Creating a Bucket List: Tips for Seniors and Family Caregivers
The Bucket List, a 2007 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, helped contemporize the old expression “kick the bucket,” a common slang phrase for dying. Now, people of all ages often use the term “bucket list” lightheartedly to refer to what they’d like to accomplish, either in the short term before an important life event or on the much larger scale of their whole lifetime.
Family caregivers and their loved ones are on the more serious end of this spectrum. As age and/or illness progress, families often develop a vision for how they would like to spend the time that they have left together. Seniors may wish to travel, reunite with family or friends, give back to their communities and loved ones, experience new things or simply enjoy the familiar comforts of home. Each person’s desires are entirely unique. Family caregivers can help aging loved ones accomplish a few items on their bucket lists and in turn share precious time and make new memories together.
Medical, Legal and Financial Planning Should Top the To-Do List
My first suggestions may sound rather bleak, but these steps are necessary to pave the way for pursuing other more enjoyable goals with fewer speedbumps. Working together to create a comprehensive medical, legal and financial plan for a senior’s future will help ensure all their most basic needs will be met and allow you to both to focus solely on maintaining their health and quality of life.
Legal preparations typically include drafting a will, naming a medical and financial power of attorney (POA), preparing a living will (also known as an advance healthcare directive), and setting up a trust in some cases. Financial planning should include a careful assessment of all assets and income, benefits counseling (and applications if necessary), and development of strategies for covering potential long-term care costs.
Any medical planning will depend on your loved one’s current and anticipated health status. For example, a senior who is terminally ill and receiving hospice care probably doesn’t need to look into long-term care options. However, younger seniors and those with less advanced…
Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories. “I hold onto your book as a life preserver and am reading it slowly on purpose…I don’t want it to end.” …Craig William Dayton, Film Composer
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