Posts Tagged ‘Planning’

Planning for Parent Care or Spur of the Moment Elder Care Decisions…you Decide

by bobcrabtree1 Posted: Sunday, 12/27/2009

When our family members are well, we usually do not think about what may happen in the future. As baby boomers age, they will become the largest group of elderly that our nation has ever had. And, their parents are aging as well. As a result of these two realities most families will be caring for aging loved ones.

The Challenge ? Family members do not anticipate and prepare for being caregivers. We?re too busy with jobs, children and other responsibilities. Our parents seem to have an ageless quality about them. We live with a certain sense of denial about the aging of our loved ones and what their needs might be.

The Solution – Begin anticipating future needs and prepare for the possibility of family caregiving.

Every family will address their reaction to and the possible transition to family elder care in their own way. Preparing and planning for care of an elderly loved one helps families avoid having to make hasty decisions in a crisis situation. The more prepared the better. Planning provides choices.

1. Explore your family history regarding elder care, and elicit how each member of the family feels about caring for an elderly family member.

2. Recognize the realities of the current situation for example, pre-existing medical conditions and diagnosis.

? educate yourself and your family about your loved one?s condition and care needs.

? gather information that can be used for current and future elder care planning.

3. Include elders in the planning:

? they can help guide the planning, they may have already given a lot of thought or made provisions for many of the areas that need planning

? they can be involved in making the decisions for their future which helps take the guesswork out of planning.

How your family views elder care is based on family history, culture and religious upbringing. Each family member has his/her own values and beliefs about caring for aging parents.

Start the preparing now. What are your family history, culture and religious beliefs regarding taking care of aging parents? What is each family member?s feeling and level of commitment about caring for aging parents? What are the current care needs and realities of elder care in your family? Begin the conversation with your family members and parents. Start preparing for the future now.

Carol McGowan RN and Cindy Streekstra RN are Caregiver Coaches and geriatric nurses who share a mission of caring for caregivers as part of a family unit. Their passion for caregivers has led them to create ?The Caregiver Cottage?, a virtual place of support where they guide family caregivers through the caregiving experience.


Click here for more information on planning for elder care http://www.guidingfamilycaregiving.com

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Planning a Senior Move

by bobcrabtree1 Posted: Wednesday, 12/23/2009

Although most seniors will tell you that they want to remain intheir own home forever, it is not always possible for an elderly person to stay safely at home. Sometimes moving to another residence is the only good option for an elderly person. Expert caregivers who have gone through the process of moving an aging parent have some very useful tips to offer.

The most successful senior moves came about because there was a good advance plan. Family members helped their seniors make as many decisions as possible well in advance, and they were prepared for strong emotions throughout the process as well as on moving day. Their most common advice is to move as methodically as you can through the process:

1. Know everything you can about the space where your senior will live. Whether it’s to your home or to a senior residence, take your tape measure and draw a detailed floor plan of the room or apartment. Use a good sized piece of graph paper and include closets, doors and windows, and electrical outlets. You’ll use this floor plan to “place” the furniture before you move it, so you’ll know in advance what will fit (and what won’t) and where things will go.

2. Start sorting as early as you can, but don’t be surprised if your parent doesn’t seem to be making progress as fast as you’d like. Sorting through a lifetime of treasures can be heartwrenching. As tempting as it may be to just take over, ask permission before putting anything in the discard pile. As much as time allows, let your parent talk about the memories each item will resurrect.

Consider renting a storage unit if your parent is not ready to let some treasures go and they won’t fit in the new location. You may find that the monthly fee is well worth it when the alternative is a devastated parent. You can sort through the stored items later, when emotions are not as high.

3. Using another piece of your graph paper, make cut-outs to scale of the furniture that your senior will be taking. You can use these cutouts to “arrange” the furniture on your floor plan. When you have an arrangement that you think will work, tape your cutouts to the floor plan and make several copies. You’ll give a copy of this plan to the movers so they know more or less where things should go in the new home.

4. Be sure to set up telephone and cable service to start a day or two before the planned move-in. That way, if the utility installation date slips, your parent will still have a working phone and television on arrival.

5. If your senior is moving locally, make sure the new residence is stocked with ice, something to drink, and several favorite snacks in the refrigerator or in a cooler you bring with you on moving day.

6. On moving day your parent will probably not be willing to leave while treasures are being loaded on the moving truck. If the move is local, try to give the movers an hour or so at the new place to begin putting the furniture in place before you arrive with your senior. Send a friend or a relative to supervise while you take your parent to lunch after the truck pulls out. When you arrive at the new place, there should at least be a comfortable chair where your parent can sit while supervising the rest of the unloading.

7. If the move is long-distance, there will be a day or two, or even as much as a week, between the time the moving van is loaded and when it reaches its destination. Plan for the van to arrive later than scheduled. If possible, have a friend or relative waiting for the moving van at the new residence. This person can call you when the van arrives so that your parent will not be waiting for hours in an empty room.

8. Even if there is care staff in the new residence, make certain that the bed is made up, the towels are hung, and the toiletries are unpacked and put away in the bathroom before you leave. Your parent will probably be exhausted and may be too shy to ask for help.

Keep these tips in mind and your senior’s moving day may not be quite as traumatic as you feared.

