Helping With Vacations

It's summer and you may have a vacation planned, but what happens if your aging parents have a health crisis? I recently worked with Sally Ponder. She has been caring for her aging parents for several years. Her father recently passed, so she is more involved with her mother's daily needs. She fills their medication containers every week. She goes to doctor's appointments with them, and she is the main person who cares for them in case of an Emergency. Months ago she planned for a trip to Europe in June.

Last week her mom fell and broke her hip. Her mother went to the hospital, had surgery, and is now in rehab. Sally thought for sure she needed to cancel her trip, but then a friend told her to give Aging Care Management a call. We met with Sally and her mother for an assessment. We were brought up to speed on the progress of her therapy, the medications that have changed, and her predicted date of discharge. At this point, they are still unsure whether she will need caregivers to assist her with dressing and bathing when she goes home.

They hired one of our Care Managers to:

• Stay in touch with the nurse and therapists at the rehab.
• Check-in on her every other day to make sure she is getting what she needs (showers, snacks, etc)
  
• Coordinate caregivers to go home with her if needed.
  
• Manage her medications when she returns home.
  
• Communicate with the caregivers daily to make sure her needs are being met.
  
• Take her to the follow-up doctor's appointments.

At this point, Sally is in Europe enjoying her vacation, and we are acting as the "Daughter For Hire" in her place. We text on a daily basis to answer any concerns she may have and to give her updates on her mom's care.

If you know of someone who is worried that they may not be able to go on vacation due to family issues we can help. Aging Care Management, we can step in and be your family's advocate and coordinator so that you can feel confident about going on vacation.