PLANNING FOR ELDERLY CARE

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Caring for elderly parents can be challenging when an emergency hits and families don’t have a care plan in place.

Lela Campo is one of the many Louisiana families caring for an elderly loved one. They say they were shocked when their outgoing, independent great-grandmother was suddenly hit with the memory disease Dementia.

At age 100, she still loves to dance. She’s just as stylish as she was in her younger years and recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

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She is still active, but her daughter Joyce Campo says dementia has deeply impacted her mentally and verbally. It started while her mom lived with her, even with help from home health care.

It’s a challenge many families face with aging parents. Joyce says she and her brother didn’t expect it and didn’t plan for it.

“It’s kind of like a brick wall coming at you, you know, it’s, you know, it changes your life,” Joyce Campo said.

“We saw mom as being very independent and we just thought she would live on to be that,” she said.

Legal preparation crucial first step

Thankfully, Lela is now thriving at the Summerfield Senior Living in Slidell. But Joyce and others warn that having a care plan before a medical emergency is critical.

Elder law attorney Alice Grooms says the first step is preparing legal documents.

“You want to have that power of attorney. You want to have that medical or health care directive. You definitely want to look at a last will and testament,” Grooms said.

“You need to have that information to someone who is going to take care of that and make sure they can look out for you,” she said.

Financial planning for long-term care costs

Financial advisor Mike Martinez says planning for the cost is just as important because Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover long-term assisted living.

In Louisiana, those facilities cost about $3,900 to $5,900 a month. Martinez says long-term care insurance can help.

“There’s two ways you can do it. You can buy traditional and pay monthly and take a policy out on your mom, or you can buy the alternative long term care and say, I can afford to put money in here. Why? Because I’m not going to abandon my mom if my mom or my dad gets sick,” Martinez said.

Martinez says premiums range from $90 to $500 a month depending on age.

State funding challenges for home care

Eligible low-income seniors can receive full Medicaid funding for nursing homes. It can also provide home health care help, but there’s an issue with that service.

Right now there are close to 12,000 people on the Louisiana critical home care assistant waitlist, and that means many of those seniors are waiting 10 years or more before help arrives at their home.

Advocates for seniors like Andrew Muhl, with Louisiana AARP, say the severely ill seniors on the list can get home help faster. But he says the waitlist shows the state prioritizes nursing home care over home-based care.

“If you want to live at home and stay with your family and your friends, you’re going to have to wait. If you want to go into a facility you can go into a facility,” Muhl said.

State lawmaker Kirk Talbot says the new federal bill provides more money for home health care, but he says he’d like to see the state boost funding too.

“The best way to do it is look at the data from those other states, talk to the Secretaries of Health and hospitals in other states, talk to legislators that have done this,” Talbot said.

Families like the Campos agree more funding is needed “to take care of those who really can’t take care of themselves any more,” Joyce said.

Joyce is grateful her mom is getting the care she needs, but she hopes other families realize how quickly things can change and start planning now for their loved ones.

To find more information on legal or care services, check the links below:

Tulane Law Clinic

Loyola Law Clinic

Local Caregiver Resources Serving Louisiana

Making Sense of Your Long -Term Insurance Options

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