advocating
Why Caregivers Must Act as Advocates The responsibility of advocating for older adults in the complicated sphere of medicine often falls on their adult children, who know their parent’s history and present needs better than most. These family caregivers are in a position to see the whole picture, everything from dietary preferences and habits to the subtle ways in which they respond to new medications. You’re not just acting as an extension of your loved one’s interests; you also serve as an extended lens for medical professionals into your parent’s life. By offering busy doctors this uniquely holistic view, you can go a long way to bridge the gap that prevents more personal attention and customized care for your aging parent. At times, you may find yourself having to resuscitate your own confidence and stand up to authority figures in the medical field. But remember that there is a lot more to lose by not keeping that insurance agent on the line, or insisting that the doctor explore alternative treatment options with you, than there is to lose by wasting someone’s time with excessive questioning. E m p ow e r Yo u r s e lf t o B e a n A d v o cat e ! Before doctor appointments, hospital admissions, or interacting with insurance representatives, take some time to collect your own information and to anticipate questions you may want to ask or may have to answer. Remind yourself of the incredible difference you are able to make by bringing heart and emotion into an environment more often run by logic and patterns of care. 30
Enlist a compassionate care team: Be willing to consider whether your aging loved one has the best possible care team, who are seeing your parent as more than just a collection of diagnoses and directives. You are in a position to not only ensure that they receive sufficient medical attention, but also to help lay a path for their holistic well-being and graceful aging. Don’t ever feel as if you are stuck with a single opinion—or a single practitioner. Stay on top of medical record keeping: Take the time to gather and organize all of your parent’s medical information, including history of conditions, treatments, and medications; current medications and dosages; insurance documentation; and contact information for any healthcare providers you might need to reach out to. There are now countless technological platforms that can make this process easy to complete and easy to bring along with you to appointments, so you’re never unprepared. Keep a journal of your daily observations: A record of changes you notice in your loved one, whether positive or negative or no change at all, can be a compelling tool for doctors. Take the time before appointments to gather your thoughts, revisit your recent journal entries, clue into relevant details, and flag those pages, so you can deliver this information efficiently to a care provider without missing any details that could have an impact on their course of care. Don’t be afraid to question medical professionals: It’s certainly possible that the doctor’s word is the
Healthy Living Magazine spring summer 2018
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