Five Essential Tips for Long-Distance Caregivers

Do you have an elder loved one who lives in another state? Or who lives more than an hour away from where you live?

If you live an hour or more away from a relative who needs care, you’re a long-distance caregiver. And you’re not alone. According to the Health in Aging Foundation, about 15 percent of the 34 million Americans who care for older family members are long-distance caregivers.

Long-distance caregiving can be a challenging task for family members of elder loved ones. These tips will help you be a better long-distance caregiver for your elder relative.

1. Designate a Power of Attorney and a Health Care Agent

Family members often need to help their elder loved ones manage their finances and health care needs. To do this effectively, it’s important to set up a power of attorney and a health care proxy. Financial institutions and health care providers may not communicate with family members unless they have these established roles.

Determine who should be the power of attorney and who should be the health care proxy for your relative. If possible, designate one person as the power of attorney and another person as the health care proxy. Handling two roles at once can be an enormous responsibility.

Contact us to help you set up a power of attorney and a health care proxy for your relative.

2. Connect with On-Site Caregivers

If your elder loved one lives in a nursing home or assisted living community, introduce yourself to staff members during an on-site visit. Make yourself known to the facility’s director, the director of nursing, the physical therapy staff, and the dining room’s executive chef.

If your elder loved one lives in their own home, make yourself known to in-home health care providers including home health care agencies, meal services such as Meals on Wheels, or visiting nurses. Contact the fire department and police department where your loved one’s home is to make sure your contact information is on file.

Connecting with your elder loved one’s caregivers includes contacting their primary care doctors, medical specialists, physical therapists, and other medical professionals. Make sure all caregivers know who is the power of attorney and health care proxy for your relative. Make sure all caregivers have up-to-date contact information for these roles.

3. Be Prepared to Visit as Often As You Can

There’s no substitute for on-site family visits when it comes to elder care. The more frequent the visits, the better. On-site visits will allow you to evaluate the quality of care and make sure all care plans and dietary orders are being followed.

Work with family members to determine who can visit and how often. Respect family members’ commitments for visiting. Not all family members will be able to visit. However, if you are the designated power of attorney or health care proxy, you will be expected to make regular visits.

4. Hire a Private Caregiver

If your loved one lives far away from you, say, in another state or a lenghthy drive away, consider hiring a private caregiver for your elder loved one.

A private caregiver can act as a “boots on the ground” extension of your family who can visit your elder loved one every week or as often as needed. Retired nursing professionals sometimes work as private caregivers who visit an elder person several times a week for a few hours each time.

A private caregiver can be an essential point of contact for long-distance family members. They can provide information about your loved one’s quality of care, help follow up on medical orders, and transport your elder to medical appointments and other errands.

A private caregiver can also provide companionship for your elder loved one as well as assist with personal tasks like filing paperwork and grocery shopping.

5. Set Up Automatic Bill Paying

Help your elder loved one manage bills by setting up automatic bill payment for as many accounts as possible. If your elder loved one is unable to check email, arrange for email receipts to be sent to a designated family member or the person who is the power of attorney.

You may choose paperless billing for automatic bill paying as a way to reduce the burden of having your elder loved one have to open and manage mail. Automatic bill paying can be set up for such bills as telephone, internet, and utilities.