Why everyone needs a personal care team

You are currently viewing Why everyone needs a personal care team

Why everyone needs a personal care team

IN THIS ARTICLE

01/ Why is it important?  

02/ When Should You Form Your Support Team? 

03/ Whom Should You Include on Your Support Team?

“It takes a village…”

You’re probably familiar with this phrase used to describe the community effort that goes into raising a child.

The concept of it “taking a village” applies to aging, as well. It does often take the support of a “village” for older adults to age well – with dignity and security.

With that in mind, one of the best things you can do now, to help ensure your later well-being, is to create your own personal “village.”

That is, a team of people who can help you in some important and specific ways, should you need the assistance in the future.

Why is it important?

There may come a time when outside help will be required for you to function well. This may occur due to chronic illness or a sudden health situation. Nobody has a crystal ball to know what the future holds. If and when that time comes, having people pre-positioned to assist with specific tasks, will help ensure that you get the care you need, in a timely fashion. In fact, the data suggest that it is not just a possibility, but a likelihood, that a woman 65+ will need outside help to manage the tasks of daily living, at some point. And yes, even those with a spouse or children, need a personal care team. The fact is that as supportive as family may be, there’s no guarantee that they will be around and available, if and when help is needed, in the future. Even if they are, supporting an individual, who is cognitively and/or physically impaired, really does require a team effort. So…now that we’ve established the need for forming a support team, let’s move on to the questions of: when to form your team and whom to include as part of your team.

When Should You Form Your Support Team?

This is easy. Whether you are 50 or 90, the time to think about and establish a team that can help, in the future, is now. That is, while you are still healthy enough to do so and before a crisis hits.

Whom Should You Include on Your Support Team?

The two most important types of people you need on your support team are:

  1. those who can make decisions for you
  2. those that can provide hands-on help.

Decision Makers

When it comes to decision makers, what you need specifically are those who can make healthcare and financial decisions for you.

To legally empower individuals to be your healthcare and financial decision makers, you need to complete a couple of key documents – Power of Attorney (POA) for Healthcare and Power of Attorney (POA) for Finance forms.

You can choose the same person to act as your POA for both healthcare and finances or you can have a different person for each role.

Your power of attorney can be a family member, friend or anyone you choose. The most important thing is that a POA be trustworthy and willing to follow your wishes (that you hopefully documented ahead of time).

[Read more about who can be your power of attorney if you don’t have anyone.]

Hands-On Helpers

In addition to decision makers, it is also critical that you have people on your team, who can provide hands-on help.

You will want to make sure that you have identified people who can step in to help with the tasks of daily living, should it become necessary.

Some of the most common areas that people may eventually need assistance with are:

1) Personal Care (bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, eating, etc.)

[Learn about what you should consider when hiring in home care]

2) Medication Management

3) Money Management

[You may be interested in reading how a money manager can help.]

4) Transportation (to doctors’ appointments, the grocery store, errands, etc.)

[Learn more about who can help with transportation.]

Unlike with your decision makers whom you should appoint as soon as possible, it is not necessary to actually hire specific hands-on helpers yet.

Rather, at this point, you should begin to research and interview the people and agencies who can be your hands-on helpers in the future. That way, if/when you ever do need this type of assistance, you or your decision makers will have people who can quickly be called on.

It’s possible that you may never need any outside help with decision making or completing your activities of daily living. That is, of course, the hope.

But, assembling your care team, your “village” in advance, will help ensure that you are prepared for the future. Your needs will be met and you can age with dignity and security.

Join our community!
Stay up to date with information that's relevant to you. Sign up for the Wize Plans e-newsletter to get our latest content delivered right to your inbox every month!

Danielle Mazur is a geriatric social worker whose passion for working with older adults was ignited over 20 years ago, while a student at Columbia University School of Social Work. Danielle has worked with older adults in a variety of settings, including: long-term care and assisted living facilities, community health clinics and, for the last six years, at a non-profit focused on helping those over 60, “age well.” Danielle loves working with clients to help define what a good life in their later years looks like and, together, creating a roadmap to get there. When Danielle isn’t working or with her family, she can usually be found on a tennis court, in a yoga studio or dreaming of her next getaway.