Meeting With VA For Fiduciary Account This Week

Hello Everyone, 

Well the Super Bowl is over tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and the weather is still not that bad here in Michigan. All this means we are marching ever forward toward spring...hooray !

This week we finally will be meeting with the person from the VA to set up the fiduciary account for my mother's Aid and Attendance Benefits. Now mind you she has been getting monthly benefits since June of last year so that tells you how far behind the VA is in getting stuff done. 

For those of you who are working with the VA setting up a fiduciary account may be in your future too. Just what is a fiduciary and why do we need to go through this process? I will try and explain to the best of my knowledge.

When we applied for mom's benefits she was, because of her dementia, deemed unable to manage her finances by the VA. We already knew this as she no longer could remember to even ask about her finances which was quite a change for her. All her life she was sharp as a tack when it came to money. She worked hard and saved her money wisely. She knew where her money was and when things came due etc... Because of her failing eyesight myself or my sister have been helping her with her bills for years but she always knew exactly what was what. Then about a year and a half ago she just stopped showing interest in it. By this time she was living at my sisters and my sister was a signer on her accounts so I guess mom knew in her mind everything was taken care of. 

Adult Family Care Homes What Does Your State Call Them?

Hello Everyone,

Well yesterday it was 50 here and today it's snowing, but that's Michigan for you! 

I know many of you have been following my posts and I thank you for that. If you have you know I have talked a lot about Adult Family Care Homes. This is the type of home my mom is in. Let me describe it for you. It's a beautiful home in beautiful wooded area. The family that runs the home lives there. They use the upstairs of the home as their residence and have a beautiful lower level walk out that is designed for the seniors they care for. The house is licensed  by the state of Michigan to take up to 6 residents. Similar home are set up for residents only and the owner does not live there, caregivers are hired for round the clock care. 

The nice thing about these homes, I have seen many of them, is that it's like a family. The residents who have dementia benefit greatly from these homes because they do not have to get use to different caregivers all the time and because the area is smaller they get use to the layout and routine easily. My mom is doing wonderfully at her new home.

What I was wondering is what other states call these type of homes. I know some call them Board and Care Homes, however with the inconsistency of terms when it comes to senior care across the US I was hoping some of my readers could help me put together a list of states and the term they use for these homes. 

If you are in a state other than Michigan and know what your state calls these homes I would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment at the bottom or email me at ruthanne@palcaregivers.com

I am off to help a fellow caregiver find a home for her mom. If you need any help let me know. I will do what I can to assist you. 

Until Next Time
Take Care
Ruth Anne

How To Chose The Right Assisted Living Facility For a Loved One

Hello Everyone and welcome to February 2016. 

The time just seems to be going by so fast. It's a beautiful day here in Michigan sunny and on the warm side for this time of year. My daughter just left to go home and we both commented it looks like spring outside. But don't be fooled there is plenty of winter left. Ground hog day is tomorrow and we should know what old man winter has left in him for this year, if you think old Mr. Ground Hog knows his stuff.

I was thinking today about the hard decision we often have to face with regards to a loved one. The decision to move them to assisted living. I know how hard it is to make this important decision because recently my sister and I wrestled with it ourselves. If you follow my blog you know that in the fall we moved my mother to an Adult Family Home. Previously she had lived with myself for 9 years and more recently with my sister. It took us a couple of months to finally decide it was the right thing for all involved and several visits to varying types of facilities before we settled on one.

With the wide variety of facilities available, how do you know which one is right for your loved one? There are some things to consider when making your decision. These are the things that came into play for us.

Sending Warm Thoughts To Those Affected By Weather and To My Neighbors In Flint Michigan

Hello Everyone,

It's a rather warm Sunday Evening here in Michigan for January 31. It got up to 50 degrees today, but rainy. This weather has sure been crazy. I want to say to all those who were affected by the bad weather last week that I hope things are getting back to normal for you, and that you are now doing well. 

We Make  Made Cars!

For those in Flint Michigan about only 35 minutes north of us, I want to say we at Palcaregivers care about you. We know that many of you in Flint face the same challenges as the rest of the population in our society, when it comes to caring for older loved ones and now you have an added challenge. A horror that none of us in our day and age should have to even think about, finding safe drinking water. 

Does a Person's Gender Make Them A Better Caregiver? Male or Female?

