Life Care Plans
What is Life Care Planning?
Life care planning is a comprehensive, holistic solution to chronic illness management for seniors and their families. Life care planning encompasses traditional estate planning, financial asset preservation, and social services put together as a method of managing information and resources.
Who is Life Care Planning for?
Life care planning is not for everyone, but it might be for you. Our clients are older adults who have been diagnosed with a chronic condition, and who would benefit from assistance in navigating the maze of doctors, therapists, nursing and assisted living facilities, home health care and many other facts of condition management. Our goal for our clients is to work with available financial and community resources to allow the client to maintain their current lifestyle for as long as possible. In addition, our clients make long term care plans for themselves, with their family's input. This provides the client with the peace of mind in knowing what will happen should they need a higher level of care. We work with both single adults and married couples, and we try to engage the entire family in care decisions so that you may get back to the most important thing: living.
How does Life Care Planning work?
If you think a Life Care Plan might be appropriate for you, please call our office for a consultation. A friendly staff member will answer your questions or connect you with the right person, if necessary, send you a questionnaire to fill out and bring with you, and make an appointment for a consultation. The questionnaire helps us evaluate the best course of action for you. At the consultation, an attorney and the Elder Care Coordinator will meet with you and your family, and identify a plan of action that best suits your needs. When you elect to purchase a Life Care Plan, the Elder Care Coordinator will meet with you for an in-home evaluation. At our second meeting, the attorney and Elder Care Coordinator will present an Action Plan and describe to you the way to meet your goal: to remain at your current independence level for as long as possible.
How can a Life Care Plan benefit my life?
There is no definitive list of ways we can assist our Life Care Planning clients. Our attorneys will examine your estate plan to make sure you have all of the documents that are appropriate for your sistuation, and that they are drafted according to your wishes. Any estate planning documents that need to be added or updated are included for the length of your Life Care Plan - which, in most situations, is the rest of your left. Our attorneys will also examine your finances with you, and help you plan to extend your funds or access public benefits if necessary. Our attorneys are also available to you to assist with any legal issues that may arise in the future, either by investigating the issue or referring you to the appropriate resource.
Our Elder Care Coordinator will begin with an in-home evaluation and creating an Action Plan. While your situation is stable, she will keep in touch with phone calls and, at the very least, a monthly visit. These visits can be extremely helpful in helping out of town family members keep aware of conditions, as well as help persons who are in constant contact recognize subtle changes. If you are facing an illness, our Elder Care Coordinator can help you make plans and choose the services and facilities you may need while you are able to contribute to this process. Should your situation begin to change, you and your family will have a trusted resource who is already familiar with your situation. As the need arises, our Elder Care Coordinator may attend doctor's appointments, nursing home care coordination meetings, and family meetings with physicians, as necessary. She can help you obtain proper medical equipment, not only as prescribed by a doctor, but other conveniences, such as medication dispensers and monitoring systems to help you maintain your independence. If you can live independently, she can help you access proper services, choose home health care agencies and monitor the services provided for you and your family. Should a medical crisis arise, she will help you and your family make sense of the information coming from different specialists, prepare you and your family for different stages of care, and help you manage your expectations.
Is a Life Care Plan right for me?
A Life Care Plan is not just a series of transactions, but a relationship with us. If you are interested in obtaining more information, please contact us. We can answer your questions and set up a consultation.