Professional Allies in Elder Care

If you are caring for an older loved one or if you are an older adult, then you know that the maze of financial, legal and health decisions related to aging can be daunting. The most complex issues can often revolve around preserving and protecting one’s assets, housing decisions and expenditures for health care services.

If you are an adult child caring for a parent, then you might be confronted by siblings who question your decisions. If you are an older adult, you might find your decisions challenged by your adult children who question your competency.

There is help however for both adult children and older adults who want to resolve these situations both wisely and effectively. The help can come from a four person team of professional allies.

Who are these professional allies? They are people with the knowledge, skills and resources to help you address the life challenges of aging. Here’s a quick guide to who they are and what they do:

1. Elder law attorney. Use the services of an elder law attorney to create your will, handle your estate, administer trusts, provide for living wills, proxy and durable power of attorney arrangements as well as provide advice on how to protect or transfer assets.
2. Financial Planner. This professional provides you with the knowledge and tools on how to invest or use invests. A good financial planner will review your life needs and total financial picture rather than focusing on one area of your finances. Financial planners can advise about options such as reverse mortgages, long-term care insurance and other insurance needs.
3. Primary Care Physician. This is the person who can provide referral to other health care services, answer questions about medications and treatment goals, assist in determining health risk and identifying options such as home care, assisted living care or nursing home care. It is the primary care physician or a staff member working under the direction of the physician who is a respected advocate with insurance companies.
4. Geriatric case manager. Geriatric case managers can be found in some senior centers or hired on a private pay basis. They provide invaluable information regarding eligibility for services and can identify local resources for home care, chore services and transportation. They typically know the requirements and reimbursement systems as well as have in-depth knowledge of the services available to older adults in addition to understanding the complexity of Medicare or Medicaid programs.

You might need only the services of one or two of these people today but it’s never too early to start collecting names of those who might be called upon to serve as your professional allies in caregiving in the future.

Building a great team will take some research and time but you’ll find the benefits of working with knowledgeable allies will prove worthwhile in every way.

 

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