Caregiving often starts with a crisis: A loved one suffers a fall or receives a serious diagnosis, and you are suddenly forced to respond and make decisions quickly — in some cases without even knowing his or her wishes. The good news is that much of this uncertainty can be avoided by simple planning.

One of the first and most important things to do when devising a caregiving plan is to identify and organize important documents. Here’s a primer on how to get your loved one’s papers in order and come up with a caregiving plan

Three steps to assemble important documents:

1. Discovery: It sounds simple, but the first thing to do is ask your parents where they store important papers. It may be in a file cabinet at home, or in a safety deposit box or with an attorney. You can’t get organized if you can’t find anything, so come up with a checklist to write down where everything is. Documents that should be assembled and accounted for might include: birth certificate, will, marriage certificate, living will, driver’s license/organ donor card, durable power of attorney, divorce papers, health care power of attorney, military records, trust, death certificate (for deceased spouse), information about safety deposit boxes (e.g., location, number, key), passport/citizen papers, insurance policies (life, disability, long-term care), letter of instruction — with funeral arrangements, important contact information such as insurance agent or broker.

2. Review: Once you’ve identified where those important papers are located, sit down as a family to review all the documents.

3. Storage: It’s smart to keep the important documents in a safe, accessible place such as a secure file cabinet. Copies should be made for the person who is designated as a health care agent, and you should consider copying the files onto a thumb drive that can be stored at another location.

At 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, there will be a Caregiver support group meeting at the senior center. If you are caring for your loved one or know someone that is please feel free to attend this support group. You will be able to get together with others facing similar situations and hear what others are doing to cope with issues.

Don’t forget our coffee shop where every day you can have homemade soup for $1 and sandwich for 50 cents. Tuesday we are having tator tot hotdish in the coffee shop for only $2.

Upcoming events

Monday: Blood Pressure Checks, 9 a.m.; SAIL Bone Builder, 9 a.m.; Walking Club 9 a.m.;  Cards (Pinochle and bridge), 12:30 p.m.; Exercise with Evies Friends, 1 p.m.;

Tuesday: Silver Sneakers 8:15 a.m.; Exercise with Evie’s Friends, 9 a.m.; Tator Tot Hotdish, 11:30 a.m.; Cards (500, Duplicate Bridge,  Pinochle), 12:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Tai Chi, 9 a.m.; Walking Club,  9 a.m.; Weight Watchers, 12:15 p.m.; Cards (Duplicate Bridge, Pinochle, Cribbage), 12:30 p.m.; Stitching Bees, 1 p.m.; open chess, 1 p.m.

Thursday: Tops, 8 a.m.; Silver Sneakers, 8:15 a.m.; Exercise with Evie’s Friends, 9 a.m.;

Caregivers Support Group, 10:30 a.m.; Cards (Pinochle), 12:30 p.m.; Bingo and open chess, 1 p.m.;  Weight Watchers, 5 p.m.

Friday: SAIL Bone Builders, 9 a.m.; Walking Club, 9 a.m.; Cards (Bridge tournament, 500), 12:30 p.m.; Ping pong, 3 p.m.

Weekly Card Results

Monday Bridge

June 4, two tables

1st Mary Johnsen, 2nd Carolyne Higgins, 3rd Dave Solomonson, 4th Quentin Fiala

Tuesday Bridge

June 5, seven tables

1st Dave Ring, 1st Loren Cleland, 2nd Rick Stroup, 2nd John Liesen; 3rd Barb Engebretson, 3rd Orrion Roisen; 4th Harriet Oldenburg, 4th Teresa Baldus; 5th Larry Crowe, 5th Bill Momsen

Tuesday 500

June 5, three tables

1st Dennis Bray, 2nd Betty Fisher, 3rd Russ Vaale, 4th Barb Dickman

Friday 500

June 8, two tables

1st Dennis Bray, 2nd Russ Vaale, 3rd Carol Hamilton, 4th Wayne Chilson

Wednesday

Duplicate Bridge

June 6, five tables

1st Larry Crowe, 1st Jim Fisher; 2nd Loren Cleland, 2nd Bud Higgins; 3rd Joyce Crowe; 3rd Millie Seiver, 4th Vandy Newman; 4th Ron Peters; 5th Gail Schmidt, 5th Ray Schmidt

Friday Bridge

June 8, two tables

1st Dave Solomonson, 2nd Quentin Fiala, 3rd Anne Dvorak, 4th Mary Johnsen,

5th Millie Seiver

Pinochle

Dave Solomonson