Moving my Mom and need new doctors. Any suggestions where to begin?

Find a good Family care Doc with a focus on geriatrics, also speak with your local council on aging they often have great programs.

Call the local Area on Aging, any healthcare agency which specializes in getting you and mom the help you require. If you are in the Pueblo area there are great resources. Just google it or look it up in the phone book under health care agencies. You can do this. Do not panic, and help is available. Good hunting!

If you have Assisted Living places near you, find out if they have doctors who are affiliated with their centers, these are usually internists who specialize in older folks, some are geriatric certified. You should also look for an adult day care center, where she can socialize and exercise.

Check with the hospital that you would likely use in case of an emergency. They should have a physician referral service. The hospital we use in Michigan always gives us three names when I have asked for a referral. I have called each one and ask them my list of questions. Once she sees a doctor, she may be able to get home health care prescribed to help with exercising. You are also going to need a dentist and an optomitrist who deal with the elderly. The primary doctor may be able to help there, or contact the local Area Agency on Aging for referrals.

If you don't have POA for medical and financial issues, get those in place as well. You will also need to set up a new bank account. The bank my parents have their money deposited in from pension and SS will even come to their apartment if necessary for documents to be signed. Same with their attorney.

I have been caregiver for my elderly parents (now 95 and 99) for over five years. While they don't live with us but live in senior housing with assistance, all of these things had to be accomplished right after their move. And I had to set up a filing system to keep track of everything. I have two multi-slot folders, one for financial and one for medical. I keep my POAs in each folder so if I have to do any transactions (like emergency room visits), I have the paperwork I need with me.

Hope this all helps you get started on this road. It is very demanding. Be sure to plan time for yourself in all this. As a friend recently pointed out, I am actually care-giver for four people: my parents, my husband (who has cancer), and me. The bottom line is I have to take good care of me so I can do everything else. So take good care of you, too.

{Q} she is experiencing the beginning stages of dementia... walking is difficult and (i believe) she has become lazy and uninterested in improving due to having 24 home care for the last 8 months...{End Quote}
You have a lot to learn about dementia. start by reading Jennifer Ghent-Fuller's paper "Understanding the Dementia Experience"

When I moved my folks in I set them up with our family Dr,who is a geriatric specialist as well. I had all thier records sent to him. He can handle almost all thier needs (diabetes, ALZ etc) we only needed to get an eye dr, cardiologist and podiatist ( cause I am NOT dealing with those toenails!) Boy oh boy did we get rid of alot of extra Dr apts, they were going somewhere every week! Life is much better without trying to fit Dr apts in with work, etc! And I make all our eye dr and dentist apts for the same time.. yeah for me!!!

pamzimmrrt, great idea, thank goodness some of my parent's doctors are the same that I have... back to back appointments means one less day off from work for me, and one less car ride :)

And once one Dr was overseeing almost everything we were able to drop some med too.. this was a blessing . I like one dr knowing what is going on, instead of several trying to guess what the others are doing.. Both folks are doing well with this

Here in my area vast majority of the doctors have electronic files... thus they can automatically email each other, instantly send files, instantly send x-rays, so there is communications between the primary doctor and the specialists.

If you are moving her from one state to another you will need to set up all her insurances and SS first. Go to Social Services or Dept of aging and see what she qualifies for. It will take time if you work full time as I do. Once that groundwork is done then check to see what MDs are on her plan. Go from there.