Education On Aging Issues Reduces Family Stress

Part of my motivation for creating and maintaining this blog is to foster discussion among children of seniors. From my days at Hanover Healthcare as the Admissions Director, I know people are dealing with the issue of aging parents. While there, I admitted over 600 people to the nursing home, most on a temporary basis. One thing was common to most of those admissions. Decisions were made while a family was in "crisis mode." Strokes and hip fractures were completely unexpected touching off a chain reaction of events and decisions. "What care is needed?, Who provides it?, How do we pay for it?" are some of the questions asked at that time. Families get a quick and completely unexpected education about these issues whether they want it or not. They are forced, for the sake of Mom or Dad, to move quickly through the phases of disbelief, denial and acceptance of current circumstances.

No one will ever fully be ready to handle these expected events relating to seniors. I speak from experience. My mother fell on the porch steps of our house at 11pm one evening. This resulted in the family's 5 hour overnight ER visit. However, if through this blog, people can be educated about many of these issues, they can feel more confident in the decisions that are made at the "crisis" time. Education and awareness can reduce the stress families feel when confronted with these issues. As part of these entries, I will begin sharing from my own family's perspective as my mother battles Muscular Dystrophy and my dad deals with his Parkinson's Disease.