We want to share with you the stories of two of my clients and their families and how we’ve touched each others’ lives.
Jenny’s Story
Jenny is 52, married with 2 college aged children, works full time and lives on the east coast. Her mom is 87, a widow and still lives on her own in California. Jenny’s mom used to be able to keep up with the demands of running her household, but she’s been slowing down and suffering more health issues over the last few years. When Jenny visited over Thanksgiving, she found several things that disturbed her. Not only was the dusting and vacuuming not being done, but Jenny noticed that her mom had not been taking many of her medications (because “they cost too much,” according to her mom) and there was a pile of unopened mail on the counter. As Jenny went through the mail, she found an overdue invoice from the gas company and that one of her mom’s credit card bills had been sent to a collections agency. Jenny brought me in, initially, to help her mom keep up with the mail. Once I developed a rapport with her mom, she and Jenny felt more comfortable getting me involved in setting up a household budget and online banking. This enabled Jenny to have visibility to her mom’s accounts and monitor her financial health from a distance while keeping mom in control. I advocated with the collections agency to settle the account and got several hundred dollars in fees waived. I then looked at mom’s prescription drug coverage, finding her the most cost effective providers, saving her over $300/month, enabling Jenny’s mom to start taking her medications again. Jenny got peace of mind and her mom saved over $2000 in less than 3 months.
Bob’s Story
Bob’s mom is 82, his dad is 78 and they wanted to be able to stay in their own home as long as possible. Bob, their only child, has worked hard to honor this wish and recently hired a part time home health aide from an agency in my
network. Bob lives in a neighboring town, but his work requires a great deal of travel. He hasn’t been able to keep up with the routine maintenance work around the house and can’t look in on his parents as often as he would like. Bob brought me in to oversee such tasks as hiring a handyman and getting his mom’s antique chairs re-caned. One day Bob mentioned that he was going to be out of town for his mom’s birthday. I suggested we arrange a video conference, using Skype. Bob got to sing “Happy Birthday” to his mom and she got a big kick out of seeing him, even if she couldn’t be with him. When the time came to move Bob’s parents into assisted living, I served as Move Manager and helped them go through their home and pick out items that had special meaning. I hired a moving company that specializes in senior relocations and made sure that mom and dad’s new home was as comfortable as possible. Bob had the security of knowing that his parents and their home were in good hands when he wasn’t able to be there.
