September 2026 Newsletter

Be Ready for the Unexpected: A Big-Picture Checklist

According to national data from 2024, weather and climate disasters have become more frequent, more severe, and more costly. Are you giving emergency preparedness the appropriate amount of attention? Read more to discover that a big-picture planning checklist can reveal your readiness for unexpected disruptions to your life, so you are not forced to address them under pressure when it may be too late or too difficult to make changes on the fly.

How to Protect Your Legal Documents in a Natural Disaster 

Legal documents can feel abstract when nobody immediately needs them or you have never used them, in much the same way that the risk of a wildfire, hurricane, or other emergency can feel remote until you experience one firsthand. Read more to learn about how to prepare for that possibility, and how you should adopt a “not if, but when” mindset that lets you take control, even in the uncertainty of a disaster, by understanding the risks, making a plan, and protecting critical records.

Emergency Preparedness When Your Parent Is in a Nursing Home

Careful research and frequent check-ins can help keep a parent safe and secure in their new residence, as can preparing for a disaster that could trigger rapid, high-stakes legal and financial decisions. Read more to learn that a disaster plan may begin at home, but it should also account for parents and other family members who live elsewhere and may depend on you during an emergency.

Note from Susana: Gratitude 

Dear Reader,

Many of my clients know that my husband, Mark, passed away at the end of August following a lengthy illness. We had a long and very stable marriage, and moving forward without him here is difficult.

I am just getting back to work now, at the end of September. From time to time, I plan to share parts of the last “journey” that Mark and I undertook together—not only to tell our story, but also to inform you, the reader, about the good, the bad, and the ugly of navigating “the system,” and about finding compassion in the most unexpected places.

The experience of navigating Mark’s last illness for some six years—the last two of which were particularly difficult for him—may not have made me a better person, but it has certainly made me a more understanding advocate for clients and families facing similar circumstances.

For this note, however, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to the many medical professionals, caregivers, and the team at Care Dimensions Hospice who helped us and stood by us as we traveled through, and ultimately reached the end of, what I will call “the illness journey.”