JustCare

Tag: Health care buddy

  • Who’s your health care buddy?

    Who’s your health care buddy?

    There are many benefits of being “all in it together,” but many of us still prefer the “every man for himself” way of life. Whatever your preference, there’s no question that having a buddy can do wonders for your health.

    The evidence suggests that having someone to talk, walk, shop and/or dine with offers mental, physical, emotional, social and psychological support. Take note: People who live in relative isolation have as high a risk of dying early as people who smoke.

    Even spending time with the postman or the grocer–casual buddies–is good for your health. The more people you spend time with the more likely you will fare better. Why? It’s not clear. But, it could be that people who engage with others are more inclined to care for themselves.

    When it comes to health care, having a buddy–be that person a spouse, a sibling, a child or a parent–is really important. The greater your health care needs, the more important it is for you to have a buddy. Buddies can be a second set of eyes and ears for you at the doctor’s office and can also help coordinate your care.

    Especially if you have one or more chronic conditions, ask your buddy to go to the doctor’s office with you. It’s always dizzying and stressful to be alone with a doctor. It’s hard to listen, ask questions and take notes about all the things you need to do. That’s what a buddy can help with.

    It’s even more important to bring a buddy with you to the hospital. Hospitals are often understaffed and unable to focus on your needs all the time. A buddy can help ensure your needs are met. A buddy also can help prevent or reduce the chance of medical mistakes and delirium when you’re moving from one care facility to another.

    Your buddy can ensure you get any new prescriptions filled and that you understand how to care for yourself after you leave. Ideally, your buddy can help you with any questions or concerns you have and, if necessary, speak to your doctor on your behalf.

    When it comes to your health and quality of life, buddies matter. Do your best not to go it alone. If you don’t have a buddy, consider making it your mission to find one. Perhaps you can be a buddy for a friend or neighbor and have that friend or neighbor be your buddy.

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  • Escort requirements keep people from receiving medical procedures

    Escort requirements keep people from receiving medical procedures

    Paula Span reports for the New York Times on outpatient procedures that require patients to have someone to escort them out of the doctor’s office. Consequently, sometimes patients must forego important care because they have no one to escort them out of the doctor’s office afterwards. These escort requirements are a particular challenge for people living alone, without friends and family to assist them.

    There are a range of outpatient procedures for which some physicians require you to have an escort. For example, if you need a colonoscopy or cataract surgery, to name two procedures that require anesthesia, you might not be able to get an appointment if you don’t have an escort to pick you up after the service. Without the name and contact information for your escort, doctors might not allow you to schedule these procedures.

    Easy access to transportation home after a procedure is not enough. Some physicians require people to have someone to get them from the doctor’s office to the taxi or car and then from the taxi or car into their homes. The concern is that the patient might have a bad reaction to the anesthesia and end up in a stupor or vomiting or totally disoriented.

    Not every doctor requires an escort. But, some doctors do. One person enrolled in an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan could not find a doctor to perform a procedure he needed unless he had an escort. But, he did not have one, and Aetna won’t cover the cost of the medical escort.

    An escort requirement is a big issue for many people who live alone and don’t have people to turn to for help. They might need a procedure to stay healthy. But,  if they also need an escort for their safety, they are in a quandary.

    Is there a way to avoid having an escort? If you do not have an escort to accompany you to a procedure where an escort is required, you should ask your health care providers that require escorts whether they would allow you to wait in their offices for several hours after a procedure in lieu of having an escort. Sometimes they will.

    How to get an escort? You might try contacting your local church or religious institution. Or, if you’re up to it, look into volunteering in your community for credits. Organizations like TimeBank allow you to bank credit from your own volunteering to enable you to get a volunteer to escort you home from the doctor.

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  • What’s a durable power of attorney?

    What’s a durable power of attorney?

    A durable power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to name someone to help with your financial affairs whenever you would like and if you become unable to handle them yourself. The person you name should be someone you trust with your finances, someone who could make decisions about your finances if need be. That person also could be your health care proxy or health care buddy.

    Why should you give someone a durable power of attorney? First and foremost, giving someone you trust a durable power of attorney should give you peace of mind that your affairs will be taken care as you would like, if you cannot take care of them. Otherwise, the person you would want to have the durable power of attorney would have to go through an expensive and lengthy court proceeding to make these decisions. Moreover, without the durable power of attorney, a judge might appoint someone you do not trust to handle your affairs. The durable power of attorney lasts until you die.

