(mellow music) - Looking good.

- Uh-huh.

- [Nan] Tom is an amazing guy.

He is a leader, a protector, a first responder, he is a adventurous, we love doing things together.

I have this crazy little happy face mug, and this particular morning he had heard about this restaurant that was giving away these mugs.

And before I was even awake, he was already home with the mug.

And he said, "Good morning."

And then he told me that if I brought this mug to that restaurant every day, I could have a free cup of coffee.

That's just Tom.

We traveled the world, we traveled the country, we traveled different cities, and we just traveled very close to home.

And what I loved about him, and I still do, is that he is very emotive, but he's very strong and sometimes a little controlling, which is a good thing in an emergency situation.

I first started noticing changes in Tom years and years before his official diagnosis.

Suddenly something was in a pile, or his coffee cup was in a place where he never put it before.

And so what ended up happening was he took that memory test and it turned out that he had MCI.

(dramatic music) When I finally decided to put him in long-term care, I felt defeat.

I have to tell you, I wanted to cry.

I feel like crying now.

It was a personal failure for me.

I said, "Why can't I keep doing this?

Why can't I keep doing this?"

And everybody who knew me, like, "Nan, look at yourself.

You're ragged.

You're tired, you have bags under your eyes."

And Tom looks best life ever.

What was eye-opening to me about the cost of long-term care was the fact that I could have long-term care for $7,000 a month, $18,000 a month.

So let's take $10,000 a month.

That's $120,000 a year.

That's like 150,000 pre-tax dollars.

And how many years is that gonna have to last?

Nobody can afford this.

- My name is Juliette Marcella.

I'm the Deputy Secretary for the Office of Long-Term Living within the Department of Human Services.

So for individuals to access and use government assisted programs for the Office of Long-Term Living and long-term care, long-term services and support, the best way to access our services and begin eligibility and application process is to connect with the Pennsylvania Independent Enrollment Broker.

That organization will provide education on all of the services that are available through the Office of Long-Term Living and help folks along the journey of becoming eligible for the Office of Long-Term Living Programs.

Our Act 150 program, for example, supports individuals who don't meet Medicaid eligibility, but still need personal assistance services.

- [Nan] The advice I would give to families in the future would be this.

The minute you even suspect something is a little off-kilter, just go get it checked out and then make a plan.

Look at your finances.

Maybe now you're downsized.

Maybe now you rearrange your life while things are still good.

Take that cruise that you always wanted to go on.

- So there's quite a number of policies in the works to make long-term care accessible.

We've recently added beneficiary support services to better assist individuals as they navigate care options and applications.

In addition, we're expanding the use of assistive technology, voice activated tools, automatic doors, devices that promote independence.

There is a wide diverse world of incredible technology out there that can be supportive and help people stay in their own homes.

- [Nan] And despite all the challenges, the thing that keeps me going is that I am very positive by nature and I try to find the joy in everything.

And my family is beyond dear to me.

And also when I visit Tom and I see him and he recognizes me, that just gives me a flutter of joy.

- So to improve the system of long-term care and long-term services and supports for future generations, we really need to get upstream as much as possible.

We need to educate everyone on how do they plan for long-term services, preparing for perhaps situations that are unexpected here that they didn't otherwise expect.

Having all of those in order and having that information available and ready and knowing what the plan is in advance and sharing that plan, I think is critically important to helping people connect faster.

- And as far as aging, I say do every single thing that ever makes you joyful because you just don't know.

(upbeat music)