Crossroads

Eight things every senior homeowner deserves during a home sale. This segment focuses on the fifth and sixth things: 5: Home mementos. 6: Caring advocates.

Daphne Davis at Pinnacle Senior Placements talks about the biggest thing she's been running into, which is people becoming paralyzed by their own fears,...

Why do your values matter when it comes to senior care? Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show talk about finding your senior loved one's values and then how to go about asking whether a senior care provider can meet those values. Daphne says, "The number one value that Pinnacle' holds is, when we are working with a client and a family, that client does not have to move again. And how do we make that happen? How do we make sure that we can support that number one value? And it comes through us gathering information about our client and discovering their highest values. And from that, it behooves me to know communities of care well enough to know can they support the family's values."

Eight things every senior homeowner deserves during a home sale. This segment focuses on the third and fourth things: 3: Decision-making: Every senior deserves the ability to make their own decisions, give them choices to make. 4: Knowledge and information.

How should money be spent during a senior loved one's move? It's very emotional and sensitive time, with parents and their adult children having different perspectives and agendas. Adult children are worried about the parents' money lasting long enough for their care. They worry that they might have to mortgage their own home in a few years to pay for their Mom's care. Unless parents have set aside a nest egg, it's a concern because the cost of care is so high that proceeds from a home sale might only pay for care for a handful of years. Sometimes they don't want their parent to sell the home because they expect that home to be there for them when their loved one passes away. Meanwhile, what's best for Mom in her situation?

Eight things every senior homeowner deserves during a home sale. This segment focuses on the last two things, which are about the journey to say goodbye to the home, without minimizing emotions. 7: Space to grieve. Give a senior homeowner the space and opportunity to feel sad. 8: An opportunity to say goodbye.

Kelley Smith at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to present a checklist of items to review each year regarding your legal paperwork, to make sure they're still current.

“Moving is a huge mental and emotional adjustment for your loved one, and you're best served being there for them, not to be out painting walls. One of the things that I always tell caregivers is, “Sometimes you just have to sit down and breathe, take care of yourself.” Suzanne is joined by Rebecca Bomann, CEO and founder of SASH Services, to provide tips for families having to sell a senior loved one's home to pay for their round-the-clock care.

This segment focuses on beginning stages, and putting the plan in action. First: we're downsizing for a reason, whether Mom is moving in with an adult child, moving into an assisted living facility. Look at the space she's moving into and assess how much space is available. Visit model units to get an idea of what would work in the space, to see if Mom's couch will actually fit.

This month's Specialist Spotlight on Aging in Place features Dr. Jill Bjerke, the creator of Silver Spaces, an online assessment tool to help you identity safety risks and dangers in your home that you haven't noticed. If you want to remain in your home in your later years, Dr. Jill talks talks about many of the risks you can avoid. Dr. Jill Bjerke is April's Specialist Spotlight on Aging in Place at Answers for Elders.