In Home Health Care Planning

Planning for Your In Home Health Care Needs Now Will Give You Peace of Mind and Act as a Valuable Guide For Your Caregiver and Family Members…

One of the biggest mistakes people make is not planning ahead for their health care as they are aging. You must get organized.

Getting important documents in place protects you. It insures your wishes are carried out. This is important, especially in case of severe illness or disability. This one step of planning now can save you years of frustration and aggravation later on in your life.

Take a large 3-ring binder for each individual in the household and use it as your Health Care notebook. Some of the basic information you can enter into this notebook would be the following:

• Your full name and address
• Your date of birth and location
• All the telephone numbers for family, loved ones and neighbors
• List of doctors, mental care professionals, nurses, caregivers and their phone numbers
• Preferred hospitals

Location of important documents:

• Wills
• Long term care policy
• Power of attorney
• Advanced directives, etc.
• Medical bills: keep a file of all medical bills, when paid, any disputes, etc.
• List of all medications you are currently taking
• Contact information for Pharmacies used
• List of any allergies you have to medications, foods, etc. and your reactions to each if you remember them

Your entire health history including:

• Surgeries performed
• Illnesses and dates of diagnosis
• Mental health history
• Health habits such as smoking
• Any other data relating to your health that you feel would come in handy for a caregiver or a doctor to know about you
• Emergency contact information in case of illness or an accident
• Health insurance policy numbers. Where the policies are located. Include name, address and phone numbers for insurance agents
• Name of church, synagogue or mosque. Name of pastor, rabbi or priest along with phone numbers to contact them
• Name and telephone number for local ambulance service
• Name and numbers for any local transportation services you use
• List of banks where you have accounts and/or safe deposit boxes
• Stock brokers with account numbers and contact information
• Names of accountants and lawyers and contact information for each
• Pet care services for care of your pets . This in case you are hospitalized. Include the name of veterinarians, pet sitters, your pets health history etc.

Home maintenance contractors:

• For yard work
• Heating and air conditioning
• Appliance repair, etc.

A simple calendar to use to keep track of:

• Doctor’s appointments
• Labs
• Tests
• Reorder dates for medicines
• And any other information to keep you on track with various necessary activities

Be prepared for an unexpected visit to the hospital

This will give you a good start on the records you should have filed. And be ready in case of any emergencies or sudden change in health status. Having a notebook such as this will give you peace of mind that your wishes and desires will be respected if a change in health takes place.

Some of you reading this will not understand certain terms. So we have given more details on the following records we recommend you have in place. You can simply click on the document name. And you will be taken to another page on home health care with the details you need.