It can happen to anyone, from any walk of life, when you least expect it. A child can be diagnosed with autism. An aging parent can be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A middle-aged spouse can be diagnosed with any number of incapacitating mental disorders.

While such illnesses take an obvious emotional toll, they can hurt families financially as well.

The rigors of lining up the right kind of care can be draining, and planning for the future can become much more complicated than it otherwise might have been.

If someone you love is affected by a mental illness, consider these tips for getting a handle on the situation.

1. Assess decision-making abilities. Does your family member need help making major – or even extremely basic – financial decisions? Be sensitive to just how much help your relative actually needs right now, or is likely to need over time. Allow the person to be as independent as possible for as long as possible.

2. Line up supervision at the right time. When serious decision-making help is needed, consult with a lawyer to determine whether someone trustworthy should be given durable powers of attorney, trustee status or guardianship over your loved one. While different in scope, each of these approaches allows someone else to handle your relative’s affairs.

3. Find the right kind of legal help. You can find lawyers who specialize in issues affecting the disabled through the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

4. Determine eligibility for government help. If the illness is so debilitating that your loved one can’t earn enough money to live on, he or she may qualify for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Basic rules for eligibility can be found through the Social Security Administration and through your state’s department of health, human services, social services, or children and families. (The department names vary from state to state.)

5. “Spend down” wisely. In most cases, your aging relatives would have to impoverish themselves in order to qualify for Medicaid. Be sure to help them pay off bills and debts first before they apply. Such obligations are not factored into the government’s formula for determining eligibility.

6. Understand the system. Your loved ones would stand a much better chance of getting into a nursing home or assisted living facility they – and you – prefer if they go in as private-pay patients as opposed to Medicaid patients. You can help them apply for Medicaid after they’ve lived there for several months or more.

7. Look into Special Needs Trusts. You can use such trusts, also known as Supplemental Needs Trusts, to set aside money for specific needs for relatives who qualify for Medicaid or SSI without disqualifying them from receiving those benefits. Have a lawyer draft such a trust for you.

8. Plan ahead. To get a handle on how much money you might need over time to cover a family member’s expenses, use Merrill Lynch’sSpecial Needs Calculator.

9. Tap into local support. You can find contact information for local experts through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (1-800-950-6264). The national Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116) can connect you with your local Area Agency on Aging office if you’re lining up care for an aging relative.

10. Make sure your child’s care is covered. If you die before doing any advance planning for your disabled child, the courts could appoint a guardian without direction from you. Your child also may not be equipped to handle money inherited from you. The book “Planning for the Future: Providing a Meaningful Life for a Child with a Disability After Your Death” contains helpful advice in this arena.

Sources:

• Consumer Reports Money Adviser
• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine
• MSN Money

Heart disease symptoms may differ in females

‘Today’ takes a look at two women at risk for heart attacks, but who struggled to be heard by their doctors

Continuing the “Heart Smarts” series, day two focuses on heart disease and women. One in every five deaths in America is caused by heart disease. In fact, more women will die of heart disease and stroke than they will of breast cancer. For women, the symptoms of heart disease may be different than men and therefore more difficult to diagnose. “Today” profiles two women whose symptoms were overlooked and their fight for medical treatment.

In the movies, heart attacks are always obvious — various movies show women and men dying of heart attacks or dropping dead but in real life, especially for women, the symptoms of potentially fatal heart disease are often overlooked.

Susan Goodreds: I would talk about having this feeling of pressure in my chest, or maybe here or maybe here. But nothing painful.

64-year-old Susan Goodreds complained for years to her doctors about the discomfort in her chest. She also had high cholesterol.

Goodreds: I would get recommendations to reduce stress. It was almost as if these symptoms were put over on a the stress plate. They weren't seen as potential heart disease.

Rhonda Barrett says her symptoms were also missed by doctors. Even though they fit the standard profile of heart trouble.

Rhonda Barrett: For seven days, I went to the hospital. I'm complaining of chest pain. Explaining that I had the elephant sensation on my chest. The crushing substernal chest pain. The nausea, the vomiting, the numbness and tingling in my left arm, and they kept telling me there is nothing wrong.

In Rhonda's case, a nurse finally ordered an EKG and stress test. The results showed her major arteries had been damaged and she was rushed to heart by-pass surgery.

Susan had to be her own advocate, insisting on additional blood tests and a non-invasive CT scan, not covered by insurance.

Goodreds: He said, you know you'll have to pay for that yourself and I said, and I am willing to pay for that test.

As a result of that CT scan, doctors discovered Susan had severe heart disease.

Goodreds: I was at high risk for having a heart attack and I had two arteries in my heart that were just about virtually blocked.

Soon after, she also had bypass surgery.

Now both women are speaking out, urging others to learn the warning signs and take control of their own heart health.

Goodreds: I found that women are treated a lot differently than men are treated, and also because of my age and because I appeared to be in good health and I don't have any family history.

Or if you have the reoccurring pain, if you have the recurring high blood pressure or you can't maintain your cholesterol, you've got to know these numbers and you've got to take action.

You've got to know your numbers, know what your options are. You just can't leave your heart health in somebody else's hands.

Dole salads recalled for E. coli in U.S., Canada

Sample atCanadian grocery store tested positive for bug.  (See News coverage for additionl info.)