Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™

A hearty welcome to all our new readers. We're glad to have you along on this up and down ride!  Remember, there's no such thing as a dumb question, and none of us know what we don't know.

Will Your Hotel Be Accessible When You Get There?

Federal regulations require newer hotels and motels to offer handicapped accessibility. Unfortunately, one person's idea of accessibility is someone else's "one ramp in the parking lot" and an elevator. We're in the middle of the summer travel season. If you plan to be on the move with someone who needs an accessible room, here are the questions you need to ask so you won't end up in an unfriendly hotel or motel room:

Is the bathroom door wide enough for a wheelchair to pass through?

Is there a low/no threshold stall shower?

Does the shower have a shower seat? If not, are shower stools, seats or chairs available?

Are there grab bars in the shower?

Are there grab bars by the commode?

Is there space under the sink for a wheelchair-users knees?

Are light switches low enough to be reached from a wheelchair?

Are plugs in the bathroom reachable from a wheelchair?

Do the faucets have lever handles?

Do the doors have lever handles?

Are there steps up or down to the restaurant or any other public meeting rooms you may have to use?

If the reservation clerk you are speaking with doesn't know the answers to your questions, ask to speak to the housekeeping manager. No one knows all the rooms better than the person in charge of cleaning them on a daily basis.

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

Medicare For Non-Citizens

Are you paying out of pocket for health care costs related to a relative who has come from another country to be near you in the United States? Thousands of caregivers are, and they may not need to.

Many people who have lived in other countries their whole lives find themselves alone as they grow older because their children have moved to the United States. These children have become legal residents or citizens of the US. They have made lives for themselves here and can't move back home to care for their aging relatives. So many of them bring their aging parents to the United States.

When they leave their home countries, many of these seniors also leave behind their health coverage. Although most countries offer some degree of national health coverage to their citizens, these benefits don't accompany a senior who moves to another country. When an older person becomes a "resident alien" in the USA, he or she loses health coverage. This could result in thousands and thousands of dollars in uninsured medical expenses should the senior family member have a real health emergency.

Read The Rest of Medicare For Non-Citizens >>>