New website empowers seniors to manage aging issues

Dr. Lee Ann Lindquist receives urgent phone calls daily from middle-aged sons and daughters not sure what to do when their parent falls, needs hospitalization or gets lost while driving. She started a website, www.planyourlifespan.org, to help prepare seniors for the emergencies and problems that may arise after age 75.

“Many people plan for retirement. They complete a will, assign powers of attorney, pick out a funeral home, and they think they’re done,” Lindquist, chief of geriatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Kaiser Health News.

What many of us don’t think about is the last 10 to 15 years of life and how we’ll manage.

The website focuses on three main issues seniors say make it difficult to live at home: hospitalizations, falling and dementia. Seniors and their families can also get tips, from talking about difficult topics to managing financial issues.

A similar project by Carol Levine, director of the United Hospital Fun’s Families and Health Care Project in New Your City, has prepared an even more in-depth set of guidelines that can help families navigate aging issues such as home care, doctor visits and emergency room care.

Voices for Affordable Health also offers a Resource page with other informative links to help you and your family.