Starting the Elder Care Conversation This Holiday Season
LOS ANGELES, Calif - The holidays are a chance for family members to have an important conversation about the wishes of elderly parents and what to do in a health emergency.
When 69-year-old John Barrett saw his family for Thanksgiving, he wanted to have a serious talk.
“Start the conversation about what's going to happen when we get older. It sounds scary. But what's going to happen when Grandpa slips and falls in the shower and needs 24-hour-care?”
Susan DeMarois, the Director of the California Department of Aging, says growing older today is complicated.
"So many important accounts and documents are saved digitally. Many of them have different passwords to access information. So it's important to keep track of all of that, too," said DeMarois.
Even though Barrett works for CDA, during his family discussion, he found out his documents were obsolete.
"We discovered my will is woefully out of date. It was created when my wife was still alive and before my granddaughter was born. So now I realize oh, I need to go update my will. And then my younger sister said, No, you need to get a living trust instead," said Barrett.
Talking about those topics can be awkward for both parents and adult children. So where do you begin?
CDA recommends asking simple questions like, "how is it going with grocery shopping and meal preparation?," to offering to accompany them to an appointment or to help them organize their materials.
DeMarois says every family has different dynamics, but once this information is shared, parents may feel empowered because they have a plan for carrying out their preferences.
DeMarois says every family has different dynamics, but once this information is shared, parents may feel empowered because they have a plan for carrying out their preferences.
