The following elder care planning guides include answers to questions that are frequently thought of but never asked. These guides can answer questions ranging from long-term care planning to veterans' benefits and issues confronting families of Alzheimer's patients on a daily basis.
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A Guide to Long-Term Care: Planning for Aging Parents (and for Yourself)
Long-term care does not have to mean the end of an active and fulfilling life. With appropriate prior planning, many different long-term care alternatives may be available, especially if you would prefer - as many people do - to receive long-term care services in the home. The goal of this guide is to help you begin the process of educating yourself about long-term care and to gain a better understanding of what long-term care is, the different forms it may take, and the various ways you may be able to plan for it and pay for it.
How to Get Help Paying for Alzheimer's Care
Will I have to spend all of my family’s assets to pay for nursing home expenses? This is one of the biggest fears family members face when an aging loved one can no longer live alone because of a disease such as Alzheimer’s. There are many strategies families can use to preserve assets while still ensuring loved ones get the quality care they need. This guide will introduce you to different options for care, help you begin to find answers to the financial questions that go along with long-term care planning, and start formulating a realistic plan for meeting the long-term care needs of your loved one without exhausting your family’s assets.
Finding the Right Nursing Home
The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home can be an incredibly difficult and emotional decision. Even though your goal is to protect your loved one’s health and safety, it is normal to feel guilty or anxious about removing them from the familiar home environment they are used to. Although educating yourself about nursing homes may not eliminate the stress involved with this decision, it can help both you and your loved one become more comfortable with the process and more confident in identifying a nursing home that will provide your loved one with the highest level of care in an environment that best fits their personal preferences as well as their health care needs.
The Alzheimer’s Legal Survival Action Guide
This booklet is intended to help you to become familiar with and understand some of the legal issues you may face when caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, other dementia, or another type of chronic illness and address some potential approaches your lawyer may suggest for dealing with these issues. Hopefully, this booklet will be a resource that fosters discussion between you and your attorney as well as discussion amongst family members.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Safe Driving
Deciding that it is time for someone with early Alzheimer’s disease to stop driving can be an incredibly difficult decision for both Alzheimer’s patients and their families. Patients may be understandably reluctant to admit that they are having difficulty driving because they do not want to give up the independence that driving allows them to maintain, or to become a burden on those that they will have to rely on for transportation. Whenever possible, families should discuss the issue of safe driving soon after diagnosis, and allow their loved one to be part of the discussion and decision-making process before it becomes a pressing safety issue.
Understanding the VA Aid & Attendance Benefit
If you are a wartime Veteran or a widow(er) of a Veteran, you may qualify for a long-term care benefit from the Veterans Administration. Most people who are aware of this benefit refer to it as the VA Aid and Attendance Benefit. However, the VA refers to the benefit as the Veteran’s Pension or Improved Pension Benefit. In order to qualify for the Veteran’s Pension Benefit, the veteran must not have been dishonorably discharged, must have served at least 90 days active duty with at least one day served during a declared state of war, and must be either disabled or over age 65.
For over 20 years, families have trusted the future of their loved ones to the attorneys of Weatherby & Associates, PC. Discover how a Life Care Plan from Weatherby & Associates, PC can provide your loved one with the best possible long-term care and lifestyle more affordably than you thought possible. Call our Life Care Planning attorneys today to schedule an initial consultation: 888-822-8778 (Toll Free)
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