Aging at Home: Planning to Make It a Reality

Home is where many people wish to be as they age. The familiarity and comfort of their home surroundings and the desire to maintain independence are often key reasons. 

But what happens when this plan doesn’t materialize? Changes in health, abilities, and finances can all affect one’s capacity to remain in their home until the end of life. While staying home may be a goal, most fail to prepare adequately for how to make this happen. When a crisis arises, they or their loved ones may not be prepared to take swift action to make “aging in place” a reality.

Proactive planning is essential for ensuring that your wishes can be fulfilled.

Aging in place is a plan.

As Aging Life Care Managers, we are often called in when a crisis occurs. “Mom” or “Dad” has been admitted to the hospital after a medical emergency, and going home alone is no longer an option. While Mom/Dad may have an Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD) that designates their adult children as their agents, they know their parents have always said, “Don’t put me in a home!” However, they never discussed how to make that happen.

Faced with immediate decisions

Working within tight timeframes and with a hospital discharge approaching, the responsible children now face some difficult decisions. Should Mom or Dad be placed in a skilled nursing facility? Or assisted living? Or can they bring their parent back home with in-home care?

 A host of questions pop up that the adult children often feel ill-equipped to answer.

• “Who will take care of their parent at home?”
• “How much does care cost?”
• “How long will they need care for?”
• “Can they afford the care they need?”
• “Is the home even safe for them to go to?”

Despite having an AHCD, the adult children quickly realize they never discussed the specifics of care options or planned how to make staying at home a reality. If they had understood their parents’ wishes by having conversations and preparing for the “if and when” before an emergency, they would have had the necessary roadmap to support their loved one best according to their expressed interests.

Going Beyond the Legal Paperwork

As Baby Boomers and Gen X begin contemplating their next phase of life, planning beyond the legal paperwork is critical. Advance Directives, Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), and trusts are essential documents. However, these legal documents alone are insufficient for outlining how you want to live this next chapter of your life. Furthermore, these documents do not account for potential changes in health or well-being that may require additional support.

A Long-Term Care Plan

Just as people view a trust as a financial plan, one should approach long-term planning with a similar perspective. Taking time to contemplate and develop a plan that extends beyond the legal paperwork, while making these plans known to those you are entrusting to carry them out, will best ensure your wishes are honored. As trusted advisors to those who seek our services and counsel, we can help them prepare for the “if and when” to make Aging in Place a reality.

Things to Consider

Considering the future can be overwhelming. Many people wonder where to start. While these tips may not cover everything, they can help you begin considering your long-term plan:

• What is most important to me as I age? What do I want my life to look like? For example, you attend Sunday services at 9 am or enjoy steak every Friday night. How can you ensure those entrusted with your wishes understand how vital these routines are to your quality of life?
• Should I stay home, or would a supportive facility be a better choice? In what scenarios would I opt for a facility instead of staying at home? Additionally, are there specific communities that would be my first or second choice if I had to move into one?
• Are my legal documents in order and up to date? Have I completed an Advance Directive or POLST form? Have I ensured my trust is fully funded, and have all my newly added assets been included since my last update?
• Do I have the resources to afford the care I need? Would long-term care insurance be an investment now to offset future costs?
• Is my home set up to meet my needs if my needs change? For example, are all the bedrooms upstairs, or is there only a half bath downstairs? What changes need to be made now to accommodate my potential future needs?

How Care Managers Can Help

Aging Life Care Managers can be instrumental partners in helping you, your loved one, or a client proactively plan for the future. Providing support and recommendations to help ensure your independence while preparing for the future can give you peace of mind. For example, making small changes now can have a significant impact later. Preemptively making home safety improvements can help maintain one’s independence, reduce the risk of injury, and ensure you are prepared when changes in your abilities, whether temporary or ongoing, occur.

The Sage Plan can provide guidance and structure in your planning by helping you think about what is most important to you as you age, creating a plan that can be immediately set into motion when needed, establishing a relationship with a trusted advocate who can continue to guide you and your family/client, and helping you navigate discussions with your family and those you have entrusted to carry out your wishes.

Step-by-Step Guidance to Create a Plan

As partners in helping you navigate this journey, The Sage Plan provides step-by-step guidance to create a plan that is right for you. Throughout the three phases of the Sage Plan, you will work closely with your Care Manager.

• Phase 1:  Develop a “Safety Net” that includes ensuring all your legal paperwork is completed and up-to-date, providing guidance on what may be needed, and connecting you to trusted, appropriate professionals to complete the safety net.
• Phase 2: Understand and document your wishes through thought-provoking discussions and questions about your values and what is most important to you. The Care Manager will help guide a meeting with you and those you have entrusted with helping with your care, ensuring clarity about your wishes. This empowers them with the knowledge and roadmap to carry out your wishes, giving you peace of mind that your wishes will be honored. 
• Phase 3: Check in regularly to stay informed about any changes you may be experiencing; help connect you with new supports or referrals if needed; and provide access to a 24-hour On-Call line with our trusted Team should you need urgent support. 

Phase 3 involves connecting every six months—or more often if preferred—to check in, review recent life events and health changes, address questions or thoughts that have come up in the interim, and incorporate updates to The Sage Plan as appropriate. In other words, once the work of Phases 1 and 2 is complete, our collaboration with Sage clients is dynamic and iterative. 

Building Trust and Assurance

Creating and updating the Sage Plan builds an ongoing, trusting relationship between the Sage Care Manager and the client. The benefits are reciprocal. Sage gets to know our client better, and our clients get to know us better. As a result, clients gain confidence that Sage is poised to help them, if needed, and that their wishes will be honored and their needs met, bringing the peace of mind that brought them to the Sage Plan in the first place.

Altogether, with the trusted guidance of an Aging Life Care Manager, aging in place can move from being a decision to becoming a plan. Find out more about The Sage Plan here. Reach out to us here to schedule a free consultation with one of our Sage team members, so we can help you develop your care plan – The Sage Plan℠, Peace of Mind for Proactive Planners.