A couple of weeks back, we wrote about TheCareGuide.com, a Canadian website devoted to seniors housing, health, planning, and education. While there, we learned about the “Power of Attorney Project”, an inititiave of Caregiving Matters, a charity devoted to providing education and support to family caregivers.

If you’re dealing with not only planning your own retirement, but helping your elderly parents to consider their options for the next phase of their own retirement, the project can be a valuable resource.

Last year, as part of the project, the organization held a full-day of workshops on a variety of Power of Attorney topics, and they’ve made these presentations available online.

The full-length videos of the presentation cover such topics as what you need to understand and do in considering a power of attorney; power of attorney investigations; an approach to help make decisions; practical considerations, and more.

The videos are close to an hour apiece, but they’re well-shot and the audio is very clear, and you can choose to watch (or listen to) them over a period of time.

The Power of Attorney Project is a two year technology-based project that brings together a wide variety of experts from various industries and disciplines to educate adult children and seniors about Power of Attorney issues.

As you consider your own retirement living plans, there’s a chance you’re also dealing with helping your parents explore their own housing options. The Care Guide offers a variety of resources on housing services for seniors in Canada, as well as information on how to evaluate housing choices; tips on how to prepare their home so they can remain there – safely – for longer; a list of community services across the country; information on such legal issues as powers of attorney, and more.

The site, and its companion publication The Care Guide, is the brainchild of President Fred Schleich, who saw a need for a central source of information on retirement home and care choices. “Today’s landscape has become far more sophisticated,” he writes. “Today’s senior housing and care options range from professional home monitoring using communication and web based tools, to professional home support or home health care agencies to elegantly appointed retirement residences that offer independent to supportive living, assisted living to memory care, that are far removed from the images that come to mind when we think of the ‘old age’ homes of yesterday.”

While the website supplies a wealth of information, the printed Care Guide is an important part of the company’s offering, says Schleich. “”Many of the elderly, particularly over the age of 75, do not use the internet,” observes Fred Schleich, President of TheCareGuide.com. “It is a disservice to not provide them with easily accessible print information for their retirement and home care options.”

The site allows you to order a print copy to review with your parents without having to go online.