Caring for Aging Parents and Seniors/Elderly Family Members

We (the HT Health Ministry) felt that it would be important to provide information about advance health care planning in our current COVID-19 environment, as many of you might be thinking about how much medical treatment your loved one might want if they develop COVID-19 and are unable to make health care decisions themselves.

Click here for information on the Oregon Advance Directive and POLST documents as well as additional resources you can access.

• Washington County Crisis Line — 503.291.9111

• Multnomah County Crisis Line — 503.988.4388 or 1.800.716.9769

• Aging & Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) — 1.855.673.2372

• Senior Loneliness Line — 503.200.1633

• Senior Connection Calls by the Oregon Senior Peer Outreach — 1.833.736.4676

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) — 1.800.950.6264

• Hospice and Grief Support Group at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center — 503.215.4622

From the July '20 Newsletter for the Health Ministries Network:

The Palliative Care Institute at Western Washington University has initiated a weekly on-line support group via a Zoom video conference call for staff at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, providing in-home care, and/or hospice care. The goal of creating this virtual space is for them to come together to talk about the impact of the pandemic on their work and their clients and residents — a kind of ‘COVID coffee break room,’ a place to sit down to talk for a few minutes with others who are also struggling to reconfigure all aspects of care. By gathering their thoughts, PCI hopes be a vehicle for sharing these stories more widely with those outside their worlds. Anyone who would like to join this support group can email pci@wwu.edu to request the Zoom link.

Check out these resources for caregivers, which were listed at the end of the article "4 Tips for Only-Child Caregivers" (Paul Wynn, April/May 2020):
 

• AARP: 877-333-5885

• Aging Life Care Association: 520-881-8008

• ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center: 703-256-2084

• Eldercare Locator: 800-677-1116

• Family Caregiver Alliance: 800-445-8106

• Parenting Our Parents: 310-275-7554

• Senior Corps: 800-942-2677

• US Administration on Aging: 800-677-1116

• US Department of Labor: 866-487-9243

Choosing the right assisted living community for your loved one(s) can be a difficult challenge. Below are a few articles selected by our Health Ministry team that provide tips, advice, and information on making such important decisions.

• Five Steps for Choosing the Right Assisted Living Community (Penelope Wang, Consumer Reports, October 2018)

• When to Move from Independent Living to Assisted Living (Elaine Howley, U.S. News, August 2019)

• 11 Ways to Afford the Assisted Living Care You Need (Tobie Stanger, Consumer Reports, August 2017)

• Assisted Living Facilities: Weighing the Options (AARP, updated October 2019)