Hello Everyone,

Recently while reading on a cargiving forum I frequent, the question was raised " How is the situation different when the caregiver is the husband". It was suggested that men are usually not raised from childhood to nurture and that they may need help to be a successful caregiver. This got me thinking about how times have changed. The one comment made by another forum member was to the effect that this was an old concept, and I must say after much thought I have to agree. 

In generations past the line between the sexes was very well defined. Women where raised to be wives and mothers, to stay home with the children and as the posters said be the primary nurturer. The men were raised to be the strong ones, the bread winners and to keep their emotions in check. When a loved one became ill such as a parent or grandparent it was usually the woman who stepped in to care for them. If a wife became ill many times a sister or other female relative would care for her or the husband would place her in a nursing home. That was then this is now. 

How We Lived, Laughed and Loved Through Macular Degeneration

While I was reading  on a caregiver forum a few days ago, I can across a question posed by another forum member about Macular Degeneration. They wanted to know if anyone else had cared for a loved one with the eye disease.  That got me thinking, it may be helpful if I shared our family's story of dealing with the very common yet seldom talked about eye disease.

When you think about all the press and medical science that is aimed at things like dementia, heart disease, Parkinson's and so on you may come to realize that Macular Degeneration gets little attention in comparison, even though it is the # 1 cause of blindness in people over 65. My mother is one of those people and here in part is her story.

When mom was just a few years older than I am now, I remember sitting in a car with her one day while we waited for my dad to get done in the store. It was then for the first time she mentioned to me that she was having trouble seeing. She said " I can see but I can't see". What do you mean mom I asked her. She had trouble explaining to me what she meant but she knew something was wrong. At first we thought maybe  cataracts, so we made an appointment with the eye doctor. 

Update On Mom's Progress

Hello Everyone,

It's been a minute since I have shared with everyone how things are going with mom. One month ago Friday she moved from Rehab into an Adult Family Care Home. For those of you who do not know what that is let me explain.

An Adult Family Care Home also called by some an Adult Foster Care Home ( AFCH ) is a small assisted living that is as the name says, in a home. Many AFCHs are set up where the family lives in the home and are the primary caregivers, along with one or two staff they may hire. The smaller ones like the one mom is in are 1-6 residents. There are also 7-12 resident homes and 13-20. Once you reach 21 or more they fall into a different classification by the states. If they family does not live in the residence then the home's owner will hire staff to cover the 24 hour shifts. I have seen homes that are run both ways and must say most are equally nice. 

The Plague of Dementia Hit Robin Williams Too - What is Lewy Body Dementia ?

An underlying brain disease may have been the cause of his depression.

 

This past Tuesday morning as I always do, I sat enjoying my coffee watching the morning news when an interview took by breath away. The interview was with Susan Williams, the wife of the amazing actor and comedian Robin Williams. I sat silent, tears in my eyes as she spoke for the first time about the death of her husband. The heart wrenching interview struck quite a nerve for this caregiver when she revealed that Robin's autopsy showed he was suffering from Lewy Body Dementia or LBD for short. As a caregiver I have seen many people suffering from dementia - to many! LBD is the second most common form of dementia next to Alzheimer's. It is estimated that 1 million Americans suffer from LBD. 

Susan spoke about Robin's sudden rash of symptoms that started popping up about a year prior to his death. She said he complained about things like severe pain in his gut, sleeplessness and constipation. She even thought he might be a hypochondriac. But then he was diagnosed with  Parkinson's disease in May 2014.

Changes to This Website Soon !

Hello and welcome to all. Will Branning here.

Great News for Everyone!

Ruth Anne and I are planning some great new changes for this blog and website to begin in the next week or so. All having much to do with the PAL Caregiver community, one which is rapidly growing, and allowing this location on the internet to become a valuable resource for us all.

In addition to Ruth Anne's blog posts we will be adding sections on:

• Obtaining training to  become a Professional Caregiver.
• Forums for Family and Professional caregivers to exchange ideas and issues.
• News sections relating to Caregiving, Caregiving law issues, Medicaid - Medicare news and changes in Caregiving for our family and clients.
• And much more...
• Ideas and suggestions as always are appreciated.

We are excited about these great new additions to PAL Caregivers and hope you will be too. Please check back often to see what's new.

Best Regards,
Will Branning