IN THIS ISSUE, WE WILL DISCUSS: UNPACKING TRACKING TASKS WITH OUR OLDER LOVED ONES KEEPING TRACK OF TIME AND PAPER

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1 Welcome Spring 3 APRIL 2007 IN THIS ISSUE, WE WILL DISCUSS: UNPACKING TRACKING TASKS WITH OUR OLDER LOVED ONES KEEPING TRACK OF TIME AND PAPER UNPACKING: ACHIEVING THE MOST WHEN YOU RE RUNNING ON EMPTY Believe it or not, the most important thing most of us forget on moving day is food. Be sure to either have some food on hand, or be prepared to order take out. A full tummy is a productive tummy. When unpacking, It may seem obvious, but start with the necessities first. For example: BATHROOM Soap for the sink and shower Toilet paper Bath mat & towel for shower Band-Aids & ointment (you may cut yourself on the box cutter!) Medications Toiletry items (hand-carry these over from your old place): facial cleanser, toothbrush, dental floss, tooth paste, shampoo & conditioner, make up, razors, hair brush. LINENS Sheets - so you can make the bed for your first night in your new home Towels ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE! Continued on page 2 page 1

2 UNPACKING: ACHIEVING THE MOST WHEN YOU RE RUNNING ON EMPTY CLOTHES (if the move is close, I usually pack the clothes in suitcases and trash bags and unpack them right away.) Change of clothes Unmentionables Socks Pjs and slippers KITCHEN Utensils Plates if time permits, if not paper is great for the first few days Pots and pans HOUSEHOLD NECESSITIES Cleaning products Light bulbs Batteries Small tools (hammer, screwdriver, etc ) Emergency items (candles, matches, flashlights, etc ) SAVE THE FOLLOWING FOR LAST: Framed art Framed pictures (perhaps handcarry over your favorites!) Memorabilia Seasonal decorations Seasonal items, such as skis if it is summer time By unpacking the important things first, you will find youʼre grounded and more comfortable and a little less overwhelmed by the whole situation. There will be more unpacking to do, but at least you will be well fed, showered, and dressed! ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE! page 2 page 3

3 TRACKING TASKS WITH OUR OLDER LOVED ONES As our parents get older (into their mid 80ʼs and 90ʼs), we often find ourselves assisting in aspects of their lives that they used to be able to maintain themselves. Because they are aging perhaps their eyes may begin to fail, or their hearing or they may need more assistance with things like finances, insurance, medication management, and doctorʼs visits. If your parents are still living at home but with home care services, the home care provider will most likely be taking them to doctorsʼ appointments. To keep a strong authority and management presence over the household with the home care providers, I suggest keeping closet contact with your parents in person or via the phone. During these conversations taking veracious notes, itʼs simply too easy to forget details in stressful times. is also a good way to track things in writing. Below are sample forms Iʼve developed based on my experiences with working with clients: Calls to Make: Project: Call home health agency Help is on the way service, INC Date: 2/5/07 Objective: Arrange for home health aide to check in on mom 1x a week Outcome: made contact with an intake person who will come to the house on Thursday the 10th of February for an introductory session with mom. Contact: Julie Bryer Phone #: Notes: have a list of momʼs medical issues ready as well as her insurance information Name of care taker/home care provider services: Help is on the way services, INC Date: 2/15/07 Because Mom is going to need additional care, I spoke with care director Arlene; she is going to send over a new girl this weekend: Connie Bart. Connie and I are going to meet ahead of time so I can overview my parents care with her. (Remember to bring a welcome packet to her). Care taker/home care provider # 1 Judy Bryer Date: 2/10/07 Mom will need to have additional care during evenings due to her hip problems. Judy has asked me to make Mom an appointment with her Doctor so that he can recommend a PT. Dad is taking too much pain medication, will need to discuss this with doctor (add this to the questions/comments section below). ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE! page 3

