Have you heard of the Caring Cooperatives? These are groups of women who live alone and have no family nearby and are banding together to help one another with doctor visits, errands and other necessities. The movement was started in New York City in 2008 by a group of professional women near retirement who had been part of a national nonprofit called The Transition Network. The New York Times ran an article on Friday, September 16, about the Caring Collaborative: "Coming Together to Make Aging a Little Easier". It is well worth reading.
I've heard of other cooperatives like this, where retired people help each other with medical appointments and hospital stays. Members even act as medical advocates for each other. I have a friend in California who has had training in how to do this and has accompanied a neighbor to the hospital, making sure she was not neglected and that she understood the directions doctors and nurses were giving her. My friend also brought her neighbor home.
The church I belong to (The First Congregational Church of Darien) started a Caring Committee many years ago that provided rides to medical appointments, home-cooked meals, friendly visits and cookies and flowers at holidays. They brought my mother a plate of Christmas cookies when she was in a nursing home. That always made me feel so good. A few years ago, the committee expanded to include chore services and is now called Church Friends. It's not just for helping older people, though. When I young mom had an operation, members provided meals and rides for her kids to their activities.
I'm on the board of new nonprofit in Darien, Connecticut, called Aging in Place+Gallivant ("AIP+G"). We provide a single place to call to learn about the services that already exist in the community to help you stay in your home as you get older. We also provide transportation and some handyman services. We are currently discussing how we can use volunteers to do more, such as friendly visits and friendly shopping.
The point is, people are making a difference in helping one another. You or your loved-ones do not have to be alone. Find out what is available where you live.
Showing posts with label affordable aging in place. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affordable aging in place. Show all posts
Technology Can Let You Age in Place
Mom or Dad doesn't want to move to assisted living or a nursing home. But you are worried about Mom falling or Dad forgetting to take his medication at the right time. What can you do with parents who want to live out their days at home? Technology to the rescue.
There are now a wide variety of high-tech gadgets and systems that help seniors remember to take their pills, warn family or emergency services that they have fallen, or even monitor daily habits. These are big advances over the older technologies you've seen advertised on TV. Large corporations, entrepreneurs and universities are busy developing new and better methods to meet the growing demand from older adults and their adult children. Among these are U.C.L.A. Wireless Health Institute and Philips.
This whole new concept in high tech support is really wonderful, if you can get over the idea that it's a little bit like "Big Brother". Still, according to two articles in the New York Times, seniors can get used to being monitored. And if the adult children frame the requests to use technology properly, they can demonstrate love and care, rather than a need to control.
Read more about the technology via these links:
http://www.wirelesshealth.ucla.edu/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29hometech.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29parents.html
There are now a wide variety of high-tech gadgets and systems that help seniors remember to take their pills, warn family or emergency services that they have fallen, or even monitor daily habits. These are big advances over the older technologies you've seen advertised on TV. Large corporations, entrepreneurs and universities are busy developing new and better methods to meet the growing demand from older adults and their adult children. Among these are U.C.L.A. Wireless Health Institute and Philips.
This whole new concept in high tech support is really wonderful, if you can get over the idea that it's a little bit like "Big Brother". Still, according to two articles in the New York Times, seniors can get used to being monitored. And if the adult children frame the requests to use technology properly, they can demonstrate love and care, rather than a need to control.
Read more about the technology via these links:
http://www.wirelesshealth.ucla.edu/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29hometech.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29parents.html
Why Is It So Hard to Throw Things Away?
I've often thought that one reason older people don't want to move is because it would make them have to decide what to move and what to throw away. How can you throw out a lifetime of memories or many of those items you just might need?
I think about this a lot because I donate my time to Aging In Place in Darien, and because when I was a kid, I used to move about every two years, which necessitated lots of throwing away, selling, giving away and packing up. I've now spent over 20 years in one place, and although wanderlust strikes me often, I also dread the idea of a move.
Recently, I tried to make myself do "spring cleaning" and discovered that it's good to sort through old papers. You can find things! You can clear the decks. But on the whole, it's just not as satisfying to me as weeding or tilling the soil. Spring to me means it's time to work in the garden. Maybe I just like putting down roots.
But yesterday, I read a wonderful piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine about cleaning out the parents' home. The writer, Rick Marin, took a week to do it. The piece is worth reading, mostly because it's just good writing. But it's also worth it to make you think about who should do the throwing out. You? Your adult children? People left behind when you're dead or incapacitated? Not pleasant thoughts, but still, ones worth having. I commend the article to you.
