all of the associated memories can bring a sense of sadness and loss. However, depending on the particular situation, the move may be the best thing that has happened to that parent in many years.
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If you answer yes to any of these questions, Hurley Elder Care Law can help.

		Has the elder been diagnosed with a mentally or physically debilitating disorder such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, stroke or a decline in functional capacity?
		Is the elder isolated due to the recent death of a spouse, or have family that either lives too far away or is too busy to provide adequate care?
		Is the elder soon to be discharged into a care facility or currently receiving in-home care?
		Does the elder have a variety of healthcare providers and need coordination and advocacy for quality care?
		Does the elder seem unusually concerned about costs of medication and services, indicating he or she may be having financial troubles?
		Does the elder have assets that fall between $50,000 and $400,000 – enough to finance a short stay in a care facility but not enough for an extended stay?
		Does the elder have a spouse whose financial needs must be considered in light of the elder’s medical condition?

Life Care Planning Goals

1. Meeting the elders’ immediate health care and long-term care needs.
2. Making sure the elder/family is making good health care and long-term care decisions.
3. Helping the elder/family sort through the maze of their long-term care options including residential options.
4. Identifying and accessing public benefits and resources to pay for care should the elder meet the qualifying criteria.
5. Help with asset management, including the burden of home ownership and personal property.
6. Providing the entire family the peace of mind that comes from knowing their loved one is monitored by a team that combines legal and financial expertise with specialized knowledge of the elders’ physical, mental and emotional health.
7. Ensuring the highest level of independence the elder can achieve, while ensuring safety.

When Is the Right Time to Move a Parent to an Assisted Living Facility?

If a parent has been living independently, it may well be that he or she has become less socialized over time. The move to an assisted living facility may prove quite valuable from this perspective. For the parent who is suffering with dementia, staying in the home alone may be just plain unsafe. Some people who suffer with dementia are prone to turning on kitchen appliances and not turning them back off, while others tend to roam and end up lost. Additional factors should include household chores, maintenance of the house and meal preparation. While the decision to move away from the home is difficult for the aging parent, it can be equally hard for the children. One of the issues that children often have difficulty overcoming is seeing their parents struggling and needing help. Children tend to always see their parents as the healthy hearty people that they were twenty or thirty years ago, when the parents themselves were providing help and support to others. People tend to fall into one of two thought patterns. In some cases the older adult refuses to admit that there are any issues. When this is the case it usually requires some type of “triggering” event to occur before any action is taken. For example, I am familiar with one elderly gentleman who still lives in his own home after having fallen and sustaining a broken neck. This gentleman has difficulties with moving around and the house that he lives in has a couple of steep staircases that he continues to try to maneuver. He also experiences numbness in his extremities. While this particular gentleman does have a son who lives with him, he has almost no other socialization. Though this gentleman has a variety of issues, he refuses to admit that he really could use some help. His other issue is that he is a child of the depression era and he is unwilling to spend anything to acquire help, even though his quality of life could be greatly enhanced by making a move. In this particular case, nothing will probably happen until the gentleman has lost more functional capacity and ends up in a hospital due to another fall or some other type of trauma. The other thought pattern lies with the children. As has been previously stated, children often see their parents as being more able than they really are. Most children do not even know what assisted living entails. Another family that I am familiar with had a father who was living alone. The children had finally noticed that he was losing weight and probably needed some type of change in his living arrangement. Their first thought was an independent living facility. When one of the children made an appointment to tour a facility, she told the community liaison that her father was independent and could do everything for himself. When the gentleman and his daughter actually showed up to visit the facility, he had not shaved and his clothes appeared wrinkled and unwashed. As the tour commenced and they began to walk the grounds, the father admitted that he was not sure if his legs were strong enough to make it all the way around. At that point, the community liaison realized that this man really needed to be in the assisted living wing as opposed to the independent living wing. While the father excused himself to the restroom, the community liaison explained the situation to the daughter. The daughter quickly realized the seriousness of the matter. When the father came back, they had a deeper discussion followed by a tour of the assisted living facility. The father really felt comfortable with the assisted living facility and the services provided. Thankfully this gentleman is now living in a safe and secure environment. It is easy to overlook signs suggesting that a parent may need help. Here are a few things to look out for: Does your parent seem to be wearing the same clothes all of the time and are the clothes clean? Do you know what medications your parent is taking and do you know that he or she is taking those medications correctly? Does your parent seem to be losing weight even though he or she claims to be eating properly? Is there food that is going bad in the house? Does your parent have bruises or contusions that may have been caused by a fall, but uses some other rationale for the injury? Is your parent’s house in the same state of neatness and maintenance as it was when you were a child? Or even ten years ago? Does your parent wake up thinking that someone is trying to get into the house or hearing noises? If so, have calls been made to the police? Have you come into your parent’s house and found a stovetop, oven or iron on while it is no longer being used? Are you being honest with yourself when you look at your parent? Is the parent truly healthy and hearty or does he or she seem to have declined? It is incredibly important for adult children to be able to recognize when their parents need help. While making the decision to move to an assisted living facility can be difficult, adult children should take on the responsibility of ensuring that their parents are properly cared for, comfortable, and secure.