Answer: If you are a professional who helps families plan for or deal with ANY of their elder care matters, then you owe it to yourself to be listed on America's #1 online source for "Elder Care Experts"….
ElderCareMatters.com
ElderCareMatters.com is where you will find more than 2,000 competent, caring elder care experts located across America, including:
-
Elder Law Attorneys
-
Estate Planning Advisors
-
Financial Planners
-
Investment Advisors
-
Geriatric Care Managers
-
Insurance Professionals
-
Life Care Planners
-
Professional Organizers
-
Reverse Mortgage Lenders
-
Senior Move Managers
-
Senior Real Estate Professionals
-
Tax Advisors
-
Aging in Place Professionals
-
Daily Money Managers
-
And other elder care experts with long and successful careers working with seniors and their families
This is also where you will find some of America's best:
-
Assisted Living Communities
-
Alzheimer's / Memory Care Communities
-
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
-
Home Care Agencies
Together, we provide families across America with:
-
Unparalleled professional expertise
-
Up-to-date elder care information & answers to your elder care questions
-
Competent, caring assistance with a wide range of elder care services
So if you are a competent, caring elder care professional who helps families with ANY of their elder care matters, then request today an Application for Membership in the national ElderCare Matters Alliance and get listed on ElderCareMatters.com - America's #1 source for "Elder Care Experts" plus information and answers about a wide range of elder care matters.
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters, LLC
ElderCareMatters.com
Answer: The best way to tell if one is ready for in-home care is to have developed a “baseline” of abilities to perform the normal Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) that we must perform in order to live well and safely at home.
These activities are actually broken down into two groups. Activities of Daily Living which include personal hygiene and grooming; dressing and undressing; feeding oneself; functional transfers such as moving from bed to a chair; control of urinary and fecal discharge; toileting; and walking or other forms of ambulation. These basic ADLs are complemented by a set of “Instrumental” ADLs, including ability to do housework; prepare meals; take medications; manage finances; shop for necessities; communicate on the telephone; use technology.
Ideally, we should assess our ability to perform these activities early in our adult lives, when we are well able to perform them. This removes emotion from the exercise and allows us to do a more objective job of planning for the future. Or, I may have no problem with mobility at this time but determine that having to depend on others to safely move from bed to a chair means I will need home care
The Advance Living Directive’s focus on our ability to perform normal activities helps us create an objective base for making future – or current – decisions about home care. If I do not plan ahead, I am likely to be more emotional and much more stressed when the time actually comes. Working through that planning process with my spouse and children will also get all of us on the same page, before there is any opportunity for distress or discord.
We all understand the need to develop Advance Health Care Directives, Trusts, Wills and the like. This is simply another instance of planning for the future. The good thing is that the focus on ADLs and IADLs is not tied to chronic medical conditions, requiring health care. I may have Diabetes or COPD, for example, and still be perfectly capable of performing the normal activities of living at home. There is obviously a correlation, but the need for home care (non-medical) needs to be assessed separately.
Bert Cave, President
Support For Home
Sacramento, California 95825
916-482-8484
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, California chapter
