Long Term Care Insurance

Someone again asked me about this, I have an article on my website. If you are Canadian, I would be cautiously supportive, but it depends on your circumstances. The costs can outweigh the benefits. If you have a large estate which you are planning on using and spending down, if you don't necessarily have someone you want to leave money to, or something, then it is not as important.

Long Term Care Insurance is especially useful in this country for help in the home. This is many times what makes the difference between beign able to stay in one's own home, and having to move to senior's housing, such as assisted living or nursing homes.

Make sure it is indexed to inflation, check out the company, make sure it will pay costs when you will need it, , find out about waiting periods before it kicks in.

Do your homework.

There Are Nursing Homes, and then There are ....

Yesterday I went to see two clients in two different nursing homes. In the first one, I walked in, the receptionist didn't even look up. There was a faint smell of urine in the hall near the elevator. The nurse didn't know when the doctor had last been in to see my client. The physician hadn't lowered the meds like he said he would. In the second one, the nurse, administrator, recreation all smiled and said hello. The nurse could report succinctly and in depth about my client's condition. She was nicely groomed. Another recreation worker came up to me and asked about her having her hair done weekly. The whole atmosphere was one of warmth.

Guess which one was a public facility, and which was private and my client pays something like $5,000.00 per month? The first is the pricy one. Yes, the rooms there are nicer.

Guess where there are more volunteers, more programming? The second.

Which one would you rather live in?

Bathing Challenges

One of the most difficult tasks in eldercare is in the area of bathing. Often people with dementia stop bathing, and resist being bathed. Besides the resistance, it is also a challenge because this means that family members may have to step in, causing discomfort and embarassment. It crosses a lot of psychological and cultural lines.

One thing to remember is that when people are resisting bathing, they may be feeling frightened of the process, assaulted, or embarrassed. If there is a history of being sexual abused, someone bathing them can trigger memories associated with the abuse. Before and after getting into a shower, the individual can feel cold. Being naked can also make someone feel very vulnerable, even if they do not know why, or cannot label or describe what they are experiencing.

Some additional help can be found at http://www.bathingwithoutabattle.unc.edu/SideFrame_MainPage.htm

They have a text they have developed, called Bathing Without A Battle.