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COVID’s Other Deadly Toll
During this pandemic, over 13,000 more Alzheimer’s and other dementia patients have died than expected from these cognitive disorders,...
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September 22, 2020
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Dementia: We’re Not Post-COVID Yet
If you have a family member or loved one with dementia, this pandemic and its restrictions have been exponentially...
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May 26, 2020
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Distance Caregiving Through a Wall
I’ve written numerous times about distance caregiving, and one of the observations I have offered is that distance is...
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May 19, 2020
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Caregiving During COVID: Four Tips for Reengagement
You may recall that I have recommended limiting your news consumption, because it really does add to our stressed...
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May 12, 2020
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Tips for Distance Caregiving: Up Close and Personal at a Distance
If you think being a caregiver to an older loved one is hard–with all the trips to help them...
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February 4, 2020
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Caregivers and their Medicare?
Yes, you read it right. I am posting this one about what caregivers should know about their Medicare. But...
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September 12, 2013
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

It is the season where we hear about “making a list…and checking it twice.” My kids think I get a little too carried away making lists, but having the right list at the right time can save the day when the unexpected occurs. Life has a habit of throwing the unexpected at us, but even then we can be prepared.

As a geriatric care manager, I regularly coach families of an older loved one or someone with special needs in list-making, especially if that loved one lives alone. You may recall in an earlier blog, I started with a list of activities of daily living to use as a way to inventory the functional capacity of a loved one. Once we see the deficits it becomes easier to develop an action plan.

But think ahead to the phone call you may one day receive that your loved one has fallen or had a stroke or some other debilitating incident. The first responders or a neighbor may know enough to call you, but now you have to be the voice for the incapacitated loved one. Do you know their meds and daily doses? Do you know where they keep their medications? Do you know who their primary care physician is or if they have a cardiologist, neurologist, or other health care provider who should be called?

Your responsibility as a caregiver is to plan ahead…hopefully for an event that will never happen. A vital step to this is creating a list of key telephone numbers and other information for your loved one. Write down a list for yourself to keep in your home and at work that includes emergency contacts as well as neighbors, relatives, clergy and others who will need to know. It can also be helpful to notify close friends so that if a hospitalization follows the incident that your loved one will have the benefit of visitors.

Make copies of insurance cards, keys, electronic openers, combinations, and more. To avoid confusion, make sure to label keys, so that if access is needed immediately, you’ll be prepared. You also should have access to any legal documents like the advance directives I mentioned in an earlier blog. And if your loved one has been living alone, you may need to know the telephone contact information for stopping delivery of newspapers or the mail as well as when the rent/mortgage and other bills are scheduled to be paid. Having gone though just this short list may now give you a headache as well as a sense of why I think it is important to keep lists. Write it down…

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families throughout metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to Charlotte Bishop.,geriatric care manager Chicago,geriatric care Chicago.
Chicago Home Care Service Experts
When looking for Home Care service in Chicago area for an elderly loved one, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and vulnerable. That is where Creative Care Management comes in. We work with you to completely understand your elder loved one’s needs and then manage the process of selecting and placing your loved one with the right kind of care from a reliable and trustworthy provider.
Finding the Right In-Home Care
Our four step process allows us to guide you from our first meeting to the continued monitoring of your loved one’s in-home care, by developing a thorough Home Care Management plan that is unique to your specific caregiving needs.
Step One: Meeting and Assessment
Everything starts with a meeting. By establishing a personal connection during our initial meeting, we aim to fully understand your concerns. We conduct an assessment of the physical, mental and social health of your loved one to determine the ideal type of elder care service at the moment.
Step Two: Creating a Home Care Plan
Based on our assessment, we work with you to collectively develop a Home Care Management plan that covers everything from the type of care provider required to preparing for changes that may occur in the future.
Step Three: Setting the Plan in Action
When we recommend a care provider, we only offer the best. We hold our providers to the highest standards in regard to responsiveness to a client’s needs, consistent quality of service and level of training and certification required of the provider’s employees. We provide recommendations for a wide range of in-home care options including, but not limited to:

