By Max Greenberg
E-mail Max Greenberg
About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living communi...
(More)About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living community. I live in Palo Alto with my wife and we have three grown children, one still in college. I have been in the Bay Area since 1977 (except for seven years in Newton MA — just missed all that snow too much.) I've worked in sales and marketing in retirement communities for seven years, and have hired and managed home care workers for family members, and have a pretty good idea of how aging in place, or shopping for and selecting the right retirement community works. I now run my own business, Palo Alto Senior Living, providing real estate and senior transition services. This blog is designed to share my experiences, insight and knowledge with seniors and their baby boomer kids and provide useful information to help develop a roadmap for smooth transitions or aging in place. I welcome readers to share their experiences, both good and not-so-good, in the hope that we all can benefit from each other.
(Hide)View all posts from Max Greenberg
The Aid and Attendance benefit is a little-publicized Veterans Administration program. This program allows for a monetary benefit to assist eligible wartime Veterans, and/or their surviving spouse’s who require the regular assistance of another person in their daily activities, such as eating, bathing, dressing, and medication management. This payment can go to either in-home care or the costs of living in an assisted living community.
Earmarked for those veterans with limited assets and income, the A&A benefit has been used by veterans and their surviving spouses to make the difference between struggling at home to care for themselves or being able to move into an AL community where assistance with the activities of daily living (ADLs) are provided by the facility staff, in addition to getting a meaningful percentage of the monthly fee covered to live in the facility.
A good place to start research on benefits and eligibility is
http://www.canhr.org/factsheets/misc_fs/html/fs_aid_&_attendance.htm
Perhaps you know a veteran or surviving spouse who is struggling to take care of themselves in their home and might benefit from this program. Please share this blog post with your friends who may know someone who this might help.
