What it started as…
Below is the original contents. Things are now past tense, but I want to keep the thoughts captured in the past moment. This website became a tool for communicating to professionals, legal and medical, that were involved in mom’s last months. It made a huge difference with communicating with the hospice team for mom.
Goodness, I guess it has only been 6 months since the court order affirmed that mom could not execute power of attorney to dissolve the guardianship. I take issue with the finer points of that.
But as mom has since had hospitalization and skilled nursing placement , I now realize that care providers blow past the concept of POA acting as decision maker. So I have the judge to thank for the wisdom of mom needing a guardian. Not so much that she was impaired beyond legally executing a contract, so to speak. More that in the role of guardian I have the legal authority to act on mom’s behalf. Providers at all levels will reflexively rely on their own judgement before they will give attention to a POA regarding a disabled persons care. Prove me wrong…
-Rainey
About
Alice Lorraine Hill, author and educator
This website is part memoir, but mostly it is an electronic publishing of the surviving writings of my mother, Alice Lorraine Hill. As time wears down the body and mind, these efforts to bring daylight into mom’s mind when darkness threatens, are done with the hope of fulfilling her lifelong wish that she could inspire and comfort others.
I am the youngest of four children. Our family legacy from mom’s side is neuro-divergence, a previously un-named “eccentricity” that has colored every generation. As time caught up with Mom, I was stuck in a confusing tug of war of trying to get her appropriate medical care, knowing she did not fit into any typical neurological profile, and her desperation to not lose her independence and autonomy. It got messy.
In this struggle, legal issues arose. Doctors declared Mom needed help making decisions. Guardianship in it’s less favorable form was imposed. My sister and I watched from the sidelines, frustrated. Then I kicked the hornets nest and tried to salvage some dignity for mom. The powers involved, perhaps begrudgingly, transferred guardianship to me, but it still is messy. The Uniform Guardianship Act that became effective in our state January 1, 2022 is transformative. But the transformation is not instant, and will perhaps need to be fleshed out one case at a time. I believe we are on the leading edge of that transformation. Which is poetic, because if my Mom is anything, she has always been an advocate for the rights of the oppressed and exploited.
These directives to guardians are statutory: “To the extent reasonably feasible, identify the values and preferences of the adult and involve the adult in decisions affecting the adult, including decisions about the adult’s care, dwelling,activities, or social interactions…”
I will be damned if I will let my mom, as a person, be invisible to the system she is now reliant upon.
This website is named after the non-profit Mom tried to make productive for many years. It was a vision she believed in. Los Artistas as a charity organization was meant to benefit disadvantaged children.
Rainey L. Shiver, youngest daughter of Alice Lorraine Hill