Home companion

LPN (licensed practical nurse)/LVN (licensed vocational nurse)/ CNA (certified nurse’s assistant)

Live-in caregiver

Step Four: Overseeing The Plan
As in-home care is an ongoing process, the Home Care Management plan includes our continued involvement and oversight in the care of your loved one. When conditions and needs change, we will be there to help with any necessary adjustments to the plan. If you are concerned for a loved one, but feel overwhelmed tackling caregiving on your own, our geriatric care services are exactly what you need to lift that weight from your shoulders. Contact us today for a free initial consultation.
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CALL: 855-455-5118 x512 or just fill out the form. [contact-form-7 id="311" title="Contact form 1"]

Recent Client Praise

Who thinks it’s a good idea to just blow off Valentine’s Day? I am guessing not many hands will go up for that idea…some might even say that their spouse will kill them if they don’t bring forth at least a sentimental thought. Never mind the flowers, candy or sparkler. Just forget about the day later this week. Well, that probably is what some of us do every day … with our hearts…we just forget about our hearts. And that is why heart attack and stroke are the top two causes of mortality in the United States. So, what do you do to remember of your hearts? Earlier this decade the American Heart Association came up with seven habits to embrace to help avoid heart attack and stroke. You don’t have to wait until February 14^th to start:

Exercise - there is a new exercise program recommended almost every week, it seems, but the simple fact is that getting your body moving regularly and vigorously supports a healthy heart…and the rest of the body with it.

Eat right - we all know what the good foods are and what the bad foods are; make a healthy diet your Valentine’s Day resolution.

Lower blood pressure - you will need a medical provider to give you your actual numbers (not to exceed 12/80), and if your numbers are high stick to the prescription you will be given and follow #1 and #2 along with losing weight and cutting your salt or sugar intake.

Lower your cholesterol - focus your diet on fruits and vegetables along with fish, nuts and soy; your doctor can tell you if a statin is indicated.

Manage your blood sugar - sugar is not your friend, so limit its visits to your body in order to keep down your weight and not beat up your pancreas…your heart will thank you.

Maintain a healthy weight - losing weight should be an outcome of the first 5 instead of a goal in itself, but keeping your weight down lightens the workload for your heart.

Don’t smoke - smokers have double the risk of a heart attack and triple the risk of a stroke over nonsmokers; it is not just your lungs that suffer if you smoke.

So this list is the short version of a lot of material I have covered in other posts. If you have questions, you can use key words to search the blog for a related post or you can go to the American Heart Association web site.   Make February your heart-healthy month! Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
While everyone is awaiting the next vaccine to prevent COVID-19 or help in the treatment of the condition among those who have contracted the virus, too many Americans already suffer from medicinal proliferation. Too much of a good thing happens to too many seniors who are over-prescribed. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, you may find it a bit overwhelming to keep up with all the medications they take each day, and the times of day they take them. But have you thought about the potential side effects as well? The average older adult living independently is taking more than five prescription medications daily, and those in nursing homes may be taking at least seven prescription medications. We call this “polypharmacy.” We all have at least some sense of the side effects that many of these medications may carry, but what you may not know is that some of these medications have some unhealthy interactions with the other medications. Recent research in the United States among older adults living independently found interactions between drugs in about 15% of the cases. In another study in Europe that tracked older patients being discharged from hospitals, as many as 70% were on medications with some interactions, and 24% were at risk for serious interactions among the drugs they were taking when they were discharged. What should you look for? Ask one or more of these questions when you accompany your older loved one to their next medical appointment:

Is the symptom the physician is about to treat a side effect of a medication they already are taking?

Is there a safer drug to replace any of the medications your loved one is already taking?

Can a lower dose of a prescribed medication be tried with any on the list?

Does my loved one need to take any of these drugs at all?

