In our process of Life Care Planning we work with our clients in planning for their long term care needs. The Life Care Planning process involves developing an infrastructure including legal documents and structuring finances that best situates the client when long term care needs develop. It also involves really knowing the clients and what is important to them individually so that we can assist when needs develop.
I was surprised to read the full context of the above quote by President Eisenhower and how pertinent it is to the work that we do, even though his speech was made in the context of a much different topic: war. In a speech to the National Defense Executive Reserve Conference on November 14, 1957 he said:
Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of “emergency” is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.
So, the first thing you do is to take all the plans off the top shelf and throw them out the window and start once more. But if you haven’t been planning you can’t start to work, intelligently at least.
That is the reason it is so important to plan, to keep yourselves steeped in the character of the problem that you may one day be called upon to solve–or to help to solve.
Our clients often contact us in times of emergency. Unexpected things happen and we have to regroup and settle into a new “plan” based upon the facts present today. The Life Care Planning process allows us and our clients to keep ourselves “steeped in the character of the problem that we may one day be called upon to solve.”