Seniors We Love

This episode is created and produced by the Seniors We Love interns. It’s an interview with 3 high school seniors about how they would deal with certain situations as their parents age.  Their discussion includes hypotheticals as well as real concerns that they will face as their parents age with topics ranging from discussing how they would tell their parent that it is no longer safe for them to drive anymore, dealing with future housing issues and even how they would respond if the younger of their parents passed on first.  It’s hard to describe in words the process of aging and how it affects people. On one hand people know it’s inevitable and just a natural process of life, but on the other hand it’s still something people don’t really want to talk about at any point of their lives. You most likely don’t want your loved ones worrying about you, but the irony of it is that you will eventually find yourself worrying for those around you.

This is the continuation of the Life of Andrew Pappas, living in the US and life in his senior years.  Doing things he loved and surrounded by people who really cared about him. The podcast is hosted by Debbie DeChambeau and supported by Lynn Michel Insurance.

What happens when you put a Greek with a German? It becomes a long lasting love relationship, truly one of those 'till death do us part' stories. Andrew Pappas left his home in Greece at 14 and like many immigrants, didn't have an easy life. In this episode we learn about those precious years and the wonderful things Andrew brought to this country and to his family.

Dealing with health care directives, nursing home decisions, powers of attorney and other issues that caregivers and children must also deal with for their parents is complicated, Add to the confusion of basic care and trying to live your own life and the stress can be enormous. In this episode we are talking with Paula Mattson Sarli. She’s an estate planning and elder law attorney MD and DC.  Topics We Discuss : Difference between an estate planning attorney and an elder law attorney Health care decisions How to pay for care Health Care Advanced Directives Living Will MOLST forms (MOLST.org) How to stay independent longer Avoiding guardianship Medicare vs. Medicaid Communicating with family so they know your wishes Daily Money Manager Types of Powers of Attorney How to find an elder law attorney in your state: - review the attorney’s website to ensure that elderlaw  is their primary focus,  National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA.org) Elder Council Ask for a referral from your Health Care Providers or Financial Advisor To learn more, go to seniorswelove.com.

EP 7 - This is a podcast about what happens with seniors, from caring to financial issues, behaviors to independence and everything in between. In this episode, you’ll get insights on why you need to be with your senior while they are in the hospital. These are specific items that happened to me while my mom in to the hospital 6 times within 3 months.  My mom was probably one of the worse types of patients. Hopefully some of these items will never happen to you. You’ll have knowledge in the worst case scenario! Top 10 Reasons why you need to be in the hospital with your loved ones! Keep Them Covered Stay In Bed  Tissues Notes MRI Chargers Reminders Remote Control Cell Phones Flight Risk SPONSOR INFORMATION Lynn Michel Insurance, LLC If you know someone over 65 that is still working, this message is important for them. If they are on their employers plan, have them verify that it is credible coverage. They should get a letter every year with this verification so that when they decide to stop working or they no longer want the employers health insurance, they won’t be penalized by medicare for not having credible coverage. Without this confirmation, the penalty can be substantial and expensive for someone in retirement.  If you know someone turning 65 that is still working, have them contact Lynn Michel Insurance and discuss their options. There is no charge for the call.  Lynnmichel.com 301996-2328 debbie@lynnmichel.com SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SENIORS WE LOVE Connect with us on our social media platforms for Seniors We Love Facebook Instagram Twitter ABOUT THE HOST Debbie DeChambeau is a content creator, business and marketing strategies and professional insurance agent. She has spent many years caring for family members from raising her neice and nephew, caring for her grandmother and caring for her parents (of which she had more than most people) Her love for podcasting and for the insurance industry have her creating content that help seniors with their insurance decisions as well and caregivers understand what to expect in their new role. She is a believer in continued education for her profession and earned the designations as a Certified Insurance Counselor and an Accredited Advisor of Insurance.   She is the co-author of Renewable Referrals and hosts three other podcasts Business In Real Life and Divorce Exposed and Business of Insurance.  Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.    

From escorting Presidents to managing hospital stays, this episode is about one daughter who didn't really know her dad but did a lot to care for him as a senior. It makes for an interesting scenario and not one that is always heartwarming. This story of the authors relationship with her biological dad and their life experiences is interesting and educational. There are many tips for helping others deal with their parents during some of the most challenging medical conditions.   