And if you feel really bold ask how diet and exercise may be used to replace taking a drug. For instance, a balanced diet with enough vegetables and fruits can address diarrhea. Reducing consumption of sweets or other carbohydrates can alleviate pre-diabetic or diabetic symptoms. And getting up and walking can lower one’s high blood pressure and reduce weight as well. And all of the above can improve those feelings of melancholy that are far too common during this COVID quarantine. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
There were 39 million injury-related visits to the emergency room last year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And 300,000 of those were hip fractures in 65+ year old adults that resulted in a hospital stay, and a good share of these were because the dog’s bark may have been worse than its bite! The older adults who have been walking their “best friends” are prime victims for fractures – mostly hip fractures – owing to an overly-exuberant four-legged friend. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania looking at the causes of the injuries. While still only a bit more than one percent of all fractures nation-wide, the number of hip injuries caused by Fido pulling too hard on the leash have nearly tripled between 2004 and 2017. And this is just the first step, if you will, toward diminished health and quality of life for older adults who make the fateful fall to the sidewalk. Picture the recovery trajectory of a “normal hip hospitalization.” By normal I mean that a patient has the relatively common wearing of the bursa of the hip which leads to pain that can only be relieved by surgically replacing the head of the hip. It takes anywhere from one to six months and physical rehab to fully recover from hip replacement surgery. But other research shows that at least one in four who have a fractured hip will die within one year of the event. It is not the fracture so much as the incapacity and loss of one’s ability to do an array of normal activities of daily living like walking, sitting and rising, reaching to high places and more. But you can help your older loved one, especially if mom or dad has a dog:

Encourage your older loved one to talk with their physician at the next appointment to evaluate their risk for imbalance problems and perhaps encourage a vitamin D supplement to strengthen bones.

Get your loved one screened for bone density and risk for osteoporosis. Even before adding the canine, brittle bones are a risk factor.

Sign your older loved one up with a balance and strengthening class like Thai Chi. No way mom will do that, you say; so sign up with them.

Have your loved one’s vision checked to be sure they are not an accident waiting to happen, because they cannot clearly navigate their surroundings.

I add this “non-medical” suggestion. Pets can be extremely good therapy, so by no means should you discourage an older loved one from adopting a furry friend. Take the next step, however, and have a professional help train that loyal companion to work with mom or dad.

Please also do a keyword search of my blog to find more suggestions on how to help your older loved one get and stay fit. This one is an example of how to help with a better walking gait as a basic approach to better health.   Then, just add the dog! And yes, the one in the picture belongs to our household. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
If you are a caregiver to an older adult, you may have noticed some of the changes in their bodies, like the wasting of their muscle mass. They may have lost some upper body strength, some of their former endurance in their legs and some of the spring in their step. Muscle cells simply begin to break down over time, but older adults who work out can preserve a much greater percentage of their strength and muscle performance than those who do not exercise.             Well, your brain and nervous system run pretty much the same path as the muscle systems as a person ages. The neurons which comprise the nervous system also tend to atrophy, and some nervous pathways just don't work like they did in a younger body. But a person may maintain their mental agility by mentally working out just as physical ability can be preserved and enhanced by hitting the gym. Research shows that older adults who remain socially engaged do better mentally over time than more isolated individuals. Those who read or work crossword puzzles also do better than people who simply watch television or other less-engaging mental activities.             There are, of course, factors that cannot be controlled by just more aggressively working out one's mind. Alzheimer's disease and some other forms of dementia will simply intervene and wreck havoc with one's faculties. Other hormonal shifts or chronic diseases also can be the culprits which rob a person of their intellectual capabilities. A person develops hypothyroidism during their career, for instance, is at risk for a whole host of unfortunate side effects if they do not maintain their balance with thyroid supplements. One of those side effects is dementia-like symptoms.             Unchecked infections, particularly those of the urinary tract also can cause sudden onset of delirium, so it is important to track the big picture and to also look for other sides of such an infection such as frequent or painful urination. Also, the ability to intellectually process or aberrant behavior can be caused by out of control diabetes. Circulatory or lung issues may starve the brain of much-needed oxygen, manifesting itself in odd behavior or confusion. Mini-strokes - sometimes referred to as transient ischemic attacks or TIAs - also can manifest themselves as confused mental processing or language difficulties. And poor nutrition may impede the healthy function of an older person's brain and nervous system.             So, if you are a caregiver, here are some useful steps that I as a geriatric care manager recommend you take to monitor your older loved one's mental health:

