Making a plan for elderly parents

Home is where the heart is. Home sweet home. I want to go home. And, as Jane Austen wrote, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”

The sentiment doesn’t change as parents age. When health declines and it becomes difficult to do what used to come easily, that desire to stay where they are remains. How does the family know when it’s time for Mom or Dad to give up independent living? What if it is time, but they aren’t ready?

Dr. Masil George, a palliative care physician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute on Aging, has to broach the topic with her patients and their families quite often. Sometimes “The Talk” is spurred by an accident — a fall, a broken hip, an illness — and the patients merely need therapy to recover so they can live at home again.

See tomorrow’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for a simple checklist that may make the decision easier.

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