Retirement Living » Mary Helen Dennis http://www.retirement-living.com Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Homecare in VA, MD, DC, NJ, PA, DE Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:23:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Help with Daily Money Management–InfoDoc, Inc. http://www.retirement-living.com/real-life-story-infodoc-inc/ http://www.retirement-living.com/real-life-story-infodoc-inc/#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:26:59 +0000 Kemmie Turpin http://www.retirement-living.com/?p=14828 It all started with a phone call. Ivor and Jean Jones had been living in an assisted living community in Baltimore, Md., for several years when one of their sons, Dr. Bruce Jones, received an unexpected call from their neighbor. “The neighbor had seen their condo listed in the paper as not having paid taxes. It was scheduled for tax sale,” Bruce recalled.

Bruce was shocked, but he soon realized that his father had not been managing any of the couple’s finances. “We discovered that my dad hadn’t been paying my mother’s Medicare premiums since May 2010, and the medical bills were piling up,” Bruce said.

The Jones family no longer has to worry about sorting paperwork or paying bills. Pictured are fro left to right: Ivor, Tanya, Bruce and Jean Jones.

When Bruce’s wife, Tanya, read about InfoDoc, a company that offers estate organizing services, she knew they could help. “Mary Helen [with InfoDoc] has been a godsend,” said Bruce. “You read about this stuff and you think it wouldn’t be so difficult to handle, but it’s so much harder when you are actually trying to do it yourself.”

Although Medicare originally told Bruce and his mother they only needed to pay $300 and coverage would be reinstated, the check was never cashed and the family could not get any answers. When InfoDoc stepped in to help, they contacted Congressman John Sarbanes’ office, and his staff helped the family get Medicare re-instated; however, coverage would not start until July 2012.

Since this still left the family liable for old medical bills, InfoDoc continued to pursue complete coverage. Mary Helen reached out to Senator Benjamin Cardin’s office, and they ultimately helped get coverage re-instated and retroactive back to May 2010. Remarkably, Jean’s coverage was reinstated on a Friday and that Sunday she fell and broke her hip and had to have a hip replacement.

“Getting Medicare reinstated took a tremendous amount of effort on her part– letter writing and countless phone calls –and it saved us tens of thousands of dollars,” Bruce said. “Her services really have more than paid for themselves.”

In addition to helping the Jones family get Medicare reinstated, InfoDoc organized their files and helped to eliminate bogus charges coming out of the checking account. They are also working to get the medical facilities and doctors who were paid by the family to resubmit Medicare claims and reimburse the family.

“This kind of work takes a lot of attention to detail and a lot of creativity as well,” Bruce concluded. With a very demanding schedule of his own, Bruce is grateful that he can now spend his free time with his family– instead of reviewing, analyzing and paying bills.

]]> http://www.retirement-living.com/real-life-story-infodoc-inc/feed/ 0 ProAging at Symphony Manor Features Maryland Aging in Place Villages http://www.retirement-living.com/proaging-at-symphony-manor-features-maryland-aging-in-place-villages/ http://www.retirement-living.com/proaging-at-symphony-manor-features-maryland-aging-in-place-villages/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:25:34 +0000 Lauren Searson http://www.retirement-living.com/?p=1265 Over 75 influential senior-serving professionals gathered at a brand new Symphony Manor Premier Assisted Living and Memory Care in Roland Park.  In addition to networking, refreshments and tours of the community there was a presentation on the Village Movement in Maryland.  See recent AARP article on Villages.

Panel members included:

 Attendees included the following professionals, alpha by Organization Name:

Dont miss the next ProAging meeting!

ProAging at the World of Possibilities DisABILITIES Expo

Date: Friday May 06, 2011

Time: 8:30 a.m.

Location: Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium, MD 21093

Please RSVP rsvp@proaging.com

 

Description: Be the first in the door for the region’s major forum for disability-related resources.  The ProAging event will bring together professionals in the aging and disabilities community to network and hear Louis Tenenbaum,one of the foremost authorities on aging in place and universal design concepts. Bring business cards and brochures and be ready to network and learn about disability services for all ages.

 

About Louis Tenenbaum

A former carpenter and contractor, Louis Tenenbaum is now a leading thinker, speaker and consultant on Aging in Place—the idea that our homes are the most desirable and economical place for housing and care. Based in Washington, DC’s Maryland suburbs, Louis helps businesses, nonprofits and individuals formulate and refine design, strategies, marketing and programming for Aging in Place homes, products and age friendly communities.

In 2010 Louis wrote Aging in Place 2.0: Rethinking Solutions to the Home Care Challenge, published by the MetLife Mature Marketing Institute.

 

Please RSVP rsvp@proaging.com

]]> http://www.retirement-living.com/proaging-at-symphony-manor-features-maryland-aging-in-place-villages/feed/ 0 A Daily Money Management Service Provides Peace of Mind in Finding Caregivers http://www.retirement-living.com/a-daily-money-management-service-provides-peace-of-mind/ http://www.retirement-living.com/a-daily-money-management-service-provides-peace-of-mind/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:46:27 +0000 Lauren Searson http://www.retirement-living.com/?p=1237 Experiencing changes in health can be very difficult for individuals and their loved ones. What can make it even more challenging are the complex financial and legal matters often involved. Roslyn Michelson and her family learned about these issues firsthand, but were fortunately able to remedy the situation with the help of a daily money manager.

When her husband went to Florida, Roslyn entered an assisted living facility for respite care in order to join him later. Due to poor care, however, she checked herself out and received help from an in home caregiver. Unfortunately Roslyn’s health didn’t improve and was unable to join her husband, therefore he returned home. Soon Mrs. Michelson was hospitalized, after which they proceeded to have a full-time caregiver.

Despite having long-term care insurance, Roslyn had not had the strength to get the appropriate paperwork organized and submitted to the company and was therefore paying the caregiver out of pocket along with the long-term care premiums.

As a result, Roslyn’s social worker insisted she enlist outside help and contacted Mary Helen Dennis with InfoDoc, Inc., a daily money management and professional organizing service. Although Roslyn was hesitant to be paying for such services, they established a relationship that lasted three years.

With the help of InfoDoc, the long-term care paperwork was submitted and a system was set up accordingly for the caregiver to regularly send her bills directly to the insurance company. Since paperwork “drove her crazy,” Roslyn’s husband had always handled it until his health began to fail. In turn, Mary Helen, who also developed a working relationship with Roslyn’s attorney and tax accountant, helped clean out and organize her files, from gathering her tax documents on time to recovering requested documents for the estate attorney.

In 2005, when her husband passed away, Roslyn received help filing the life insurance claims, and was surprised to learn there was a third policy of which she was unaware. According to Mary Helen, this was due to the policies being purchased over 50 years before and the insurance company names having since changed. Later that year, Roslyn moved to an assisted living facility and received frequent visits from Mary Helen who also continued to offer her services until Roslyn’s passing in December of 2008.

Not only did the help of a daily money manager help Roslyn in the last few years of her life, but it also provided her loved ones with peace of mind as her two daughters now know exactly where to find all of her important documents.

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