Most people aren’t familiar with end-of-life arrangements, leaving the individuals feeling stressed and unprepared when the time comes. The good news: a life care planner can help.
What is life care planning?
Life Care Planning is a holistic, team approach to organizing care for a loved one with a chronic, progressive, and/or debilitating illness. It is a service that helps people access and pay for quality care and provides guidance while navigating the healthcare maze with the assistance of elder law attorneys, Medicaid and VA paralegals, and geriatric social workers.
Planning for long-term elder care can be a daunting task for the majority of individuals with already busy lives. It is best and recommended to get started as early as possible; however, if you have not started yet, there are certain signs and key events that indicate it may be time to talk to a professional.
Early Warning Signs
The early signs an elder care coordinator may be necessary in you or your loved one’s life are fairly obvious. Though these initial warning signs are usually easy to decipher, some are still difficult to recognize. Regardless, any of these red flags are cause to get an elder care coordinator involved to create a serious end-of-life plan:
- Terminal diagnosis
- Signs of Alzheimer’s/dementia
- Significant accident
- Health scare/hospitalization that makes the family realize they need long-term planning assistance
- Decline of mobility or energy
Urgent Signs
Along with the early warning signs, there are multiple urgent signs that your elderly loved one needs a professional’s assistance immediately. For starters, lack of mobility where the senior can no longer care for themselves, or their home can no longer accommodate them after a serious diagnosis or accident. Decline of mental cognition can also eventually render the elder unable to perform daily activities without assistance. Lastly, a family caregiver can experience extreme stress and become overwhelmed by their obligations as a caretaker, eventually leading to burnout.
If any of these situations have occurred in your family, it is imperative to get the proper professional help as soon as possible — it is NEVER too late to seek assistance for your elderly loved one. At Maser, Amundson & Boggio, P.A., we were the first law firm in Minnesota to offer this comprehensive life care planning process to clients and families. We offer peace of mind for our clients knowing that their loved ones are taken care of physically, mentally and financially.