Highgate Senior Living Blog

Everyone has different preferences when it comes to their medical care and financial priorities.

Most people agree that if they are ever unable to advocate for their own wishes, they would like someone they trust to do it for them without having to go through a burdensome legal process to do so.

Yet that is the situation many older adults find themselves in when they do not have a power of...

As your parents age, there may come a time when they are no longer able to care for their financial or medical matters anymore. It is important that they have a power of attorney (POA) in place before they reach that point.

Have you ever gone to the doctor’s office for an appointment and realized only after you left that you forgot to ask the doctor an important question that you wanted to have them discuss with you?

That happens to nearly everyone at one time or another, and it’s especially common among seniors. Your parent may be perfectly able to go to their own doctor’s appointments, but if they’re getting...

Discussing medical issues with your doctor — let alone your parent’s doctor — is much easier said than done.

Many people experience some amount of anxiety when they go to the doctor. That’s why it’s nice to accompany your aging loved ones to their doctor appointments — so they can have someone else there to ask questions about treatment options, symptoms, and anything else that’s a concern,...

If you are providing care to an older parent who lives an hour or more away, you are one of roughly 7 million long-distance caregivers in the U.S.

Being a long-distance caregiver is very different than being a primary caregiver. The responsibilities focus more on coordinating, researching, and communicating rather than cooking, cleaning, and chauffeuring. However, it is still a vital,...

A common question older adults ask is, “Why would I move out of my house?”

They equate living in their home with freedom, independence, and happiness because that is how they have always felt about it. Their question assumes that staying in one’s home will always convey those virtues.

However, the evidence is quite clear that it does not.

Jeremy Glover spends a lot of time helping families navigate the move to assisted living. As Community Relations Coordinator at Highgate at Bozeman, he starts every conversation with two questions: “What do you need?” and “What do you want?”

Turns out what aging parents want from their adult children is to have had them ask those two questions a long time ago, Glover says.

There are signs that indicate it’s probably time to approach the subject of assisted living with your parents — social isolation, falls, forgotten medication, unsanitary conditions, anxiety — but why wait until they need around-the-clock assistance?

Many families wait until they experience a crisis or an unplanned event that forces them to make last-minute care arrangements. But what are your...

When your loved one decides they’re interested in making the move to assisted living, or you’ve decided a change would be in their best interest, you want to help them find the best assisted living facility.

So, you do your research: You decide what your loved one needs and wants. You find a few locations that match their wishes. You evaluate each location by doing a background check online,...

Let’s say the next time you’re home, you notice your mom is a little more socially withdrawn than the last time or your dad has a chronic health condition that’s worsening. You recognize these are signs that it might be time to start considering assisted living, but it still feels too soon.

Actually, this is the perfect time to start looking.