Portland Home Care - Guardian Angel Caregivers in Portland OR gives family members tips on helping yourself be a better family caregiver. If you need help caring for an elder or senior in your family, please call us at (503) 698-2020.
As we discussed in our last post, most adult children with aging parents in Portland avoid having the critical conversation with their parents. What is even more alarming is the fact that seniors say that critical topics such as nursing homes, long-term care, the ability to drive, wills and funeral planning are rarely discussed.
Surprisingly enough, it’s not seniors who are uncomfortable talking about these subjects. More than three-quarters of those surveyed said they would like to discuss driving, insurance and health care issues with their kids but only about 17 to 18 percent actually do so.
The problem seems to be that both generations want to deal with these issues but each is waiting for the other to bring them up. According to the study, one-third of seniors and their children agreed they would like to have more conversations about these topics. The barrier seems to be that a slightly larger number (46 percent) said they would participate if the others spoke first.
One area of communication that really needs help is Medicare and the many new options available to seniors. Baby Boomers think it is important to understand insurance coverage and issues so they can help their parents (76 percent). However, more than half of those surveyed admitted they were relatively clueless about how Medicare works.
Tags: senior care Portland, senior planning portland, talk with aging parents portland
