Dear Friends,
This is our third newsletter during these interesting COVID times. This one shares useful info, plus something beautiful. You can revisit our prior newsletters here.
Share Your Care Wishes with the People Who Matter Most:
None of us knows when our health will take a turn. The best gift you can give yourself and to the people who matter most is to think through and then share what matters most to you. Your health care proxy can do the best possible job only if she or he knows what kind of care you want and don’t want. An EXCELLENT springboard for thinking through, documenting, and sharing what matters most with the people who matter most comes from the Conversation Project. Visit their site for an excellent worksheet. While you are there, check out all the other resources on their website.
Excellent Community Resources
The Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline is open. If you are feeling at the end of your rope, or even if you are well before that point, call them. They can help.
Remember that your local Council on Aging is a bastion of information and resources! If you need anything, call them and they will either solve your problem or refer you to someone who can. Yes, your local senior is open for phone calls! (But not walk-ins.)
Technical Stuff:
If you have medical billing issues related to Medicare, check out this amazing guide from the Center for Medicare Advocacy. It’s technical, but readable. There have been a LOT of changes to Medicare billing and requirements in light of COVID-19. This guide provides excellent summaries of many of them.
A Reminder (Third Time – We are Serious about This Point!):
Keep your Health Care Proxy, HIPAA Statement, and medication list at your fingertips.
(a) If you are a client of ours, then we enrolled you in DocuBank. Take five minutes now to update your medication list. (Really. Five minutes. I updated mine recently, it was very easy.)
(b) Keep copies on your phone. You can save the documents to your Google Drive, you can simply keep them attached to an email, whatever you like, so long as they are accessible to you on your phone. If you would like us to email PDFs of your signed documents to you, or to someone important to you, please call us or email us (doreen@alexislevitt.com).
(c) Keep copies on the back of your front door or on your refrigerator. Many first responders will look in these places for emergency medical papers.
(d) If you do not have a health care proxy, download one today from Honoring Choices. You will need to witnesses – perhaps your neighbors can watch you sign through your glass door or window.
Something Beautiful:
Have you seen the Stephen Sondheim 90th birthday party? It is so beautiful. (Pro tip: It’s easy to skip around if you don’t like a particular song.) Be sure to watch the closing remarks and final song – you just may cry from the beauty in this world.
And Remember:
Our office is open. We are working from home, but if you need anything at all, just call or email, and we will get right back to you.
We had our first outdoor signing last week, and it was actually a bit of a party, since the Xfinity truck yard next door was playing some loud music! We can also do video signings now, thanks to a bill that the governor signed this week. We did our first one today. It’s certainly been a period of firsts for a lot of things.
Hang in there, and get outside for plenty of fresh air and sunshine. And wash your hands!!
– Alexis & Doreen
Our first outdoor signing! That’s Doreen, Rich (Alexis’ spouse, pinch-hitting as a witness), and Alexis. Photo used with clients’ permission.