We Can Learn from our older Americans

May is Elder Law Month. It is also Older Americans Month. Both are worth celebrating.

The focus of Elder Law Month is to bring awareness to the need to have planning done, including powers of attorneys, living wills, or a will or trust. Unfortunately, in Kansas, no one has the right to act for you unless you have that documented.

Why is that important? If you don't have something in place, then the law is going to impose decisions on you if you lack capacity. As an elder law firm, we want people to make their wishes known, not only about what happens when they die, but more especially, what happens if they cannot make their own decisions because of incapacity. It is not about producing some generic document. It is about expressing your wishes—your wishes! Those are influenced by your desires.

In my case, recently I spent a lot of time in my health care power of attorney talking about if I get dementia and I no longer recognize my family. What do I want to happen? What do I want my health care agent to do? There are certain services I no longer want. I just want to be made comfortable and that is it. I have described in my healthcare power of attorney what is an acceptable quality of life and what isn’t. As an example, I need to be outdoors. I have empowered my agent to allow me to go outdoors, even if it's against doctor's advice. It is a quality of life that I want. It is my wish, not the wish of my agent, but my wish.

In my Financial Power of Attorney, I have customized it to my goals. I want my agent to be able to continue to make gifts in accordance with my pattern in the past. But I do not want my power of attorney agent to vary how I want my property to be distributed upon my passing. So, I've restricted what that agent can do if it would somehow vary in my desire to distribute resources to my children equally. I have put in that financial power of attorney the ability to preserve my resources if I need them for long-term care, and similarly, to protect my wife so that she does not become financially compromised should I need care.

As part of Elder Law Month, it's important that we recognize our elders that may need assistance that they're not receiving. In my church, we understand if someone stops showing up for church, we need to check on them. They may, in fact, be just fine and watching our services from home. But there may be other things going on. We certainly want to check with them if they've gone through some changes in their life, such as loss of a spouse or a child or other issues. Many times, aging issues, such as lack of mobility, can cause depression. We want to make sure that that person has resources if they need them.

We also want to celebrate Older Americans Month. Why is that important? As our population grows older, we have seen a real uptick in the involvement of older Americans in our society. My church just finished a capital campaign. It was inspiring to me to see how many older Americans were taking a lead. In that capital campaign it was inspiring to me to see how those Older Americans inspired younger members of our church to get involved and to pass on why our church is important to us and our community.

We are seeing that involvement in many aspects of life. So many of our civics clubs have older Americans that are willing to volunteer. It's interesting when there are disasters. Many times, older Americans are the first ones to step up and volunteer their time, their energy, their resources.

As an elder care attorney when I interview with a family, it's always amazing to me the stories that Older Americans share. It's amazing the wisdom that they have, and I want us all to be able to tap into that wisdom.

My hope is that this month and forever, you recognize the importance of Older Americans in our life and what they bring to us. They make life richer, and they have wisdom that is so important to share and preserve.

Personally, I recognize that I too am an older American.  I know there are values I want to share while I can. I want to help, while I can.  And I know I need to continue to express my wishes in writing through legal documents.

If you are an older American, please never hesitate to get involved.  You make us all better because of it.