New Resource Available for Seniors and Their Families

Seniors now have a new resource to help them age successfully. Attorney David Wingate, CSA, with the Law Office of David Wingate, PC, recently completed a comprehensive course through the Society of Certified Senior Advisors (SCSA) and earned the designation of Certified Senior Advisor (CSA). SCSA is an international organization that has trained more than 20,000 professionals to meet the changing needs of a growing senior population, Wingate says

“The health, financial and social needs of seniors are different and more complicated than those of any other age group. SCSA keeps professionals from awide variety of fields abreast of all these issues by providing education, training, support and communication resources to those of us dedicated to serving seniors,”

The explosion in growth of the senior population is one of the most important demographic developments of the 21^st century. Two-thirds of the people who have lived past the age of 65 are alive today. In the United States alone, seniors (age 65 and older) number 35 million and will come to increase (with women being the largest segment), leading an unprecedented shift in the age of the population. By 2030, the U.S. Bureau of Census predicts there will be about 70 million people who are 65 and older - one in five Americans will be seniors.

This demographic shift requires an educated response in how professionals work with seniors and the challenges and opportunities they face. Wingate said, “With more people living longer, we are already beginning to see changes in how seniors function in our society, from retirees who choose to start a second or third career, to various forms of alternative senior housing and new approaches to diet, exercise and overall health care for seniors.”

My Story

DAVE'S STORY

My life changed in the early to late 1990's, although I didn't recognize it at this time. That is, when my wife's grandfather was living independently in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

One night I received a call from my mother-in-law. It was late at night. It was unusual for the phone to ring that late, so I answered the phone, with a feeling of foreboding, only to hear my mother-in-law's voice say that her father, my wife's grandfather, had fallen. Shortly after that, he was taken to the hospital. After medical treatment at the hospital, he was taken to a nursing home.

I was the attorney in the family, so everything was left to me. During this time, I had lots of questions: what options were available; what if granddad had to stay in the nursing home, would we be able to find a good one and would he get good care there; and if so, how were we going to pay for it? I tried to find answers to these questions, that I now answer for others. But I could only catch glimpses of the big picture. That research was my first act into the practice of elder law and life care planning.

After granddad was in the nursing home, I read about a meeting of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. I attended the conference and at the end of the first day, I knew I had found my new profession – the practice of elder law. When I returned home, I threw myself into learning about elder law. I researched the area using law books and materials from the conference and I started putting together what later turned out to be the beginning phases of my new life care planning practice and my calling.

What is Life Care Planning?

The Life Care Plan is a roadmap for planning your long-term care, designed with your individual and family needs in mind. The Life Care Plan includes a strategy for managing
your life utilizing all the necessary services and resources available in the local community.

Based on a thorough understanding of your long-term health care goals and needs, the
Life Care Plan provides recommendations for care regarding residency, personal lifestyle
and more, consistent with these goals and needs. Like traditional Estate Plans, the Life
Care Plan includes the legal protections and provisions you need to safeguard your assets,
honor your wishes, and care for loved ones. However, a Life Care Plan provides a more comprehensive and caring approach because it incorporates both your legal protections
and provisions and your health care goals and needs.

The Life Care Manager

A family crisis represents a difficult and frightening period in a family’s life.
Therefore, you need someone who is not only knowledgeable and experienced with
dealing with such crisis situations, but is also compassionate and empathetic to your
emotional needs.

A Life Care Manager is employed to be your support line, your advocate, your
confidant, and your friend. In conjunction with an attorney, the Life Care Plan is
developed by a Life Care Manager. Your Life Care Manager is knowledgeable about
the many services and resources available to the elder community and will assist
with the selection of home care services based on your needs, intervene when special
care situations arise, offer assisted living and nursing home options, act as a liaison,
and more.

The Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of the Life Care Plan is to ensure the best quality of life for you today and throughout the rest of your life. Your Life Care Plan should continue to evolve throughout your life to accommodate changes in your care situation.

15 TOPICS TO DISCUSS WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE AGENT

A health care agent is a person you appoint to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated or unable to make any decisions.

A Living Will (Advanced Directive) expresses your wishes about your health care including, but not limited to, resuscitation, life sustaining treatments (respirator, feeding tube, etc.) and withholding / withdrawing of life sustaining treatments. The Living Will is only effective when you are terminally ill or unconscious and unable to communicate your wishes.

When it comes to making decisions regarding end of life issues, do you know your wishes or have you communicated those wishes to your health care agent?

Do you want to be resuscitated should your heart stop? Do you want to be hooked up to a life support system, feeding tube or respirator? What are your feelings about certain medical treatments?

There are no right or wrong or “preferable” answers to these questions. However, you should be able to communicate these answers, based on your own beliefs, wishes and desires, to your health care agent.

1. You’re seriously ill, and doctors are recommending chemotherapy; would you be willing to endure very severe side effects, such as severe pain, nausea, vomiting or weakness that could last for months, if the chance that you would regain your current health was very low?

2. What do you need for comfort and support as you journey near death?

3. If you had Alzheimer’s disease, and it progressed to the point where you could no longer recognize or converse with your loved ones; when spoon-feeding was no longer possible, would you want to be fed by a tube, into your stomach?

4. If you were terminally ill with a condition that caused much pain, would you want to be sedated, even to the point of unconsciousness, if it were necessary to control your pain?

5. Imagine that you were physically frail and needed help with most routine daily activities such as dressing, bathing, eating and going to the toilet. You were living in a nursing home although still mentally capable most of the time and became sick with pneumonia for the third time this winter causing hospitalization and pain, would you want aggressive antibiotic treatment again or just comfort care until death?

6. Would you want the following medical treatments?

a. Kidney Dialysis (if kidneys not working)

b. CPR (used if heart stops working)

c. Respirator (unable to breathe)

d. Artificial nutrition (unable to eat food)

e. Artificial hydration (unable to drink fluids)

7. Imagine that you are in a permanent coma and dependent on a feeding tube. Would your medical decisions be guided by any particular religious beliefs or spiritual values?

8. Are some conditions worse than death? If you are housebound, in severe discomfort or pain most of the time, would you want medical treatments to keep you alive?

9. Discuss your current health status and, if any medical problems, how do they affect your ability to function?

10. Do you think that your own doctor should make the final decision about any medical treatments you may require?

11. Would you want to have a hospice team or other palliative care (i.e., comfort care) available to you?

12. Do you have any fears regarding health care and/or death?

13. Do you want to donate parts of your body for transplantation or medical research?

14. What are your thoughts about a memorial or religious service? Where would you like your remains placed? Do you want to be buried or cremated?

15. What else do you feel is important for your agent to know?