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Planning for Your Future Care in 5 Steps accent

October 18, 2022 | By

Future-care planning involves ensuring your health decisions will be followed if you become ill and cannot make your wishes known. It’s easy to drag our feet on creating such a plan, but taking ownership of your potential future health conditions is a wise choice.

You might consider planning for your future care as an insurance policy — proactive decision-making for “what-if” situations.

What Is Future-Care Planning?

According to a report from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs and Research, most Americans age 40 and older have done little or no planning for their care needs. It might be easier in the short term to avoid this process, but future-care planning can be empowering.

Future-care planning discussions should be driven by your comfort level. You might want to:

  • Work through the preliminary decision-making on your own, then discuss those decisions with friends and family.
  • Involve your family from the start, asking for ideas and feedback and incorporating them into a plan.

As you begin planning for your future care, here’s a bit more information to consider:

1. Decide who should be involved.

Most likely, those involved in your care will be immediate family members, but the choice is yours. If you have anyone else involved in your care that you trust — such as a professional caregiver who provides occasional services — it might be helpful to include their expertise.

2. Decide what you don’t want to happen.

Create a list of things you would prefer not to happen if you were to become sick or incapacitated. For instance, if you would not want to be admitted to a hospital or receive life support in a worst-case scenario, you would include these items on the list.

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3. Create a list of considerations that should be factored into future care.

Next, list out specific requirements for your care, including:

  • Preferences for care based on religious or spiritual beliefs.
  • Where you would prefer to be cared for if you can no longer live alone.
  • Who will look after your pets, house, or children, if applicable.
  • The costs of at-home care or living in a community setting.

4. Establish a power of attorney.

Consider the legally binding aspects. By establishing a power of attorney, you give another person the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf. Your POA can be a family member, such as a spouse, adult child, or other relative. They can also be a professional, such as an attorney.

5. Consider a community that provides a continuum of care.

Senior living communities offer what is referred to as a continuum of care, which provides various living options tailored to your needs. This approach to community living ensures an easy transition from one level of living to the next, if necessary.

WesleyLife’s Approach to a Continuum of Care

At most WesleyLife Communities For Healthy Living, residents choose from these living options:

Each level emphasizes an easy transition. For example:

  • Independent living provides residents the freedom they want, without home maintenance and upkeep.
  • If a resident of independent living needs additional assistance, they can move into assisted living without leaving the campus they call home.
  • If a resident of assisted living is injured or recovering from a surgery, stroke, or other major health event or illness, they can enter short-term rehabilitation before moving back home.

Are you interested in learning more about the levels of living offered in our Communities for Healthy Living? Take a look at our infographic to learn more!

Make Planning for Your Future Care Easy With WesleyLife

Ultimately, our continuum of care makes future-care planning easy by providing residents with a vibrant, vital, thriving community and the option to move from one level to the next without having to leave campus.

Ready to take the next step? Take this quick senior living assessment for personalized results.

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