Navigating Elderly Parents | Elderly Care, Senior Living, Caregivers, Elderly Care, Age In Place, Advocacy

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Does it feel like the script has flipped?
Instead of your parents worrying about you, you’re the one worrying about them. Siblings may be hands-off or missing in action, and the weight falls on you. You’re double-checking their bills, wondering what would happen if they fell when no one was around — or worse, if they hurt someone while driving. Deep down, you want to honor their wish to stay at home, but you also worry about their safety and independence.

I get it — it’s a lot, and sometimes it feels like too much. Hi, I’m Trina: daughter, advocate, and Elderly Planning Coach. Navigating Elderly Parents is ranked in the top 5% of podcasts globally, and I believe that reflects how many daughters are quietly carrying the weight of helping aging parents stay safe, independent, and supported at home. I know what it’s like to juggle your own busy life while managing your parents’ needs, and that’s why this podcast exists — to help you find what works, save time, and feel supported along the way. My goal: give you the systems, planning tools, and trustworthy resources — boiled down to the nuggets that matter — so you can skip the endless searching, protect your parents’ independence, and finally breathe easier.

My experience helping my parents, in-laws and clients — along with countless friends navigating the same challenges — taught me how complicated aging can become. Even with good planning, things slip through the cracks: finances, safety, and those everyday changes that come with aging. Through it all, I’ve learned that no two families walk the same road, but we can all lean on shared wisdom, encouragement, and faith to guide us through.

I don’t offer medical, legal, or financial advice, and I’m not a licensed professional — but I am someone who knows how to ask the right questions, find trustworthy help, and share what’s been learned along the way.

I spent many late nights online trying to find those answers myself — only to end up more stressed and sleepless. What I discovered is that peace doesn’t come from knowing everything; it comes from finding the right next step and trusting the process. Experts, seniors, and caregivers have shared incredible wisdom with me, and I’ve made it my mission to pass those takeaways along to you.

Here, you’ll find practical tools, expert interviews, and gentle encouragement to help you:

Keep your parents safe, independent, and supported in their home
Navigate finances, healthcare, and planning decisions with clearer steps and understanding
Build systems that bring order instead of chaos
Honor your parents as God calls us to — with wisdom, grace, and love

This podcast is your space to get better equipped — with insights, resources, and strategies you can use today. Think of it like coffee with a friend who gets it.

Welcome to Navigating Elderly Parents.

Here, you’ll find practical tools, expert interviews, and gentle encouragement to help you:

Keep your parents safe, independent, and supported in their home
Navigate finances, healthcare, and planning decisions with clearer steps and understanding
Build systems that bring order instead of chaos
Honor your parents as God calls us to — with wisdom, grace, and love

This podcast is your space to get better equipped — with insights, resources, and strategies you can use today. Think of it like coffee with a friend who gets it.

Welcome to Navigating Elderly Parents.

Episodes

May 24, 2026

16. Worried Your Elderly Parent Will Fall? Home Safety Help You May Not Know Exists

May 24, 2026

15 min

Worried Your Elderly Parent Will Fall? Home Safety Help You May Not Know Exists

If you’ve been lying awake worrying about your parent falling, struggling with stairs, or getting hurt in the bathroom, this episode is for you.

That worry is real.

You may walk into their home and suddenly notice things you never paid attention to before: the loose rug, the step into the garage, the bathtub wall, the dark hallway, or the stairs they keep insisting are “fine.”

In this episode of Navigating Elderly Parents, we’re talking about practical ways to look at your parent’s home with fresh eyes, not to take over, but to help them stay safer and more independent.

Because sometimes the first question is not, “Does Mom need to move?”

Sometimes the better question is, “Can this home be made safer for the way Mom is moving now?”

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE

✔️ Why home safety is not about stripping away independence

✔️ What to notice around entrances, stairs, bathrooms, and daily walking paths

✔️ Small changes that may make everyday life safer

✔️ Options like grab bars, railings, ramps, transfer benches, handheld showerheads, and stair lifts

✔️ When bigger changes, like doorway adjustments or bathroom updates, may be worth considering

✔️ How to start the conversation when your parent pushes back

This is not about fear.

It is about advocacy.

It is about planning.

And it is about helping your parent stay safe, preserve dignity, and continue living in the home they love as long as it makes sense.

Start with the areas they use every day: the path from the bedroom to the bathroom, the entrance they use most, the bathroom setup, the stairs, and the places where they pause, wobble, grab furniture, or avoid going.

That is where you start.

Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation?

