Watching Over Our Elderly

We have all had someone we know and probably love, who has succumbed to the definition of elderly. We may have had a loved one that had dementia or alzheimers or we may have been fortunate enough to have our elderly relative continue to live with all mental and physical facilities until their time comes to an end.
In my opinion, people with dementia can be extremely endearing. They appear to be happy most of the time, in the early stages, and can be quite comical in their thoughts and feelings. They want to help out in everyday duties and want to be a part of their loved ones lives. Unfortunately, with the world going by so fast and all of us trying to maintain a financial lifestyle, we are sometimes forced to use outside entities to help us with the care of our loved ones. Even though we all hope that the caregivers chosen will care for our loved ones as we would and take our place in our absence, this isn’t always case.
In one case that I was made aware of just recently, the caregivers were having the patient sign checks and then the care givers were making out the checks to themselves. When their theft was finally made known to the children of the patient, the dollar amount exceeded $30,000.00. They are still auditing the accounts. Additionally, the caregivers took the patient to the bank and had her sign for a loan. Luckily, even though the loan was approved, the caregivers never executed the loan to get funds.
If you happen to get in the position that a caregiver is needed, there are certain things that need to be put in place to safeguard the patient.
1. First, all check books, credit cards and any other documents with social security numbers, dates of birth, etc., should be removed entirely for the premises.
2. All incoming mail should be diverted to a P.O. Box, so that people within the resident’s home will have no access to any information that could be used to steal the identity of the patient. The person or company paying the bills should be in charge of this P.O. Box.
3. There should be a separate person or company, in charge of paying the patient’s bills, someone other than the company providing the caregivers.
4. A daily diary should be kept by the caregiver, stating all actions and interactions that transpired by the caregiver with or without the patient. This should be accessible to all family members and any other concerned person checking in on the patient.
5. All banking should be confined to an appointed person and not the patient. Patients with dementia will give all of their money away to anyone that presents a need, and therefore, the patient should not be the bank contact person.
6. All bills can be paid online or preauthorized through a debit card transaction, which in this case, would require no paper checks to be available. Access to online banking should be limited to the person or company paying the bills and the primary family member in charge of the patient.
7. Requests for additional funds for expenses outside of the norm, should be presented to the primary person in charge of the patient, along with a description of the value or need of the purchase requested.
8. A second person should be available as a contact person, in case of the primary family member is absent for immediate contact.
9, A prepaid debit card should be obtained, with no more than $500.00 on the card. This should be obtained if the case is that the patient is used to having access to a credit card to buy things. This will give the patient a comfort of still being in charge of themselves and not “useless” as they sometimes feel. These prepaid debit cards can be reloaded online, electronically, as needed.
10. Anyone in charge of the patient should have a thorough background check for previous criminal activity or complaints by previous clients. This is most important to insure the safety of your loved one.
At one time, the patient was in charge of their own life and their children’s lives. We owe it to our loved one to make their final years as happy and safe as possible. We need to continually protect them from the evils that can come into their lives and harm them either physically or financially.

Michele Graham-CEO and owner of Professional Healthcare Management has 43 years in the healthcare industry. She writes about business issues in all businesses and the healthcare field as well.
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