Old People Aren't Old

We've been doing focus groups with the 65+ crowd in Darien, CT, to see how the community could provide resources to help them stay in their homes as they age. The most interesting finding is that most older people don't think of themselves as old. They don't want to be perceived as "needy." They don't even begin to think of themselves as old until they reach 80. The term "senior" connotes someone who is frail and elderly. They are not "seniors".

But even the ones who are 80 want to be out doing things for others. These are the most amazing people. They are so giving. So altruistic. So independent. Is it because they are American and are embued with American independent spirit?

So our new idea is to discover ways to tap this supply of volunteer labor to help others who do need help. More later...

Independence

In our research with older people in our town, we're discovering how very independent they are. They don't want help. They want to be the helpers. This is a really interesting and significant discovery. Maybe we can tap into this desire to contribute to the community. I wonder what makes older Americans so generous of spirit?

I'd love to hear from others about this point.

Visiting Nurse

A person moving to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, wanted information on Visiting Nurse in her new area. I contacted the national visiting nurse association and got the following info:

Medical Center Home Health
534 Roland StreetJackson, TN 38301 731-422-1100
Medical Center Home Health & Hospice of (branch)
650 Nuckholls RoadBolivar, TN 38008 (no telephone)
Medical Center Home Health of Trenton (branch)
200 Hospital Drive, Suite 302Trenton, TN 38382 (no telephone)
Morristown-Hamblen Home Care
908 W 4th North StreetMorristown, TN 37814 423-623-4100

She can call and find out if anything is close enough to her.

I encourage readers to contact this blog, if you need information. We will try to help.

Aging In Place Focus Groups

We held another focus group today. This one was with residents of senior housing. We got similar results to the other two groups we've held. Folks want to stay in their current homes. They want to stay in Darien. But they need help. They need access to information about transportation, health, and ways to be engaged in the community.

I'll post more later.

More Research

We've done more research with older residents of Darien, CT. It's amazing to me to meet these people who've lived in our town for 30 - 40 or more years. To a person, they all want to stay in their homes. They will do anything they have to do to stay in their homes as they age. To move to assisted living or a nursing home would be "downgrading". (And I suspect -- degrading)

They are hungry for information and for help. But they don't want to ask for help and feel guilty accepting it. How do we overcome this connundrum? I think the easy answer is that we need to make paid services available. We need to aggregate information about the services and make it readily available in many forms and forums.

Further qualitative and quantitative research will help. More to come next week.