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P.R.O.N.T.O
Personal Records Organizer Newsletter Tips Online
Vol. 1, Issue 1
Publisher: Shirley M. Green Shirley@promasterorganizer.com
http://www.promasterorganizer.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome

2. Recent Events

3. Other Things I have done

4. More Things I have done

5. Affiliate Programs

6. Future

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1. Welcome
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Welcome to the first issue of P.R.O.N.T.O

Since this is the “maiden” issue, I would like to take some extra time to introduce myself, explain how I became a Professional Organizer and a little about the national and local organizing organizations I belong to.

My name is Shirley M. Green, and my humble little abode is in Westminster, Colorado; which is in the Denver metro area. I was born and raised in Denver, one of the few “true natives” in the area.

I have always been a very organized person, and have assisted family, friends and organizations with various organizing feats for most of my adult life. For some 18 years I was privileged to don another hat “primary caregiver” to my Mother, who I affectionately called “the little woman”. The last few years of my Father’s life, I assisted Mom a great deal with his needs. Then she and I became almost “inseparable” for the next 18 years.

While she was still living independently, we traveled a great deal around the U.S. and Canada.

“The little woman’s” health started to decline in 1991. About this time I developed a one page emergency medical sheet that became known as “The Pink Sheet”

Finally, in the Spring of 1999 Mom chose to move into an Assisted Living Facility. Shortly after this move, I took over most of her paperwork and arrangement of Dr. appointments, transportation, shopping, medication, interfacing with medical personal, home health care, etc. The health continued to deteriorate, in Sept. 2000 it was evident the next step was needed….the move to a nursing home…unfortunately this needed to be done rather hurriedly. A niece and I spent one whole day previewing nursing home facilities in the area of town we hoped to move “the little woman” Once we narrowed it down, we gathered other family members to take a look at what we had found. Two days later, the BIG MOVE occurred.

The organizational skills came in extremely handy and continued to help in so many facets during the next 23 months of nursing home living.

After 23 months…it was time for another step….the Hospice. “The little woman” became an angel early one Sunday morning..the first Sunday after that fateful September 11. My brother (the executor) was locked inside a secure military location that morning. Here again, those organizational skills went into full swing. By the time he arrived home that evening, I had everything organized, scheduled and most of the family/friends notified…all he had to do was “cross those t’s and dot those i’s”

If we had not gone thru the previous 3 years in such an organized manner, the family would have been in a state of “oh gosh, what the heck do we do now, what do we do first, how do we do this, how do we do that”.

Why do I tell you this?? It all leads up to WHY I decided to turn my organizational skills around and become a Professional Organizer. As I cared for Mom and her needs thru the above stages, on numerous occasions people would say “you are good at this, there is great need for what you are doing, you obviously enjoy what you are doing, why don’t you do this professionally?” I pushed this to the back of my mind for many years then came the NOW all familiar “corporate layoff”. I truly enjoyed doing what I did for Mom…sort of like a personal liaison between anyone in the medical field, Medicare, administration at the different facilities she was in, etc. So, I said to myself “Self, why not turn this into a business? Help others with what you did for “the little woman” and what you have done for other relatives and friends”
To become Professional, I joined the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the Colorado Professional Organizers (CoPO).

At this point you are probably asking, so Shirley, what is a Professional Organizer??

     A Professional Organizer provides information, products and assistance to
     help others organize to meet their personal needs. A professional organizer
     guides, encourages and educates clients about basic principles of organizing
     by offering support, focus and direction. They can provide ideas, information,
     structure, solutions, or systems which can increase productivity (such as in
     the workplace), reduce stress, and create newfound freedom and sense of
     being in control (doesn’t that sound heavenly??)

So, let me ask you a few questions:

* If you had a personal emergency, would your family/loved ones know
the proper information to assist you in the way YOU want?

* Would your loved ones know your “special” wishes when it came to
emergency medical assistance?

* Would your loved ones know where your important papers are?

* If something breaks in your home or on your car, do you have a
warranty or policy to cover the problem, if so, where is it?

* If your purse/wallet were lost/stolen, would you know the numbers
to all cards (credit/health/etc) and what numbers to call to notify
the proper authorities of the loss?

* Can you see the VALUE of having all this important information in a
central location?

