Category Archives: Caregiving – Dementia

I saw this useful reminder in the Stockton Parkinson’s Disease support group newsletter sent out over the weekend.  It was written by Christy Carruthers, a caregiver in the group.  This is probably a good end-of-year activity every year.

Robin

Have you lined up all your ducks?
Christy Carruthers, Parkinson’s Caregiver
Stockton

Your named beneficiaries on your pension, portfolios, insurance policies, bank accounts, etc., that is.  Did you know named beneficiaries will trump whatever you stipulated in your trust or will? And you once you’ve passed on, you can’t fix it – sorry.  Pull out those documents and check them-is your first spouse named on your pension and you’ve remarried?  Did you have more children after you listed your first born as inheriting on your financial documents?

It’s a good idea to also visit your estate planning attorney and have your trust or will updated if your circumstances have changed.  Every five years is a useful guideline.

Is your current house in your trust (have you moved)?  Is your trust “funded?”-i.e. is your house, other assets, etc. listed with your trust named as the owner-not you.  (Don’t want to go through probate thank you very much and it’s expensive).

And a durable power of attorney for your spouse can be more important than you realize.

This post is only of interest to those who are eligible for Medicare.  Open enrollment ends next Saturday, December 7th.

Medicare Part D is the prescription drug plan benefit.  Apparently 90% of those enrolled in these plans don’t ever bother to re-consider their plan choice during the open enrollment period.  The 10% of people who do switch plans often lower their out-of-pocket drug costs.  When I was managing my father’s Medicare plans, I found that there was huge price variability among the hundred or so drug plans for which he was eligible.

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report in November about the “inattention” of 23 million Americans who have a Part D drug plan.

For more, read the Kaiser report here:

kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/to-switch-or-not-to-switch-are-medicare-beneficiaries-switching-drug-plans-to-save-money/

Or there’s a related New York Times article here:

newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/slow-dancing-with-part-d/

Robin

I attended a talk last Wednesday at Avenidas Senior Center in Palo Alto on “Navigating the Hospital Stay: A Caregiver’s Role.”  I picked up two pieces of info that were worthwhile.

First, Medicare offers a discharge planning checklist.  See:

medicare.gov/pubs/pdf/11376.pdf

If you are advocating for someone else in the hospital, going through this checklist is an important part of your caregiver role.  If you are in the hospital, it’s always a good idea to have a family member or a friend there advocating for you, taking notes, and completing this checklist on your behalf.

Second, if you are at the hospital and are not understanding the discharge plan, having trouble getting your point across, having difficulty advocating for yourself or your family member, or needing a mediator, you can call “Guest Services,” request the assistance of the social worker, or request assistance of the hospital religious staff, such as the chaplain.  (The group at Stanford Hospital that deals with complaints and patient issues is called “Guest Services.”  It might be called something else at other hospitals.)  You can even request these things in the ER.  Most ERs have on-call social workers, for example.

Robin

The last three Wednesdays, the New York Times has had a three-part series of questions-and-answers on assisted living and other living arrangements for seniors.  This post is about part two of that series.  I thought part two had more useful advice than part one.  One key piece of advice – plan ahead as much as possible!

This analogy was provided in part two by the author:

I once heard a prominent geriatrician explain that dementia is like the rain — rain may be in the forecast, but it is unlikely that the storm will hit exactly when it is expected. Therefore, just as you would want to pack an umbrella in your pocketbook “just in case,” it is important that safety measures have been put in place before the “storm” begins.

I wonder if it’s possible for families to discuss in detail what measures they’d want taken if a family member developed dementia…?

The entire Q&A is worth checking out, especially the section on “Knowing when it’s time for more help”:

www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/booming/advice-about-assisted-living-for-aging-relatives-part-2.html

Booming
Ask an Expert
Advice About Assisted Living for Aging Relatives, Part 2
By The New York Times
Published: October 23, 2013

Robin