END OF LIFE

from 2023 BEACON Guide - Montrose-Delta

SENIOR HOUSING

Ease the burden on your loved ones by planning your funeral and burial arrangements before you pass on. When medicine can no longer offer you a cure, hospice care can provide you comfort and support when you’re terminally ill, and can offer it to your family and friends as well.

Cemeteries ...........................................................37 Funeral & Bereavement..................................37 Funeral Preplanning..........................................37 Hospice Care .......................................................37 Monuments & Headstones...........................37 Wills & Probate...................................................37

A letter for when you can’t speak for yourself

By Teresa Ambord

None of us is promised tomorrow regardless of our age. There is always the chance that you won’t wake up tomorrow or that an accident or sudden illness will make you unable to speak for yourself. If that should happen, could someone step in for you?

While there is time, write a letter providing trusted family members with information they will need. It will not be legally binding, so keep it casual. Keep the letter in a private place, letting key people—your spouse, children or heirs— know where it is, and provide your attorney and accountant each with a copy. Update it as details change.

Here’s a sample that you may fill out if you wish. Date: ________________________________________________ Dear: ________________________________________________

This letter is not to be confused with my will. If I should die or be unable to speak for myself, this information will make it easier for you to handle my legal and financial matters. A copy has been sent to my attorney and my accountant, whose contact information is below.

Attorney: ____________________________________________ Accountant: _________________________________________

Here is a list of people to contact in the event that I can no longer speak for myself:

______________________________________________________ My legal documents, including my will, deed to my house, insurance policies, birth certificate and other items, can be found:

I have appointed the following people as executors of my will. They will handle most of the legal and financial matters, but they may need some assistance from you, which I hope you will find in this letter: ______________________________________________________ Outstanding loans and other debts:

______________________________________________________ Insurance policies: Life: _____________________________________________________ Casualty: _________________________________________________ Health: ___________________________________________________

My investments:

(brokerage firm, accounts, contact information)

My pension:

(amounts, plan administrator, contact information)

______________________________________________________ Cars registered in my name (and where papers are located):

Location of my tax returns:

My memberships (volunteer/professional organizations):

People to contact to inform of my condition or my passing:

My funeral wishes:

How to distribute personal items not in my will:

______________________________________________________. Banks and bank account numbers: Miscellaneous information you may need:

PIN numbers: ________________________________________ Online passwords: ___________________________________ Safe deposit box: ____________________________________

This is also a good place to put down your thoughts, letting important people in your life know how you feel about them. The comfort brought by a few thoughtful words on paper is priceless to those you leave behind. ■ www.BeaconSeniorNews.com

Cedar Creek Cemetery, Montrose ............................. 970-240-1421 Grand View Cemetery, See ad page 44 .................................................970-249-2121 Mesa View Cemetery, Delta ..........................................970-874-8633

FUNERAL & BEREAVEMENT

Crippin Funeral Home, See ad page 44 ..........970-249-2121

FUNERAL PREPLANNING

Crippin Funeral Home, See ad page 44 ..........970-249-2121

HOSPICE CARE

Elk Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center, See ad page 16................................................. 970-249-9683 HopeWest, Delta, See ad page 37.................. 970-874-6823 HopeWest, Montrose, See ad page 37 ...........970-240-7734 National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (hospice helpline) ............................................................800-658-8898

MONUMENTS & HEADSTONES

Morris Monument, LLC, See ad page 37 ....... 970-323-6658

WILLS & PROBATE

Kain & Burke, PC, See ad page 6.....................970-241-2969 Here to support you through life’s most difficult times so you can focus on what’s most important – each other.

HOSPICE | PALLIATIVE CARE | GRIEF SUPPORT We are a nonprofit organization that has been serving our communities since 1993. Through creativity, volunteerism, and philanthropy, we profoundly change the experiences of aging, illness, and grief – one family at a time. (970) 240-7734 • HopeWestCO.org