It’s been 18 months almost to the day since my last post. In that time, I relocated back to Oregon, married a man who is daily my Heart’s Delight and has made me, officially, a “Pastor’s Wife”. This spring, I completed my Master’s Degree in Aging Services and Management from USC. I’ve changed jobs once, and currently find myself walking the sacred and powerful path of hospice care, (which in general is vastly misunderstood). I also serve as Parish Nurse for Peace Memorial Evangelical Presbyterian Church (and yeah, there is a story there, too!)
With graduate school behind me and new initials added to my name, it is time to get back to the real work which God nudged me to do. My passionate calling is to smooth the journey for families figuring out how to assist aging generations in ways that strengthen and empower all parties – from the adolescent “3rd gen”, the “Middle Gen” and the Elders.
For all the questions that I have had, I now have new resources and answers, from preventative care strategies while aging, to reinforcing the critical need for effective Co-Generational Care and primarily, making plans for the days that will come when each of us will discover there are no more interventions to keep these bodies going. Over the next weeks, I will break these topics down into manageable posts, with the intent of tying them all together into the soon-to-be-sent-to-publisher book “The Art of Parent Care: Journeys with the Aging Family”.
We stand at the edge of an ocean – facing our parents’ aging years, and looking to the horizon which harbors our own. How we teach our children now will impact how we are cared for when such care is needed. The strategies, resources and foundations for communication and planning are already overdue. I hope you will come alongside me in the journey – to rethink how we care for ourselves and each other in our most glorious Elder years.
If you have a need for family care coaching, please feel free to reach out. My strength is in helping people identify the obstacles to their ease of care coordination and help find creative solutions! If you have a need for a care advocate for a parent who lives away from you, I can assist you in finding someone who can come alongside them, where ever they are.
With love and hope for all our bright and safe futures,
Katherine Silver, RN, BSN, CCM, MASM