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

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© 2026 Selective Ideas, Inc. All rights reserved. Navigating Elderly Parents is produced by Selective Ideas, Inc.
Informational & Educational Purposes Only. The information provided is for general educational and informational purposes only. It should not be relied upon or used as the sole basis for decision making related to your personal life or business, without consulting primary, more accurate, more complete or more timely sources of information. You understand and acknowledge that the info provided to you by us is not legal, financial, therapeutic, mental health, medical advice or health advice and that the Company is not a professional service provider. Again, all of the information, including without limitation, resources provided via phone, video conference, e-mail, an online forum, live events such as webinars or lives, video/audio recordings, courses, materials provided in our digital products and the like about business, insurance, laws, health/nutrition, or finance-related information, are resources for educational and informational purposes only and should not take the place of hiring a licensed professional. You understand that the Company does not and will not provide any form of diagnosis, legal advice, medical advice, financial advice, or mental health advice.

May 24, 2026

15 min

May 17, 2026

15. A Resource for Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs for Aging Parents

May 17, 2026

11 min

A Resource for Medical Copays, Travel, and Treatment Costs

When your elderly parent has a serious diagnosis, the medical costs can start stacking up fast.

Copays. Treatment costs. Travel expenses. Insurance premiums. Diagnostic testing. And then there’s the emotional stress of trying to figure out what help is actually available while you’re already overwhelmed.

*** Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation? ***

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

In this episode of Navigating Elderly Parents, we’re talking about a resource called My Good Days, Mygooddays.org a national nonprofit that helps people with chronic illness through financial assistance, advocacy, and education.

This is not a guarantee that your parent will qualify. It is not a promise that every diagnosis is covered. But it is a resource worth checking, especially if your aging parent has a chronic illness, expensive treatment, or out-of-pocket medical costs that are becoming hard to manage.

Good Days may offer help with things like:

- Medical copays

- Travel costs related to treatment

- Insurance premium assistance

- Diagnostic testing costs

- Care navigation and resource support

The important thing to know is that Good Days has disease funds that can open and close throughout the year. So do not assume your parent qualifies, but also do not assume there is no help.

Check. That’s the next right step.

In this episode, we’ll talk about what Good Days does, what types of assistance they list, what information you may need before applying, and why this kind of resource matters when you’re trying to advocate for an elderly parent without getting swallowed by the medical cost chaos.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE

✔️ What Good Days is and why it may be worth checking

✔️ The types of assistance Good Days lists, including copays, travel, premiums, and diagnostic testing

✔️ Why fund status matters and why you need to check the current list

✔️ What information to gather before calling or applying

✔️ How this fits into advocacy and planning for elderly parents

Before You Apply or Call, Gather This Information

If you are helping your parent look into this resource, it may help to have:

✦ Your parent’s diagnosis

✦ Date of birth

✦ Primary insurance information

✦ Household size

✦ Estimated household income

✦ Medication or treatment information, if available

Good Days disease funds can open and close throughout the year, so start by checking whether your parent’s diagnosis is listed and whether the fund is currently open.

May 17, 2026

11 min

May 10, 2026

14. Hospice Bedside Checklist: How to Advocate When Your Elderly Parent Is In Their Final Days

May 10, 2026

20 min

Hospice Bedside Checklist: What to Say, Do, and Notice

If your aging parent is in hospice, or hospice may be coming soon, one of the hardest parts is knowing what to actually do when you are sitting at the bedside.

You may be wondering:

What should I bring?
What should I ask?
What should I write down?
What should I be watching for?
What do I say?
And how do I advocate for my parent without feeling like I’m supposed to control every single thing?

In this episode of Navigating Elderly Parents, we’re talking through a simple hospice bedside checklist for adult children who want to be present, prepared, and peaceful during a very tender time.

And first, I just want to say thank you. Navigating Elderly Parents is now ranked as a Top 5% podcast worldwide, and I do not take that lightly. It tells me that families really do need practical, honest conversations about aging parents, hospice care, palliative care, elderly care, advocacy, planning, and what to do when life suddenly gets very real.

*** Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation? ***

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

In this episode, we’ll talk about what may help when you are sitting with your parent in hospice, including:

✔️ What to keep nearby at the bedside

✔️ What comfort items may matter more than you think

✔️ Why it helps to write things down

✔️ What questions to ask the hospice nurse

✔️ How to advocate for your parent when something feels unclear

✔️ How hospice care and palliative care may fit into the bigger picture

✔️ How to notice changes without panicking

✔️ Why your presence matters, even when you do not know what to say

✔️ How to support your parent while also caring for yourself

This is not about doing everything perfectly. Let’s just go ahead and take that pressure off the table.

This is about having a few simple things in place so you are not digging for phone numbers, wondering who to call, or trying to remember what the nurse said when your brain is already tired.

Hospice can feel overwhelming, especially when your parent is declining and everyone in the family is emotional. But having a bedside checklist can help you feel a little more steady. It gives you something practical to come back to when everything feels uncertain.

And even at the bedside, your role as an advocate still matters. You may not be making big decisions every minute, but you can notice changes, ask questions, share concerns with the hospice team, and help make sure your parent is comfortable, respected, and cared for.

