Archive for the ‘Ask Lynn’ Category

How Can I Help my Mom Long-Distance?

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

Q: My mom is 82 years old, and was in great shape, traveling internationally and remaining very active. About a month ago, she returned from a big trip, got a flu-type illness within a day or two, and fell in the bathroom. She ended up in the hospital (where she fell again) and in a rehab center (where she suffered a third fall). I stayed with her in Ohio for several weeks during her rehab program, and for ten days or so when she got back to her home, which is a small single-floor unit in an apartment building. The issues in the hospital (which included delirium) have all resolved, and she has home care, but now that’s she’s feeling better, she’s back to being very independent and bossy. I’ve been home four days and she’s already fired one of the home care workers. Now what? I can’t keep returning to Ohio!

A: Well, your mum is feeling better, so that’s good news! Now that she’s stronger and her mental confusion (common with trauma) have resolved, she needs some outside intervention that she’ll listen to. Who can you coach to talk with her, and remind her that she is, indeed, in charge of herself? She needs to take the same precautions and risk assessment she’d take with a child or dear friend in the same condition. That means she needs to take advantage of home attendants who can do the cooking, cleaning and shopping for her or with her, until she is completely 100%. She needs to have someone around when she showers or bathes (perhaps not in the bathroom, but within hearing) and should be using someone else to wash her hair, for example. Remind her that she needs to heal, both from her brief illness and her longer stay in rehab, and that her unsteadiness could be a lasting effect of her aging process that she needs to account for.

Risk assessment and risk aversion are concepts that she certainly understands if she’s an international traveler. Ask her to apply that thinking to her own situation!

I’d suggest finding a close friend, someone from her church, or even one of the health professionals from her home care organization, who would be willing to remind her that she is the one who will suffer if she insists on remaining stubbornly independent, because she’s just not physically in a place right now where she can do it all on her own. This might have to be a frequent conversation.

As for you, make sure you’re talking to your mom daily, encouraging her to do her rehab exercises, eat right, and work with her home care provider. Listen to her complaints without judgement, since complaining is one of the last ways she can assert her independence, and remind her that she nees to grow physically stronger to match her indomitable spirit!

Tags:
Posted in Ask Lynn | No Comments »

Can I get fuel assistance this winter?

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Q: It’s not even winter yet, and already I’m worried about how I’m going to heat my house with the lock-in price for oil at more than $4 a gallon. And now it looks like fuel assistance will be cut short. What can I do now to prepare for winter?

A: There are several things you can start preparing right now that will help you make it through another heating season. You’re going to need to combine conservation with heating efficiency improvements. 

  • Get a home energy audit and see what you can do to heat your house more efficiently. Call your oil company and see if they provide energy audits or can direct you to someone who does. Call your town to see if local civic groups are sponsoring audits or providing weatherization services. Check the LIHEAP (low income heating assistant program) weatherization site for area help.
  • Tighten up your house. Shut off rooms you’re not using, caulk cracks in window frames, check your doors, make sure fan openings are covered (use removeable flaps on the bathroom fan). Keep your dryer door shut. There are easy interior stretch plastic window coverings that add a protective layer but still let the light in. Hang a thick comforter at the foot of the stairs to prevent warm air from rising if you spend most of your daytime hours down stairs. Check 211 Maine for help in weatherizing your home. Make it a personal challenge to create the most efficient home you can manage. You may find that some home energy modifications qualify for PACE low-interest financing if you live in one of these towns.
  • Wear layers, get a soft and comfy indoor hat, and keep the thermometer at 65. Try ”silk” underwear as an easy, warm layer. Use laprobes and shoulder covers, but take care not to tangle or trip on coverings.
  • Ask ahead and find out which churchs, civic groups and town offices in your area might possibly have fuel assistance available. See if you qualify for LIHEAP. Most of all, don’t get in the situation where you’re running out of fuel and require immediate emergency assistance, because many oil companies charge a hefty fee, $100 or more, to deliver oil at night or on weekends. Learn how to monitor your fuel supply and make sure you’re asking for help, if you need to, in a timely fashion. If you’re going to need to ask anyway, don’t do it at midnight on a Friday.  

In the “olden days” people often moved all their activity into one room and heated only the space they were in. If you can tighten up your living space and heat a smaller part of it more efficiently, you may find this winter more stress-free.

