When my 90 year old parents recently had a flood to their home; we needed to move them out. First to my sisters close by whose kitchen was in a demolition stage of a remodel with lots of added people and noise in the house, and then we needed to think more permanently.
Since Mitch and I own an Assisted Living and a Memory Care home, and he is the Executive Director for both; I thought “easy peasy” as my grandkids say. Well when you have to consider my dad and his 5% vision in one eye that brings many safety issues to the forefront and my mom’s progressive Dementia; the where and the who and the costs made it a real challenge. I have a tool that I give to folks for using with evaluating multiple facilities; it is very helpful and I would love to share it with anyone that might need it.
We had talked about them staying in their home with part-time to full-time care, or a move at some point but they were adamant about being together. Talking, and abruptly needing to do it and relocate and create their new “little house” (moms words) meant going from 1700 sq ft to 400 sq ft with all the add on places and services in the “big facility” as scary and sad. They are in the first week of adjustments to rhythm and routine, and I am back home after two weeks with them. Every day there is a new challenge to attend to, and a bit of emerging joy.
There are a lot of documents to put in order and distribute, proxy’s within healthcare systems, VA, banks, etc.
As soon as I can breathe more deeply; we’ll have a SHAMROCK ZOOM CALL about this topic. There is powerful ministry for the “wintering years” as we become blessings of love and peace.
- Denise