Contact your insurance company to find out what is covered or not covered in your policy. Get name of a contact person and their assistant’s name for future questions that you will have for them about rehabilitation, home care, nursing home care, etc. If, you have Medicare, discharge planner or admissions office will be able to help with Medicare coverage while your patient is in hospital.

You are advocate now. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Every question you ask and receive answers to will help you make better decisions about care your loved one will need. No matter what it is that you do not know or understand about care that your loved one is receiving, ask. Some professionals forget to break down their knowledge in to terms that are easy to understand. Ask them to simplify or use layman’s terms.

Take care of yourself. Make sure that you are drinking adequate fluids including water. Be sure to have your regular meals and don’t rely on snacks to keep you going. You need rest. Try to take small naps when your loved one is napping even if it is at bedside. Use a Do Not Disturb sign if you need to. Remind others when you need privacy. You may require emotional support. The hospital has a Chaplin and social workers available that can offer you support and counseling.

Take some time to think about how you may or may not be able to care for your loved one. Think about treatments your loved one is receiving and if treatment is one that you can learn to do. How will you help your loved one with tasks of activities of daily living? Will you be able to help them walk, transfer, toilet, dress, bath, and eat if that is help they need? You may not be able to some of these tasks, you may require help, training or maybe a caregiver. You may have to work. Your loved one may require more treatment or rehabilitation to be able to come home. In any case, you should carefully evaluate your circumstances and meet with discharge planner and let him/her know what help you may need and find out what alternatives are available.

Following are resources links to additional information:

Your Medicare Coverage http://www.medicare.gov/Coverage/Home.asp

National Alliance for Caregiving http://www.caregiving.org/Family%20Discharge%20Planning.pdf

It is easy to overlook suffering of others, especially when maturity and compassion have not yet developed. But as an adult, if you knew your child was taunting and teasing another classmate, would you ignore situation and chalk it up to "kids will be kids," or take time to correct situation?

Maybe little girl in front row can't concentrate on her schoolwork because her parents are fighting. And boy in corner is withdrawn and tired because he spends his nights taking care of an alcoholic parent. Or maybe overweight girl they laugh at is using food to bury her secrets and sorrows.

Although harsh realities of social injustice are too heavy for a young child to comprehend, it is never too early to encourage empathy and compassion. If your child is quick to tease or judge, remind him that making fun of others is never cool. Ask him to put himself in other child's shoes and just try to imagine how it would feel if someone made fun of him.

Remind your child about first day of school when slate was clean and everyone started with an "A". And encourage him to reach out and give his classmate another chance as if he held a magical bottle marked "open when necessary" filled with fresh starts and good behavior.