SAFETY FIRST.

SAFETY FIRST. Stacey Mann of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation periodically puts out tips for people over 65 in the Foundation's bulletin, Community Impact.

The June issue has an item on preventing falls at home, reporting work by the Carroll Center for the Blind in Massachusetts and Westbury Community Action in Rhode Island.

As people's depth perception declines, they have more trouble going down stairs safely and their risk of falling and breaking a hip goes up. Chief trouble spots are the top step and the bottom step, which need to be highlighted with paint or tape. Carroll Center has worked on this problem with 1,440 clients since 1985. Westbay also works on stair-visibility during home visits to people over 85 (Rhode Island has the nation's highest share of population over that age).

Besides visibility on staircases, the article mentions four other major actions to reduce the risk of failing at home: 1) sturdy rails on both sides of staircases, 2) non-slip backing for scatter rugs or getting rid of them entirely, 3) grab bars in the bathroom and no-slip mats in the bathtub, and 4) whacking away at clutter to create wider pathways.

Here's the link: http://www.imakenews.com/tuftsfoundation/e_article002728534.cfm

Getting Ready

17 June 2013

GETTING READY

Americans, young in spirit, hate to talk about growing old, let alone plan for how they are going to manage the inevitable. They are just beginning to hear about virtual retirement communities designed for managing the practicalities and the sociability of later stages of life. And people between 50 and 65 are just beginning to realize that people need to participate in such organizations as an essential part of preparing for retirement. They need to add their strength to the virtual retirement communities – now -- to make sure that the wide-ranging services of these “Villages” are available at the unpredictable moments when needs arise.

Sure, Americans spend decades preparing -- saving for retirement and buying health, disability, and long-term care insurance. But the prospect of declining physical capacity, of depending on others, of being brushed aside, shuts the thinking down just when it should keep going. We tend to have the same reaction as the balky three-year-old who doesn’t want to hold Mother’s hand crossing the street. We tend to ignore the fact that a 65-year-old American today is likely to live another 20 years.

Everybody on the threshold of retirement needs to reflect that autonomy, the self-reliance that enables a person to continue aspiring into old age, is a matter of anticipation, of foresight exercised every day – in advance of need. Living safely and confidently in the home you love, and getting out of that home for enjoyment and stimulation, both depend on organization. Serenity is based on order, for young and old alike. And order takes management, not only attending to your own to-do list but also reaching out for help from people you know and trust. As you always did, you have to plan, and you have to delegate. Virtual retirement communities are an important tool for this.

In a world where elderly people form a fast-growing proportion of humanity, self-help associations of neighbors are not just a private matter. Only so much of humanity’s money can go to people who depend in part on contributions from people who are still salaried. Older people have to seek as much efficiency as they can, not just to stretch their incomes but also to fulfill their aspirations to help younger people and the society generally. And the key to efficiency is organization, banding together with others in the same position, with the same hopes and needs – in advance of need.

An overwhelming portion of Americans over 65 want to live out their days at home, not in nursing homes, assisted living, or life care facilities. And only a minority of America’s elders are poor enough to qualify for municipal senior services. In the last decade, as people have faced the extent of the management challenge, virtual retirement communities like Cambridge at Home have begun springing up to meet huge needs. Nearly 100 are already operating and hundreds more are forming. These communities have proven that they can perform a growing range of tasks, connecting their members to tested, trusted suppliers of practical services as well as enjoyment. They now need a decisive accession of strength from people preparing for retirement.

Victor K. McElheny
President, Cambridge at Home