Living Arrangements

Living Arrangements

Respite care — giving yourself a break without guilt

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. You're tired. Not the normal kind of tired that sleep fixes, but the bone-deep, soul-tired kind that comes from months or years

Living Arrangements

Adult day programs — structured daytime care explained

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. You're probably working. You want your parent to stay home with you, but you need them to have supervision and engagement during

Living Arrangements

How to choose an adult day program — what to look for

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. Once you've decided an adult day program might work for your situation, you need to find one and then figure out whether

Living Arrangements

Adult foster care — the option many families don't know about

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. When you're looking at options for your parent's care, you probably visited some assisted living facilities and maybe looked at

Living Arrangements

Facility care and Medicaid — what happens when the money runs out

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. If your parent is paying privately for a facility right now, there's probably a number in the back of your head. The

Living Arrangements

When one parent needs care and the other doesn't — splitting them up

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. You're facing something I wish I'd been prepared for: one of your parents needs memory care or skilled nursing, and

Living Arrangements

The guilt — processing the feelings around placing a parent

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. You've made the decision. You've visited facilities, talked to doctors, looked at finances, and done all the logical work. And

Living Arrangements

Facility care during COVID and future health crises — lessons learned

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. The pandemic isolated your parent in ways that nothing else could. The facility locked down. You couldn't visit. You couldn't

Living Arrangements

Nursing home vs. assisted living — making the right choice for their needs

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. If you're reading this, you've probably already had the conversation you hoped you'd never need to have. Your

Living Arrangements

Long-distance caregiving and facility care — when you can't visit every week

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. Your parent is in a facility across the country. You visit four times a year. You talk on the phone twice a week. The

Living Arrangements

When to move them to a different facility — recognizing poor care

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. Sometimes the facility your parent is in is not good. Not just "adjusted to some degree" and "settling in," but

Living Arrangements

Monitoring care quality after the move — staying involved

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. Please consult appropriate professionals for guidance specific to your situation. Three months in, the crisis mode is over. Your parent has adjusted to some degree. The emergency that prompted placement has been managed. Life