“Thinking the unthinkable: What if you can’t live independently anymore?” was the presentation given by Suzanne Ivey at last Friday’s Afternoon Tea at The Pacific Club in Honolulu. Suzanne is an engaging speaker, passionate about helping people consider housing alternatives before a significant event occurs, and committed to giving us control over an important aspect of our lives with information and solid advice. Suzanne reminded me that I had hired her years ago when we both worked at Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu. I am so proud of what Suzanne has achieved in her professional and personal lives.

The messages I took away from Suzanne’s talk are these:
* As we age, we need to think about the continuum of housing options available to us
* This is a highly individualized choice, and we must be alert to making contingency plans in the event our plan of choice can’t be exercised. Suzanne spoke about having Plan A, Plan B (if Plan A fails) and Plan C (if both Plans A and B won’t work).
* We have to engage our family and our friends with our decision-making process so they know what we most value and care about. As importantly, we enlist our family and friends to help us execute our plan.
* Living at home is long as possible requires thoughtful planning and money. When we can no longer attend to household chores, driving to the doctor for appointments, cooking, etc., we can activate a network of resources in our community, ranging from home care givers to home health agencies. All will require funding from various sources ranging from our own pockets, our families/friends’ pockets and/or any insurance coverage we may have that covers these services.
* If living at home becomes untenable for whatever reason, then there are other options, such as retirement communities, custodial homes, skilled nursing facilities, and the like.
* Finally, Suzanne urges us to do our homework work — to check references, to visit facilities, to talk to the staff and clients and to check out the food served by home care givers/facilities.

Mahalo, Suzanne, for the gift of your time and expertise!

Cora Tellez