Help me move my parent to assisted living or a nursing home

• Checklist - 8 Things to Look for in a Nursing Home Agreement

  Nursing home agreements affect your parent's care in a nursing home. Here's what to look for in a nursing home agreement.

• Article - Assisted Living: A Beginner's Guide

  Assisted Living: A Beginner's Guide. How to choose the right assisted living facility for your parent.

• Article - Planning Your Parents' Move: A Step-by-Step Guide

  How to help your parents make the move to assisted living or a nursing home. Avoid pitfalls and find the right situation for your parent.

• Article - Nursing Homes: A Beginner's Guide

  Nursing Homes: A Beginner's Guide. A free informative guide to help you decide what nursing home is best for your parent.

• Article - "Aging in Place" Communities Offer Seniors Independence and Support

  Creative programs offer seniors new ways to get the services of a retirement community while remaining at home. Here are three popular models.

• Article - How to Tell if Your Parent With Alzheimer's Needs Assisted Living

  How to tell if your parent with Alzheimer's needs assisted living. These questions will help you decide whether your parent needs more assistance.

• Buying Guide - A Buyer's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance

  Find the best long-term care insurance policy for your needs. Understand their costs, benefits, extra perks, and the common loopholes to avoid.

• Article - Continuing-Care Retirement Communities: A Beginner's Guide

  How to help your parents decide whether a continuing-care community is right for them

• Checklist - Small Is Beautiful

  Moving to a retirement community usually means downsizing. These tips can help you help your parents make the most of their new, smaller space.

• Interview - Talking With Michael Kirk

  An interview with Michael Kirk, producer of the PBS documentary Caring for Your Parents, about taking care of aging parents.

• Interview - Talking With Peg Gordon

  Nursing home staff and others who work with the elderly often don't grasp what it feels like to be old. Xtreme Aging Training shows them.

• Checklist - Before Your Parent Moves, Pack a "First-Night" Box

  When your parent moves into any new living situation, she'll need supplies for that first night. Here's a checklist of essential items to pack.

• Interview - Talking With Tamara Jenkins

  The Savages director reflects on her real-life experience as a caregiver to her estranged father -- and why she wrote it differently for film.

• Article - 8 Ways to Help Your Parent Stay Active and Engaged

  A variety of reasonably priced programs and services can help elderly people become more active and engaged. Making a good match for your parent depends largely on his condition and needs.

Blog Posts

• Blog Post - Aging Parents and Dental Care: A Life-and-Death Issue

  Quick: When was the last time your elderly loved one...

• Blog Post - Lifestyles of the Rich and Retired

  As retirement housing options expand, cruise ships have joined luxury hotel chains in offering high-end retirement destinations.

• Blog Post - How can I deal with my mom's anger at me for urging her to move my dad to an Alzheimer's residence, where he fell in love with another woman?

  My mother, who took care of my father through the early...

• Blog Post - Wii Senior Sports Craze May Get Your Parents Moving

  The Wii video game is a hit among seniors; a fun and gentle way to get them moving.

• Blog Post - Sandwich Generation "Massively Stressed"

  A new study of sandwich generation women, caring for children and aging parents, finds them ill-prepared for the massive stresses of care giving.

• Blog Post - Alzheimer's Meds: Time for a Reality Check?

  The absence of good news about Alzheimer's medications reminds caregivers that learning behavioral therapy is paramount.

• Blog Post - The Adult Diaper Wars: A Call to Arms!

  A Canadian government official's threat to wear diapers triggers open talk of how to keep seniors who wear diapers comfortable and healthy.

• Blog Post - My father seems interested in moving in with me -- and I don't want him to.

  At 81, my dad has Parkinson's, three heart stents,...

• Blog Post - Use of Restraints in Nursing Homes: Down But Not Out

  The law limits how and when nursing homes can use restraints. What to do if your parent is confined by belts or bed rails.

• Blog Post - It Takes a Neighborhood (Part II)

  Taking care of an elderly neighbor can enrich the lives of everyone involved.

• Blog Post - Five Tips for Keeping the Sandwich Together

  Five tips to help sandwich generation members ease the stress of caring for aging parents in their homes.

• Blog Post - Embarrassment Assistance! The Gift of Plain Wrapping

  Buying adult incontinence products online can save your parents from stressful embarrassment.

• Blog Post - My mother's growing needs are putting a strain on my marriage, and I find myself wondering which will fall apart first -- her, my marriage, or me. What can I do?

  Since my dad died five years ago, my mother has had...

• Blog Post - Big Brother is Watching....Mom and Dad

  A new breed of high-tech retirement community is using technology to monitor seniors with dementia and other conditions, offering new freedoms while raising privacy concerns.

• Blog Post - Downward Dog May Keep Elderly Upright

  Recent research reveals Iyengar yoga improves stability and balance in older women, which could lower their risk of falling.