I think about this a lot because I donate my time to Aging In Place in Darien, and because when I was a kid, I used to move about every two years, which necessitated lots of throwing away, selling, giving away and packing up. I've now spent over 20 years in one place, and although wanderlust strikes me often, I also dread the idea of a move.
Recently, I tried to make myself do "spring cleaning" and discovered that it's good to sort through old papers. You can find things! You can clear the decks. But on the whole, it's just not as satisfying to me as weeding or tilling the soil. Spring to me means it's time to work in the garden. Maybe I just like putting down roots.
But yesterday, I read a wonderful piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine about cleaning out the parents' home. The writer, Rick Marin, took a week to do it. The piece is worth reading, mostly because it's just good writing. But it's also worth it to make you think about who should do the throwing out. You? Your adult children? People left behind when you're dead or incapacitated? Not pleasant thoughts, but still, ones worth having. I commend the article to you.
Objects of Accumulation
Packing up an entire houseful of stuff and memories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25lives-t.html
Affordable Senior Housing in Fairfield County, CT
When Aging in Place in Darien conducted focus groups a couple of years ago, several respondents told us that they would have to move away from our town because they couldn't afford to stay. Our recent quantitative research confirmed such comments. Housing and taxes are just too expensive for some seniors.
Even though most seniors have paid off their mortgages, other living expenses still abound and keep climbing as people hire employees to help them with more daily tasks. Social Security provides only a portion of most seniors' income; and interest rates paid on savings accounts, CDs and government bonds are very low. Cash flows for many are withering away. So when property taxes, upkeep, food, utilities and the price of services all rise, staying in a large home in a place like Darien becomes more difficult financially.
Darien has only 30 affordable housing units set aside for seniors. And it has very few market-rate condos or rentals. Because affordable housing has become a very hot topic in my town, and because I'm interested in helping seniors, I decided to see what neighboring suburban towns are offering by calling the local Housing Authorities and other government agencies. Here is what I've learned:
Darien - 30
Greenwich - 291
New Canaan - 119
Westport - 50
Wilton - 115
In Wilton, some of the assisted living and senior residences that rent at market rates have units set aside that are affordable. This is the case at the Greens at Cannondale and at Sunrise Senior Living. I wish we had affordable spaces at Atria in Darien. I also wonder why the old nursing home that now stands empty on the Post Road can't be turned into a mixture of market-rate and affordable senior apartments. I wish that either the former library could become the new senior center and the old senior center could become affordable senior housing (or visa versa).
I'd love to know how others feel. Post your comments.
There is clearly a need.
Even though most seniors have paid off their mortgages, other living expenses still abound and keep climbing as people hire employees to help them with more daily tasks. Social Security provides only a portion of most seniors' income; and interest rates paid on savings accounts, CDs and government bonds are very low. Cash flows for many are withering away. So when property taxes, upkeep, food, utilities and the price of services all rise, staying in a large home in a place like Darien becomes more difficult financially.
Darien has only 30 affordable housing units set aside for seniors. And it has very few market-rate condos or rentals. Because affordable housing has become a very hot topic in my town, and because I'm interested in helping seniors, I decided to see what neighboring suburban towns are offering by calling the local Housing Authorities and other government agencies. Here is what I've learned:
Darien - 30
Greenwich - 291
New Canaan - 119
Westport - 50
Wilton - 115
In Wilton, some of the assisted living and senior residences that rent at market rates have units set aside that are affordable. This is the case at the Greens at Cannondale and at Sunrise Senior Living. I wish we had affordable spaces at Atria in Darien. I also wonder why the old nursing home that now stands empty on the Post Road can't be turned into a mixture of market-rate and affordable senior apartments. I wish that either the former library could become the new senior center and the old senior center could become affordable senior housing (or visa versa).
I'd love to know how others feel. Post your comments.
There is clearly a need.
National Older Driver Safety Awareness Week
It's really tough when you feel that your parents should not be driving anymore. Driving in this country is tantamount to freedom. But this week may be your chance to broach the subject.
I have copied and pasted this information from the National Council on Senior Transportation.
This is Older Driver Safety Awareness Week
The NCST is pleased to endorse Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Dec. 6 - 12, sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Association. In the spirit of this observance and the awareness of skills necessary to operate a vehicle safely, we are pleased to provide the following resources through the NCST Web site, http://www.
