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New: Aging and Long-Term Care
Aging is not only inevitable, it is also infinitely better than the alternative. Done right, the negative consequences of aging can be limited in favor of a robust and fulfilling natural path. By embracing the challenges of aging, by not shying away from our own reality, and by then understanding how to remain as dignified, independent and healthful as possible, we have a much better chance at maintaining lifestyle and peace of mind. In doing so, we not only help ourselves but those who love and care for us.
As defined by the United States Administration on Aging, “long-term care” means a variety of services designed to help people with health or personal needs and activities over a long period of time. The fact is that 60% of Americans over the age of 65 require long-term care. By the age of 80, 80% will require long-term care and 1 in 4 will require nursing home care. Long-term care does not have to mean a complete loss of independence or control over your life. The keys to owning your future and not being swept away by a broken system is to plan wisely and early, knowing your options and taking action.
Many people are afraid of aging. This is understandable in light of the way our culture portrays aging and what we sometimes see happen to people we know. Indeed, we have ourselves experienced the effects of aging. We feel more aches and pains. Our physical appearance has changed. We make more doctor visits and are taking more medicines than when we were younger. As we age more, our very freedoms can be infringed upon by our own infirmities. This is all true and it can depress us. The fact is, and this is crucially important, that all of these aspects of aging are inevitable and it does not help to meet these natural aspects of our life with fear and avoidance. In fact, it is the opposite attitude that helps people the most. People who are happier in their lives have not shut their eyes to their own aging; they have embraced both the positive and the negative aspects of aging as a natural part of their life. This does not mean that these happy people no longer feel pain when they have arthritis. What it does mean is that they accept the fact of aging and focus on the positives. A person who is too busy feeling badly and saying “Woe is me,” will not be able to better their position. It has been proven time and again that a positive attitude, one that you control, will allow for better results.
To succeed at aging and to face incapacity head-on, one must become prepared and then take wise action. It is so much more likely that a person will be able to learn and take action when they have not shied away from the reality of aging and long-term care. In practical terms, this means, for example, accepting the fact that while I want to stay in my own home, the day may come when I may need to move into a health care facility. That is not a happy thought but it is a realistic one. Though most people say they will never be entering a nursing home, there are lines to get in. It is therefore wise to take the positive and realistic attitude of “I am going to do everything I can to stay at home but if I absolutely must move, I am going to have a plan so I can get the best care possible.” Many people have no plan because they denied a nursing home could ever happen to them. While some of these people will be proven right, many will need care for which they never planned.
In long-term care, as in all important ventures, the difference between someone who has a good plan and someone who has an inadequate plan (or no plan) is vast. Results are completely different. Rather than gaining admission to the facility of choice, the person with no plan gets literally routed to whichever facility has space at that moment in time and which happened to have a marketing relationship with the patient’s health care provider. The person with no plan is caught by surprise when the first bill is received. The person without a plan does not know what to do or who to call when problems occur.
Aging is a process with which each person must make their own peace. There is help for us but this is a very personal resolution. Long-term care, on the other hand, is a system that can be and has been mastered by those who work for the keys. This website is one such key prepared by experts who have worked in the long-term care field for many years. The articles on this website and on other Internet sources are not sufficient on their own but must be supplemented with your meetings with local professionals who have mastered different parts of the process. Then, you will have the keys to long-term care.
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