What do you do?

Today after a luncheon I was approached by four women who were dealing with issues related to caring for their parents. One had her mom here from out of town, relieving her brother, one who's mom had just gotten out of the hospital and can't walk now, one who was dealing with an alcoholic father who has alcohol related dementia and another who was taking care of her grandmother. They all had so many questions like, What do I do my mom can't walk and she doesn't want to go to a nursing home? That one is more complicated because first she needs to take advantage of her Medicare benefit and go to rehab for up to 100 days or at least use her home healthcare benefit to help get her as strong as possible. Immediately she needed to get her mother a special cushion to prevent skin breakdown since she's sitting constantly. She'd only been dealing with all this for a couple of days and was overwhelmed. Having to go home at lunch to get her lunch and take her to the bathroom. I also suggested she meet with an elderlaw attorney to make sure her legal and financial affairs were in order just in case she needed long term care. Wow is there alot to know. That's why I recommend you start learning about the issues they may affect your parents early. You can read more about Medicare, rehab and legal planning at http://www.agingavenues.com/.