In trying to come to grips with home care for an elderly parent, planning in advance goes a long way to making the whole process less stressful.  Talking to your parents about what they want is immeasurably useful.

In the previous post, I looked at two suggestions that Dan Taylor uses in his book, The Parent Care Conversation namely Challenges and Alternatives.  The next two steps are Resources and Experience.

The hardest part with Resources is trying to get your LO’s to think differently about their  situation.  To free up their minds to what they can use for their care.  They may not realize how much is available to them to help them solve their particular problem.  If home care is new to you also you may not be aware of the resources available.
One way to remedy that is to contact the Area Agency for Aging in your county.  This is a governmental agency that was set up to provide information about what programs and facilities are available for the elderly.  The agents can give you the direction you need.

I would also suggest that you consult an elder law attorney.  You can find one through the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys on their web site naela.com.  If your parents don’t have he financial resources for their care the attorney can prepare the application for Medicaid.  If they have assets the attorney can advise you on inheritance issues or how to turn those assets into cash for your LO care.

Based on what challenges they are facing and after discussing the alternatives and resources the next step is to get your LO to describe what outcomes they would like to Experience.  The purpose o this is to get them to see that with planning and support they still can use their remaining years to achieve some of the goals they set for themselves.