When is it best to be proactive about your own “aging at home” strategy? When it’s beyond your control or when the thought first filters prominently through your brain? If you’ve faced this question with an aging parent, then you most likely know that for the most part it was sparked by something sudden – accident or health issue.
“Stay in charge”, says Mary Ellen Tomlinson, director of Senior Care Options, ”set some written instructions in place and attach it to your Power of Attorney for personal care.” In other words, be more in control of your destiny before someone makes plans for you that you may not like.
Aging at home may seem far enough away in life right now to think about a strategy, but how far away is it any way? How would you like your personal care options to be carried out in a variety of circumstances? Sudden restrictions to your mobility, gradual cognitive decline or maybe it’s a mounting sense that sooner than later your current home might be too large to manage. What’s the future move plan?
It doesn’t mean you have to walk around with this topic like a stone in your shoe, but to sum up part one of aging at home with a Mary Ellen’s tag line – “A good precaution is never wasted”.