Posted on January 3rd, 2011
Happy New Year! The holidays can be a fun time to visit grandparents and family members. Now that children have been home they are realizing that their elders have changed quite a bit. Listen to your intuition and take a look at what changes have occurred. Even the smallest issues such as scratches on the car, problems with the cooking, unusual odors can be a view of what is to come. Deborah Dolan, Advocate on Aging and Kevyn Burger, host of the show, discuss elder care and aging through different stages of life and transitions.
Links from Podcast:
MNHelp.info – The Minnesota Board on Aging’s help for Minnesota Residents.
Senior Linkage Line -1-800-333-2433 (National Number)
Alzheimer’s Association -1-800-272-3900 (24/7 National Helpline)
Posted on November 26th, 2010
Deborah Dolan, Advocate on Aging and Kevyn Burger, host of the show, discuss the infamous “family meetings” and the role a facilitator can have in these meetings. They will talk about the hard questions to ask, help for making the decisions on choosing a power of attorney, health care power of attorney and what other decisions need to be made before a crisis situation would arise.
Links from Podcast:
Honoring Choices Minnesota - a collaborative, community-wide public health initiative led by the Twin Cities Medical Society. The goal of Honoring Choices Minnesota (HCM) is to promote discussions about end of life choices and to assist health care organizations with the installation of a comprehensive advance care planning program.
DNR Order (Do Not Resuscitate) – can also be called a living will, indicates whether you would like heroic measures to be taken if your heart should fail.
POH – Physician’s order for life sustaining treatments
Five Wishes
General Power of Attorney & Healthcare Power of Attorney
Tags: aging, dnr, dnr order, elder care, elderly advocacy, family meeting facilitator, family meetings, five wishes, general power of attorney, health care power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, honoring choices minnesota, honoring choices mn, living will, medical directive, power of attorney
Posted on November 18th, 2010
Advocate on Aging Deborah Dolan’s job is to facilitate conversations about care giving between families and loved ones – not control it. She is simply included in order to start and direct discussions, especially when it comes to difficult topics such as legal issues, death and dying. Certain topics are typically more difficult to discuss without a neutral facilitator, such as assigning powers to designated individuals. Deborah stresses to her clients that every caregiver should know the differences between a general power of attorney, and a healthcare power of attorney. Here’s what you need to know when it comes to these powers:
A fiduciary or general power of attorney is in place to handle financial assets including property, money, life insurance, and investments. Whether a person needs to have property sold to pay for their care, have bank accounts changed in any way, the assigned general power of attorney has the same ability to handle all financial transactions that the owner of the asset has. It is important to remember that this power ends with the death of the person granting the power, and the executor of the estate takes over. Deborah sees some clients, who are afraid to designate a power of attorney because they fear losing control over their assets, or that someone will take their money and they won’t have it when they need it. Deborah facilitates these discussions in order to help the elder and their families address these issues before the powers or information is needed and not in crisis. Although Deborah is not an attorney, she is able to refer her clients to attorneys and recommends that an attorney assist in writing this document.
A healthcare power of attorney is usually included in a healthcare directive and designates an individual who, in Deborah’s words, “gives voice to the wishes of how a person wants to live and how he or she wants to die.” This healthcare power of attorney agrees that if the person giving the power becomes ill or incapacitated and is unable to speak, they will honor and direct that person’s care as written to the best of his or her ability. Unlike the financial power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney and directive does not have to have an attorney involved. There are resources available online which are legally binding and honored when the signature of the person assigning the power is notarized or witnessed by two non-interested parties. Two such forms are Five Wishes and Honoring Choices Minnesota.
There is much to do and many decisions to make when a health crisis occurs. Giving the gift of information needed to carry out personal wishes when you are no longer able to speak for yourself is a gift of love and peace.
Tags: advocate on aging, aging, caregiving, fiduciary power of attorney, five wishes, general power of attorney, healthcare directive, healthcare power of attorney, honoring choices minnesota, honoring choices mn, power of attorney
Posted on November 16th, 2010
Aging Advocate Deborah Dolan & host Kevyn Burger discuss aging for members of the GLBT community and how they are effected. Deborah has moderated panels for the GLBT community to discuss aging issues, housing, caregiving resources, etc. The biggest fear Deborah hears for GLBT community members is the fear of not receiving adequate care in living facilities as they age. Training To Serve is working to take care of that issue by providing training to help service providers meet the needs of the GLBT comunity and it’s members.
Tags: aging, aging advocate, deborah dolan, GLBT, glbt aging issues, glbt caregiving, glbt community, glbt housing, glbt resources, kevyn burger, training to serve
Posted on November 4th, 2010
It has been a wild, weird weather week even by Minnesota standards. With the extremely low barometric pressure, the elderly and even Deborah and Kevyn, have experienced aches and pains. Deborah Dolan, Advocate on Aging and Kevyn Burger, host of the show, discuss how the winter can effect the elderly causing aches and pains, feelings of depression and even SADness (Seasonal-Affective Disorder).
