McIntyre Elder Law » Bringing the education to you: Seminars and Speeches. Bringing Education to You and your group.

I’m Greg McIntyre and this is the Elder Law Report. We have some special guests with us today. Joining us is Rebecca Higgins, President of DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and we’ll be talking to my partner in crime, Joe Seidel.

Joe and I have done tons of events together. Joe runs Bayada Home Healthcare out of Shelby North Carolina.

So, Hayden, have you something happy for us?

HS: Isn’t there something within Trusts about responsibility to take care of pets?

GM: We draft that into Powers of Attorney that says you have the power to manage somebody else’s pets. Also, people will leave money set aside in Trust to take care of pets and appoint someone as the caretaker. Sometimes you will see people set up pet trusts, and we can draft those as well.

So, Joe is a great ambassador for Bayada but let’s hear it from him, Joe, what is Bayada Home Healthcare?

JS: Bayada Home Healthcare has been in existence since 1975, and we are the largest privately owned healthcare company in the country. We operate in twenty-two states and are getting ready to move into our fifth country. We provide in-home services basically from the cradle to the grave. We provide pediatric services, adult services, geriatric services. It can be from small services such as providing someone with companionship, up to and including taking care of someone who might have a tracheostomy or who is on a ventilator. In some locations, we do hospice, and we also have services for people with intellectual disabilities. We have a huge range of options. The most important thing we do is enable people to stay in the comfort of their own home.

GM: Would you rather be in an institutional setting or in your own home? Now, there is great institutionalized facilities out there like nursing homes and assisted living facilities and they serve their purpose, and home healthcare isn’t for everyone, but you can just contact Bayada and see how you can pay for in-home care.

Joe, if people need in-home care now, and we’re talking skilled nursing level of care, or help with bathing, or help getting going in the morning, getting dressed, help with shopping, and these are your broad range of services, how can people contact you?

JS: You can call our Shelby office at 704–669–4000. We try to be a community resource, we want to talk to people and we know not everyone is going to choose our services but we have an information confirmation office which allows us to check your benefits, (with your permission of course,) and find things such, as do you have any long term care policies, does your commercial insurance pay for the services, Medicare, Medicaid, the waver programs? We do veterans benefits and also we do private pay.

There is a lot of options to pay for this. This is an emotional decision, so we like to sit down and find out what people’s needs are, how we can meet those needs, figure out how to pay for them, and work through it on an individual basis. We are happy to talk to anyone and walk them through this journey.

GM: How soon should people call?

JS: We have had people who need services that afternoon, and we go out and provide those services with care but it is always better to prepare.

GM: It’s about peace of mind and putting things in place ahead of time. We do this through estate planning, so, instead of coming to me in an emergency situation saying, I need the Medicaid benefit or veterans benefit right now, we handle that, we have departments to deal with those situations but it’s easier and more cost effective to a family to plan ahead.

JS: If the planning is done ahead of time it takes out some of the emotional impact because this is a very emotional decision. People get to that place where they are exhausted, there are millions of unpaid caregivers in the country that take care of their loved ones, and many get to that point where they just can’t do it anymore, and so if they can do it ahead of time, it can take some of that emotion out of it.

Another thing we don’t talk about much is we provide respite services. Sometimes the caregiver just needs a break, they need to get out of town.

GM: Look at life expectancy of family caregivers, it’s diminished, it’s decreased, and many times family members who are giving care die before the person they are giving care to.

JS: Yes, I don’t know how many times I have seen that in my career, and it is true. The earlier people plan, the more the emotional aspect and the stress, to some degree, is taken out of it, but we are there whether it’s pre-planning or the, we need you today situation.

GM: We called this, seminars and speeches, because we are trying to bring a level of education to you, your family and your group. That’s part of what we do, bring you quality content as a community service to say, look, know your options, know what’s out there. We do this on a regular basis, and when I say we, I mean McIntyre Elder Law firm and intelligent people like Joe Seidel of Bayada Home Healthcare. Joe and I have done a lot of seminars and speeches together. My law firm give speeches to veterans at senior centers and I’ve done a couple of hundred seminars and speeches over the last few years from Charlotte to Asheville North Carolina.

HS: We are working hard to educate people because a lot that people think they know about this stuff but you would be surprised at what you don’t know. We try and help people to make better decisions, that’s part of our focus, education.

GM: We come in and talk to you about that pre-planning and foundational seminars, we talk to you about saving your home.

JS: Education is part of our community resource. There are so many people who do not know what is available and we are happy to speak any time, any place, to any group.

GM: We provide these seminars free of charge and sometimes we provide lunch and sometimes the groups we are speaking to provide lunch for us. To get in touch with us our number is 704–259–7040 and we are all over social media.

Our Facebook page is McIntyre Elder Law, or go to our website mcelderlaw.com and sign up for our e-newsletter and that is going to inform you of all our seminars and speaking events that we have going on.

Now, we also have Rebecca Higgins with us who is president of the Daughters of the American Revolution who meet every Thursday at 11 at the Cleveland Country Club. The Daughters of the American Revolution, are there more chapters or groups in other counties?

RH: Yes, there are, and we are also worldwide now. We have chapters overseas, in England, believe it or not. We are a service organization, only for women eighteen years and older and we are all descended from a patriot. That can be someone who either fought in the American revolution or provided material support. As a matter of fact, one of my ancestors provided whiskey for the soldiers.

GM: That was very important.

RH: They thought it was.

GM: So, it’s a service organization, tell us more about the Daughters of the American Revolution? I wish I could join.

RH: Well, you can be a HoDAR which is a husband of a Daughter of the American Revolution.

GM: I’ll have to get my wife to check into that.

RH: We help find your ancestors, we have ladies who specialize in doing the genealogy who trace it back and find someone.

This is a shout out to Joe with Bayada healthcare, because no matter what your age, looking at elder care for your parents or for yourself, or to see how your children are going to help you is such an important topic. I cared for my mother-in-law for two and a half years in my home and it is one of the more difficult things I ever did. It does exhaust the caretaker and it is stressful and I wish I had known about the resources we have available to help care for my mother-in-law. It was only in the last month she lived with us that I started to get help from outside and it made a difference.

GM: Joe is a great presenter, that’s why I like to present with him, it elevates your game if you present alongside someone who is a good presenter. I want to thank you both for coming on and sharing your messages. I know the Daughters of the American Revolution is a wonderful service and a charitable organization and you can look them up at www.dar.org, and Bayada Home Healthcare at www.Bayada.com.

I’m Greg McIntyre of McIntyre Elder Law. Call our office at 704–259–7040.