This episode is for the daughter, son, or family member who wants to honor their parent, stay present, ask better questions, understand hospice and palliative care a little more clearly, and not feel quite so lost during end-of-life care.

Because you do not have to know everything.

But it does help to know the next thing.

May 10, 2026

20 min

May 4, 2026

13. They Recommended Hospice. Now What? What You Need to Know First

May 4, 2026

21 min

They Recommended Hospice. Now What? What Families Need to Know First

Hearing a doctor say, “We’re recommending hospice,” can stop you in your tracks.

Your first thought may be, “Does this mean Mom is dying?”
And then the next wave of questions hits.

Where will hospice happen?
Can hospice happen at home?
Can hospice happen in assisted living or a nursing home?
What if my parent is already in the hospital?
Does hospice cover everything?
What about room and board?
And how do we choose a hospice company when our family is already overwhelmed?

*** Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation? ***

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

In this episode of Navigating Elderly Parents, we’re talking about where hospice care can happen and why the location matters. Hospice is not just a place. Hospice is a type of care focused on comfort, dignity, symptom management, emotional support, spiritual care, and helping your loved one receive the right support during the end-of-life process.

We’ll also touch on the difference between hospice and palliative care. Palliative care can support someone with a serious or long-term illness even before they qualify for hospice. Hospice care is typically recommended when a doctor believes someone may have six months or less to live if the illness follows its expected course.

This episode is not meant to add to your overwhelm. It is meant to help you know what to look for before you are standing in a hospital hallway, exhausted, emotional, and trying to make decisions fast.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE

✔️ A simple hospice definition and why hospice is care, not just a location
✔️ How palliative care is different from hospice care
✔️ Where hospice can happen: home, assisted living, nursing home, inpatient hospice facility, or sometimes temporarily in the hospital
✔️ Why hospice at home can be beautiful, but also physically and emotionally exhausting
✔️ What to ask if your parent already lives in assisted living or a nursing home
✔️ Why hospice may cover the medical care, but not always the room and board
✔️ What an inpatient hospice facility or hospice house may provide
✔️ Why location matters when choosing a hospice company
✔️ What it can mean when a hospital patient is discharged from hospital care and hospice takes over
✔️ Why a hospital bed may become a contracted hospice bed
✔️ Questions families should ask before choosing a hospice provider
✔️ Why you are not being difficult when you ask the same question more than once

This is one of those topics families often do not talk about until they are forced to.

But friend, if you are the one helping your aging parent, you need at least a basic understanding of hospice care options before a crisis happens.

Because when hospice is recommended, the decision is not only, “Do we accept hospice?”

The next question is often:

“Where will hospice happen, and what does that mean for our family?”

Look Up Your State Hospice and Palliative Care Association
Most states have a hospice and palliative care association with education, resources, and local guidance for families. This is a good place to learn more about hospice care, palliative care, rules in your state, and support options near you.

Ask These Questions Before Choosing a Hospice Company

• Where can hospice happen in our situation?
• Do you provide home hospice?
• Do you work with assisted living or nursing homes?
• Do you have an inpatient hospice facility?
• Where is it located?
• What does hospice cover?
• What is not covered?
• Who do we call after hours?
• What happens if symptoms become harder to manage?

Friend, hospice is a hard topic, but understanding the basics can bring a little more peace into a very heavy season. You do not have to become an expert. You just need to know the next right questions to ask.

May 4, 2026

21 min

Apr 26, 2026

12. Hospice Isn't Giving Up: What Families Need to Understand

Apr 26, 2026

20 min

Hospice is one of those words that can feel scary, final, and overwhelming.

For many families, it can sound like, “That’s it. We’re giving up.”

But hospice is not supposed to mean giving up. Hospice is a special kind of medical care focused on comfort, dignity, peace, symptom relief, and helping someone live the best they can with the days God gives them.

***Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation?***

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

In this episode, I’m sharing what I learned while walking through a hospice week with my friend after her husband became very sick. I’m not sharing private medical details, but I am sharing the bigger lessons that many families need before they are standing in a hospital room trying to make hard decisions.

We’ll talk about the difference between hospice and palliative care, why advanced directives matter, and why families need honest medical conversations before a crisis gets even heavier.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN

✔️ Why hospice does not always mean “giving up”
✔️ How hospice shifts the focus from aggressive treatment to comfort and dignity
✔️ Why palliative care can help families have clearer conversations earlier
✔️ Why advanced directives are so important before a medical crisis
✔️ What questions to ask when doctors are giving difficult news
✔️ Why hospice is not euthanasia or meant to rush death
✔️ How hospice can help families honor a loved one’s wishes

In my Seasons of Support framework, hospice usually falls closer to Winter, when full care is needed. But a sudden fall, diagnosis, or crisis can move a family there quickly.

