As a caregiver, it's important to be organized and keep track of important documents related to your role. These documents can help you provide better care for your loved one, ensure that their wishes are followed, and provide peace of mind for both you and your aging parent. Here are some important documents that caregivers should have:

1. Medical records: Medical records provide essential information about an aging parent's health history, current conditions, medications, and allergies. It's important to keep these records up-to-date and easily accessible in case of an emergency or a visit to the doctor.
   
2. Legal documents: Legal documents such as a power of attorney, living will, or healthcare proxy can help ensure that your loved one's wishes are followed in case they become unable to make decisions for themselves. These documents can also provide guidance for caregivers regarding decisions related to medical care and end-of-life issues.
   
3. Financial documents: Financial documents such as bank statements, bills, and insurance policies can help a caregiver manage their loved one's finances and ensure bills are paid on time. It's important to have a clear understanding of your loved one's financial situation to avoid any surprises and plan accordingly.
   
4. Caregiver agreements: A caregiver agreement is a written contract between the caregiver and the person receiving care. This agreement can outline the scope of services to be provided, the payment terms, and any other expectations or responsibilities.
   

Having these documents organized and easily accessible can help caregivers provide better care for their aging parent, ensure that their wishes are followed, and prevent any surprises. It's important to make sure these documents are regularly reviewed and updated as needed.

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Here's a great article to read that gives eight tips on how to provide assistance — and help yourself, if you are experiencing caring for a loved one while retired or are anticipating this scenario in the near future.
This quick read, written by Richard Eisenberg, hits on some of those high points and gives a bit of healthy advice in the process.

Three in four adults more than 65 years of age have two or more chronic conditions that can limit day-to-day functioning. If an older adult is not able to grocery shop or cook meals, these tasks fall on the caregiver. In 2015, 76% of caregivers helped their loved one with grocery shopping and 61% helped with cooking meals. As a result, the caregiver’s dietary habits will impact their loved one’s diet. In other words, if the caregiver eats poorly (non-nutritious foods), so will their loved one, typically resulting in poorer health.
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Caring for an older family member often requires teamwork. A primary caregiver — especially a parent — may be hesitant to ask for help or a break. A few ways you can help are:

• Provide emotional and moral support. Acknowledge how important the caregiver has been and discuss the physical and emotional effects of caregiving. Just listening may not sound like much help, but often it is.
• Offer to arrange for respite care. Respite care will give your parent a break from caregiving responsibilities and an opportunity to care for themselves.
• Help coordinate a move to assisted living or a nursing home. In time, the person receiving care may have to move to a residential facility. If that happens, you can help your parent by selecting a facility that fits everybody’s needs.
  

Click the button below to learn more about supporting a parent with caregiving responsibilities.

I didn’t volunteer to become a caregiver to my elderly parents. Instead, I was slowly initiated into the role. It started by doing little things to help. Even though they were in their mid-eighties, they insisted on staying in Pensacola, Fla., their home of 50 years. Since I lived in Virginia, I called twice a week to check on them and shopped for them online. With each visit, I tried to notice things that would tell me if they were doing all right.

Drafting a will is an important task that everyone should complete. Be sure to do your research to figure out what's right for you and your family. FreeWill is one online option to help you make your will - and its free. 

Caring for an older family member often requires teamwork. While one sibling might be local and take on most of the everyday caregiving responsibilities, a long-distance caregiver can also have an important role.
 
As a long-distance caregiver, you can provide important respite to the primary caregiver and support to the aging family member.
 
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One of the defining moments of Karen Bond’s professional career came about five years ago. “For years, I had worked really hard to become president of Executive Alliance,” she said of the nonprofit dedicated to helping professional women succeed in leadership roles.
 
At the time, Bond was taking care of her mother who had dementia along with being a mother to her daughter and having a thriving professional career. “The day of our Women of Excellence luncheon, that I had always dreamed that my mother would be able to be there and see that achievement, was the day that my caregiver didn’t show up and I was scheduled to be in front of a thousand women. I barely got there in time.”
 
Caregiving can be extremely challenging for professional women as many must juggle their careers with motherhood and with their elderly parents/relatives. While home health care aides can help, a majority of women take on the caregiving responsibility themselves.
 
 From: The Daily Record (Maryland)