Depression, finances and medication are the focus of this episode with ideas and questions to ask your senior and their providers. Is depression an issue? Questions you can ask your senior and their providers How is your senior managing their finances and ideas for assisting before it's too late. Are you asking the right questions to providers for medication management? None of this is easy but beginning the conversation and asking questions can begin a dialog that makes life easier for your senior. Pay attention to these areas with your senior to help them have a more comfortable time in their golden years. Learn more at Seniorswelove.com  

Meet Merrill C. DeChambeau. His middle name was Curtis, but he would just go by the C. and he always said C was for cautious. The more he said that, the more he chuckled at his own comment. He had a laugh that you don’t forget. It was from the belly and was truly memorable. Born in 1932, he was the middle child with two other brothers. In 1950 he entered the Navy and was stationed in San Diego. He was deployed to Korea for most of his service and received an honorable discharge. He also received:  National Defense Service Medal United Nations Service Medal Good Conduct Medal Korean Ribbon (one star) He was married to Lorraine whom he lost to alzheimers in 2003. In 2010 he had a life changing event. One that must have been very difficult to conceive yet, the end result meant a new opportunity at life. Surrounded by people who cared and looked after him so that he didn't have to spend his senior years alone.  Merrill C. DeChambeau 5/4/32 - 8/31/18

It's a good day when somebody tells you that you should be on radio! When someone said this to me recently I asked why and she said my stories are interesting.  Thank you to Lynn Michel Insurance for being our sponsor. From October 15 -December 7 of 2019, if you know someone on Medicare, it is their opportunity to review their coverage and see if it makes sense for them to make a change. If they are on original medicare, which is also known as part A and Part B, they probably also have part D which is their prescription coverage. This is something that they should look at every year because companies update their formularies (their list of drugs covered) and based on the updated lists, it’s good to review. As of the recording of this episode, the current Medicare.gov site does not break out the annual costs as it has done in the past. The website is scheduled to be updated to include this information but that hasn’t happened yet. An agent can do this for you. They can compare the plans and show you the options so that you can make an informed decision. Contact Lynn Michel at 301-996-2328 or go to their website, lynnmichel.com to connect.  When I was meeting with my tax advisor, discussing my new business, I shared with her how I decided to get back into the insurance business. I’ll start with my mom. You see, my mom is smart. She worked until she was 75. She doesn’t have Medicare Part B or Part D. How can that be? Social Security adds the penalty, not any insurance company. Her penalty is 150%. It’s a monthly penalty to the premium. So if the regular premium is $135.00, her’s is $337. She also doesn’t have prescription drug coverage. If she wanted it, she’d have to pay an average of a 1% penalty. Both of these penalties never go away for her and they are monthly, not annually.. Because of the penalty, she never signed up.  After giving her the highlights, I started talking about other policies seniors need to consider. These include final expense insurance, cancer, dental, vision and hospital indemnity. Most seniors don’t have this coverage as part of their medicare coverage. If they have the resources to purchase it, the coverage can be a lifesaver. In this episode, we talk about my personal experiences with final expense, life insurance and cancer insurance. The reasons I'm so passionate about knowing what is available and making informed decisions.  If you or someone you know is on Medicare, reach out to our sponsor, Lynn Michel Insurance and have a conversation. Do a review with them and make sure what you have is the right plan for this year. 

