Mary Alexander: Hi! I am Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care and today I am going to discuss the importance of knowing as much as you can about, your senior's medications, doctors, various medical appointments and other vital information.

Many of us have experienced apprehension, when it comes to our aging parents. The thought of having a telephone ring late at night can be an unsettling proposition for any adult child. What if mom fell, what if dad confuses his medications and complications ensue?

One way to lessen our worries is to make sure; we have our senior's vital information at our finger tips. The more we know, the better prepared we will be, to respond quickly in the event of an emergency. But the reality is that many of us have gaps in our knowledge base, when it comes to our parent's medical health.

The information, we do have may not contain enough detail in the event of an emergency. In this video series, we will talk about the results of a survey of more than 600 future care givers that was conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network. The survey revealed that less than half of the respondents are knowledgeable about their parent's medical history, in case of an emergency.

We will also, discuss managing doctors and medications for seniors. Did you know there are many medication related risk factors for older adults? Keeping track of multiple medications or remembering to ask doctors the right questions, is not always easy for any of us to do. So whether, you are a future or current family care giver, your aging parents will benefit from having you know more about, their important heath information.

We will provide tips on the many ways, you can help advocate for your senior loved ones, from being an extra set of eyes and ears at appointments to helping them compile a list of questions to ask their doctors and pharmacist.

Finally, we will provide you with a few checklist and resources to help you become more knowledgeable and better organized both in the event of an emergency and for on-going care.

Home Instead Senior Care, the national leader in providing non-medical care for seniors is bringing you this video series, to help family caregivers take care of their senior loved ones. Helping seniors is something home instead, has been doing passionately now, for more than 15 years. I not only work for Home Instead, but I am a certified Senior Adviser. More importantly, I am currently a long distance caregiver for my dad.