Parent’s Concierge: Velvet Miller
Elder Classes II: Barbara Andrews
Power of Attorney: Marilyn Askin
Corrections or additions?
Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on June 14, 2000. All rights reserved.
Options in Elder Care
E-mail: BarbaraFox@princetoninfo.com
Top Of PageSenior Options: Carol Johnson
Program directors of clubs and business organizations
can schedule a presentation on the hot topic for the boomer generation,
elder care. Carol Johnson of the Lawrenceville-based Senior
Options offers just such a program, called “Navigating the Maze.”
She sorts out the alternatives available, including home health care,
live-in custodial help, nursing home placement, assisted living communities,
and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).
Senior Options, established a couple of months ago, provides professional
nursing assessments and care planning, care monitoring, and assistance
in choosing living alternatives (609-620-9682; fax, 609-620-1836,
www.home.net~cmjpp). “Our goal is to preserve the dignity and
independence of the individual,” says Johnson.
To the business of helping people choose alternatives, Johnson brings
a varied set of experiences. The daughter of a master sergeant in
the U.S. Air Force, she grew up in Baltimore and has two grown daughters.
After 10 years as a registered nurse, she went into real estate, managed
the Princeton Junction branch office of Richardson Realty, and then
worked at two continuing care retirement communities (Presbyterian
Homes at Meadow Lakes and Monroe Village) and was marketing director
at Morris Hall, St. Mary’s residential and assisted living community.
Johnson is licensed in New Jersey as a registered nurse, an assisted
living administrator, and a real estate associate-broker.
“I cannot believe the calls I am getting,” says Johnson. “Discharge
planners call me to help clients decide what their options are. If
someone is discharged to their family’s rather than their own home,
I tell them about their options. A lot of people don’t understand
the advantages and the limitations of the assisted living facilities.”
Though there are other geriatric counselors in the area, Johnson brings
the experience of an R.N. and an administrator to her work. At an
hourly rate of $55 she helps individuals and families decide whether
to try to stay home or get placed in a facility. “New Jersey provides
some counseling assistance, but what I do is narrow it down locally
and to a particular facility. I specialize in Mercer, Bucks, Yardley,
South Middlesex — I know those facilities backwards and forwards.”
For $300 she can also do a full nursing assessment and report that
can be used for an application to a facility. “The facility will
have a better idea of whether that person meets the requirement,”
she says. “The average assessment takes two to three hours.”
“Many people want to be reassured they are doing the right thing
for their parents,” she says. “I have worked hands-on and
know how the facilities operate.”
Most people don’t realize that — unlike nursing homes — each
assisted living facility can have its own admission and discharge
criteria. “In one assisted living home you could be incontinent
and be able to stay. In another, if you became incontinent, they could
discharge you,” she says. Another common misconception is that
Medicaid can pay for assisted living stays. “There are no assisted
living communities in Mercer County currently accepting Medicaid,”
says Johnson. Most people also don’t know:
Long term “custodial” care in nursing homes orassisted living is not covered by Medicare.Assisted living is less regulated and differently regulatedthan nursing homes. For example, assisted living staff ratios —in most instances — are left to the provider to determine.Full-time or 24-hour nurses are not required for assistedliving facilities.If you run out of money in assisted living, you most probablywill have to find other placement. And though you may financiallyqualify for a nursing home under Medicaid, you may not medicallyqualify for a nursing home.When someone needs a lot of care, assisted living couldend up costing more than a nursing home. This still will not be the24-hour skilled nursing supervision that a nursing home provides.Calculating how long assets will last in the differentoptions is difficult. and many people don’t know how to do it.Results of yearly state surveys of facilities are easilyobtainable. Facilities are required to make them available upon request.”What has intrigued me,” says Johnson, “is 50 percentof my calls are from women in their 70s and early 80s. They are takingcare of a spouse, or they realize their home is becoming too largeto take care of, with the yard work and the steps, and they startingto feel overwhelmed. They are researching for the future.”— Barbara FoxSenior Options, 13 Viburnum Court, Lawrenceville08648. Carol Johnson. 