Welcome to Seniors We Love, a podcast designed to honor the people who have made a difference in our lives. Who might not have gotten the recognition they deserved any other way.  Most of us go through life making a difference, even if only in small ways. Most people have accomplishments that are never recognized. These might include running the school school PTA, volunteering for 10 years at the local food bank, coaching Little league or simply walking through the community cleaning up trash. It could be a small invention or traveling to remote places or caring for others. Everyone has a story. There are so many seniors who shouldn’t be forgotten.  Their activities deserve to be remembered, cherished and celebrated.  For example, there is a lake in the community where I live. Someone started a group to clean up the lake twice a year. This person promotes the event, recruits the volunteers, They work tirelessly to find sponsors to provide the materials from gloves to bags, ladders and pick up trucks. This person's story should be remembered.  Another one of my neighbors was very involved in having a church built many years ago. While I knew he was attended the church, I didn’t know how involved he was in the design. He was a boater. If you look up in the church, you can see the bottom of a boat. Very clever. I didn’t learn that until I attended his funeral but how cool would it have been to hear the story and have it available for others over the years! I want to know: what was the motivation behind behind what they do  Where does the passion come from   Why are they giving their time And a lot more You see, that's the kind of stuff I think we really want to know. Maybe they are a grandmother and they want to teach their grandchildren about taking care of mother earth. Who’s talking about them and remembering them. For all the people that walk around the lake or attend the church, do they know the backstory?  Do you have seniors like this in your life that have a story that isn't being told? Please reach out to me as I  want to talk about them or to someone who can talk for them and share their story.  That’s what seniors we love podcast is going to be about. Mixed into the conversation will be things that seniors need to be thinking about or things that caregivers might need to think about for their seniors. At some point we might talk about taking away the keys or we might talk about health insurance or we might talk about final expense planning or we might talk about hospice. Topics and conversations that relate to seniors that many of us might not be aware of. My name is Debbie DeChambeau and I am your host. This is my 4th podcast and If you want to listen to my other podcasts they are titled Divorce Exposed, Business In Real Life, The Business of Insurance and I hope to release Single and Over Sixty soon. I’ll link to them in the show notes which you can find at seniorswelove.com I’m super excited to share these stories with you. I hope they motivate and inspire and provide talking points for your family as we remember the seniors we love.  If you have someone you want me to talk about, please reach out to me at seniorswelove@gmail.com  This episode of the Seniors We Love Podcast is brought to you by Lynn Michel Insurance. If you have a senior in the US, most likely they are on medicare. It’s a health care plan with many options that many seniors aren’t aware of. From DSNPS to Troop, MOP to PDP, the acronyms alone can be confusing. When you work with an agent for prescription drug or part D coverages, they go through some stringent certifications. This applies to part C, Medicare Advantage as well. Talk to Lynn Michel and get all of your questions answered about your health care options through Medicare. Call them at 301-996-2328 or check out their website lynnmichel.com (spell it out) Enjoy Seniors We Love. Tell your friends and family so that we can spread the word about the important people in our lives  

