What is an “Elder Orphan”?

What does it mean to be an Elder Orphan? I recently read an article about Elder Orphans and while I don’t like the title and I have heard a number of options, the one I like is Proactive Planner. More of us are single without a person to list on “In Case of Emergency”. Or our person is halfway across the country (or world). Yet we are getting older and more at risk of “something” happening, we need to make all of the plans that others do. Aging Life Care Managers can help to make that plan, we are a “meta-advisor” who can pull that team of support together. Contact me through my contact page.

(https://medium.com/@judycolbert)

“I’m an elderly person with no children, siblings, or parents. I‘m an “elder orphan”, a solo ager, someone who is aging alone. That may sound depressing until you learn that the American Geriatrics Society calls me and my ilk “unbefriended.” Yikes.

An elder orphan is someone “of an age” who has no immediate family in their life. No parents, spouse, siblings, children, or grandchildren. They may have immediate family, but the relatives live too far away to be of assistance in times of crisis. There’s another scenario, as in my case, where my immediate family and I are estranged.

This means there is no one to help me with major life decisions as I age, such as moving into a smaller home or to a warmer climate. There’s no one to take care of me when I’m sick or incapacitated (mentally or due to a fall or accident). No one to help manage daily chores, including shopping and writing checks to pay bills. In a worst-case scenario, someone who doesn’t know me might be tasked with making emergency medical decisions on my behalf, including choices I might not have made. Fortunately, I’m in fairly good health, and I see my doctors on a regular basis to help keep me that way. But still, I worry.”

Find the rest of the article at: https://medium.com/s/story/what-it-means-to-be-an-elder-orphan-cd4fc73a68bd