That is why these conversations matter now.

Because when the crisis comes, you do not want to be guessing what your parent would want. You want to be honoring what they already made clear.

Friend, you do not have to know everything today. Just learn the next right thing, ask the next honest question, and keep showing up with love.

Apr 26, 2026

20 min

Apr 20, 2026

11. A Parent Is Dying: You Can’t Control God’s Timing… But You Can Do This

Apr 20, 2026

17 min

Today’s episode is a quiet, honest conversation from a heavy place.

A close friend lost her husband this week after time in hospice, and it brings us face-to-face with something we don’t get to control… the timing of death.

***Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation? ***

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO

✔️ The truth that God determines our days, even when we don’t understand it
✔️ What it actually looks like to “show up” for someone in their final days
✔️ How to support a parent, spouse, or friend with simple presence and compassion
✔️ What to do when the relationship is complicated or painful
✔️ Asking God for emotional, mental, and physical strength when you’re exhausted
✔️ How, if we let Him, we can see more of God even in grief
✔️The reminder that we walk through the valley… not alone, and not staying there

This is not about having the right words.
It’s about being there.

Apr 20, 2026

17 min

Apr 12, 2026

10. Elderly Parent Scammed-What To Do Next - Expert Tech Steps to Take Fast

Apr 12, 2026

30 min

Have you ever wondered what to do after your elderly parent is scammed and you are suddenly the one trying to figure out the next step?

In this episode, I’m joined by tech expert Martin Navarro, my go-to tech guy and a trusted friend for many years. With over 20 years of computer troubleshooting and security experience, Martin walks us through the practical steps families need to take fast after a scam. We talk about what to do if a scam is still happening, how to secure the computer, and what daughters need to know about protecting bank accounts, phones, and devices after the damage starts.

If you want a trusted tech contact in place before something goes wrong, save Martin’s information in your phone now so you are not scrambling later.

Martin Navarro
JJ TechMagic
754-400-0565
jjtechmagic.com

Martin is based in South Florida, but if you are not local, he can still help remotely by phone and video.

This is not just another scam story. This is expert guidance to help you respond quickly and protect your elderly parent with less panic and more clarity.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE WE COVERED

✔️ What to do immediately if a scammer still has access to your parent’s computer

✔️ Why shutting the computer down completely may be the first smart move

✔️ When to unplug the internet to stop more access

✔️ What a tech expert checks first after a remote access scam

✔️ How scammers use remote access software and security changes to get back in

✔️ Why malware protection matters after an elderly parent is scammed

✔️ What to do to help protect your parent’s bank accounts after fraud or suspicious access

✔️ Why acting quickly matters if money is involved

✔️ How phone filtering and call screening can reduce future scam attempts

✔️ Why elderly parents are often targeted through trust, pressure, and confusion

✔️ How AI scams and voice cloning are making fraud even harder to spot

✔️ Why families need layers of protection, not just good intentions

Martin also shares practical scam recovery tips, including:

- extra malware protection to consider

- safer ways for elderly parents to handle banking and checks

- why some older adults may be safer using a tablet instead of a full computer

- how to set up stronger call protection on phones

- why having a trusted tech person before something happens can save time, money, and stress

You do not need to know everything all at once. You just need the next right step, and then the next one after that. I’ll meet you back here again soon.

Apr 12, 2026

30 min

Apr 5, 2026

09. I Walked In and Found a Scammer In My Mom's Computer!!! - What We Did Immediately

Apr 5, 2026

19 min

I walked in… and there was a man already inside my mom’s computer.

This wasn’t a “maybe scam.”
It was happening in real time.

And if I hadn’t walked in when I did… this could have gone very differently.

In this episode, I’m sharing exactly what happened, what we saw, and the immediate steps we took to stop it.

Because this is not a rare situation.
This is happening to smart, capable parents every single day.

And as the daughter who’s stepping in more… you need to know what to do when it happens.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE

✔️ The moment I realized something was wrong

✔️ What the scam actually looked like on her computer

✔️ How quickly things escalated

✔️ The exact steps we took to shut it down

✔️ What I would do differently knowing what I know now

Why this matters:

This has nothing to do with how smart someone is.
Scammers are looking for people who are kind, trusting, and trying to do the right thing.

And many of our parents fall right into that category.

This episode will help you be prepared so you’re not figuring it out in the moment.

Need Help Thinking Through Your Parent’s Situation?

If you’re starting to step in more with your aging parent and feeling unsure what to focus on, I offer a limited number of 60-minute Parent Clarity Sessions.

This is a focused session where we can talk through your situation and help you get clear on what matters most right now, so you can feel less overwhelmed and move forward with a plan.

👉Schedule A Parent Clarity Session

Apr 5, 2026

19 min