Finding Mom's New Home From Thousands of Miles Away
Caring for a parent with dementia isn't easy for anyone, and it's particularly challenging when you're a long-distance caregiver, living thousands of miles away from your loved one.
Robin lives in Missouri. Her mother, Shirley, lives in Southern California and has been diagnosed with dementia. "The distance is stressful, and when I found Caring.com and talked with an advisor, my stress just melted. I knew they would find a home for Mom."
Last fall, Shirley was doing well with daily activities and enjoyed interacting with other residents in her senior living community. However, Robin -- who manages her mother's medical information and finances via power of attorney -- wondered whether there was a less expensive assisted living community nearby that could help keep her mother socially engaged and provide medication management for years to come.
After extensive online searching with no results, Robin and her husband contacted Caring.com. "The lady who helped us gave us several assisted living places to look at and was kind and informative," Robin said after speaking to one of Caring.com's family advisors.
Armed with information from Caring.com about three different assisted living communities in her mother's area, Robin contacted her brothers and her mother's sister -- all of whom live in Southern California -- to get their help touring the communities and selecting the best one for Shirley. With their input, and the options narrowed down to two favorites, Robin called and interviewed the communities about the quality of their services.
Ultimately, Robin and her family chose Emeritus at Brookhurst, which has received rave reviews and is among the best in the country as a Caring Star community. From start to finish, the process of finding "a wonderful new home" for her mom took only a couple weeks, and "within a month, Mom was living in her new home," Robin says.
"It was amazing to me that we found a place for Mom," Robin said. "We felt that the Caring.com agent who worked with us was very professional, knowledgeable, and compassionate in meeting Mom's and our pressing needs."
Robin was so thankful about her experience with Caring.com that she volunteered to be featured in a promotional video to help others discover this free senior housing referral service.
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Comments
Thank you for sharing about your family's experience NanaMary. Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother last fall. Should it still be helpful to you and your family, we offer this grief support info: http://www.caring.com/grief We appreciate that you're participating in our online community, and we hope you're finding this website to be a source of valuable information and support.
What a wonderful solution & way of life for all. My Mother just died in October, so things have changed for us. My brother, who is of good means, lived in Florida, while Mom & I lived in Michigan. Needless to say, being the daughter & living so close, everything became my responsibility. My brother & I were not really that close but he was devoted to taking care of both of our parents while they lived. Dad died in 1989. My brother was in a position to buy a home in Michigan, plus a car & he faithfully came here every other month to "relieve me" & let my retired hubby & I to just be together. This was his idea & cost him many $$s in flights, taxes, & all expenses. This went on for years. He took responsibilities of the funerals too. God bless all grateful children who never forget where they came from! Giving back is the most wonderful feeling in the world. I believe this is what God intends for us all.