Pre-Planning & Care Partner Team Building
A life worth living requires a team effort. So let’s put a team together to work with your elder (not for your elder) in many different ways. The term caregiver, in the common vernacular, has long described family, friends and medical professionals who manage elder care. We prefer person-focused language and care. The term care partner dignifies the individual. It more accurately describes a spirit of cooperation and empowerment. It leaves the individual at the center of their care, their needs and their future – even when they may no longer be able to speak for themselves.
Building a care-partner team adds many valuable talents to the mix. Caregiver Support and Resources, LLC builds care-partner teams to include individuals chosen by the elder. Members of the team may consist of family, friends and professionals. The partnership is characterized by mutual cooperation and joint responsibilities. There are opportunities to give and receive care by all parties in this partnership.
Building a Life-Care Plan for a Life Worth Living
With the team in place, you must now build and execute a life-care plan for a life worth living. We build plans that ensure the elder maintains control or keeps the decision-making as close to your loved one as possible. We emphasize being loved, meeting all care needs, having financial security, and creating a life of joy, happiness and comfort as long as possible.
Every life-care plan has three primary objectives for peace of mind:
- To create a personalized care plan that ensures that the elder is well known by all that are there to support him or her. This may include written documents and/or videos detailing the elder’s history, likes and dislikes and wants and needs.
- To ensure your loved one gets appropriate care, whether at home or in a care community, to maintain the quality of life they deserve at a cost they can afford through public and private assistance.
- To provide the care-partner team with supportive tools.
A life-care plan is a working document. It provides accurate and timely information that addresses all aspects of care from physical therapy, clinician visits and crisis intervention to financial responsibilities, dietary needs and community living. The plan can be easily updated by the elder and care partner team as needs inevitably evolve with time. It’s a lifelong guide.
Caregiver Support and Resources, LLC facilitates a collaboration between an elder, their care partner team and an interdisciplinary team to identify current and future care needs, locate appropriate care, and ensure high-quality, compassionate and cost-effective treatments. This approach relies less on crisis response and more on the development of ongoing relationships with families. It defines, organizes, prioritizes and mobilizes every aspect of an elder’s care.
Life Care Planning – From Experience
Maureen Rulison, CDMCP, is an expert Elder Life Care Planning specialist, Certified Medicaid Planner and Culture Change Agent. Most importantly, she is a care partner for her life partner Brian, who lives with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Their journey together is strengthened by a life-care plan that factors both of their physical, mental and emotional needs.
Let’s Build Your Care Partner Team and Life Care Plan Today
The earlier you build your team and plan for the future, the sooner your team can put the plan in action for a life worth living. A team is necessary to tackle joint responsibilities in good health and bad, today or 20 years from now.