With a few minor changes, the first scenario was my parents situation for approximately three years. My sister and I provided what financial assistance we could, and we (she more than I) would try to go there and help out (She lives 120 miles away, I live about 1100 miles away). We also made numerous phone calls to area assistance programs and there are some that help. The first thing to do is to call the county Office on Aging and find out what programs they have available and what other resources they are aware of in the area. It is, at times, very difficult to get older people in these situations to accept help from others easily, and getting them to move out of their homes and in with or closer to other family members can be darn near impossible.

I know of someone whose parents are going through something similar to the second scenario (I am at that age when our parents are starting to deal with these difficulties). In that case, I really do not know what can help them short of nursing home care (medicaid/medicare assisted) or having another family member or close friend there most if not all of the time to help deal with the problems. It is a very very difficult situation.

Hopefully your civics class will come up with some solutions to these problems that are just going to become more common as us baby boomers age.