Who will take care of my cat?
Who will care for my pet is a common concern of people who are facing illness, may have to be in a hospital or otherwise can’t care for themselves. A conference sponsored in part by Lifespan, Rainbow Seniors ROC and Trillium Health will discuss this and other issues facing LGBTQ seniors. Provided photo
I recently had a patient who needed to go into the hospital and who worried who would take care of his cat while he was there and if something happened to him.
We found someone temporarily, but now we are working on finding a person to adopt the cat because the man did die and the cat needs a new home.
Who will take care of my pet is just one concern that older LGBTQ people have. Who will make decisions for me if I can’t, how will I get to appointments or do my daily activities, what to do about a will – these are concerns that often go by the wayside in a community where many people already feel marginalized.
Fortunately, these issues will be talked about during the Caring With Pride panel discussion from 2 to 3:30 p.m. May 16 at the Academy of Medicine, 1441 East Avenue. To register, click here. The event had been scheduled for April 11, but was moved to May 16, which is National Honor Your LGBT Elders Day.
Lifespan and Trillium Health are among the sponsors. One of the major participants is our LGBTQ community seniors group, Rainbow Seniors ROC.
For people older than 50 who are living with HIV, Trillium Health has a program funded by the state that addresses many caregiving issues.
Caring with Pride is for the larger LGBTQ community. I'm looking forward to it because there are a lot of things to discuss in terms of what care looks like. There are concerns around partners, two same sex people living in a supported living situation, the nursing home issue, other care issues for people who are living alone and have limited supports from family or friends.
These people are coming into their golden years and these issues need to be addressed. It’s the social situations that really contributed to the need for this kind of discussion. What do you do? What’s available? What more could be done? Let’s go to the conference and find out.