Keeping Track: A notebook can help your aging parents stay organized, on task, and prepared!
When helping your aging parents manage their finances, insurance, and everyday affairs, creating an organized, detailed notebook is essential.
You want to be there emotionally for them- which is a lot easier if you can stay calm and confident. (Or seem to be, anyway.) Scrambling and stressing over finding important information during an emergency doesn’t help that at all.
A good friend showed me how keeping a notebook organized by categories like current doctors, medications, medical power of attorney wishes, and any other recent events/episodes that require communication can be a good way to keep everything under control.
Your parents’ wishes, their advice, concerns, and any other instructions they have about their medical circumstances should be kept there, as well.
Find out what they’d prefer when it comes to planning for potential hospitalizations (where they’d like to go in an emergency is a good place to start) if they become sick, and any other foreseeable events that may arise. Having all of that written down in addition to and in conjunction with any legal documentation in the event that you might need to speak for them or make choices on their behalf is a great way to keep your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed.
What kind of planner you use is a matter of personal choice- but whatever you choose, make sure it’s organized, detailed, and shared!
As always, take good care!