Aging, Sliced Just Right: How The PIE Model™ Helps
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As I teach and speak, whether online, in person or while guesting on podcasts I often use a framework that I developed that seems to make sense to me and to many. It's a way of looking at the stuff we need to evaluate, if not shore up, as we age.
This framework or model may seem a little wacky or even elementary at first blush, however it creates a visual that is easily adopted. People tell me they “get it”, they see it, easily.
That model is what I have named The PIE Model™
Using the PIE Model™ means using a six-piece or six-category vantage point. I and my clients take a look at and assess needs by way of six headings:
Medical
Legal
Financial
Insurance
Housing
Support
Most people can easily grasp or relate to the idea that a pie is the whole and that it is delivered in pieces. My clients tell me that the PIE Model™ is easy to digest (pun intended).
Professionals also approach me for permission to use this model, this framework in their work with clients, usually care management types who assist their clientele holistically. They say it not only helps the client or their loved ones, but that it also helps keep their own work on track with said client, making it easier to identify and more fully encompass the needs of their clients. They report being better able to plan and track their own service delivery.
So, we have the What and the Who’s, what about the Hows? How do we use The PIE Model™ in real life?
Now let us focus upon the pieces of The PIE, the “What does this mean to me?” -part. Let's talk about the pieces, and the thought and work before you that they may present as we navigate aging.
Medical - (well, dontcha know the Patient Advocate starts here?) How are things with you physically, cognitively and emotionally? Are providers needed? Is evaluation, to better the plan? Need education of How Stuff Works within our wacky healthcare system? Someone to ensure, or to be your voice?
Legal - Do you have your legal ducks in a row? Not at all, or maybe partially? Do you have old documents to review, like “from 2 grandchildren ago”, or have you, your situation, or your thinking changed about it all? Is it time to revise or to better understand? How good do you feel about what you have?
Financial - Similarly, how sound do you feel financially? Do you know all you need to know? If you have few assets do you understand government programs that may help you in coming years? If you do have assets do you have a good enough understanding of the tools available to you? Whether or not we have a lot of money, is some strategy needed to manage it and make it last? Do you need a financial partner? What about the day-to-day – if those processes are good now, how can you keep them going?
Insurance - Do you have a fundamental understanding of the insurance tools available to you or might some education and strategy be at hand? What about the day-to-day in this case, managing claims or questioning, even disputing matters? Have you got insurance plans that fit you, your pie, and not everyone else?
Housing - We're gonna talk about your residence, and if it is sustainable. Is what fits now going to fit in the future, and how will you know if that is changing? When would be ‘your When’ to move? What are your Must Haves and Would Be Nices, and how can you get yourself into something that is affordable -and safe - for you?
Support - Ah, the biggest piece of pie! Who are all the people who can help you get to where you need to be (for this pie or future ones)? What do you need to know – about your community, your providers, How Stuff Works? Do you know “The Deweys”?
Ha, find that blog! There is Who Dewey, What and When Dewey, we have Where and also Why Dewey, and don’t forget good ol Cousin How Dewey. I can introduce you to the Deweys. In fact, life is better when you know a lot of Deweys.
Still, we have plenty of pie for all. ‘Seems we never run out.
Let us not forget the idea or imagery of ‘manageable bites,’ ‘one piece at a time,’ and even handing off a piece to another if that seems right. And then there’s the celebrating; there’s a real satisfying feeling when you have finished a piece of pie.
It should not go without saying (or visualizing) that some pieces of someone’s pie will be larger than others. Time, or someone may have stolen a piece. I always envision fruit pies, nearly impossible to cut uniformly and whose juices run all over the plate. Like Medical spills over into Legal, or Housing. Juicy.
In my consultations we go over your particular pie, customized and specific to you. Your circumstances, what you've tried. What has worked, what has not, what you need to know, or learn. As a result of conversation, our examination of your particular pie, a few things begin to happen.
A loose plan emerges: What needs to be done, what is okay, what actions may be needed
Priorities become clearer: What is urgent, what is next, what can wait and sometimes even a fuhgeddaboudit.
Time to celebrate: What has gone right, what is good, where is opportunity (!), and what we can we rake right off the table because it's done or it doesn’t matter.
Ya know, we are always eating pie, and we can be assured that there will be a next-pie. Why? Because things change. People change. We physically and cognitively and emotionally change, and so do the players around us. By ‘players’ I mean your Microboard, or your Team. Laws change. Healthcare service delivery methods change as well, and add to that that any new services that will emerge to benefit us.
“Change is the only constant,” said Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher. Heraclitus also said “You cannot step twice into the same river.” I bet he digested some pies in his time.
All pies hold opportunity. My belief is that within all pies are causes for celebration, and hope. We can expect that change, and we can expect a next-pie, and rest assured that we shall then have more experience and knowledge to apply. The next-pie will not be the same pie. It may bear some similarities, and we will meet it with savvy and the help of those around us.
If you have a pie and you're not sure how to slice it, contact me. Perhaps we will invite a few others to the table, to share a slice. Need a specialist? Need those legal documents updated? Need to know how best to talk about that (tricky or uncomfortable) topic? Need a sounding board for your journey or a leg of it?
That is where I and my triage capabilities come in. Many folks find remedy by having pie with me! I am a seasoned professional with years of patient advocacy experience, and having networked with every kind of professional you might ever need. And, I have a couple of decades of “helping daughter” under my belt. All that has equipped me with an ability to assess aging matters like nobody’s business.
My one-hour consultations are just the thing to gain an assessment of your particular pie, who’s involved, how to slice it, and when to serve it up. (If y’all didn’t catch that, it was a Call To Action, ahem!). Contact me and we’ll get started on that pie, using The PIE Model™.
Yup, there are pies-a-plenty. Some pieces will be bigger than others. A few will be rough around the edges, and some will ooze their juicy goodness. My pie will be different from yours, or Sarah’s or Sam’s, and I’ve never found one we couldn’t slice.
Medical, Legal, Financial... Insurance, Housing & Support: What’ll ya have?
Nancy Ruffner is a patient advocate whose focuses include aging strategy, healthcare navigation, and solo aging. Nancy consults with clients in a triage fashion, offering one-hour consultations to find a path, gain a deeper understanding of “how stuff works” in eldercare, or specifically problem-solve. Schedule your Power Hour Now, without obligation of commitment or continuing costs.