Advance Planning with Daphne Davis, Part 1

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following podcast is provided by pinnacles senior placements LLC and answers for elders radio. And Welcome to answers for elder’s radio everyone. I am here with our wonderful Daphne Davis from pinnacles senior placements and welcome back. It’s always so great to have you. Definitely I love to be here. Well, I love you to be here too, and I have a great story to tell you. Yay, Yay. I had to go to Lowe’s hardware the other day and I was looking to to get find out when a product was going to come in and they were going to call me. So they asked me for my name and I gave my name and the lady there, her name was great Gretta up in Lynnwood, and she says, oh my gosh, she goes, are you the Suzanne Newman that’s on the radio, and I said yes. She says, Oh, I love your show, which was great, but the biggest thing is she goes, Daphne is my favorite, my goodness, and so she began to tell me about her mom and her mom was. She said her mom was in her I think upper s very vibrant, very wonderful, but she and her family and her husband and everyone they’re starting to plan and one of the things that really I was just moved by is that they learned so much from the show, but really from you. So thank you. You’re so much for the the wonderful contributions that you’ve been a part of it. That just makes my heart sing, because that’s what it’s all about, is gathering information, because you never know when you may need it, particularly when you are kind of ahead of the curve and you’re planning ahead and you’re thinking, Oh, you know, mom and dad are doing fine now, but when it hits or when I have to look at things, what do I even look for? And so I know kind of the theme for answers for elders this year is about, or this month I should say, is about adaptive living. And so some of the things some families are very good about thinking about if mom and dad have downsized from the family home, they’ve moved to another home, they’re thinking about ramblers, no steps. You know, those are kind of the obvious things, or putting in additional grab bars in the shower or the bathroom or having a step in shower rather than a tub to go into or Kurbliss or Kurblis would be wonderful also, I mean, but something that’s not lifting that leg over that twelve to eighteen inches. It’s that room is it is it’s a very big but most people can think about those obvious things. But there are other things that you can pay attention to in the home as well, and things like a throw rug. Who would think that a throw rug could cause a problem? But they can, and you don’t even need a walker or cane for it to be a problem. It can just be remembering to pick up the front of your foot enough to not trip over the throw rock fell in the bathroom of the day. I had my bath mat on the on the ground and I was actually getting off the toilet and of course my foot was on that bathrot and I when I stood up, I just wanted an angle and that thing slid yeh, luckily it came back down on the toilet. Okay, might be TMI, but it’s reality exactly. It is. And so those simple things of you know, paying attention to little things that could cause potential problems. Or sometimes it can just be those those cherished furniture pieces the side tables, the plant stands that we’ve gotten over the years, you know, and we all know how that Hapen, that Strang down and go on to the floor, that you get caught up in it, or cords. It can happen to these early or lamp cords, things like that. Those things are huge fall factors, right, and so that’s when you kind of go, you know, mom, Dad, let’s just push this back behind the desk or you know, sometimes if your personality of your parents as such that just do it yourself and beg for forgiveness later, that might be the way to do it. But just simple, simple things like that, because the number one thing that causes people to have to have additional help in their home is usually some kind of fall. And that doesn’t mean even a break. That just means a fall and a bruised rib or. You know, my leg is kind of tie aared and now they’re limping and then one thing leads to another and we’re compensating and now the other side hurts. It just snowballs it does. So being careful about fall risks in the home is a really important thing to do. The other thing to think about is, you know what, if you don’t have a railing and there’s only one step out of the house or two steps out of the house, because you thought ahead, at least have something there, some kind of railing. Have the handy man bomb in yes, but I’m thinking going down those steps. Or if it’s coming out of the garage and there’s one step into the home, a grab bar next to the door would be perfect. I have it’s a brandy. I have a friend that has a two step up and she was brilliant. She went to hardware store got a beautiful oil bronze Brab bar that goes into a bathroom. Of course it’s water proof because it’s most to go on the bathroom. She put that on the column of her house where to get up on the porch and it almost looks decorative like it’s a and it’s beautiful and you would never think about it and I thought, wow, that is a great, great idea. I never thought about that. is so those simple little things and you don’t have to have them look institutional. No, you don’t have to do things that are like, oh, my mom is aging and she has to be now maybe embarrassed about it, or the pride and vanity comes up, you know, but ud we can get around that. was simple little things. Well, and one thing I want to throw out to is lighting. You know, when mom or dad get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which likely they do, you know, there’s such simple things that can happen, like little motion detector. Yea, that could you know? It cost you twenty bucks. Yeah, at the at the hardware storage by a little nightlight or something that will light the way to the bathroom and specifically in the bathroom so that they’re not falling. I think that so often falls happen in the middle of the night because the you know, the lighting is an