The NCST is pleased to endorse Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Dec. 6 - 12, sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Association. In the spirit of this observance and the awareness of skills necessary to operate a vehicle safely, we are pleased to provide the following resources through the NCST Web site, http://www.
- Safe Driving Programs: AARP's Driver Safety Program
- Safe Driving for Older Adults, tips for older drivers from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
- Supplemental Transportation Programs for Seniors (PDF) - a report by the Beverly Foundation and the AAA Foundation
The Good of Hospice Care
I've known three people who were in hospice care, two friends from my church in Connecticut and my uncle in California. In each case, I was so impressed with the quality of the care. Truly, these people received highly caring, gracious care. I felt like the home health aides and nurses were angels, taking their gifts for helping the dying and applying them here, now, on Earth.
So when I read Jane Brody's column on Hospice Care in the New York Times Science Times on December 1, I knew I had to post a link so that others could read it. I knew I had to write about hospice.
There are many people who do not believe in aging in place, especially at the end. They believe that it's wrong to turn the home into a hospital and have people coming and going. But for the people I know who chose to stay at home and have hospice care come to them, aging -- and dying -- in place was peaceful, loving and graceful.
That said, I one of my friends who had hospice care was not at home. She was in Stamford's Hospice near Stamford Hospital. (Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence). When I visited her there, it was clear that she was getting the loving care she needed outside her home. This choice was exactly right for her and her family.
There is no one right way to die. This choice, if possible, should not be dictated by the well meaning social worker or bureaucrat. Rather, each family and each aging individual needs to pick what is right for them.
Here's a link to Brody's column -- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/01brod.html
Synopsis:
So when I read Jane Brody's column on Hospice Care in the New York Times Science Times on December 1, I knew I had to post a link so that others could read it. I knew I had to write about hospice.
There are many people who do not believe in aging in place, especially at the end. They believe that it's wrong to turn the home into a hospital and have people coming and going. But for the people I know who chose to stay at home and have hospice care come to them, aging -- and dying -- in place was peaceful, loving and graceful.
That said, I one of my friends who had hospice care was not at home. She was in Stamford's Hospice near Stamford Hospital. (Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence). When I visited her there, it was clear that she was getting the loving care she needed outside her home. This choice was exactly right for her and her family.
There is no one right way to die. This choice, if possible, should not be dictated by the well meaning social worker or bureaucrat. Rather, each family and each aging individual needs to pick what is right for them.
Here's a link to Brody's column -- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/01brod.html
Synopsis:
In Hospice, Care and Comfort as Life Wanes
Patients receiving hospice care tend to live longer and die more peacefully than those who get intensive care for their disease after the treatment no longer helps.
Do You Need a Geriatric Care Manager?
When my mother had dementia and I helped her age at home, I basically did everything myself. I coordinated all the care. I didn't know about geriatric care managers. I did get help from Family and Children's Aid (as it was called then), who sent the Visiting Nurse to my mom once a month and provided an incredible home health aide.
Today, many families turn to care managers to assess an older adult's needs and provide and execute a care plan. The managers can be expensive -- charging $100+ per hour. The New York Times recently ran an article about them, which is well worth reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/health/26patient.html
When I sent the article to my fellow board members of Aging in Place in Darien ("AIP" in Darien, CT), I learned a lot from two people: Beth Paris, who is the Darien Senior Center Coordinator, and Inta Adams, who is in Darien's Social Services Department:
Beth said that care managers usually just do information and referral, not case management. She wanted to make sure that we all knew about SWCAA's care management. SWCAA is the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging.
http://www.swcaa.org/pages/ct-homecare-program.php
Inta said:
Today, many families turn to care managers to assess an older adult's needs and provide and execute a care plan. The managers can be expensive -- charging $100+ per hour. The New York Times recently ran an article about them, which is well worth reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/health/26patient.html
When I sent the article to my fellow board members of Aging in Place in Darien ("AIP" in Darien, CT), I learned a lot from two people: Beth Paris, who is the Darien Senior Center Coordinator, and Inta Adams, who is in Darien's Social Services Department:
Beth said that care managers usually just do information and referral, not case management. She wanted to make sure that we all knew about SWCAA's care management. SWCAA is the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging.
http://www.swcaa.org/pages/ct-homecare-program.php
Inta said:
"We do know of geriatric care managers in this area, and they provide a valuable service at a cost.( about $100 per hour, which can add up quickly)
Our Darien Social Services office provides evaluation, guidance, information on available resources and services for AIP to family members,spouses,and adult kids at NO COST... Many calls we get are from adult kids seeking advice about available services for their parents.
