Daphne Davis joins Suzanne to talk about crossroads and transitions. One of the most difficult parts of aging with families is being unprepared for life’s changes. When adult children realize that mom or dad may need some help, broaching the topic can be challenging. A longtime contributor to Answers for Elders, Daphne Davis is President of Pinnacle Senior Placements.

Daphne says, “Post pandemic, what I’m seeing is that families are really trying hard to have their loved ones stay at home for as long as they possibly can. And I think that comes from a number of places. No one wants to leave their home. There’s no place better than home, and we’re going to figure out how to make that work. But I think there’s another piece that’s happened, and that’s in terms of having trust, and knowing who can you trust to help you navigate this whole world of care outside of your home. When we were back in that pandemic time, we got to see what it’s like to rely on a caregiver who’s taking care of 15 to 25 people. And so we got scared, and we said, oh my gosh, I can do this. I know I can do it.

“We’re waiting way too long to give support to our elders. I’m just gonna say it. It’s hard to hear. Having a bandaid to the professional care of what your family may need is not helpful on many levels. One, the quality of life for your parent and their ability to have a quality life every month of their life, it should never decline. There are ways to keep it happy, even though it’s going to change.

“Families are really at odds with each other. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I have never had such dissension within families and not be able to help them get on the same page. Each state has different offerings. And so it’s really important for you, the families, to be able to connect to somebody who can help you navigate within your own state system. That’s very important because what we can do in Washington doesn’t happen in New York.”

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