Seniors had the opportunity Tuesday to seek legal advice for advanced care planning from the Buffalo Trace Area Development District and Legal Aid of the Bluegrass.
Buffalo Trace Area Development District SHIP program, Long Term Care Ombudsman and Legal Aid of the Bluegrass collaborated in downtown Maysville to reach out to the seniors, ages 60 and over, and long term caretakers of the area to provide them legal consultation, through a mobile office called the “Justice Bus.”
Jacob Taulbee, with LABG, said the collaboration was part of National Healthcare Decisions Day.
“Today we’re here with our Justice Bus, meeting with people for advanced care planning — so creating living wills, talking about the importance of advanced care planning, powers of attorney and things of that nature,” he said.
Taulbee said LABG covers 33 counties from northern to central Kentucky. By using the Justice Bus as a sort of mobile office, he said it allows a “boots on the ground approach” in meeting and cooperating with communities which need their services.
“Today, at events like this, we’re kind of a senior hub,” he said. “So if they have a healthcare issue, we have our SHIP program here with the Buffalo Trace ADD; if they have a family member or if they’re a caretaker of a long term care facility, we have the area long term care ombudsmen; if they have a legal issue, we have attorneys here to help with that,” he said. “So we bring kind of a collaborative approach to our services.”
Part of the reason the Justice Bus exists is to also educate the public on the resources available and to guide individuals toward the direction that best fits their needs.
“Often, if we can’t help you with your legal issue, we can provide you some sort of education to either refer you to get help or give you the information you need to help yourself,” Taulbee said.
Generally, when it comes to advanced care planning, Taulbee said it is very important that people who may need such services in the future be more proactive in ensuring the rights steps are taken.
“When it comes to things like advanced care planning, often people don’t start planning until it’s almost too late,” he said. “So my advice would be to plan early, so when an emergency comes you’ll already be prepared. So things like a will or a power of attorney, when done early, allows you to plan before the emergency arises — you don’t have to worry about the documents, you can just take care of the emergency.”
While the implementation of the Justice Bus is relatively new for this area, Taulbee said that the plan is for regular trips to be made around local communities to provide legal consultation in the future.
