Planning ahead has always been a central part of a successful senior care journey. This means talking with your loved one about things like their desires, power of attorney, and any goals that they might have for senior care. Some of these conversations can be really hard, but that is a natural part of the aging process. When these things are taken into account well in advance, the ups and downs of the care process become smoother.
COVID-19 has changed that. Planning for tomorrow has become difficult, let alone dealing with the uncertainties of an aging loved one. Knowing what’s needed, and knowing how to take care of those things well before they’re needed, has become an essential part of caring for older family members.
First, understand that legal issues should be addressed as soon as possible. Some legal documents may take time to become official, so if your parent does have things that they want to ensure happen when it comes to care, it’s good to plan ahead. Consult with an attorney to make sure that the appropriate documents are filed and that they are legally sound.
Planning ahead is important for ensuring your loved one has high quality care right now.
Before, you could just call up an attorney and get on their schedule for creating these things. COVID-19 has made this a much tougher ordeal, though. But, even with the difficulties that the COVID-19 presented, it is still important to plan ahead and ensure that the legal aspects of senior care are accounted for. This means that things like power of attorney, living trusts and wills, and any other advance directives that might be necessary are addressed and properly put in place so that they are enforceable. Yes, the pandemic has changed how we interact and care for our loved ones, but that doesn’t mean that the legal side of elder care has disappeared.
Luckily, some aspects of care have gotten easier than ever before. More states than ever allow for virtual signatures of documents. Some states have even allowed for verbal authorization to count as an official signature, at least on a temporary basis. This has made the creation of legal documents a lot easier and it keeps people safe as proper social distancing guidelines can be easily kept this way.
If you’re like most others, you probably have a lot of questions about senior care. The COVID-19 pandemic has made getting easy answers to your questions more difficult than ever, too. What was already a complex issue has become even more difficult to resolve.
But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have resources. We can be one of them. Whether you’re checking out the information on our website and blog, or you give us a call to schedule a free consultation, we have a lot of tools and resources that you can use to help you on your senior care journey. Some things you might be able to find right away searching through our blog, but if you can’t don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. One of our trained caregivers would love to sit down and (virtually) answer your questions and get you pointed in the right direction.
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