Before you think about moving an older person from his or her home of many years you’ll want to be sure you know just what their needs really are and what living options are best suited. The ElderCare Team will show you how to assess your elder’s needs and how to find and fund the best living options at http://www.eldercareteam.com
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Employee Benefits Opinion Surveys Identify Employee Benefits Needs and Enhance Benefits Planning

by bobcrabtree1 Posted: Thursday, 12/10/2009

Understanding and being responsive to employees? benefit needs

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The Key To Successful Tendering – Careful Planning

by bobcrabtree1 Posted: Wednesday, 12/9/2009

Planning Phase

The key to successful tendering is careful planning and time allocation. Generally you should:

Read the request for tender document thoroughly. Ensure that you understand what is being asked for. Know the closing date and address for submission of tenders. Follow the instructions in the conditions of tendering. Non-compliment responses are likely to be treated as invalid and therefore not considered. Carefully evaluate the scope of work being asked for and whether all the work can be done in-house or whether others will be involved. Where others (e.g. Subcontractors) are to be involved, allow time to prepare a tender which includes input form all the other parties, particularly in relation to price. Not leave everything until the last minute. Obtain a copy of the document as soon as it becomes available. Seek information in plenty of time and plan to submit the day before the closing time. It is best to work to a checklist when tendering, to ensure your cover all aspects required.

Check List for Planning

Points to keep in mind with your checklist and during planning your response should include: Regularly review/update your checklist throughout the tender period. Use the checklist against your final draft response (to ensure it is complete and fully complaint with everything that was asked for). Keep track of any tender amendments issued and ensure these are included. If there are many amendments, add an appendix to the tender response. Check the commercial and contractual aspects of the tender. Determine if there are any performance guarantees, warranties, special insurance requirements or other commercial provisions that will require careful consideration. Check if there is a recommended payment schedule in the tender. Prepare to suggest alternative payment schedules, if necessary. Think about the schedules for costing and how these are to be presented. It is good idea to establish a tender costing model. Ensure someone with the authority and make him tender manager for the specific project. If you need your senior management or board to approve the budgeted price and tender documents prior to submitting, allow appropriate time for this to happen, and for any subsequent amendments to be made to the submission.

There are many on line tender information providing websites like www.tenderserviceonline.com .You can also visit this site for latest tender news and articles. So you can plan your response to tender invitation today and get lots of business possibilities in government sector.

Dr.Irfan Ahmad is the Chief Editor of www.tenderserviceonline.com .He has twenty years of experience in providing tender information services to the clients. He has written two books on tendering by the name of “Managing Tender Business” and ?Combating Procurement Frauds?

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Seniors – Planning Ahead is Key to Financial Stability

by bobcrabtree1 Posted: Friday, 12/4/2009

Dollars & Sense

As published in the Naperville Sun ? 8/27/06, The Beacon News ? 4/29/07

By Denice Gierach

Recently, there was a case in the news of a Brooks Astor, a New York socialite, who is now 104 years old. Her grandson is in a heated battle to remove his dad as Mrs. Astor’s caregiver. In court papers that were filed, the grandson accused his father of ignoring Mrs. Astor’s health and personal needs and requested a friend of Mrs. Astor’s be appointed as her guardian.

While we may not all be in Mrs. Astor’s social or economic position, senior custody battles are being propelled by a number of demographic shifts. As the population ages and more people live longer, more seniors are likely to eventually lose their mental or physical capacity, leaving decisions over their finances and personal care to others. With divorce and second and third marriages leading to tension among children and stepfamilies, there is even more tension over the care of aging relatives. The ensuing custody battles are driven many times by long-standing family rifts and the desire to control the family assets.

Today many family members live far away from each other, making it more difficult to monitor the condition and care of elderly relatives. Sometimes family members are not even aware of the needs of the elderly relatives or the current condition of their care. For all of these reasons, it is important to have seniors take proactive steps ahead of time to minimize the chances of guardianship proceedings or custody battles later.

In Illinois, a person who is of sound mind and memory may designate a person or a bank trust company to act as a guardian (and may designate successor guardians) in the event that he or she is found to be a disabled person by the courts in Illinois. The designation needs to be in a written document and signed in the same manner as a will. The court will determine if the appointment of the designated guardian will be in the best interests of the person at the time the court determines that the person is considered disabled under the law. A person is considered disabled under the law if that person, because of mental deterioration or physical incapacity is not able to manage his personal or financial needs.

There are several other steps that a senior should consider taking. First, the senior should have a current financial power of attorney in which the senior appoints a trustworthy agent, often a spouse, another family member, or an adviser, to make financial decisions if the senior becomes unable to make them. The senior should also consider the use of a living trust. The senior transfers the title to all of their assets into that trust. The senior manages the trust until the senior is no longer able to do so, and is then succeeded by a successor trustee appointed by them in their trust document. In the event that the senior is again able to manage his financial affairs, the senior can again control and manage the trust.

The use of the financial power of attorney and living trusts which hold the title to all of the assets may preclude a fierce family battle later. In many circumstances, there will not be any need for a court appointed guardian. Instead, the trustee that was appointed by the disabled senior handles all of the financial matters for the disabled senior and the agent appointed by the financial power of attorney handles financial and other items that are not owned by the trust. In that case, all of the decisions have already been made by the senior before he or she is unable to do so.

Currently, few people plan ahead. The survey done by AARP in 2003 which reviewed 1,500 people age 45 and older found that only 27 percent had created a financial power of attorney document. So, if you don’t want to be like Mrs. Astor as a pawn in a custody battle, you had better plan ahead!

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