Tags: aches and pains in the elderly, aging, barometric pressure, caregivers, depression, effects on the elderly population, low barometric pressure, low barometric pressure effects, SAD, Seasonal-Affective Disorder, seniors, winder SAD
Tags: advocate, advocate for elderly, advocate on aging, advocating for elderly in their lives, advocating for elders, aging, deborah dolan, elder care, eldercare, geriatric care manager, geriatrics, human resources, kevyn burger, organizational development, senior care, senior life transitions, seniorcare
Posted on April 30th, 2010
 Almost as soon a grandparents-to-be hear that a blessed event is imminent, they inevitably wonder how they will be tagged. Not long after a name is bestowed upon the child, a name for the grandparents will be determined.
A new book, The New Grandparents Name Book: A Lighthearted Guide to Picking the Perfect Grandparent Name by Lin Wellford reports on more than 700 monikers that grandparents carry.
Many grandparents are content with the traditional, no-fuss “Grandma” or “Grandpa.” Others select a name that honors their cultural heritage.
Author Wellford encourages new grandparents to celebrate their new role by choosing something unique. While many little ones lisp out a pet name or mangled version of a traditional name that then sticks, Wellford says there’s nothing wrong with staking out your own preference. She suggests that it’s both entertaining and easy to select your own name. She asks, “How many times in your life do you get to name yourself?
This small gift book contains suggestions, offered in a way that makes the search for a fitting grandparent name a bit of an adventure. Also included are brief accounts of how various grandparents acquired their names, along with sayings sure to charm new grandparents.
Do you have a unique name that your grandchildren call you or you called your grandparents we’d love to hear it!
Posted on March 23rd, 2010
Let me begin by saying that this is not a topic I have researched in depth. Rather it is a question that has found its way into my thoughts and won’t depart since writing my thesis for a graduate degree in Gerontology. The thesis topic was communication; specifically, communication between the physician and their elderly patients. My research focused on the competencies of efficient and effective communication, and whether physicians are taught such skills in medical school. With this thought came the question of what can be taught and, more precisely, what can be learned.
First, the words competency and compassion don’t seem to fit together. From my perspective, “competency” belongs in the stiff corporate world of skills required to do a job while “compassion” belongs in the realm of human emotion. In the professional world of medicine, can these two qualities be found in one person? If not, can human emotion be taught? Can human emotion be learned?
There are certain skills associated with communication that can be taught and learned. Non-verbal affirmations such as head nodding, sitting and eye contact are behaviors which, with commitment and a desire to achieve, can be learned. Then there are the innate characteristics that are inborn, a part of who we are from birth, that are central to the nature/nurture debate. Thus the question – can human emotions such as compassion be learned? Or must there be a predisposition for that characteristic lying dormant until such time as it is wakened through life experience or pure, simple desire?
Some behaviors, we want to believe, can be taught simply through modeling. We strive to be good parents, children, citizens, employees, stewards in our personal lives. But is the example enough to bring forth these qualities in others? Or do we individually need that “gene.” The simple answer – I don’t know.
Compassion is just one of several innate characteristics found in humans which provide the fertile soil necessary for positive growth. Openness, warmth, honesty, a true understanding of another person’s circumstances are all traits which encourage trust. With trust comes the opportunity for honest communication. Being a skillful communicator requires behaviors which can be taught and learned — coupled with the quality of compassion.
My husband is the kind of guy who views his glass either half full or overflowing with goodness. Thus, he believes in the goodness of people. He adheres to the philosophy that people are born with a core of inner health waiting to be tapped into by life experience. From his view, compassion is available to everyone as is honesty, empathy, love, trustworthiness and the other human characteristics that make us “good” people.
Nice. It feels good to believe this. I want to believe this! I also want my doctor to demonstrate this quality when talking to me and my elderly clients. But the question remains – can compassion be learned? The answer isn’t clear, but I believe we should continue trying to model and teach the behavior that is a true gift to the others and especially the elderly.
Posted on March 19th, 2010
Does the following scenario sound familiar?
You have recently been hospitalized. After getting home you receive a bill for a lot more than you have ever been charged before. You call the hospital, the billing department gives you some explanation about not being an inpatient (what?!), that you were “probably” told at the time you arrived at the hospital (I don’t know! I was too busy being sick to listen intently!), that you “most likely” received a patient’s bill of rights or some other document telling you the difference between outpatient and observation admission, and that you have the right to appeal if you do not agree with this decision (good because I don’t agree with having to pay this bill!).
You look through your hospital papers, you call Medicare (and wait for an hour to talk to someone), and you are given the same information that the hospital’s billing department gave you. Now you are really confused as to what you should do, but you know you shouldn’t have to pay this hospital bill!
A client of mine experienced what I have just described and we decided to appeal. Following is the appeal I wrote on her behalf:
Click to see Medicare Letter
The appeal was denied.
The next time you or a loved one is sent to the hospital, listen carefully for the word “observation.” What this means is that Medicare Part A pays for the room and board, Medicare Part B pays for approved therapies and prescriptions (and very few drugs are covered under Medicare Part B). Some insurers will allow you to re-file your prescription charges under your Medicare Part D plan which leaves you liable only for deductibles and copays. But you must be aware of your rights and what you need to do to receive this additional coverage.
There’s more to this conundrum. I’ll blog about it in the near future.
Tags: aging, caregiving, elder options, elder programs, eldercare, hospital stay, Hospitalization, Medicare, Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part D, medicareadvocacy, medicareadvocacy.org, observation, patient, seniorcare, seniors
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