April 2005 Ezine Linking Seniors, Family Caregivers and Healthcare Professionals

Name Change
Logo Contest
Welcome! New staff members in CA, ID, NY and TX
Living Wills and Health Care Directives, by Barbara Mascio
Recipe Contest
Calendar of Events
Resources for Your Business
Stop Guessing, Select a Senior Approved Service
Words of Wisdom Submitted by Seniors

Name Change

The name change is now official, but there are a few more details that are currently being completed in conjunction with this change. The most exciting of which is a new logo and certification seal. Please read on to learn about our logo contest.

The new logo, a new brochure and a spiffy update to both web sites will be featured in the May ezine.

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Logo Contest

When the decision to change the name of the company to Senior Approved Services was made, we also realized we needed a creative professional logo that would cement our identity. The entire concept behind our services is so unique - we are the first and only company of its kind nationwide - and so the desire for a logo that would reflect our uniqueness sent us searching. We realized that we needed to find a graphic designer that would be capable of thinking 'out-of-the-box' so to speak.

We decided to offer a contest to a group of graphic design students at Polaris Vocational School. These young talented students do not have the influences that prevail within the industry of elder care services and so it was a logical decision to provide these students this opportunity.

The submissions for our new logo are due on Friday April the 8th and the final selection will be announced on Friday April the 15th. Our contest includes a cash award for the first place winner. The first, second and third place winners will all receive some free publicity promotion of their individual talents. Be sure to read the May ezine for these upcoming announcements.

If your business is in need of creative graphics for print and/or your web site, the instructor of the Polaris graphic design class welcomes you to contact him. These types of projects further enhance the student's experience by providing real life assignments with deadlines attached to them. You can email Mike at Mike Takatch You might also want to review the school's web site at Graphic Design School

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Susan Teale, Janet Rinker, Stacey White and Karen Christensen

Telecommuting Positions are available! We are in special need of representatives in Southern Ohio, Eastern Ohio, all of Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and California. We're receiving a tremendous amount of inquiries from these states and we simply don't have enough elder care businesses surveyed to recommend to our clients. If you love the elderly and want to help us advocate for the right of all seniors to receive excellent care - please see Employment

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Living Wills and Health Care Directives
Planning for the Worst Case Scenario

I personally fear the power Congress thought they had and am very grateful that their efforts were not successful even though our current president was obviously ready with pen in hand, cutting short his valued vacation time. Had Congress been successful, the following guidelines would be mute.

I did a little research on behalf of the families (that phoned us) and believe the following information that we passed on will be of interest to you as well. We found most of this information at The American Bar Association web site.

Who to Choose?

Who should you select to speak on your behalf in a case where you are physically and/or mentally not able to state your wishes? The following ten guidelines will help you decide. You should think about naming one primary person and a secondary back up in case your first choice is not available for some reason.

Your Health Care Agent, Proxy, Representative, Attorney-In-Fact, Surrogate, Patient Advocate, Guardian of Person (all of these names mean the same thing and will vary in use state to state) should …

• Meet the legal criteria in your state for acting as agent or proxy
• Be willing to speak on your behalf
• Be able to act on your wishes and separate his/her own feelings from yours
• Live close by or could travel to be at your side if needed
• Know you well and understand what's important to you
• Be someone you trust with your life
• Be willing to talk with you now about sensitive issues and will listen to your wishes
• Be likely to be available long into the future
• Be able to handle conflicting opinions between family members, friends, and medical personnel
• Be a strong advocate in the face of an unresponsive doctor or institution

You may have someone in mind and find that once you've broached the subject, this person is reluctant. Accept their feelings and make another choice. If you are in a vegetative state, you want someone committed to honoring your wishes and this person must be up to the task. You must choose someone that can make decisions reflecting your choices and not necessarily their preferences or beliefs.

Who Cannot Be a Proxy?

• Anyone under the age of 18
• Your health care provider, including the owner or operator of a health or residential or community care facility serving you-unless this person is your spouse of close relative.
• An employee of your health care provider-unless this person is your spouse or close relative
• Anyone who is legally incompetent and not capable of making decisions

How Much Authority Should You Give Your Agent?

You can provide this person with the full authority to make all decisions on your behalf. Alternatively, you can temper this full authority by providing this person with written instructions of limitations you would impose.

My husband and I have given one another full authority but at the same time, have provided some instructions. For instance, I don't want to be kept alive artificially. However, I would like my husband to permit artificial means (any and all) temporarily while he gets second and third opinions from alternative health professionals. If a respirator keeps me alive until I can breathe on my own in the near future, then I'm all for the respirator. If it's the only thing keeping me alive for the long-term, then I don't want it. Seeking out second and third opinions also provides my husband time to mentally prepare himself and to remove all doubts about making the decision to 'pull the plug' so-to-speak.

When discussing the 'what-if's' with your designated proxy, you may want to consider the value of quality of life. I've asked my husband, should he be pressed for decisions on any matter regarding my treatment, to ask himself this question: "Will this add to my wife's quality of life?" If the answer is no, then I've asked him to please not allow it.

Quality of life is very subjective. It is so important that you choose someone that you can have very frank and honest conversations with as you explore the possibilities of who you should appoint to speak on your behalf. Again, the person you choose may not agree with you and they don't have to. However, they must be someone who can rise above what they think and believe and act on your wishes. You are looking for a strong trustworthy person.