Posted in Ask Lynn, Home Support, Information You Can Use | No Comments »

Community Education Series from Home Instead Senior Care

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Community Education Series

As part of Home Instead Senior Care’s commitment to supporting and further educating our community on the aging process, we are pleased to announce the upcoming Community Education Series aimed to assist families and loved ones as they navigate the challenges of caring for aging family members.   We welcome you to join us for the following presentations, all to be held at the Baxter Memorial Library, 71 South Street, Gorham, Maine:

Medicare 101: Navigating the Maze – As we hear repeatedly in the news, Medicare is changing as the face of aging is changing, and keeping up feels nearly impossible.  Fear not!  In this seminar, we welcome Caroline Irwin, owner of Coveside Senior Services, to help us to understand the basics of Medicare, what it covers, what it doesn’t, and how we make appropriate choices in supplementing it.  Confused about Medicare D?  No worries.  Caroline has it all figured out and is ready and willing to share all she knows to help us all better understand the Medicare Maze.  Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:00-6:00pm

Financial Planning for the Future – Is it too late to start planning? – As so many are aging, we are plagued with how we are going to cover the growing costs of long term care.  Please join us as Kerry Peabody of Clark Insurance discusses the different financial options available to pay for our needs, whether in our homes, Independent Living, Assisted Living or Nursing Homes.  Joining Kerry will be Mary Toole, Esq.  Mary specializes in Elder Law and will present planning options and essentials.  This is a must see presentation for children of aging adults who are considering next steps in caring for them. Thursday, October 27, 2011  5:00-6:00p

Managing Alzheimer’s Disease in the Home – As caregivers of loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, we struggle to balance our own emotional and physical needs with those we are caring for.  Please join us as we share helpful strategies in coping with day-to-day challenges that arise from the progression of this disease.  Cathy Kline, Social Worker for the Maine Medical Center Geriatric Clinic will join us in discussing tips and other effective ways to guide and care for ourselves and our loved ones with dementia.  Thursday, November 17, 2011  5:00-6:00p

Please RSVP to myager@homeinsteadmaine.com or 839-0441 in order to reserve your seat today!

Past Workshops

Your Senior Care Options – So many options exist for senior care today and it’s important to understand what each offers.  In this presentation, we explore all of the different opportunities, from Independent living to Nursing Home care, and everything in between.  Lynn Peel, Senior Care Consultant from Beach Glass Transitions will share her expertise in this every growing area of Senior Care Options. Thursday, July 28, 2011  5:00-6:00p

Medication Management in the Home – Seniors represent just over 13 percent of the population, but consume 40 percent of prescription drugs and 35 percent of all over-the-counter drugs, according to the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP).  As their caregivers, how do we manage these medications, educate ourselves and make sure those we care about are safely consuming them?  Angela McGarrigle, RPh from Good for All Pharmacy will help us to understand these challenges and provide simple solutions to ease the challenge of medication management in the home.  Thursday, August 25, 2011 5:00-6:00pm

Posted in Ask Lynn, Estate Management, Health and Wellness, Home Support, News, Resources and Products | No Comments »

Ask Lynn: LTC Insurance Health

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Q: It’s been my observation that you need to be in good health even to get LTC insurance, correct?

Tom (in response to a newsletter article)

A: When you apply for long term care insurance, you will need to be in decent health, but you don’t need to be perfect. Many common conditions – hypertension, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, situational depression, etc. – won’t keep you from being insured, as long as they’re well-controlled. What’s of more concern to long term care underwriters are those conditions which are most likely to lead to your needing long term care services in the future. For instance, insulin-dependent diabetes is typically going to be uninsurable for long term care insurance. A history of a stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack) is going to be very difficult to insure, as will neurological conditions like MS and ALS, or any memory or cognitive problems. Another thing that may prevent you from being covered are “co-morbid” conditions. These are health conditions that, when combined, are even more likely to lead to issues down the road. For instance, if I’m a diabetic with heart disease, or  a smoker with high blood pressure I’m not going to get LTC insurance. But most common and routine health issues aren’t a problem.

With that being said, even if you aren’t medically qualified for traditional long term care insurance, there may be other options. Over the past few years, more products have been introduced that can pay for long term care. Here’s an example – I recently helped a client with rheumatoid arthritis (another big red flag for traditional long term care insurance) with a life insurance plan that will let her use part of her death benefit to pay for long term care services. Because of her medications, she’d never get regular long term care insurance. But, because the life insurance policy is underwritten primarily for the odds of her dying, the risk the insurer looks at is different. She now has a life insurance policy that will pay $500,000 if she dies, but she could roughly $300,000 out of the policy to pay for long term care before she passes away. So, this has gotten her a good, solid LTC safety net.

And finally, if you’re not medically eligible for either life insurance or long term care insurance, you may want to look into a few very specific annuity products. Annuities typically don’t require any medical screening, and today, there are a handful that will help you pay for long term care in various ways. One current plan will double your annuity income payments if you find yourself in a nursing home, with no maximum on how much money pays out, even if your money’s entirely used up.

Medical underwriting is a necessary part of the process, so the best time to apply for any insurance is before your health changes. But even if you have some health issues, there may still be ways for you to protect yourself. You need to sit down and talk through this with someone who can help you understand your insurance options, and find the one that best meets your needs. Good luck!

Kerry Peabody, LTC Specialist, Clark Insurance


Posted in Ask Lynn | No Comments »

Ask Lynn

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Q: I’m a social worker trying to help a friend who lives in Maine. I understand all you have said (referring to a recent blog on Medicaid), but am wondering, if a spouse who will remain in the community, partially retired, with a 401K he still hasn’t touched, will his 401K have to be spent down?