    What is the difference between a durable power of attorney and a power of attorney? If you simply give someone a power of attorney, then the person you designate only has authority over whatever financial matters you specify until you become mentally incompetent. But, if you choose, you can make the power of attorney document a durable power of attorney. You need only include language in the power of attorney that specifies that the person you designate has authority if you become mentally incompetent. Unless you make the power of attorney a durable power of attorney, the person you designate cannot handle your financial affairs after you become mentally incompetent.

    Who should have a copy of your durable power of attorney? You should give a copy of the durable power of attorney to all financial institutions at which you have accounts.

    If I give someone a durable power of attorney, will that person be able to take money from my bank accounts? Yes. The person you name as having durable power of attorney, your financial agent, will be able to take care of your financial affairs using your bank accounts if you give them that authority. But, this agent does not own the money in your accounts and may not take money from your accounts for himself or herself.

    What should I discuss with the person I name as having durable power of attorney?  You should let your agent know about all institutions with which you have financial arrangements, including your banks, credit card companies, financial advisors and insurance companies.

    Can I change or cancel the durable power of attorney? Yes. You can cancel or change your durable power of attorney at any time by destroying it and notifying the financial institutions at which you have accounts that you have destroyed it or changed it.

    [Note: This post was originally published on March 28, 2018.]

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  • Seven things to do before you or someone you love leaves the hospital

    Seven things to do before you or someone you love leaves the hospital

    It’s hard enough to be in the hospital. Most of us can think only of getting out as quickly as possible. But, leaving the hospital can have its own set of risks if you’re not prepared. So, before you or someone you love leaves, here are seven things that you should do:

    1. Understand and decide what will happen after discharge. Discuss your options after you leave the hospital with your doctors so that there are no surprises. Make sure all your questions are answered.
    2. If you are not going home, make sure you know where you will be going and the reasons for going there, be it a nursing home or a rehab facility or another setting.
    3. Know who to call and have that person’s number if you have questions after you leave the hospital.
    4. Make a list of your medications, including any new ones, and keep the list on you. Also, understand whether there are side effects and what to do if you experience them.
    5. Know what care is needed to help prevent your condition from getting worse, what symptoms you need to look out for, and who to call if you experience any of them.
    6. Schedule follow-up appointments with your doctor and arrange for transportation to get there.
    7. Get a discharge plan. The hospital is required to give you a written plan. If at all possible, have a family member or friend with you—a health care buddy—to help ensure you understand what care you will need after you leave. If you still have questions, review the written discharge plan with your doctor or hospital social worker.

    For more information, visit The Care Transitions Program. And, if you haven’t seen these seven tips on how to prepare for a hospital stay, take a look. 

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  • 91-year old gymnast competes in Berlin

    91-year old gymnast competes in Berlin

    Some people are never too old to do handstands on the parallel bars and other knock-your-socks off gymnastics feats. Watch Johanna Quaas, a 91-year old gymnast, perform at a competition in Berlin. And, even if you are not feeling up to competing–how many of us ever do–try to find a way to exercise.

    Take a bike ride, a trip up and down stairs, or a long walk. Exercise is good for your heart and your health! One study found that exercise is good for memory and attention, another that it reduces the likelihood of disability in older adults, another that it  helps people with Alzheimer’s, and yet another that exercise reduces the likelihood of stroke. 

    If possible, find a health care buddy to exercise with you. Believe it or not, a buddy brings additional health benefits.

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  • Get paid to be a health care buddy

    Get paid to be a health care buddy

    Call them health care buddies or a new breed of concierges, the New York Times reports on a fast growing group of baby boomers working as paid assistants and companions to older adults in their homes. These buddies can engage and activate isolated older adults in ways that promote better health.

    This booming “elder concierge” industry is helping older adults to continue to live in their communities rather than moving into an assisted living facility or nursing home.  New companies are springing up and others are expanding to accommodate this enormous need. At the same time, they are allowing retirees and part-time workers to earn extra income.

    Workers with no health care or social work experience can earn as much as $70 an hour for their time keeping older adults company at home, at the doctor’s office and everywhere else. They might cook, drive or or provide someone to talk to for older people. And, they can be an enormous help to family members who live too far away to provide these services or simply don’t have the time to do so.

