Totally Lost, Looking For Help To Point Me In The Right Direction. Re:power Of Attorney?

I will try to be brief, but I’m not very good at that, so let me know if you have a follow up question.

Location: Rockland County, NY

I live in Tucson, Arizona. I’m from Rockland County, New York.

My 85 year-old mother fell about five weeks ago, for no apparent reason. She went to the hospital, they transferred her to a rehab center where she is currently beginning week number four. I flew to New York two weeks ago, and took care of a lot of things, mostly financial, and things around the house that needed to be done. My sister lives in the area, but is basically useless.

She will not be released from the rehab center, in my opinion, anytime soon, because they will not release her until she can walk, and until she can get in and out of the bed by herself.

I paid a bunch of the bills, mostly using my mother’s credentials. Over the phone, kind of stuff. My mother has zero online presence. She never set up electronic banking or electronic bill paying or anything of the kind.

Obviously, I am going to try to continue paying these bills, the ones that I know of, from Arizona. But the time has come, that since she is not going to be released anytime soon, that this needs to turn into a long-term situation.

I’m completely clueless when it comes to stuff like this, but it seems to me that I should get a power of attorney? To deal with the financial stuff. Where do I even look? Do I look in Arizona where I live, or do I look in New York, where my mom is? I guess I hire an attorney, who draws up the papers, and then goes to the rehab center and has my mom sign it? And then I bring it to all of the “XYZ“ banks and financial institutions, and that gives me the permission to conduct transactions on her behalf?

How do I deal with all of the incoming mail? I don’t want to change her address or even have the mail forwarded, but clearly I need to know what’s coming so that I can address all of the bills.

I thought about returning, for another 6 to 8 weeks, but I have three dogs and logistically I can give you 100 reasons why it wouldn’t work.

If you kind souls can at least point me in the right direction, then I can probably figure it out. Thank you in advance!