609-620-9682; fax, 609-620-1836. Home page:www.home.net~cmjpp.Top Of PageParent’s Concierge: Velvet MillerHigh tech companies are in vogue, and Velvet G. Miller’snew company — My Parent’s Concierge — does have some hightech aspects. But you can’t take good care of an elderly person withouthaving some old-fashioned person-to-person encounters.”Some have called us a high touch company,” says Miller. “Iam proud to be that. We are a personal brokerage service for thosemaking decisions on behalf of elder and dependent relatives. We emphasizesensitivity in whomever we deal with, across all cultures.” Her”concierge” service can take care of anything from payinghousehold bills to making health care arrangements.Miller has been a nurse, a teacher, a social activist, and a policymaker. A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, with degrees from Wagner,Temple, Harvard, and Boston University, she was executive directorof a program for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and deputy commissionerof the state department of human services (U.S. 1, February 3, 1999).With Miller in the business are her husband, Cal Davis, an administratorat the University of Medicine and Dentistry, and Judy Denby,with more than 20 years experience in home health and a former editorof the American Nurses Association’s magazine.Corporations are finding that their employees are taking a lot oftime away from work in order to help with their parents’ care, saysMiller. “Helping with elder care can be a recruiting and retentionbenefit.””Adult children say that they are being squeezed with competingcommands. We think this is the right niche at the right time,”says Miller, whose company emphasizes diversity. “We know thatthere are populations of color that also have money, and we will payattention to that population, too. We have a cadre of colleagues whoare culturally competent in several ethnic groups. If your aunt speaksLithuanian, we will send someone who speaks Lithuanian.””We try to do more than provide information and referrals. Wecan take some of the frustration out of decision-making,” saysMiller, who considers her client to be the adult child with an agingparent. “Our job is to help find the full array of services available— whether finding transportation or a hair dresser, or makingsocial or living arrangements. We match the needs and present theoptions.”Using the services of Mark Feffer of Tramp Steamer Media, sheplans to put up a website that lets each client see the parent’s pageat any time of day or night to find out just exactly what is goingon with that parent. The report might say, for instance, “Thatwe have spoken with Annie Smith three times this week, have spokenwith three vendors, and the search is going well, that she doesn’tlike the mah jongg club she is with, and we will work to find someother outlet, and so on,” says Miller.Another potential high tech piece of the interactive communicationsystem is a hookup via television or computer to allow for videoconferencing.”I have seen that work and it is glorious,” says Miller. “Youcan pick up the phone and see your mom and it is like visiting.””We are not high tech enough for venture capital money,” saysMiller. “We are too high touch. But we like the blend.”My Parent’s Concierge, 219 Cornwall Avenue, Trenton08618. Velvet G. Miller, CEO. 609-394-7104; fax, 609-394-6501. www.myparentsconcierge.com.Top Of PageForsgate Elder ClassesSocial workers, health professionals, and others concernedwith the elderly — including the senior citizens themselves —are invited to two workshops at the Residence at Forsgate. One onJune 15 is free and deals with elder fraud, one on June 21 (for whicha fee is charged) talks about various mental health problems for elderclients.Always be skeptical of unsolicited calls, says Alyson M. Cook,who works for the Elder Fraud Investigations Unit in the departmentof law and public safety. Cook speaks on Thursday, June 15, at 1:30p.m. at the Residence at Forsgate in Jamesburg. The talk is free byreservation; call 732-656-1000.Frauds range from shady telemarketers, untruthful sales people, bank-basedscams, bad investment advice, and even sweepstakes scams. Cook’s advice:Do not assume that a “charitable” solicitation islegitimate . No matter how the appeal tugs at your heartstrings,check with the Consumer Affairs Charities Hotline.Never pay for a prize. Don’t even send money for postage,shipping, or handling.Do not give any numbers — credit card or Social Securitynumbers — to people with whom you haven’t done business before.Refuse to deal with a courier. If a telemarketer wantsto send someone to pick up your money, hang up.Report consumer fraud or ask about charities by calling 973-504-6200or 800-242-5846 at the Elder Fraud Action Line.”Always get something other than a verbal spiel for your own records,”says Cook. Elderly people can lose $5,000 or more per incident offraud, yet many seniors fail to admit they have been swindled. Theyfear they will be ridiculed or that someone will say they should notbe living alone.Top Of PageElder Classes II: Barbara AndrewsBarbara Andrews LCSW, a psychoanalyst based onBunn Drive, leads one of the workshops for the Gerontology Instituteof New Jersey on Wednesday, June 21, at 8:30 a.m. in “Post TraumaticStress Disorders.” Andrews talks about how up to 10 percent ofthe population show symptoms of severe trauma, including depression,low self-esteem, hyper vigilance, flashbacks, or even pain symptoms.Up to 60 percent of women, says Andrews, have experienced some formof childhood sexual abuse.The all-day seminar costs $60 for seniors who are in the industry,$30 for those who