Preparing for the Expected: A Practical Guide to Navigating Health Crises
Dec 5, 2024
Prepare for the Expected!
Let’s face it—it’s going to happen. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe... the day after tomorrow. Life has a way of surprising us with moments we’d rather not imagine: an unexpected fall, a sudden diagnosis, or a crisis that demands urgent decisions. In those moments, when it feels like the world is spinning too fast, having a plan can provide clarity and calm.
Some conversations will be challenging (like discussing living directives), others simpler (choosing a favorite recovery food), and some will fall somewhere in between (understanding medications). The key is preparation—a roadmap of essential information that lets you move deliberately when time feels short.
Here’s a guide to create your own care map, ensuring you and your loved ones are ready to face life’s curveballs with confidence. There’s a form link at the bottom (also here) so that you can fill it out and get it back to you. Pamastay can review it with you live if you schedule a call with the team.
1. Who Can Help and How to Reach Them
In a crisis, knowing who’s available to lend a hand can make all the difference. Create a contact list with:
Names of people who can assist.
Proximity: How far away they are (this can determine what type of support they can realistically provide).
Contact Details: Phone numbers, emails, or messaging apps they prefer.
Specialties: Transportation, meal prep, emotional support, or errands—everyone has their strengths.
Pro tip: Use the link at the bottom and Pamastay will send you a link to access this digitally. Handy in a moment of need.
2. Top 10 Favorite Foods or Guilty Pleasures
Food is not just nourishment—it’s comfort. Knowing a loved one’s favorite dishes or snacks can be a small but meaningful way to support recovery. Consider:
Comfort foods: Soup, pasta, or warm meals that feel like home.
Snacks or treats: Guilty pleasures that make them smile (chocolate, chips, or ice cream).
Dietary necessities, restrictions, and allergies: Ensure you’re aware of allergies or conditions that influence food choices. Best to get this from the source.
3. Physician Details
Have a record of healthcare providers to streamline communication:
Name of the physician or specialist.
Phone number and email address.
Clinic or hospital affiliation.
Bonus tip: Note office hours or preferred contact methods to avoid delays.
4. Grab-and-Go Bag Essentials
Emergencies can demand quick action. A light grab-and-go bag ensures you have everything you need for an unplanned trip to the hospital:
Toiletries: Toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash, and other grooming basics.
Comfort items: Soft clothing, slippers, or a blanket.
Accessories: Extra glasses, hearing aids, or mobility aids.
Medical essentials: Insurance cards, a small notebook, and pens for jotting down instructions.
5. Medication Details
Medication management is critical yet often overlooked. Keep an up-to-date list that includes:
Names of all current medications.
Dosages and schedules.
Prescribing physicians.
Be mindful of challenges like medical reconciliation (ensuring accurate records across providers) and diagnostic reconciliation (aligning conditions with treatments). Encourage your loved one to maintain a written or digital medication log. You can keep this in the Pamastay Web Application.
6. Assigning Responsibilities
Crisis management requires teamwork. Here’s a comprehensive list of roles and their clarifications. You will likely need to assign these responsibilities to the people identified at the first step of the care map.
Immediate Crisis Response
Medical Liaison: Attends appointments, communicates with doctors, and tracks medical updates. Keeps a health journal or app with records and ensures all follow-up questions are answered.
Scheduler: Manages appointments, therapies, and follow-ups, including coordinating transportation and prepping for appointments (e.g., fasting).
Communication Lead: Updates the broader network of family, friends, and community members through group chats, email threads, or apps like Pamastay.
Ongoing Support and Care
Daily Assistance Provider: Helps with meals, hygiene, mobility, clothing, and adaptive devices. Also handles household tasks like cleaning or pet care.
Caregiver Relief Coordinator: Arranges respite care or temporary relief for primary caregivers to prevent burnout. Schedules backup caregivers and rotates responsibilities.
Technology Manager: Oversees tools and systems for care, such as telehealth apps, medication reminders, or automated bill payments. Provides tech support for virtual appointments.
Planning and Long-Term Oversight
Rallying Point: The person ensuring that all of these responsibilities are managed. This can be you as the person receiving care. This can also include other responsibilities. In nearly all cases, all of these things are done by one person - a spouse. When that spouse is gone, assumptions of these issues being simply managed disappear.
Legal and Documentation Custodian: Ensures key documents (insurance, ID, wills, power of attorney) are up to date and accessible. Maintains both physical and digital copies.
Health Insurance Navigator: Handles questions about coverage, manages approvals, and processes claims with the insurance provider.
Bill Monitor: Ensures regular and irregular financial obligations (e.g., rent, utilities, loans) are paid on time, even during periods of incapacity.
Medical Directive Advocate: Ensures that healthcare wishes are respected based on the advanced directive, if available, and coordinates with healthcare teams to follow those instructions.
Mental Health Support Liaison: Facilitates access to therapists, counselors, or support groups to help everyone process the emotional toll of a crisis.
7. Advanced Directives
Having an advanced directive ensures that a loved one’s healthcare wishes are honored. If one exists:
Keep a copy accessible and share it with key individuals.
Familiarize yourself with its content to avoid confusion during critical moments.
If they don’t have one, consider a gentle, future-focused conversation for another time. Come back to this later. Timing is everything—choose a calm moment, if you can. The National Institutes of Health have a 72 page document. That’s a long one for when you have more time.
Framework for Responsibilities
For clarity, responsibilities can be organized into three tiers:
Immediate Crisis Response: Roles needed during the initial stages of a health event.
Ongoing Support and Care: Responsibilities that help sustain the caregiving process.
Planning and Long-Term Oversight: Tasks that ensure preparation for future needs and avoid gaps in care.
This framework can help identify what’s urgent versus what requires long-term planning. If you fill out the form at the bottom, we’ll help you identify who matches which responsibility.
8. Taking Care of Yourself
If you’re reading this, you’re likely the rallying point—the person organizing support or acting as a trusted advisor. That’s a big responsibility. Here’s how to take care of yourself:
Know your own health details: Log into your own patient portal and review your health summary and medications. You need to know how to log into your own medical content if you're going to be able to help someone else. Even if right now, you have nothing there!
Delegate when needed: Share responsibilities to avoid overwhelming yourself. Now that you’ve identified all of these things that need doing, you may need more assistance.
Set boundaries: Protect your own time and energy to stay effective.
Moving Forward with Confidence
Preparation doesn’t prevent crises, but it can transform how you face them. By gathering this information now, you’ll create a sense of order and control in moments of uncertainty. And if you gather things together, using Pamastay's Web Application, or if you log into your own medical record - you'll be better off.
Remember, the goal is to take things slow, even when it feels like you have to move fast. Having an informational map not only reduces stress but also fosters collaboration, compassion, and care.
Start today: Take inventory of your own health and responsibilities, and begin assembling the pieces of your map. We believe that your future self—and your loved ones—will be grateful. Fill out the checklist here, help your future self!
https://forms.gle/fwANWzU1cDrAeuQk6