be aware of how much real exercise your older loved one gets routinely;

be alert to signs of isolation, social disengagement or depression;

note regularly how well your loved one eats at family meals and how well stocked their pantry and refrigerator are; and

notice how quickly any given change develops - chances are that the more quickly symptoms show themselves, the less likely the condition is to be dementia.

            Remember, getting older is inevitable, but deteriorating is not. Keep a sharp eye for how sharp your older loved one is.             Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.
If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, you likely have heard of it, but maybe you were not sure if it is a real syndrome…or if it is, what you can do about it. I am referring to what is termed “sundowners syndrome,” and let me tell you, it is real. Sundowners can affect anyone with Alzheimer’s or any of the conditions along the dementia spectrum as well as those who may simply have some cognitive impairment or diminishing of their executive function. How do you spot it? Well, you may have noticed that there are times of day when your older loved one is simply less lucid or unable to respond to others in their midst, and it actually does coincide with the end of the day…sundown or late afternoon. Do they become anxious or nervous? Are they more demanding or even fearful of people whom they know? Are they just confused or disoriented or just plain cranky? They may shout or begin to walk about, have a change in mood, talk to someone or about someone who is not there. Okay, so you may see some of these in your older loved one; what can you do? Follow these recommended steps:

Keep to a regular, daily routine with your loved one so that they do not have to process new information late in the day; they simply cannot be intellectually nimble.

Avoid having dinner being a heavy meal, and avoid sweets, caffeine or alcohol.

Limit naps to earlier in the day; make sure they have not had a chance to nap within four hours of their bed time.

Keep the lights on, but close the curtains to limit the shadows they must process or navigate, and limit noisy distractions.

Be calm and reassuring, and if they make an assertion about a loved one who is no longer alive, do not argue – acknowledge and then redirect.

If none pf these work, it may be more than just sundowners; talk to your loved one’s physician.

And take care of you, the caregiver. I had a client who talked about the transition from having six hours of uninterrupted sleep a night to having six hours of interrupted sleep. That is a recipe for disaster – your own. Take naps or breaks during the day for yourself, and do not lose contact with friends and hobbies. Get respite care; reach out to the senior communities within your locale for a place to drop off your loved one or for home care personnel who can come to your loved one. You also will get support as well as good ideas from a local caregiver’s support group; yes, it does take a village. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Professional and a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.

