I try to help our elderly parents with as much as I can these days.
- Although both of them were extremely active through their entire lives, the past 10 or so years haven’t been kind to either one of them.
My father had two heart attacks about 4 years apart, necessitating a triple-bypass surgery on his heart. My mother on the other hand fell and broke his hip last year. She was bed ridden for a long time and required respected physical therapy. It’s good to see his moving a tiny bit with a walker these days, but he still needs as much assistance as possible. I change light bulbs for them and take care of other small chores around the house, then recently I started running grocery errands and going for prescription pickups. I am thankful that many of the corporations in our area offer discounts for senior citizens. There is an insurance broker nearby that finds low cost car, home, and health insurance plans. This can be a lifesaver if you can’t afford to get insurance of any kind. Then both of us found out that a heating and cooling supplier down the road was offering discounted service contracts to people over 65 years old. They would cover everything from filter swings to coolant refills all for one small annual fee. It was such a small amount of money that I decided to pay it myself every year. Now I have the peace of mind knowing that their cooling system and gas furnace are being checked and worked on by professionals on a respected basis. It’s strenuous to beat that kind of service, especially when you add up all of the expenses that you would normally pay otherwise.