In today’s mobile society adult children don’t seem to stay in the town they grew up in. Instead, they go where the jobs are. And that is often hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the old homestead.
The good news is that today we have a rather new profession (about 35 years in the making) of experts called Aging Life Care Professionals (formerly called Geriatric Care Managers) to be the conduit and surrogate child for when things fall apart. Having a Care Manager as your “right hand” before a crisis hits is the best action that a long-distance family member can make.
We recommend you hire a Care Manager before a need arises. Have them get to know your aging parent and let them be the advocate when things fall apart or a major health challenge springs into their lives. This will keep you from jumping on an airplane arriving home only to find out it was an “abscessed tooth” and not a major infection. That trip could have cost you thousands of dollars and interfered with your career and/or family responsibilities. The Care Manager can investigate, advocate and communicate with you the actions that were taken and the follow up needed. They can do a little or a lot. You design the plan of care with the “expert.”
VillagePlan™ offers peace of mind. Contact one of our real life Care Managers at the Experts-on-Call line at 888-585-7579 to get started right!