When I first became someone's Power of Attorney, I assumed my role would involve helping make medical decisions.

I had no idea I would eventually be managing bills, communicating with healthcare providers, navigating insurance questions, advocating during hospital stays, and organizing paperwork for someone who had no immediate family nearby.

Like many people, I thought a Power of Attorney simply stepped in when important medical decisions needed to be made.

There are certain conversations many families become experts at avoiding.

We talk about vacations, grandchildren, work, and weekend plans.

But conversations about illness, aging, caregiving, or death often remain untouched for years.

Not because we don't care.

Usually because we care so much.

We worry that bringing up difficult topics will upset someone, feel insensitive, or somehow make the situation more real.

But in my experience, the conversations we avoid are often the ones that matter most.

Most people assume end-of-life planning begins and ends with a will.

In my experience, some of the biggest challenges families face have nothing to do with legal documents and everything to do with the practical details of everyday life.

When someone becomes seriously ill or dies, loved ones are often left trying to piece together dozens of small but important details during one of the most stressful seasons of their lives.

The more information that has been organized ahead of time, the easier it becomes to focus on what truly matters.

Are you confused with these words or packs of letters? I can help by breaking the words and their actions down.

Too often when forms are not filled out correctly it is simply because an unknowingness existed.

That doesn’t have to happen and I am there to make sure these forms are correctly filled out. Few things can be more frustrating than not having a Power of Attorney (POA) form filled out and the person who didn’t fill it out is lying there in an non-communicative state.

Over the past twelve years I have had people die that I acted as caregiver for while maintaining my job in health insurance.

And yes, their deaths were heartbreaking to me. Yes, tears were shed.