on. Lightings not on your whole metabolism is different. Has Blood been from the brain to the toes and the time that you get bout it? I mean it’s just a lot of things that go into things, but it’s very important also when you’re thinking about lighting, think about where the shadows of that lighting very if it can bounce up to the ceiling, it’s going to be less shadows on the floor. So sometimes we’re a little groggy in the middle of the night or even functioning during the day. Think about are the is this creating shadows that share hinder someone. Yeah, so it’s more should be more like a task lighting, task lighting, or or up onto the ceiling coming down. Got It. You know, those are the best kind of lighting that doesn’t give shadows. So we are talking to the Wonderful Daphne Davis of Pinnacle senior placements and Daphne tell us a little bit again about what’s pinnacle senior placements actually does. Well, we go into people’s homes a lot actually, and we help people figure out some of the things we’re talking about today, but, more importantly, we help families figure out what are the options if, in in fact my mom or dad or loved one needs to have more support than what we can do as a family or it’s not appropriate for in home care. Sometimes up in home care is totally appropriate, but it’s being proactive and preventive as much as we can to uphold people’s dignity and quality of life. And so I help families figure out what options are out there if my mom or dad can’t live in their own home by themselves or with each other. Sometimes that’s a part of the equation as well, right. And you know, the thing that’s amazing about that, when you really think about it, is that it could happen in an instant if you’re not prepared. And so what we talked about is being prepared, is making sure that you have not only and you know, to me, adaptive living has to do with being an environment that supports you, don’t be an environment in an environment that sabotages you. And a lot of times we talk about clearing clutter. The whole newsletter that we have sage advice that is just come out this week is the fact that we have this overwhelming you know, mom or dad and likely lived in that home for fifty, sixty years, and you know how many things do they not need anymore? And I know that that’s such a huge it. It is a huge piece and mostly because, as we every single one of us, as we have more birthdays, whether you’re in your fifty, sixty s, are s, it doesn’t matter. The more stuff we have to think about, the less we can spend our energy on living and we’re get into slowly a survival mode. And so decluttering not only makes your environment safer physically, but I think there’s a factor in there that says, let me figure out what’s really important to me and all the peripheral things I don’t want to think about anymore. Right and sometimes it’s a little painful for the heart to say all that memory. I’m not going to remember it if I don’t have this widget sitting right here to remind me. But you’ll be surprised at how how much clarity you get when you have less things to think about and occupy your brain and and just spending the time to dust it. Or How many times have you heard your parents or even yourself say, I have got to get some stuff out of this house, do it now. And you know now it’s the perfect time of year because it’s not too cold, summers wrapping up. You know, you get in there and you can absolutely do so many things about letting go of and I know it’s kind of to me, kind of the theme for fall. You know, it’s getting rid of the environment. Even says the leaves go away. It’s like this is the this is the season for letting go. So I always think about that’s the time. And I know you know spring cleaning. Can you imagine going into the winter and then having your house completely clutter free where, guess what, ice is out there, things like that. Want to make sure that that environment is really good for you, that supports you in the winter months. It’s exactly right and and you know, I think you know, also just this whole advanced planning thing. Coming back to what pinnacle does, is really helps you guys, you know, helps our listeners really with the next steps, which is so important, for it is it’s nicer, and I say this to families frequently, it’s nice to be in a position that you can make decisions and be in charge of making decisions and have the clarity to be able to think about what is a prudent decision versus being under stress, just emotional stress sure, not to mention possibly painful stress. We all want that either, but to just be able to do it calmly and to have the conversations. It’s not, you know, pushing the envelope, it’s being wise, it’s being proactive and truly, if you’re the listener and you’re the elder that might be going into this them phase of your life, what a gift to your children. Well, and, like we say, you know, it’s a process. Everything’s a process. So to look at, you know, getting rid of clutter, it might mean one counter in your kitchen. It might mean one cupboard at a time’s right, or one room at a time. And we have some great tips for you on ets. You know, yet our newsletters stage advice if you go onto answers for elders radio, and I know that Daphne her as well can help you, and just really understanding just how to let go of things, which is important. So, Daphne, how do we reach you? Well, the easiest ways to call me at eight eight hundred and fifty five three and seven four, one thousand five hundred. You can also reach me through my website, which is Pinnacle Senior Placementscom. It’s all one word and I would love to have a conversation with you over the phone and just see where you’re at in your process. And guess what, it doesn’t cost you a dime, Daphnese services are free to you. So there’s no downsize here, not at all. Totally free. I’m here to help you. Well, we’re so glad you’re here. Would you stand for another segment? I sure what the preceding podcast was provided by pinnacles senior placements LLC and answers for elders radio to contact pinnacles senior placements. Go to Pinnacle Senior Placementscom