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    A Breakthrough in Home Care

    Many seniors want to do everything they can to stay in their homes as they get older. But often they need help to handle various responsibilities, including getting to medical appointments, shopping, socializing with friends, preparing meals, and managing things around the house. They usually have two choices to get these services. First, they can rely on family members to help them. This is often difficult if their children are working or are not in the immediate area. Second, they can hire aides to come to the home. But this can be very expensive. Aides often cost $20 an hour or more and many seniors just can’t afford them.

    But a new alternative is emerging. It is a volunteer non-profit organization created by a community to allow neighbors to help other neighbors. Each senior pays a fee to become part of the network. Fees vary by community and services offered . They range from $175 to $900 a year. Community members volunteer to provide most of the services. Discounted fees are available to people with lower incomes.

    Beacon Hill in Boston was probably one of the first neighborhoods to offer such a program. Beacon Hill Village was founded in 2001. To be a member you must be 50 or older and live in communities surrounding Beacon Hill.  Services offered to members include:

    • Referrals to discounted, vetted providers for everything from dog walkers to plumbers
    • A volunteer to assist you in your home or around town
    • Geriatric care management for you or your family members anywhere in the US
    • Preferred access to MGH Senior Health Medical Practice
    • Rides home from a medical procedure that are required by the hospital/doctor
    • Personalized grocery shopping—we will drive you or deliver groceries to your home
    • Discount prescription drug card—complements Medicare Part D coverage
    • Discounts to all providers: Electricians, plumbers, organizers, personal trainers, massage therapists, and homecare specialists

    A similar program was recently set up on Cape Cod. It is called Nauset Neighbors and boasts that “One call does it all”. It is also staffed by volunteers and serves the communities of Brewster,Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet.

    There are now eight open villages in Massachusetts, including similar groups in Falmouth and  Martha’s Vineyard.  There are currently about sixty others nationwide, over 120 in the planning stages and the numbers are constantly growing. Each village is unique to its area and resources.  Nauset Neighbors is part of the Village to Village Network, whose aim is to exchange information and experience.

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    Reprinted from Bob Mauterstock’s The Gift of Communication Blog. Subscribe at http://www.GiftofCommunication.com  and receive Bob’s Family Meeting Checklist Guide.

    Do Not Resuscitate?

    Many of us mistakenly believe that if we have gone to the trouble of having our parents complete a living will and have had an attorney prepare an advance directive identifying a health care proxy for them, we have covered all the bases. But this is not the case!

    Advance Directives and living wills are not accepted by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as legally valid forms. If a patient has a living will that states that they do not wish to be resuscitated but does not have an appropriately filled out state-sponsored form that is co-signed by a physician, the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) will attempt resuscitation. This is a little-known fact to many patients and primary care physicians that can cause patients to be resuscitated even if their family has given instructions not to do so. Although this law is currently being evaluated for a constitutional challenge, it is still in place.

    A do not resuscitate document is a binding legal document that states resuscitation should not be attempted if a person suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest. A DNR does not affect any treatment other than that which would require intubation or CPR. Patients who are DNR can continue to get chemotherapy, antibiotics, dialysis, or any other appropriate treatment.

    The DNR documentation is especially complicated since each state has its own specific approved form. The DNR form for residents of the State of Arizona is required to be printed on orange paper or it is not valid.  The Massachusetts form can be obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services and can be downloaded from the here. It provides for a bracelet to be applied to the patient’s wrist.

    It is imperative that you contact your state health and human services department to determine what form is approved in your state. The form must be signed by the health care proxy (sometimes called the health care agent) or a durable power of attorney and cosigned by a physician. It is recommended that the original DNR form be kept in safe place, and that copies be kept in places that will be readily available to EMS personnel.

    Here is a state-by-state listing of where DNR forms can be obtained in each of the 50 states.

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    PERMISSION TO REPRINT:
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    Financial Advisors may reprint any articles from The Gift of Communication Blog in your own print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

    Reprinted from Bob Mauterstock’s The Gift of Communication Blog. Subscribe at http://www.GiftofCommunication.com  and receive Bob’s Family Meeting Checklist Guide.