Aging Parents or Aging Boomers April 11 & 27 2011

Join us for an informative and interactive workshop on how to prepare yourself or your parents for some of the future opportunities and challenges in Aging.

April 11th OR April 27th from 7-9pm.

Register at Self Connection Bookstore on the web at:

http://www.selfconnection.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=524

or Phone 403-284-1486

Janet Bullard was recently interviewed on BNN about the importance and intricacies of parent care planning.

The Christmas Season 2010

Memory PLUS Poster 2011 1

Family Education Series Poster ASC WINTER 2011-1

This  1 hour workshop is designed to help prepare families for their journey with Aging Parents. Four key areas to  consider and plan for will be discussed: changing health, housing options, funding for care and legal documentation to support  decision making. If you’re confused about what role you are prepared to play, how you will work with your siblings or what your parents’ expectations are, this workshop will help you clarify some of those concerns and start you on a path to proactive planning.

Join us to learn more about:

The Gift of Family Planning

To register, click on the link below, or call Self Connection Bookstore at Call 403-284-1486.

http://www.selfconnection.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=370:bullard&catid=3:cmudge&Itemid=3

Special pricing for our visitors to the Woman’s Show this Weekend October 23 & 24 at the BMO Center, Stampede Grounds when registered by Monday October 25th.

Workshops will run from 7-8 pm on November 1 and 8th.

We plan for many events in our life; weddings, births, holidays and graduations all with great anticipation and joy. How many people spend even a small portion of this time planning and preparing for changing health or incapacity? How would either of these situations impact you and your family?

Planning for the future doesn’t have to be avoided when thinking about our health or even our mortality. Avoiding it usually just increases the discomfort associated with not knowing or risking a crisis. In over 20 years of supporting clients with end of life work, the feedback has always been relief and the wish that they had done their planning earlier when emotions are stable and more options are available.

There is a way to be guided and supported through this process which minimizes the pain, clarifies and directs your wishes, and informs and prepares your family. The Gift of Family Planning will position your family to represent your health, financial and legal wishes and remove the burden of decision-making that can tear families apart.

The critical planning documents in Alberta are a Personal Directive, a Power of Attorney (the type is important) and a Will. All of these need to be legally valid and reflect your current wishes. There are 3 steps to the process of having these documents in place. Generally the process is approached in the reverse order for building these documents.

The 3 steps are:

Step 1: Having personal reflection on your important values and wishes and in-depth conversations with those involved in potential decision making.

Step 2: Determining the best person to represent you for health, financial and legal decision making (this may be 1, 2 or 3 different people) and providing understanding and direction for your wishes

Step 3: Creating the documents that support and guide your wishes and identify the person(s) who will carry out or honor your directions

When asked, people frequently think they have the above documents, but are unclear on what they are and/or who they have chosen as representatives. The documents may also no longer reflect their current living situation and their wishes that made sense when the documents were created. Document creation is step 3, but steps 1 and 2 are critical to the process.

The concept of health planning and the creation of Personal Directives is relatively new (within the last 15-20 years) and has not yet been embraced as a normal part of the life cycle. Technology and pharmaceuticals have greatly impacted longevity, but what about quality of life?

No one but you can best determine what decisions you would want as your health changes and you approach end of life.

Would your family know the answers to these questions if you lost capacity?:

• Where would you want to be cared for? Would long term illness change that?

• Who would you want to provide that care? Your family or paid caregivers?

• What values would determine the type of care and any limits to care?

• How would those care needs be funded? Short term or long term?

• What impact would illness have on your family – physically, emotionally, or financially?

If you can answer all these questions thoroughly and know with certainty that your family could also provide the same answers then you are well on your way to being prepared.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are not in this position and don’t even realize the need to address this kind of planning. Documents are great but unless meaningful choices are made re: an appropriate agent and providing in-depth instructions and guidance, you have left a significant burden. Most parents say they don’t want to burden their children, but have not done the comprehensive work to prevent this from happening.

The Gift of Family Planning provides the basis for building a meaningful Personal Directive and Power of Attorney and the Will. You need the assistance of a skilled professional Financial Advisor as well as a lawyer whose practice is in Will and Estate Planning to address specifics within each area to ensure you have comprehensive advice and appropriate planning in place. The starting point is really understanding your values, beliefs and priorities around quality of life and how you live that out. All goals in life are impacted by changing health, with the biggest risk to your wealth being your health. Great financial planning with a knowledgeable Financial Advisor will help you understand how to protect your wealth and ensure funds are available in case of illness. Legal counsel that regularly practices in Wills and Estate planning will give good advice as to the creation of the appropriate documents and necessary authority and directions they should provide.

The costs of being proactively prepared are small in comparison to being caught without proper documents and guidance for their use. At minimum the legal costs to gain representation for your loved ones is taking an average of 6 months and costs between $5-10,000. Are you willing to stand by and not be able to represent your loved ones for that time frame? The potential for family disagreements and further legal costs increase dramatically in these situations. It ends up feeling like a “No Win” situation.

Planning begins with the advent of adulthood when decision-making is autonomous. In the early adult years it is relatively simple but becomes more complex with marriage, children, wealth accumulation, health conditions and aging. Starting early normalizes this process for you and your family and ensures that your retain choice, flexibility and autonomy as you age.

How do we support independence, dignity and respect in care if we don’t know what that means to you?

Janet Bullard, RN, MN

Proactive Health Care Advisors

403-863-8916