Did you know that people are turning 65 at a rate of 10,000 people per day and that number isn’t expected to decrease for a few years?  That’s a lot of people turning 65. A lot of the people who have had Great accomplishments throughout their lives Their stories might not have been told and if they have been, they might not be remembered. Welcome to seniors we love, a podcast designed to honor the people who have made a difference in our lives. Who might not have gotten the recognition they deserved any other way.  It’s where we share stories of people who have made a difference  Mixed in we talk about some of the difficulties they’ve experienced and some of the joys of their adventures. Trailblazers in their own subtle way. I hope throughout this podcast to share those stories of people who really made a difference and mixed in between some of the stories will probably be some of the difficulties of the senior life that people experience  My name is Debbie DeChambeau and I am the host of this podcast and in 2019, I am also a caregiver. I didn’t plan to be a caregiver. I didn’t go looking for it.  People tell me they don’t know how I do what I do. It’s something I have heard all of my life. Honestly, I just do what I think needs to be done and I keep moving forward. I’m a survivor. I don’t think twice about it. I focus on having a positive attitude  and I think in many ways that’s what keeps me going In many ways I might have set myself up for it because I am so caring. I’m not afraid to jump in and try to figure it out. And I’m not that good at saying NO.  My sister passed away in November, 1999. She was 34 and left behind 4 children. A year after her death, her husband was floundering so I was asked to care for her two youngest children for awhile. I went from two kids to four overnight. I figured it out. I was raising 4 children for over a year. What a challenging time that was in my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I managed the care for my biological father during the last year of his life. You see he ended up in the hospital once a month and would be there for a week at a time. It was an hour away, but I drove there every day, met with the doctors, coordinated the care then came home to take care of the 4 kids. He would misbehave in the middle of the night and they would call me to come and sit with him because they didn’t have anyone else. While caring for him was different than the caring I’ve done for others, his taught me a lot that has helped me over the past 10 years. I also have a step father. Actually if you want to learn a little more about me outside of this podcast episode, go to episode 1 of Divorce Exposed, another podcast I host and you’ll get a lot of my backstory.  I digress.  When my step father passed away, he had a brother that he looked after every month. This was my Uncle Merrill. On the way to the funeral, I learned how much my dad was helping his brother. I said to my uncle, if you ever need any help, let me know, I live in a big house and I’m happy to help. It was my way of letting my dad know how much I was part of his family. Another story for another podcast. Little did I know that within 6 months he would be living with me. He was with me for almost 10 years. I was his caregiver and I’ll talk more about him in another episode. My mom and I have had an interesting relationship over the years. For the first 30ish, she was an alcoholic. Once she was in recovery, we made up for all of the lost years. I always told her there was a room for her in my home when she needed it and that I would never put her in a nursing home. I don’t believe in that.  3 years ago, my mom moved in with me. It was a short visit because she had fallen off the wagon and it was like reliving my teenage years. Fast forward 3 years and she is again in recovery but she’s also very sick and currently in hospice. I’m her caregiver. It’s so much more than I ever imagined. I’m good at providing medicine, doing laundry and keeping people doing the right thing. I’m not so good at some of the other duties of a caregiver. I really don’t like changing the porta potty or cleaning the wounds. With my sisters children, I had a husband who helped and I was 20 years younger! With my uncle, he did almost everything for himself, or at least tried to.  My mom is a primadonna. She wants everything done for her. That might be because she currently weighs 79 lbs. And  is also a fall risk so she can’t do much. But she doesn’t make it easy. Living with my mom for the first time in 30 years has been quite an adjustment. I’ve learned so many things about her that I was never aware of. Or maybe I just forgot or didn’t see them because of the alcoholism.  There’s a reason we didn’t get along when I was a teenager, but I don’t think I was the issue! (wink wink) Because of the caregiving I’m doing for my mom, I decided to create this podcast. I’ve learned so much about her and I think it needs to be shared. Not in a negative way, but in a way that inspires others.  I want to showcase how amazing people are. The little things that make a difference that don't always get talked about. I’m also an insurance agent. I started working for my step dad when I was 15. After my sister passed, I stepped away from the industry for awhile. I kept my license and did my required continuing education credits each year. I’m a certified insurance counselor, so I’ve taken a lot of classes. I kept my insurance license because I didn’t know what the future would hold.  While caring for my mom and trying to figure out her medicare benefits, I was so  overwhelmed. I figure if I’m having trouble with this stuff, how can seniors and other caregivers figure it out. I’m an insurance agent and I’m struggling. I realized why I kept my insurance license all these years. I’m now back in the insurance business as a medicare agent. I’m a resource for anyone eligible for medicare, helping them navigate the confusing waters. It’s a world filled with acronyms. Mops, QMB’s DSNPs to SEP’s. And the list goes on for the acronyms! I started my own insurance agency called Lynn Michel Insurance. Lynn is my middle name, Michel is my youngest son's middle name. He hates that name so I’m hoping to showcase how beautiful it is! I’m also hoping he’ll decide to join me in the business one day. If nothing else, It’s a lot shorter than DeChambeau!  So if you know a senior that needs a review of their medicare insurance, I’d love to be the person you talk to. Technically, I’ve been an insurance agent for the past 40 years, and at the time of this recording I’m almost a year in the medicare space. Being new is a good thing. I’ll be thorough, do the research and provide you with the options that you are looking for. Everything is fresh because of all the studying I’ve been doing. While everything is highly regulated by CMS (centers for Medicare and Medicaid services) and I mean highly regulated, I’ve also completed the certifications for Part C and Part D. Talk about complicated. So if you need someone to talk to about medicare, go to LYNNMICHEL.com or call me at 301-996-2328.  As a caregiver and as an insurance agent, I understand this complicated world of looking out for the Seniors We Love. I’m super excited to share these stories with you. I hope they motivate and inspire and provide talking points for your family as we remember the seniors we love.  If you have someone you want me to talk about, please reach out to me at seniorswelove@gmail.com  Seniors we love is my 4th podcast. If you want to listen to my other podcasts they are titled Divorce Exposed, Business In Real Life, The Business of Insurance and I hope to release Single and Over Sixty soon. I’ll link to them in the show notes which you can find at seniorswelove.com