A: Kerry Peabody, our expert blogger on LTC insurance, says that the 401K is considered. “If they’re married,” says Kerry, “the community spouse’s 401k is still considered a “countable resource.” So it would be included in determining eligibility, and subject to the spend down requirements.”

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Ask Lynn | No Comments »

Facebook Problem Solved

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Q: Regarding your recent column about Facebook:  My husband and I have only one email account.  He created a Facebook profile/account several months ago using his name and our email address.  I would now like to go onto Facebook as myself, but because my email is the same as his, I can’t do it.  Is there any way to resolve this short of getting a new email address (which I would prefer not to do, so I don’t have to check 2 email inboxes every day!)?

thanks, Lesley

A: Well, Lesley, you’re in a quandry. No, there’s no simple way to get a separate Facebook account and use the same email.

Here’s what I’d do: go to Google and create your own Google email account. Use that email to create your Facebook account. If you don’t give out your g-mail to anyone, then you shouldn’t have to check it very often for genuine email. And it won’t show up on Facebook.

Facebook will use your g-mail account to make sure you really exist, and authorize your Facebook page. Since you won’t be using the account much, perhaps, make sure you write down your gmail and password for future reference!

Have fun with Facebook, and don’t forget to go through the privacy settings. When you’re all set up, put Maine Senior Guide in the top bar on Facebook and you can go to our page and “fan” us. Good practice!

Best, Deborah

Tags: , ,
Posted in Ask Lynn | No Comments »

How to Compare Medicare Prescription Plans in Maine

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Q. What’s the best way to compare perscription drug plans? How do I find out what the drug options are for Maine plans? Thanks, Lynn.

A. Hi, To help answer your question I spoke with a colleague of mine, Carol Irwin an Independent Insurance Agent from Senior Healthcare Coverage Options and she said, “The best way to search your Drug Plan options is to go to Medicare.gov.  Once you are on Medicare’s Website you will want to be on the Home Page.  Click “Health & Drug Plans” on the left, and then click “Compare Drug and Health Plans.”  This will take you to the Medicare Plan Finder. Enter your Zip Code and click “Find Plans.” Complete Step 1 by answering two questions and click “Continue to Plan Results.”  Step 2 allows you to enter your Drugs.  Be sure to include all your Prescriptions!

PLEASE NOTE: once you have entered your first drug to the right you will be given a “Drug List ID” and a “Password Date.” You will want to record this in order to return to your personalized drug list in the future. This you would enter during Step 2 when returning to your list.

Once you have entered all your drugs click “My Drug List is Complete.” Step 3 allows you to Select Your Pharmacy then click “Continue to Plan Results.” Step 4, click “Continue to Plan Results.” Scroll down to “Prescription Drug Plans.” The plans will be sorted by “Lowest Estimated Drug Cost.” You may compare up to 3 Drug Plans at a time by checking the box next to the plan you would like to compare. Next, scroll down and click “Compare Plans.” This will provide you with a side-by-side comparison. Clicking on an individual plan at this point will then break down the cost of each drug based on that particular plan. You will also be given a number that helps you to enroll or you can enroll on-line.

Because these plans change annually and because your prescriptions may change as well, I recommend that this process be done on an annual basis.

The Annual Enrollment Period for Part D has ended therefore for most the window to pick up or change Part D coverage for 2011 has closed.  However if someone is new to Medicare, qualifies for Extra Help, moves out of the plan’s service area, loses creditable prescription drug coverage, or lives in an institution that person may still be able to join, switch, or drop a Medicare drug plan.

Thanks Carol!

The Southern Maine Agency on Aging also commented that they hold Medicare seminars and you can make an appointment with one of their resource specialists if you have specific questions. If you would like to contact the Southern Maine Agency on Aging check out their profile here.

Tags: ,
Posted in Ask Lynn, Health and Wellness | No Comments »

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Q. Dear Lynn,

I visited my folks over Christmas and  it’s clear that they could use the sort of help I would provide if I lived nearby.  Like getting the tree back outside, or shoveling. My mother shovels the steps one step at a time, just wide enough to walk down. She doesn’t want my dad to shovel at all. They’re not totally infirm, really, but slowing down. Suggestions?  Charlie G. (Massachusetts son) 

A: Charlie,

It sounds like your folks need to call around the neighborhood and find a kid who wants to shovel for a little pocket money. If you have friends in town still, perhaps they can help you locate a teenager. Sometimes there are job boards at local supermarkets that host local handyman services and home help companies that provide non-medical assistance.

You should encourage your parents to continue activities that are both fun and safe, but shoveling just 18 inches on each step isn’t safe….it’s what she can manage.  Have a talk with your parents about what sort of help they think they need to keep their home safe for themselves and visitors. (It’s not about what they can and can’t do, it’s about being safe….and about how they WANT to spend their energy.)  They’re at the stage in life where managing risks (like letting someone else take the tree outside) will really pay off.

There are really only two options for homeowners in Maine: shovel out or stay in. Since neither option is acceptable for your aging parents, it’s OK to have the safety chat with your folks, couched in love and respect, with the expectation of finding an appropriate solution.

Best,  Lynn

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Ask Lynn | No Comments »