Are you ready?

When your parents get to a certain age, usually their 70's, they will need more help from you.  In an emergency, are you ready to provide the medical providers with information about your parent such as, what medications they're taking or what surgeries they've had in the past and what medical conditions they currently have?  

No?

Well, you're not alone.  

Sadly, most of us wait until something happens to a parent before we start to pay attention to their needs.  Here's what you need to do.  

First, keep an up-to-date list of their medications with the dosage, how often they take it and the medical reason for taking it.

Next, have a discussion with your parent and find out any medical conditions they currently have and write it down.  You'll need to know this in an emergency.  Do they have high blood pressure?  Diabetes, Asthma?  These are all questions you need to ask your parent.  If you find it difficult to discuss these things with your parent you could offer to take them to their next doctors visit and get their information from their doctor while they are being seen.  Also, make a list of all the surgeries they've had. 

That brings me to the next thing you need to know, who are their doctors, you need to have a list that includes phone numbers of every doctor they visit on a regular basis.  It also helps to have the name of their regular pharmacy and the phone number to call in prescriptions.

If you don't choose to be your parent's caregiver you will need to choose someone who can check in on them at least once a week to talk to them and find out if there are any medical issues that have come up.  

In my experience, most of the time your parent "won't want to bother you" with their day to day aches and pains so they don't tell you, until it's too late or becomes medical emergency.  If you or someone with medical or caregiver knowledge of your parent visits them at least once a week you can keep on top of any issues that arise and prevent emergency visits.

Unless that person is their spouse.....then you will need someone outside the house to go in and check on both of them.  Sometimes a parent will tell you when the other parent is having a problem but it is rarely an accurate appraisal of the situation.  On the other hand, you have the parent who doesn't want to bother you so they don't mention that dad has been delusional at times and talking about a mermaid sleeping on the chair next to him.  

I can't stress enough how important it is to have someone personally check things out at least once a week.  The person you choose to check in on your parents will need to spend at least a couple of hours time with them to get an accurate picture of how they're doing.  Another thing is that you'll want to check on them after dark occasionally because I've found that sometimes symptoms of delusion don't occur until the sun goes down.  For some reason nighttime causes some people to become very disoriented, so you'll want to check on that too.

As your parents age and need more care you will need to check on them everyday and at that time you may need an additional caregiver to help you.  Don't be afraid to hire outside help, they can be a lifesaver and there are many reputable companies that screen and train people for just that reason.  We used several companies but our best help came from Granny Nannies which offers services in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and South Carolina.    http://www.grannynannies.com/  

1-800-316-2669

So now you know what you need to keep handy to care for your parents.

1.  List of all current medications

2.  Names and phone numbers of all their doctors

3.  Name and phone number of their pharmacy

4.  What surgeries they've had

5.  Someone to check on them at least once a week