We
adhere to the principles of an elder centered law practice. When
we discuss Life Care Planning, we talk about the elder care continuum,
which is a timeline on which the individual is moving toward the end of
their life. The ideal for all of us is to age in place.
That means the elder who lives in their own home, independently and
successfully with no assistance needed, until they pass away.
Some people have the good fortune to depart life in this manner, but
many do not. Instead, they may have Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s
disease, or suffered a disabling stroke, or become frail, or otherwise
have found themselves moving down the elder care continuum. They
find that they need assistance with activities of daily living.
That means they need to plan for their long-term care needs. What
does life care planning mean? I describe Life Care Planning as
our discovering the elder’s place on the elder care continuum and then
figuring out what we need to do to identify, access, and pay for good
care for the individual, both now and in the future. That is not
as easy as it sounds, but for an elder centered law practice, it is the
essence of what we do. To put it another way, we help older
people manage their chronic illnesses. Seniors need to get good
care when and where they need it, and they need to know how to pay for
it. As an elder centered law practice, we will include in our
engagement agreements with the client a paragraph that says that we
will not knowingly take a position that harms an elder and it is our
goal to improve the quality of life for those elders we serve. By
entering into this agreement with us, you expressly authorize us to act
in your best interests at all times.
Our
team consists of an Elder Law Attorney and an Elder Care
Coordinator. What is an Elder Care Coordinator? An Elder
Care Coordinator is a professional, who specializes in assisting older
people and their families to attain the highest quality of life given
their circumstances. An Elder Care Coordinator will:
- Help clients and families identify care problems and assist in solving them.
- Assist families in identifying and arranging in-home help or other services.
- Coordinate with medical and health providers.
- Provide support, guidance, and advocacy during a crisis.
- Help
with coordinating transfer and transportation of an older person to or
from a retirement complex, assisted care living facility, or nursing
home.
- Provide education.
- Offer counseling and support.
As
a part of the Life Care Plan, the Elder Care Coordinator helps seniors
and their families with their long-term care concerns. Your Elder
Care Coordinator functions as the point of contact for the family and
assists in coordinating services to help you take care of your loved
one.
Your
Elder Care Coordinator has extensive knowledge about the costs,
quality, and availability of resources in the community. As
families begin their journey through the long-term care system, it is
helpful for them to have a supportive and knowledgeable advocate to
accompany them along the way. An example from our practice will
show you the importance of the Elder Care Coordinator. One of the
duties of the Elder Care Coordinator is to visit our clients on a
regular basis wherever they are living. During a recent visit to
a nursing home to see one of our clients the Elder Care Coordinator
noticed that a client was acting in a strange manner, not at all like
they had in the past. She went to the nurse to see if they were
aware of anything that would have caused a change in that individual’s
behavior. She was told that there was nothing. She then
contacted the family to see if they noticed anything unusual.
Again nothing. But, she was persistent. To make a long
story short, the Elder Care Coordinator was able to determine that the
nursing home had two patients with the same exact name, residing on the
same floor and they were both being taken care of by the same
nurses. I am sure that by now you can guess what happened.
Our client was given the medication that was supposed to go to the
other individual with the same name. The Elder Care Coordinator
sprung into action. She had the other individual moved to another
floor where they would be taken care of by different nurses and
arranged to change the way the names were recorded in the files
and on its computer so that this mixup would not happen again. I
can only imagine what would have happened if this would have been
permitted to continue the way it was without the advocacy of the Elder
Care Coordinator.
Life
Care Planning is an innovative approach to elder law that helps
families respond to all of the challenges presented by long life,
illness and disability. Peace of mind for the elderly and their
families is the goal of every Life Care Plan.