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You have to start early to ward off Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of cognitive decline. It seems to be a fairly universal rule that it is far easier to prevent most medical problems than it is to “cure” a condition. With Alzheimer’s, however, there have been precious few preventive measures scientists have been able to offer to ward off the disease. According to research recently reported in the medical journal Neurology, the inflammation our bodies may experience in our 40s and 50s can lead to higher rates of cognitive decline in our 70s and 80s. So what does that mean? The researchers have followed a group of people in their 40s and 50s for over twenty years starting with blood tests to check for markers for inflammation. In short they found that people with higher levels of inflammatory markers early in their lives had steeper climbs in cognitive decline as the years progressed. This is one of the longest time intervals that people have been followed trying to find what may cause cognitive decline. The lead researcher does admit that they cannot conclusively prove that systemic inflammation causes cognitive decline later in life, but the people with the higher levels of inflammation early in life had higher levels of cognitive decline later. The reverse also holds true that people with lower inflammation had less cognitive decline later. So, what is the takeaway from this research? How does one lower one’s inflammation…or maybe more importantly, what does that inflammation look like in our 40s and 50s? First, the most common conditions that are associated with higher inflammation include obesity, elevated blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. So, if you are in the that mid-life group and your physician talks to you about dropping some weight or keeping on your medication for hypertension, pay attention. That physician is also talking about lowering your risk for cognitive issues later in life. How do you do that? A couple of the core suggestions to lower inflammation involve diet and exercise. Regular exercise can reduce your risk for any of these conditions and even help to prevent them in the first place. Also, avoid saturated fats and sugar in your diet. It sounds almost too easy, but if you do the things that help your body in general, your brain will benefit as much as your heart and the other organs. It’s never too late to make the changes that will keep you sharp into your older years. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
I promised in my last posting to talk more specifically about what can be made safe for seniors who wish to age in place – room by room. I am going to start with the room in the home where most accidents happen, the bath. The bathroom for most elders represents the perfect storm of a confined space with potentially slippery surfaces. Nearly one-third of seniors over age 65 fall each year, and the majority of these falls happen in the bathroom. With basic planning and potentially some retrofitting, however, the bath can be made more safe and accommodating to an older person’s limited mobility and range of motion. Let’s start with surfaces.

There may already be a rug near the shower or bath area, but make certain it has a sticky, non-slip back to minimize falls when an elder enters or leaves the tub. If your older loved one uses a floor mat in the tub area when showering, make sure that the suction cups still offer good sticking poser. You may consider adhesive decals that stick to the porcelain tub surface with soft gripping rubber top surfaces. In the shower area itself, consider having a bath bench or chair with non-slip feet if your elder has difficulty standing for protracted periods or is at all unsteady on their feet. If your elder loved one is challenged by lifting their feet over the tub edge to step in for a shower, it may be time to refit their bath with a stall shower with a low or minimal curb in place of a tub/shower combination.

Having a non-slip, moisture-absorbent surface near the tub is a safety assist, but any other loose rugs should be replaced or eliminated. Look for uneven floor surfaces or thresholds and consider eliminating them, beveling surfaces or highlighting them with paint or tape. Loose cords from radios or hair dryers should be removed from walkways, and other floor level clutter like magazine racks should also be eliminated.

Just as in hallways, consider installing grip bars at strategic points in and around the tub or shower as well as either side of the commode. For seniors with difficulty getting up from chairs, consider also a raised seat for the commode as well as grip bars that flank the sides of the seat like arms on a chair. There even are hydraulic assistive devices that can be installed on the toilet seat with a lift that can help ease the senior into a seated position and then boost them slowly back up as they rise from sitting.

Lighting is as important in the bath area as it is in the rest of the house. If the present circuits allow, it may be as easy as upgrading to a higher wattage bulb in all the fixtures. In old houses, however, it may be safer to refit with new fixtures that can offer more lighting. And also as with other parts of the house, have a night light that automatically goes on when ambient lighting fades.

Finally, make sure that everything that your elder may need with any frequency while in the bathroom is within easy reach. Remove actual glassware or ceramics from the bath and replace with plastic, especially cups that have gripping texture on the outside. And while you are outfitting the bath, keep in mind bright colors and pleasant decoration. Just because your bath is now safe does not require that it look institutional. Next week, I will talk about what’s cooking in the kitchen.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families throughout metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to Charlotte Bishop.