are not. Call Beverly Sacharow at 732-257-4380,E-mail: geronusa@aol.com. Sacharow says that the institute was founded20 years ago in Milltown and focuses on educational seminars for whichcontinuing education credits are available. It also has an extensivelibrary of video tapes on the subject of gerontology.Also in the program is Joseph McBride MSW, who focuses on bereavement,chronic illness, and family issues. In “Death in the Family,”he explains how to work with families in the grief process — exploringdeath and facilitating systematic intervention. Gwenelle S. O’Neal,on the faculty at West Chester University and a visiting professorat Rutgers, will discuss “Engaging Clients in Groups,” howhelping networks can be effective in treatment.Top Of PagePower of Attorney: Marilyn AskinMore important than drafting a will is granting power-of-attorneyto someone to act as your agent should you become disabled, says MarilynAskin, an attorney (973-731-2355) and new president of the NewJersey State AARP. “As far as I’m concerned, a power-of-attorneyis far more important than a will because it protects the qualityof life while you’re alive,” says Askin, who discusses “LegalTools for Financial Management” on Thursday, June 22, from 1 to3 p.m. at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. Martin Cramerof Ruden and Cramer, another elder law attorney, will also join inthe discussion. Call 800-FREE-LAW.Roughly 90 percent of people Askin speaks with have wills but only30 percent have power of attorneys — a legal instrument that authorizesa person to handle the affairs of someone who is sick, disabled, ordeemed incompetent. Without a power of attorney, says Askin, “somebodyhas to institute guardianship, a very lengthy, expensive, and demeaningprocess because it strips the person of every civil liberty that theyhave. Once guardianship is imposed, the person can’t decide on theirown whether to marry, write a will, or vote — their life is inthe hands of the guardian.”Petitioning for guardianship can also be an expensive process —involving as many as two doctors and two lawyers to petition for theguardian. “It may very well be that one of the children wantsto be a guardian and they may come into court and bring their ownattorney,” says Askin. “You’re hiring all these people todo something that could have been done by seeing a lawyer and gettinga good power of attorney drawn up.”In practice since 1970, Askin is an associate professor of law, teachingelder law seminars, at Rutgers in Newark, where she received her lawdegree during the `60s. She’s been working with the senior populationsince 1978, when she began directing a free legal service programfor senior citizens in Essex County funded through the Older AmericansAct. “I was part of the generation in the 1950s where Chief JusticeWarren said `If you want to change the world, become a lawyer,’”says Askin. “I went to law school to help people, not to makemoney. Some of the problems with the senior community that we cameacross involved these very issues — we wanted to make sure thatpeople had the proper documents so that they didn’t have to have guardianshipimposed upon them.” Askin, who runs a private practice, recentlystepped down from the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association to becomepresident of NJ AARP.A power of attorney for a joint bank account can be drafted at thebank, but for a general durable power of attorney — which coversall of a person’s assets — see a lawyer. Askin recommends theseprovisions:Appoint two agents — one as back-up. “The personyou appoint should be the person nearest you,” says Askin. “Aparent may favor the older child who lives in California but it’smuch more reasonable to have the person nearest, assuming they’retrustworthy and capable.”Include a provision to make gifts. The agent should havethe option to make certain cash gifts to heirs, relatives, or othersin order to reduce the estate’s value to an amount specified by theIRS as non-taxable. “This year everybody can die with $675,000and not pay one cent in federal taxes,” says Askin. “Let’ssay a person has $800,000. The person who has power of attorney shouldhave the option to make certain gifts to reduce the estate to under$675,000.” According to tax code, a person can leave any numberof people $10,000 without filing it on their return. “If a powerof attorney does not have a provision to make gifts, often the IRScan come in and say we’re going to assume that the principal did notwant the agent to make gifts, therefore all the money that was givenaway we want back in the taxable estate.”Empower the agent to change beneficiaries of insurance.”Sometimes the beneficiary on an insurance policy has to be changedafter a person has become disabled — let’s say the beneficiaryis not there anymore,” says Askin.Another tip for seniors is to make sure Social Security benefitsare deposited directly into an account over which somebody has a powerof attorney, says Askin. Otherwise, should you become disabled, somebodyis likely to get entangled in red tape trying to collect those benefitson your behalf. “That’s a bit more bureaucratic,” says Askin,”and not as reliable as being able to choose the person you trust.”Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
