In This Issue

	Why I Practice Elder Law, Part I.
	If you answer yes to any of these questions, Hurley Elder Care Law can help
	Life Care Planning Goals
	The Nuts and Bolts Guide to VA Benefits

Why I Practice Elder Law, Part I.

	Most people who practice in any part of the elder care community have had personal experiences that have played a major role in directing them into the area. I am certainly no exception. There have been several of my family members who have gone through the decline in functional capacity, who needed help with ADLs and who required assistance to the end of their lives. This month I am going to tell the story of “Da,” my mother’s father. Colonel James O. Andes was born in 1899 in east Tennessee. He was a well educated man and a scientist. He traveled the world teaching people in different countries how to grow various plants and how to keep those plants alive through harvest. Though he was older than most, he served in the chemical warfare service during WWII.
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To attend our monthly Professionals’ Luncheon please call Louise Morris at 404-843-0121 or email her at lmorris@HurleyECLaw.com

If you answer yes to any of these questions, Hurley Elder Care Law can help.

		Has the elder been diagnosed with a mentally or physically debilitating disorder such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, stroke or a decline in functional capacity?
		Is the elder isolated due to the recent death of a spouse, or have family that either lives too far away or is too busy to provide adequate care?
		Is the elder soon to be discharged into a care facility or currently receiving in-home care?
		Does the elder have a variety of healthcare providers and need coordination and advocacy for quality care?
		Does the elder seem unusually concerned about costs of medication and services, indicating he or she may be having financial troubles?
		Does the elder have assets that fall between $50,000 and $400,000 – enough to finance a short stay in a care facility but not enough for an extended stay?
		Does the elder have a spouse whose financial needs must be considered in light of the elder’s medical condition?

Life Care Planning Goals

1. Meeting the elders’ immediate health care and long-term care needs.
2. Making sure the elder/family is making good health care and long-term care decisions.
3. Helping the elder/family sort through the maze of their long-term care options including residential options.
4. Identifying and accessing public benefits and resources to pay for care should the elder meet the qualifying criteria.
5. Help with asset management, including the burden of home ownership and personal property.
6. Providing the entire family the peace of mind that comes from knowing their loved one is monitored by a team that combines legal and financial expertise with specialized knowledge of the elder’s physical, mental and emotional health.
7. Ensuring the highest level of independence the elder can achieve, while ensuring safety.

Why I Practice Elder Law, Part I.

One of the most amazing stories that I remember from my childhood is the one about Da having died. While serving in the Philippines during the war, his ship was struck by enemy fire. He was presumed dead and my mother’s family was notified of his death. In actuality, he had been able to jump off of the ship and into the sea. He did have burns on a good part of his body, but he did survive. One can only imagine the relief that my mother, grandmother and aunt felt when they found out more than two weeks later that he had survived. I was fortunate as child to have grown up living right next door to this wonderful man. He spent many days teaching me woodworking in his basement, how to split logs, how to repair small engines and how to create a wonderful garden. If I had done a good job of helping him, my reward was a Coke and a quarter. Any time that I was feeling poorly, especially during the winter, I would go to his house and spend hours just lying on the floor in front of the fireplace. There was always a nice warm fire going and that was what I found comforting. Da would always make sure to keep plenty of wood at the ready to keep the fire going on a twenty-four hour basis. During my early adult years, I had moved away from my hometown and did not see Da very frequently, though I did talk with him from time to time. In a way, I just took it for granted that he would always be there. After finishing law school, I headed back to Tennessee to practice. While I was working to get on my feet, I actually lived in my grandparents’ house with them. This is when I first noticed that Da was not quite the same as he had always been. In retrospect, that should not have been unexpected as he was now in his 90s. The day that I first realized that things had really changed was when I came home one day and found that he had burned many of the letters that I had exchanged with family and friends over the previous ten years. You see, Da had given me one of his prized possessions, a Japanese flame thrower box that he had brought back from the Philippines. I had used the box to house many of my mementos and communiqués. In a seeming stupor one day while I was working, he rifled through the box and burned many of its contents. I was very upset, but soon realized that he had no idea about what he had done. After some testing, it was determined that Da had suffered some mini strokes (TIAs). With that being the case, the rest of my mother’s family decided that my grandparents could not be left in the house by themselves during the day. My true introduction to paid home care followed. Even with a paid caregiver in the house during daytime hours, Da was still bound and determined to keep doing the things that he always did, from working in the garden to tinkering in the laboratory to doing projects in the workshop. The laboratory and workshop were in the basement of the house. Getting to the basement required either going outside and walking around or going down a set of dubious wooden stairs (a set of stairs that I had fallen down as a child due to the fact that at the time there was no railing). One day when I was out working in a remote courthouse and well before cell phone coverage was what it is today; Da decided that he needed to do some things in the basement. He turned on the light at the top of the stairs and started to walk down. At some point along the way, he slipped and fell. The fall was a bad one. He cut his head open and was bleeding profusely. Doing what she had to do, the daytime caregiver called 911 and the EMTs came. Even though the primary care physician had a Living Will and DNR order in his file, when the EMTs arrived, they had to revive Da. I found out what had happened later in the day and went to see him in the CCU at the hospital. Da was not conscious, he was hooked up to many tubes and monitors and he was just lying there in a fetal position. It was one of the saddest sights that I have ever seen. He spent the next two weeks there, during which time he regained consciousness, before being discharged to a skilled nursing facility four blocks down the street. As you can imagine he was never the same again. Every time that I went to visit him, he had no idea who I was. He thought that I was one of the members of his unit and that we were in the Philippines fighting the Japanese. I was much more fortunate than most of the other residents in the facility, who he thought were the Japanese. With that being the case, most days Da was left sitting in a wheelchair in restraints. This was a horrible sight to me, seeing this proud man in such an undignified setting. Not only was he restrained, but much of the time he was wearing only a “wife beater” undershirt and underwear or a diaper. This does not even get into the setting of the facility, which always reeked of urine and there never seemed to be anyone around to tend to Da’s needs. My grandparents were fortunate in that they had saved enough money to be able to pay for Da’s care and my grandmother’s care later. But just being able to afford care does not mean that the care is good or that there is any true quality of life remaining. The last year of Da’s life was not good and I cannot imagine anyone wanting to live that way, restrained, not knowing where you are and in an impersonal institutional facility. I knew that there had to be a better way. This was just one of the life experiences that have led me to want to advocate for people as they reach the last stages of their lives. I miss Da and treasure all of the influence that he has had on me.