Recommendation #8: Partition personal feelings from the distraction in ministering to the needs of a Senior Citizen

It is important to have an openly conversation with an elderly parent about their wishes on where they would want to be laid to rest and the messages they would like passed on to their loved ones. Aaron's mother at first was not too interested in this type of conversation but when she was ready and open to the suggestion she stressed how important it would be for her to be laid to rest next to her husband and her parents. Understanding the feelings of the aging parent can be challenging because the elderly parent has reached that stage where they are scared of death and trying to understand what the end of life in fact means.  Truth is no one knows what to experience beforehand but we shall all experience the greatest mystery of life after death one day. During the final stages of Aaron's mother’s life it was filled with expenses and taking steps such as enrolling in Medicare or Medicaid to help with the healthcare portion of expenses should be one of the first things done. When Aaron was selecting a residential facility of the elderly for his mother, he was sold on a specific facility based on the appearance and emphasizes on how that was a mistake on his behalf and how one should select the appropriate facility not based on the appearance but based on the care the staff will deliver to the elderly individual and observe the body language among the staff and the tone on how the residents are treated. From his personal appearance with his mother when she was transferred to the first facility she described the place to be “nasty” but when transferred to the second location the type of care was noticeable and apparent to him because the second facility was owned by the same organization. Aaron was not pleased with the type of care because his mother was not resumed on her meds to treat the chronic urinary tract infection she had for many years. Unfortunately when this transfer was done to the second facility the urinary tract infection began to affect other body systems and her behavior worsened which led to an increase to her decline in life. When his mother passed Aaron went to go speak to the director of the facility to express his feelings but to only be disgusted with the way he was treated and promised himself to never set foot in any of their facilities ever again.