We are not available 24 hrs. as some care managers might be, but we respond to all work hour calls, and try to involve the family to make the final decisions based on available information."
Can Suburbia Be More Livable?
The Wall Street Journal (Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009) ran a huge article on how communities can help older adults age in place by making the community more senior friendly - Making Suburbia More Livable.
Things that make suburbia really nice when you're young - privacy, spread out houses, driving everywhere -- make it very hard when you're older. When you can't drive, you can become isolated. A house with lots of land is hard to take care of. When you need help with everyday tasks, being far from the centers of care and transportation make things really challenging. That's why many older adults move to life care communities, senior living, assisted living, etc.
But as more people age and more people want to age in place, the suburbs may have to change. Some are being redesigned and rebuilt in certain areas of our country to create a space where senior can live independently without leaving the community.
I've love to see this happen in Darien, CT, where I live. We have one area that could be conducive to a mixed-use area that could have market-rate and affordable senior housing, shops, restaurants, activities, outdoor greenways and a social center. I'd love to see our big, local developers join together with town leaders to make something like this happen in the business district of Noroton Heights. Our senior center is in Noroton Heights, so it could be a fine tie-in, especially if the senior center could get some renovation at the same time.
I'm probably dreaming. But in any event, the article in the Journal is really worth reading and pondering. Maybe you can do something in your community. Here is a link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203674704574330801650897252.html
Things that make suburbia really nice when you're young - privacy, spread out houses, driving everywhere -- make it very hard when you're older. When you can't drive, you can become isolated. A house with lots of land is hard to take care of. When you need help with everyday tasks, being far from the centers of care and transportation make things really challenging. That's why many older adults move to life care communities, senior living, assisted living, etc.
But as more people age and more people want to age in place, the suburbs may have to change. Some are being redesigned and rebuilt in certain areas of our country to create a space where senior can live independently without leaving the community.
I've love to see this happen in Darien, CT, where I live. We have one area that could be conducive to a mixed-use area that could have market-rate and affordable senior housing, shops, restaurants, activities, outdoor greenways and a social center. I'd love to see our big, local developers join together with town leaders to make something like this happen in the business district of Noroton Heights. Our senior center is in Noroton Heights, so it could be a fine tie-in, especially if the senior center could get some renovation at the same time.
I'm probably dreaming. But in any event, the article in the Journal is really worth reading and pondering. Maybe you can do something in your community. Here is a link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203674704574330801650897252.html
Financial Strain of Caring for Parents
When you need to take care of your older parents, it can be a drain on your emotions and your finances. I know this from first-hand experience. After a massive stroke, which left my intelligent mother permanently confused, I cared for her for eight years. I found her a nursing home after her hospital stay. But after 6 months, she begged me to take her out.
I did, finding her an apartment and a series of home-health-care aides to watch over her. Eventually, Babe (my mom) needed round-the-clock care, and we found a good nursing home for her. During all this, I had to manage her finances. I was an only child, and all the other relatives were dead, so in some ways, this made things a little easier. But I worked in NYC and later had a baby, so I had demands on my time.
My experience is one reason I have become so involved with Aging in Place in Darien. It's also why I found this article in the New York Times --
I did, finding her an apartment and a series of home-health-care aides to watch over her. Eventually, Babe (my mom) needed round-the-clock care, and we found a good nursing home for her. During all this, I had to manage her finances. I was an only child, and all the other relatives were dead, so in some ways, this made things a little easier. But I worked in NYC and later had a baby, so I had demands on my time.
My experience is one reason I have become so involved with Aging in Place in Darien. It's also why I found this article in the New York Times --
Taking Care of Parents Also Means Taking Care of Finances,
Growth of Industry to Support Aging in Place
Read all about it! There is an entire industry that has sprung up to help people age in place. And the recession is having an impact on the trend. The New York Times business section has a great article on this topic.
Older folks don't want to move to assisted living. And anyway, assisted living can be really expensive.
But what does it take to age in place successfully, affordably and safely? This article explores the topic. Well worth reading....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/health/18patient.html
Here is a synopsis:
Older folks don't want to move to assisted living. And anyway, assisted living can be really expensive.
But what does it take to age in place successfully, affordably and safely? This article explores the topic. Well worth reading....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/health/18patient.html
Here is a synopsis:
Making Home a Safer Place, Affordably
If older people choose to remain in houses where they are comfortable, there are many ways to shore up their homes’ safety
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)