Make a Plan to Help Aging Parents Cannot Celebrate Holidays Together

December 16, 2020

HOLIDAY GATHERING WITH AGING PARENTS NOT SAFE

Dr. Michael Osterholm, Disease Expert U of Minnesota has warned against gathering in person with elder family members on the Holidays
“We need somebody to start to articulate, ‘What is our long-term plan? How are we going to get there? Why are we asking people to sacrifice distancing? Why are we telling

people if you really love your family, you won’t go home for Christmas and end up infecting mom or dad or grandpa and grandma.’ We don’t have that storytelling going on right now, and that’s every bit as important as the science itself,”

NEED LONG TERM PLAN STARTING NOW

So adult children need to start making a long-term plan. What are they going to say to their aging parents to convey they do not want to infect or even expose them to covid-19 so you cannot celebrate the holidays together? They cannot come to your home for the festivities and grandma and grandpa cannot go to theirs.

This takes, as Osterholm suggested

creating a story and learning how to tell stories if you do not already know.

HOW TO TELL A STORY

Vaile Wright, senior director for health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. suggests starting the story by explaining how much you care about your family“I feel it’s in my family’s best interests to be more strict, so we’re not going to travel for Christmas.” This type of language, she said, makes the other person less defensive, since it doesn’t come across as “You aren’t doing the right thing so I can’t come to visit.”

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4 Ways to Keep Family COVID-safe if you go Home for Christmas

December 14, 2020

4 Ways to Keep Family Safe if you Travel to Grandma for Christmas

Are you planning to travel over the COVID river and through the mask-free woods to Grandma’s this holiday season?

How can you possibly stay safe? Do you trust your friends and family members to follow the standard safety protocols? Will they wear face coverings, maintain physical distance, and keep surfaces sanitized? Has anyone experienced symptoms recently or had contact with a person who is infected?

Answering these questions before you go may make those already awkward dinner conversations a lot less uncomfortable and may prevent you or aging parents from dying this holiday just as the vaccine is here.

CHECK THE COVID RATE WHERE ARE GOING

NPR has suggestions about traveling on the holiday for adult children who must travel to Grandma’s on the holidays. This includes first checking out the COVID rate in the area where Grandma lives by using NPR’s coronavirus tracker to check this.

CHECK THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE INVITED

The CDC says check out where others are traveling from and the number of people at the gathering among other guidelines from out very maligned by the Trump administration but storied science-based lead healthcare agency.

Travel Off-Peak Time

The Atlantic Magazine, a highly respected and historic magazine recommends, traveling off-peak or traveling a few days earlier, safer for you to drive, stay with Grandma or family, not friends and follow those basic guidelines, masking, distance, etc.

Read ALL & Find Common Thread of Safety

Check them all out and see what is repeated over and over and also what is feasible for you to travel to Grandpa and Grandma, stay safe yourself, keep elders safe and alive next holiday season after the vaccine.

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How to Help Avoid a Cat and Dog fight at a Dysfunctional Family Thanksgiving

November 18, 2020

Sparring Cats and Dogs

Especially after some holiday liquid cheer, sour step-parents, angry step-siblings, and mid-life adult kids who have grown up in a dysfunctional family can turn into sparring cats and dogs with teeth bared and claws dug in flesh, at Thanksgiving dinner.

Why Their Stocking Full of Coal

As if COVID has not made the holidays hard enough for family gatherings, the ordinary aging processes are made far tougher when a family has a history of dysfunction. Aging professionals, like geriatric care managers, have their greatest challenges in working with these “difficult” families.

Dysfunctional families are not able to organize themselves

They effectively face gut-wrenching eldercare challenges and crises. These families are under more stress as they move from long-established roles into uncharted territory.

Why Cut-OFF Ruins Holidays

What if adult kids “ cut off” their Dad years ago and now he had a severe stroke- what do they do?? Someone has to take over Mom or Dad’s care and these dysfunctional midlife adult kids are heavy ambivalent or just don’t want to do it. They are caught between “ I love you” and “ I hate you” and it only takes a few drinks and snarky remarks to start a fracas.

Now that the holidays are soon arriving – they have the same attitude about attending the family Thanksgiving dinner.

So what to do if you are an aging professional, geriatric care manager, nurse care manager- before the holiday to avoid the scene below.

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8 Ways to Tame the Turmoil of the Holidays & Twindemic in the Aging Family

Learn how!

How to sell services to the desperate Aging Family during the holiday surge
How to give hope to frantic children who call when their aging parent struggling with Loneliness and isolation on the holidays
How to help the Aging Family make holiday visits remotely or safely in person
How to counsel the Aging Family to track aging decline &Twindemic risk in loved ones
How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
How to use financial forecasting to prepare for business growth during the holidays

Sidestep the Many Care Managers Who Do not know how to work with Dysfunctional family or do COVID Coaching of Aging Families so the client chooses you

THIS FREE WEBINAR IS Thursday, December 3, 2020, FROM 2 PM – 3:30 PM PST

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4 Ways to Keep Family COVID-safe if you go Home for Thanksgiving

November 6, 2020

4 Ways to Keep Family Safe if you Travel to Grandma for Thanksgiving

Are you planning to travel over the COVID river and through the mask-free woods to Grandma’s?

Answering these questions before you go may make those already awkward dinner conversations a lot less uncomfortable.

CHECK THE COVID RATE WHERE ARE GOING

NPR has some suggestions if adult children must travel to Grandma’s on the holidays. This includes first checking out the COVID rate in the area where Grandma lives by using NPR’s coronavirus tracker to check this.

CHECK THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE INVITED

Travel Off-Peak Time

Read ALL & Find Common Thread of Safety

Check them all out and see what is repeated over and over and also what is feasible for you to get to Grandpa and Grandma to cheer both your loved ones and you in this COVD filled election frazzled time when we all need a dose of tradition to soothe our souls and stomachs – if you cannot stay home because of family worry or just the need to get out of Dodge!