4 TRACKING TASKS WITH OUR OLDER LOVED ONES Care taker/home care provider #2: Connie Bart Date: 2/18/07 Dad woke up 6 times during the evening. Connie is concerned that it has to do with anxiety. I will speak to the Dr. at our next appointment about this. Mom is still in a lot of pain due to her bad hip, I am anxious for her to start PT. Dr. notes from dr. visit - Mom Name of Doctor: Dr. Phorthax Date: 2/23/07 Medication issues: n/a New doctor referral: Dr. looked over Momʼs hip and suggested PT. We are going to start setting up appointments next week be sure to arrange care takers to take her to the appointments. (Go to the first PT appointment to talk with the PT and request notes and handouts, and let them know a caretaker will be coming instead of me.) Notes from Book keeper/cpa Date:03/05/07 Taxes issues: Ask about social security. Questions to ask during our meeting: Spending: Ask her if I should add up the expenses of the following: Medications Medical bills co-pays ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE! page 4

5 Dear Leslie, -Mulling Over Multiple Methods I have a ton of household odd jobs to keep track of -like changing the filter on my furnace- how do I keep on top of these ongoing household chores? Signed, Oodles of duties Well first of all, there is not one right answer for this solution. However, my gut reaction is to say stay away from multiple calendars and notebooks. On the other hand, I have to admit I have worked with clients in a couple incidences where we have created such a system and it has worked. One was a professor, and the other was a working mother. Professor Tony This professor taught a variety of classes after she retired from teaching. Because they were separate subjects, we discovered that the best way to organize all of the notes she took was to use separate notebooks. In fact, she has a particular one she liked using. It had a clear cover so that she could see inside, along with pockets to hold extra papers that were print-outs from her class. Using several note books worked for this client very well. Tony also had a wall calendar for regularly-scheduled monthly events, while daily appointments were in her paper planner. For example, the wall calendar mapped out when she taught her classes, and where. On the wall calendar, she could also mark off the days she may be out of town, going to a concert, taking a regularly scheduled yoga class and so on. This allowed her to see the month ahead. She liked having this in front of her at her desk. The paper planner kept her organized day by day and sometimes if she was extra busy, hour by hour! Working mother - Veronica is a working mother with a child in middle school. Her child, Mary, participates in many extra-curricular activities, which means a variety of activities go on the calendar, and a lot of scheduling and planning has to be involved. Not only do they have to make sure she gets there on time, but they have to know where the games are, what time they start and end, and who is providing transportation. This can get quite confusing, so a public calendar is necessary. That is why I suggested a large calendar be placed on the refrigerator for the whole family to see. This gave responsibility to Mary, as well as informing both the husband and wife as to who was picking up Mary and where. There of course were additional calendars in this case, one for the wife for work, as well as a personal calendar, and the same for the husband. All of this also needed to be added to the public calendar so that the family knew where everyone was at any given time, in case of emergency, for rides, dinner plans, and etcetera. When you have more than just you in a home unit, you may have to have more that one place that you will have to write down your schedule. Sometimes being a technologically advanced family can be a blessing and you can use outlook coupled with pocket pcʼs or palm pilots. Your child most likely also has a cell phone, which most likely has a calendar on it. This is also a great way to sync appointments (make sure the childʼs supports outlook to be able to invite each other to appointments). I recommended for Veronica to only use one area for her to-do notes, phone calls to return and notes to take. She had a tendency to write things down on random scraps of paper, or sticky notes. And you know how I feel about sticky notes! As a result, she never found them again. By using one notebook, this allowed her to keep it all in one place and less likely to lose anything. The notebook I chose for her was a Franklin Covey, attached to her paper planner. If she had used a pocket pc, I would have suggested using notes to take notes and the task list for projects. As you can see in both cases they used more than one calendar to keep organized. The key was to maintain both of them, which is why multiple notebooks only work for some people. The bottom line is you need to figure out what type of person you are. Do you have multiple jobs that are interrelated? Do you write things down everywhere and have a collection of 50 pads of paper? If you are a highly organized person, and a person who has personal motivation, multiple planners may be a good solution for you. Just remember, if you find keeping one planner up-to-date difficult, several calendars are going to increase that chaos multifold.