    Not only do these health care buddies help the older adults and family members, but the work can be extremely rewarding for the buddies themselves.

    To be sure, the cost of this companionship can be prohibitive for many people needing additional caregiving services. A volunteer model or banked credit model may be available in some communities. If not, you might be able to find a neighbor, friend or community worker to fill this role for the people you love. Or your local area agency on aging might be able to refer you to local services that are reputable.

    One organization providing this service is AgeWell. AgeWell hires older adults in good health to help peers in less good health.  Another organization, the Village to Village network helps people find caregivers and other service providers they can trust.

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  • Help for people getting long-term care

    Help for people getting long-term care

    It’s not clear when Congress will enact legislation that helps ensure everyone in America gets the long-term care services and supports they need. Certainly, not during this administration. But, if you are in a nursing home, assisted living facility or other long-term care facility, you should be able to get help from a long-term care ombudsman.

    The Older Americans’ Act provides government-funded assistance with resident complaints and advocacy in every state for people in nursing homes and assisted living facilities through the Administration on Aging’s long-term care ombudsmen.  According to Susan Jaffe at Kaiser Health News, in 2015, long-term care ombudsmen investigated 200,000 complaints, resolving more than half of them. Complaints range from issues with admissions and discharges, to the conditions of the living facilities, including the food and the noise levels, the rights of residents and abuse and neglect.

    Volunteers do a lot of the leg work. The 8,155 volunteers have the right to visit any area of a long-term care facility whenever they want without permission. They can speak with residents as well, as they please. Their job is to alert residents to their rights and identify resident issues that need addressing, as well as to resolve them when possible. In some instances, they will call in state officials to assist them. Complaints are all treated as confidential.

    Volunteers can be a health care buddy of sorts to residents who are not fit to speak for themselves and do not have family or friends to advocate for them. In addition to the volunteers, 2,257 paid staff at the Administration on Aging work as ombudsmen and supervise and advise the volunteers.

    To be a volunteer requires attending training sessions and, at least in some states, passing a criminal background check, but no professional expertise. To learn more, please watch this video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VRmetXQVEY&feature=youtu.be

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  • World’s oldest female bodybuilder is most inspiring

    World’s oldest female bodybuilder is most inspiring

    Born in 1936, Ernestine Shepherd is a bodybuilder. In her 60s, she had been a “couch potato.” Then, she and her health care buddy, her sister, decided to take weight training. Their goal was to be in the Guinness Book of World Records.

    The weight training transformed Ernestine’s life. And, after the death of her beloved sister, it alleviated Ernestine’s depression and anxiety. At the age of 74, Ernestine made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest female bodybuilder.

    Watch Ernestine’s video and be inspired! As she says, “Age is nothing but a number, and you can get fit!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRhIJlVcf2Q

  • Health resolutions for 2017

    Health resolutions for 2017

    We’re well on our way through the first month of 2017 — about the time that most people start giving up their New Year’s resolutions. So how can you stick to your health resolutions this year? Think of them as goals; you’re more likely to accomplish something if you are working toward it, instead of being confined to it.

    1. Find a health care buddy, and spend time with your buddy regularly. Whether you’re going on walks or eating healthy meals together, keeping up with a buddy is a great way to help you meet your health goals. Track your progress together and encourage each other. Chances are, your buddy will keep you accountable for more than just one of your resolutions.
    1. Try a new hobby — or return to an old one. Sticking to habits can help with anxiety, depression and other signs of mental illness, so choosing a hobby is a great way to relieve stress and stay mindful. Visit your community center or contact your local area agency on agency to find resources for group classes and clubs, or look into your social networks to find opportunities near you.
    1. Visit your doctor or other medical care provider. Annual visits to a doctor or family nurse practitioner can help you address new health concerns as you age. At each visit, be sure to discuss your current medications, exercise habits and whether they are still working for you. Keep in mind that Medicare covers the full cost of an annual wellness visit as well as a range of other preventive care services.
    1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Dieting is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, Instead of cutting entire food groups from your diet, try adding fresh items to each meal. Whether it’s a food you’ve always wanted to try, or a new twist on a favorite dish, including produce–fruits and vegetables–is a healthy way to add more vitamins and minerals to your diet.

    What other goals do you have for 2017? Let us know in the comments below!

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