* Doesn’t it make sense to have this important information in a central
location and certain that EVERYTHING is “up-to-date”

* Isn’t it reassuring to know this information is ready for you when your
loved one needs YOU to assist them?

* Isn’t it reassuring to know this information is ready for YOUR loved
ones if they need to assist YOU?

* P.R.O. can also organize your warranties, policies and credit cards so
that you now what you have and where such items are located

For these reasons…I took the steps I utilized in organizing home records and medical records and created “how to” kits so that anyone can organize this information for themselves. This kit is available in hard copy and will soon also be available totally online.

So many people say “oh, I will do that on a rainy day”. Well, we all know how easy it is to find something else to do on that rainy day. Then, an emergency comes along and what do you say to yourself?? My guess is that you smack your forehead and say “why didn’t I do this on that rainy day”? Don’t let an emergency put you into an accelerated state of chaos because of your disorganization.

I am really into “portability” and my “how to” kits reflect that. They instruct you on how to organize this proper information, how to document it, etc. You can do this yourself..YES YOU CAN! The important thing is to sit down and DO IT!

If after reading the kit instructions and looking at the samples you still feel “I just can’t do this myself” , then let’s get together via teleconference and do it together.

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2. Recent Events
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October 3-5, 2002 I had the privilege of having an exhibition booth at the
World Congress & Exposition on Disabilities, Orlando, Florida.

To be honest, I was a tad nervous about this event as it was the biggest
event I had participated in, to this point. Well, about 10 minutes prior to the
exposition hall opening on day 1…all my fears just went “poof”. I set up my
booth, took a couple deep breaths, a swig of lemon Diet Coke and just felt
like I had been doing this for decades.

The contacts I made were fantastic and thru this newsletter, I plan to share
Information that I picked up. I picked up a tremendous amount of literature
that I hope will be of great benefit to all of you. If there is something specific
that you need me to address, please email me your need/question. If I do not
have the information readily available to answer online, thus sharing with all; I
will investigate and than share the results with everyone.

I answer my own email…I do NOT delegate that to anyone. Keep in mind
that if I am “on the road again”, either at an exhibition or giving my “role
reversal seminar”, my response to an email or phone message may be a tad
delayed. I don’t ever anticipate a delay of more than 3 days.

During the 1st day of the Orlando exposition, I was invited to two other
Expositions for 2003. One in the Spring in Irvine, CA and one over 4th of July
in Washington, DC…..more on these later.

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3. Other Things I have done
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I have been interviewed on several internet talk radio shows…one of which
was the Aug 10, 2002 on Jacqueline Marcell’s Coping With Caregiving

http://media1.select.net/wsradioarchive/sho_elder3081002.wma

You can click on the above link OR if you are looking thru Jacqueline’s site
http://www.elderrage.com, on the home page, go to the right side, scroll
down below her photo, click on the Coping with Caregiving archived shows,
then click on the show date of 08/10/02, my interview is segment 3. This is
about a 20 minute interview.

Of all the radio interviews, this is the only one that is archived so that you can
listen at your convenience 24 x 7.

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4. More things I have done
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I have delivered my “role reversal seminar” to such arenas such as:
* Quarterly Family nights at local assisted living facilities
* Church groups
* Team building with previous corporate employer

You should see how I pull together trip plans…my teen age granddaughters
were quite surprised when I had a week long trip to Walt Disney World totally
mapped out…complete with Rules & Regulations for their behavior!

Then there is the “spur of the moment” reception after the funeral of my
sister-in-laws Mother. I even surprised myself on how smooth that pulled
together.

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5.   Affiliate Programs
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I have numerous affiliate programs and these will constantly increase.
there will be links to some of them on my website and there will be several
highlighted on the newsletter.    If there is something special, in the
organizing world that you would like me to feature, do NOT hesitate to ask.
After all, this newsletter is to help everyone.

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6. Future
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As we move forward-together, this newsletter will include such sections as:
* Tip of the Month
* Organizer of the Month (will portray a fellow Professional Organizer)
* Upcoming Events
* Question & Answer section
* Information on books, products, websites that have been brought to my attention

Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute P.R.O.N.T.O. or any article(s) by Shirley M. Green
© Copyright 2002 by Shirley M. Green, P.R.O.N.T.O.
Personal Records Organizer, LLC
http://www.promasterorganizer.com
P.O. Box 745845
Arvada, CO. 80006-5845

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