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Every 25 seconds, somewhere in America someone experiences a coronary event, most typically a heart attack. Although 70 to 90 percent of these sudden coronary events are among men, heart attack is the leading cause of death in women 65 years of age and older. If you are a caregiver to an older loved one, this is an important risk to understand...but for a reason you may not expect. Ageism! The care that older adults receive may be different from the care a younger individual receive, but age should not deny care that will offer better health and quality of life. Yet, that can happen. If you are that caregiver to an older adult who has just suffered a heart attack remember first that time is critical. A heart attack happens when the small vessels that bring blood to the heart muscle are sufficiently blocked that an area of the heart muscle is being starved of oxygen. The longer that vessel remains blocked more of the muscle will die. Ageism may be the obstacle to surgical intervention that can not only save an older adult's life, but also restore better quality of life. Listen for the three words: "Not a candidate." Many physicians practice medicine by the birthdays, and there are still physicians who will look at an 80 year old patient as someone who is not a good candidate in their opinions. But, as Harrison Ford once said, "It's not the birthdays; it's the mileage." In fact, there is perhaps greater variability in the relative fitness among 80+ year olds than any other age bracket. They should not all be lumped into the "unqualified" category. You may very well find one patient who truly is frail, but another who still runs marathons. The procedures to revascularize an older patient's heart can be successful, but patients must be carefully selected. If you are the advocate for your older loved one with a heart attack, listen for ageism, but be sensitive also to gender differences. Women tend to be smaller than men, and they also tend to have smaller blood vessels. This may preclude their being good candidates for surgery. A patient who has already had bypass surgery also can be a relatively poor candidate for revascularization. Some patients with other comorbidities like diabetes or dementia or pulmonary conditions also may not be good candidates. But it is not their birthdays alone that may disqualify them. Even in such cases, there are some relatively new and less invasive procedures that may be very appropriate for those who otherwise may not be good candidates for conventional revascularization. There are new laser procedures that do not require a full "open procedure." And we all have heard of balloon angioplasty or implantation of stents. There is even catheter-based aortic valve replacement as a new option for certain patients. You do not have to be a heart surgeon to be able to speak with your older loved one's doctor about options. But as a caregiver you need to be very attentive to the ageism that may harm your loved one more than their medical condition. Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@cr eativecaremanagement.com.
I have spoken with Matt Margolis, an Elder Law attorney with Heartland Law Firm recently about VA benefits to which people may not know they are entitled. In this posting, he shares some valuable insights that may expand your options for care cost coverage.

            One very common question that comes across my desk on a daily basis is “Are there any benefits, other than Medicaid, to help pay for the care of my ___________ (insert: mom, dad, husband, wife, brother, sister, etc.)?” Typically, this is being asked because Medicaid is only available for someone in a Skilled Nursing Facility. Because of this, we refer to Medicaid as “nursing home financial aid.” My follow up question to this prospective client is usually asking whether the person they are calling about or their spouse was a Veteran.

            The Veterans Administration (VA) Aid and Attendance Benefit program is the benefit I will discuss with them. In the overwhelming majority of situations, the prospective client has never heard of this benefit. This benefit is actually classified as a “pension” by the VA and is a great source of funds for financially constrained wartime Veterans and/or their surviving spouses to use for their long term care costs such as living at home with a caregiver, adult day care, independent living with a caregiver, assisted living, and/or skilled nursing.

            While family income is one of the determining factors of eligibility, it is important to be aware that the VA allows individuals to deduct their unreimbursed medical expenses, which includes their health insurance premiums, home care, assisted living, adult day care, caregiver, and nursing home costs from their income. As a result, many Veterans who may not have previously qualified might now qualify if long term care has become necessary for them or their spouse.
As a general rule, to qualify for the Aid and Attendance benefit, a family's total assets (excluding their primary residence and vehicles) cannot exceed $80,000. Fortunately, many clients I meet with have assets in surplus of this number. The good news is that with the right strategies and planning, we can still position them to qualify.
            A few things worth mentioning:
In the end, the VA Aid and Attendance pension is a heavily untapped, but much deserved, benefit for those Veterans and/or their surviving spouses who served and fought for our country.

Heartland Law Firm is a holistic elder law and estate planning firm. Heartland Law Firm concentrates in assisting seniors and those in transition with understanding the landscape they are in and what protections and benefits are available to them and their loved ones. Visit their web site at: Heartland Law Firm.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to ccbishop@creativecasemanagement.com.