Expert Says 77% of Families Delay Senior Care Talks Until Crisis Hits
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 12
Expert Says 77% of Families Delay Senior Care Talks Until Crisis Hits
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 12
Summary
Tatyana Zlotsky said 77% of families she works with wish they had started senior-care planning sooner, urging adult children to talk before a fall, hospitalization or other emergency forces rushed decisions.
Early planning gives families time to compare care options, understand costs and reflect an older adult’s wishes instead of deciding under medical and financial pressure that she said can feel 10 times worse in a crisis.
Warning signs can appear as subtle executive-function changes rather than obvious memory loss, including expired food piling up, unpaid bills, misplaced everyday items, forgotten recent conversations and trouble completing familiar multi-step tasks.
Family caregivers lose an average of $21,000 a year when they cut back on work, while burnout and a parent’s resistance to losing independence often make the conversation harder to start.
Zlotsky advised families to seek professional guidance rather than try to diagnose a parent themselves, and to center the discussion on how the older adult wants to be cared for.