• Blog Post - The Mother's Day Gift That Keeps on Giving

  Spending time with your mother on Mother's Day is the best gift of all.

Questions & Answers

• Question - What can I do if my mom's nursing home is mistreating her and I live out of state?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - What's an assisted-living community fee and how much is it?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How can I prescreen assisted-living facilities so I don't have to tour every one?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How can I get my mother, who has dementia, to calm down in her nursing home?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - The nursing home wants my father to leave because he's hard to manage; what are my options?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Can my mom try out an assisted-living home before she commits to it?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - What do I need to know before I sign a nursing home contract?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Should I take my 80-something parents with me to check out assisted living facilities for them or go alone?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Three years after his death, the nursing home my father lived in "captured" my tax refund saying I owed them money for my father. Does a person's debt die with them?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - How do I help my elderly mother deal with the loss of her pets?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Will Medicaid or Medicare help pay for my mother's long-term care?

  Will Medicaid or Medicare help pay for my mother's long term care? Medicare will cover 100 days in a nursing home if certain qualifications are met.

• Question - Is there a time limit on making a revocable trust before entering a nursing home?

  A revocable trust does not protect assets from consideration by Medicaid regarding eligibility for nursing home coverage.

• Question - What is the difference between assisted living and nursing home?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - What is the average cost of assisted living community fees in Westchester county in NY state?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - What are the most important factors in evaluating a nursing home?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Is there any financial help with the costs associated with assisted living facilities?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Are adult children legally responsible for a parent’s unpaid nursing home bills?

  Adult children aren’t legally responsible for their parent’s uncovered nursing home costs, unless they signed a contract with the nursing home making themselves responsible.

• Question - How do I advise my mother that it is time to move to an assisted living facility?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How do I evaluate a nursing home for my parent?

  How to evaluate a nursing home: key questions to ask when choosing a nursing home for your elderly parent.

• Question - How can I help my parents with dementia accept the care they need?

  Refusing help is common in parents with dementia. Get advice on dealing with parents with dementia who refuse help from assisted living staff.

• Question - How do we convince my in-laws to seek alternative housing?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How do you explain to someone that they are going into respite care for 1 week and then permanently into a nursing home?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - Will Medicare help pay for an assisted living facility?

  Medicare doesn't cover assisted living at all, but in some states Medicaid can pay the full cost of assisted living for an elder with little money.

• Question - How do we help my mom, who has moved into an assisted living facility, "say goodbye" to her old home?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Who is responsible for paying for my mother's care?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Should we get a home equity line of credit in order to pay for nursing home care until my parent's home is sold?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Having limited resources, how do I get into a nursing home?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Elderly mother living alone, has numerous medical problems...

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - My mother, who has dementia, refuses to go to assisted living. How do we get her involved?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - My elderly mother has anxiety disorder and is fine when feeling well but uncontrollable when ill. Is it time for assisted living?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - When is it time for assisted living?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - How have you handled persuading your loved one to remain in the nursing home when he or she unreasonably thinks he or she is ready to go home?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - How do I get my 90 yr old mother to go to a nursing home?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How can I help my mother with the stress of caring for my grandmother?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Does a living trust protect money from Medicaid consideration?

  A living trust does not "protect" assets from consideration by Medicaid when deciding someone's eligibility for coverage of nursing home care.

• Question - Should I put my mom in a nursing home as her care has gotten too much for me?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Does my mother have to sign a lien on her home for short...

  Unanswered. Can you help?

Tips & Reflections

• Tip - Power Lunch, Nursing Home Style

  The best time to visit a nursing home is at lunch,...

• Tip - Little-Known Veterans Benefit Can Pay for Your Parent's Nursing Home

  A little-known Veteran's Benefit might help pay for nursing home care and other medical expenses. Learn what it is, how to qualify and apply.

• Tip - Saving Space by Storing Clothes

  To save precious space in your parents' itty-bitty...

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known: Peg Gordon

  Xtreme Aging trainer Peg Gordon on finding a facility that tends to an elder's personal needs -- needs her grandmother's nursing home left unmet.

• Tip - Watch What You Say

  When you're talking to your parents about moving, try...

• Tip - Time Hospital Visits to Coincide With Meal Times

  If your parent is in the hospital or a skilled nursing...

• Tip - A Respite Care Option for When You're Away

  Worried about who will care for your elderly parent...

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known: Tamara Jenkins

  The Academy Award-nominee on what she'd change about her father's death.

• Tip - Consider Separate Living Quarters in a Retirement Community

  If your parents are planning a move to an assisted...

• Tip - Continuing Care Tax Benefit

  If your parents move to a continuing care retirement...

• Tip - Put It in Writing to Avoid Disputes

  If you and your siblings are squabbling over who should...

• Tip - Offsetting the Costs of Caregiving

  Ask your tax advisor whether you can claim your parent...