I was asking Critter about my Christmas gift, trying to get him to give up the goods ya know. He said it's in the barn. Ya, Le Volvo.
I am gonna throw a flag on this one!
How can this be my gift? I am making monthly love gifts to the bank for it. So again, I ask How can the car be my gift???? I am thinking maybe I will just wrap the electic bill and put it under the tree for him.
So, I ask you. Can the Volvo be my Christmas gift?????
I would like to help those who are considering placing a loved one in a long-term care or other type of healthcare facility. These are my opinions and views. I have been in the industry for over 20 years and have spent the last 10 yrs in Office Management. I am NOT A NURSE OR DOCTOR. I AM a person who has had to make the choice to place my own family member. The goal of this blog is to help you become a more informed family member and to help make the transition eaiser
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Power Of Attorney and Advance Directive
Do you have a POA (Power of Attorney) for Medical and Financial ? Do you have an Advance Directive or Living Will? If you are not married or a widower/widow you need to get a POA. No matter who you are you need an Advance Directive
I will give you a personal examples.
My Mother-in-Law who had a stroke,is a widow. A young woman at the age of 68 and was living an independent and active life. The fact that, for whatever reason she chose not to have a POA means we cannot do her banking or help her with other financial decisions. The loss her ability to speak or even sign an X has left the family in a tight spot. Money in a bank none can access, simply frozen. My husband also had to make a choice whether to do or not to do CPR if something should happen to his mother.
My sister died at the age of 35. It was a sudden an traumatic event, a gunshot wound to the head. If she had not died instantly, the family would have been faced with the decision of what to do and what would she have wanted and how far into life-saving measures would she had wanted. such as a ventilator (machine that breathes for you) if she would have suffered the injury and survived would she have wanted to stay alive on machines or would she have rather died in peace?
These are hard questions I hope you never have to face. We were also faced with the frozen bank account. Banks and insurance companies don't give you access to such things just because you are a family member.
I urge you to talk to your family member no matter what the age and make your wishes known regarding health care choices and have a backup for you financial matters.
My family had a "Will Party" pot luck dishes and all.
I brought all the forms and we all sat down over a meal and discussed these issues and did the paperwork. You can learn alot about your family. You don't have to discuss amounts of monies. Just let your wishes be known and get them on paper and that way no one has to make those hard choices for you.
You will be asked upon admission into a nursing or rehabilitation facility if you have these documents and if not you will need to make the decision on CPR at the time of admission. To have that discussion with your loved one in front of strangers and on the spot is difficult trust me.
You can get these forms online or from office supply store. You do not need an attorney to complete these forms.
I will give you a personal examples.
My Mother-in-Law who had a stroke,is a widow. A young woman at the age of 68 and was living an independent and active life. The fact that, for whatever reason she chose not to have a POA means we cannot do her banking or help her with other financial decisions. The loss her ability to speak or even sign an X has left the family in a tight spot. Money in a bank none can access, simply frozen. My husband also had to make a choice whether to do or not to do CPR if something should happen to his mother.
My sister died at the age of 35. It was a sudden an traumatic event, a gunshot wound to the head. If she had not died instantly, the family would have been faced with the decision of what to do and what would she have wanted and how far into life-saving measures would she had wanted. such as a ventilator (machine that breathes for you) if she would have suffered the injury and survived would she have wanted to stay alive on machines or would she have rather died in peace?
These are hard questions I hope you never have to face. We were also faced with the frozen bank account. Banks and insurance companies don't give you access to such things just because you are a family member.
I urge you to talk to your family member no matter what the age and make your wishes known regarding health care choices and have a backup for you financial matters.
My family had a "Will Party" pot luck dishes and all.
I brought all the forms and we all sat down over a meal and discussed these issues and did the paperwork. You can learn alot about your family. You don't have to discuss amounts of monies. Just let your wishes be known and get them on paper and that way no one has to make those hard choices for you.
You will be asked upon admission into a nursing or rehabilitation facility if you have these documents and if not you will need to make the decision on CPR at the time of admission. To have that discussion with your loved one in front of strangers and on the spot is difficult trust me.
You can get these forms online or from office supply store. You do not need an attorney to complete these forms.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Looking into the state survey
Every year facilities go through a state inspection. The results of the inspection are posted on the state websites and are helpful in finding and comparing nursing homes and assisted living properties. In Texas you can check facilites here
http://facilityquality.dads.state.tx.us/qrs/public/qrs.do?page=home&lang=en&mode=P&dataSet=1 .
If you are unsure about where to go in your state just leave a comment and I will send you the link for your home state.
All facilities must post their results at the facility for you to review. If you are touring a facility you can see the results onsite.
http://facilityquality.dads.state.tx.us/qrs/public/qrs.do?page=home&lang=en&mode=P&dataSet=1 .
If you are unsure about where to go in your state just leave a comment and I will send you the link for your home state.
All facilities must post their results at the facility for you to review. If you are touring a facility you can see the results onsite.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Most Important
The choice you are making is not an easy one however, with some medical conditions it is the only choice. You have to understand that keeping someone at home or in another type of facility might not be the best for your loved one or yourself.
Please don't let feelings of guilt keep you from making the right choice.
Educating yourself about the types of facilities and inspecting the facility more than once before placing a loved one can make the transition eaiser.
Nursing Homes have come along way from 20 years ago.
I will post a new topic each time and hopefully I can help shed light on questions you may have. I will also post helpful links to help futher your knowledge. If you have questions just leave me a comment and if I don't know the answer, I will try to get you to a state or federal website that can help.
Please don't let feelings of guilt keep you from making the right choice.
Educating yourself about the types of facilities and inspecting the facility more than once before placing a loved one can make the transition eaiser.
Nursing Homes have come along way from 20 years ago.
I will post a new topic each time and hopefully I can help shed light on questions you may have. I will also post helpful links to help futher your knowledge. If you have questions just leave me a comment and if I don't know the answer, I will try to get you to a state or federal website that can help.
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