Once you have prepared the proper documents supporting your choice and your instructions, you should then inform other family members of your decision. Copies of you health care directive or living will should be sent to your physician and kept in your medical file. Upon hospitalization, a copy of your document should be provided to the hospital for their records as well.

Verbal agreements no matter how well intended are never as solid as a written agreement. Mr. and Mrs. Schiavo reportedly discussed their wishes with one another. Mr. Schiavo sincerely believed he was representing the wishes of his wife. Unfortunately, she did not have her wishes documented.

Decisions regarding the use of feeding tubes, respirators, and other mechanical devises are never easy. Legal, financial, moral, and religious issues all factor in to these decisions. I believe that we as individuals have the right to choose and our wishes should be honored. No one likes to think about the possibility of not being capable of speaking our wishes at the time a decision must be made. However, it can happen to any of us at any time.

When you take this responsibility for yourself and document your wishes in a written legal manner you not only ensure that your wishes will be honored, you take the burden off the shoulders of those that love you. It makes good sense to attend to this now while you can.

For professional assistance, we recommend two Certified Senior Approved Services. Attorney Mary Ann Thomas and Martha Taylor, owner of DocuPrepPa

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Recipe Contest

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Calendar of Events

If you are in the financial planning or insurance business, you won't want to miss the 5th Annual Selling to Seniors Conference! It occurs in October, but we're reminding you to reserve your spot now. Senior Approved Services is one of the media sponsors for this event.

Are you searching for topic-related issues surrounding seniors and family caregivers? Listen to Coping with Caregiving an Internet based radio program hosted by Jacqueline Marcell, author of Elder Rage See our calendar for details on an upcoming show scheduled for April 9th when Jean F. Wales, founder of Wales Consulting LLC, and author of ‘Do It Now! An Organizing Handbook for Families and Senior Citizens’ LIVE on Saturday, April 9, at 6:27 pm EDT. Wales Consulting is a Senior Approved Service

If you miss any of the programs aired live on this show, you can listen anytime to the archived interviews. I was interviewed a few weeks ago and you can listen to the interview by visiting March Interview with Barbara Mascio Jacqueline asked questions about our service that you may find interesting.

Looking for a workshop to attend or a workshop to sponsor for your employees, seniors or staff? See Workshops and Self-Help Books

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Marketing Tools for the Elder Care Business

• Build a Web Site Compare the features of Site Build It to other major hosting services. Both of our sites use this service and we receive both compliments and a lot of visitors to our site. If you're going to use a web site to further promote your local business then you may as well use a service that will bring you traffic! Both Yahoo and Google now offer 'local search' and this feature is quickly replacing the yellow pages! 68% of all our inquiries result from the adult child finding us on the Internet.

• How to Start a Home Care Business a comprehensive manual on how to start your own home care business. Available as an E-manual, Hard Copy or CD. Get started in this rapidly expanding service industry today!

• Coping with Caregiving a monthly Internet-only radio program heard worldwide. Learn how you might be a featured guest, interviewed by Author of Elder Rage, Jacqueline Marcell. The program has been expanded to include all aspects of health, aging, family relationships, baby boomer concerns, nutrition, childcare, eldercare, long-term care insurance/planning and more. Six guests are interviewed back-to-back during two hours with commercials in-between.

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Stop Guessing, Select a Senior Approved Service!

The Certification is proof that the business you reach out to has a history of excellent quality service. Before you contract with a business, ask if they are Certified as a Senior Approved Service. If they are not, please pass our contact information to them. Our toll free number is 877-620-6448. We will help the business begin the survey process leading to certification.

Why trust any other business? All of our businesses within the network of Senior Approved Services have contracted with Senior Approved Services to survey their clients. Only those businesses with a 90% or higher 'senior satisfaction rating' are awarded the Certification. The Certification removes the guesswork as you attempt to sift through the multiple choices available these days.

Think about this for a moment. Businesses that offer product, resources and services to our seniors contract with us to conduct this survey. This says an awful lot about these businesses. There are no guarantees that they will receive certification. The survey results must be 90% or higher. This is just one of the many reasons we feel so comfortable recommending these successful Certified Senior Approved Services to our seniors and their family members.

Our network represents the best of the best! If you've missed past announcements highlighting current Senior Approved Services, you may want to visit our Directory of Services We have several businesses currently in the survey process right now. Once the survey process is complete and these elder care services have received their Certification (which is based on survey results of their current clients) we will announce their addition.

So, if you are searching now for a service and you don't see what you are looking for in your state, feel free to contact our Ohio office. Our office hours are Monday - Saturday from 8 am to 6pm Eastern Time. Our direct phone number is 216-883-3163 and our toll free number is 877-620-6448.

Attention Service Providers Do you offer a quality level of service to your existing client base? If so, let your clients recommend your service to our seniors and their family members. Take advantage of our introductory survey fee by being the first of three services in your zip code area. Once we have surveyed three companies offering the same or similar service in your area, the introductory pricing structure will come to an end. We have far more inquiry calls than we have services to recommend. Applying for certification now places you in an advantageous position and will save you hundreds of dollars! See Service Providers to learn more.

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Words of Wisdom