Guest Post: If I had known then what I know now about aging-in-place

Home is the nicest word there is.

-Laura Ingalls Wilder

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?By Stephanie Borden

?Your mom will never go home again??

I wish I had known about aging-in-place 12 years ago when my 75-year-old widowed mother passed out in her Golden Valley, Minn., kitchen. When she came to and called 911, my modest Norwegian

mom refused to get in the ambulance until she could put on her pantyhose. On the way to the hospital, her heart stopped twice.

That evening, hundreds of miles away in North Carolina, my phone rang. It was her doctor, delivering the diagnosis I had hoped never to hear: ?Your mom will never go home again.?

If I had known then what I know now about aging-in-place, she could have lived her last three years in her beloved home. She may not have lived longer, but I know she would have been happier.

Instead, we moved her into the best assisted-living facility we could afford. The bills were a struggle, but the emotional cost to my mom was more devastating. She was forced to give up her cuddly cat,

her daylily garden, the hair stylist who knew all her grandchildren?s names, and the homemade cinnamon rolls at the local cafe. Typically, like us, people who face challenges living at home alone first consider moving into an assisted living facility (ALF.)

According to the National Center for Assisted Living in Washington, D.C., a no-frills ALF apartment costs at least $3,131 per month in Florida. The average length-of-stay is 28.3 months. Thirty-three

percent of ALF residents die there, and 59 percent are eventually transferred to nursing home care. The remaining 8 percent move in with family members or return to their private homes.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that the median age of an ALF resident is 86.9 years, much older than the running and biking ?active seniors? commonly featured in ALF brochures and TV commercials.

While a Google search uncovers more than one million hits for ?aging-in-place,? most people I encounter have never heard the term. However, the expression has sounded loud and clear in dozens of American cities where pilot aging-in-place initiatives are underway, backed by local governments and respected organizations such as AARP and the Mayo Clinic.

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Aging-in-place can significantly improve the quality of life?

My hope is that our local government and healthcare officials will be receptive to learning how aging-in-place can significantly improve the quality of life of local residents who have chosen to live their

twilight years here. While I?m too late to help my mom, since her death I?ve dedicated myself to helping Florida retirees remain in their homes long-term in spite of current or future illness, disability, or injury.

I?ve developed a six-stage comprehensive model for aging-in-place that makes it possible for most seniors to avoid transfer to assisted living or nursing home care despite declines in mobility, dexterity, strength, balance, vision, or hearing.

Successful aging-in-place combines home safety and fall prevention, home health services ranging from homemaker companions to specialty therapists and nurses, an understanding of how Medicare,

Medicaid, and insurance pay for aging-in-place, and local options for transportation and social activities so that aging-in-place does not lead to isolation and depression.

Too often, the decision about where you or your loved one will be living in the future is made in whispers outside a hospital room.

Instead, by planning ahead, seniors can make that decision themselves and preserve their dignity, independence, and community connections by exploring aging-in-place opportunities.

My hope is that our local government and healthcare officials will be receptive to learning how aging-in-place can significantly improve the quality of life of local residents who have chosen to live their twilight years here.

Too late to help my mom?

While I?m too late to help my mom, since her death I?ve dedicated myself to helping Florida retirees remain in their homes long-term in spite of current or future illness, disability, or injury.

I?ve developed a six-stage comprehensive model for aging-in-place that makes it possible for most seniors to avoid transfer to assisted living or nursing home care despite declines in mobility, dexterity, strength, balance, vision, or hearing.

Successful aging-in-place combines home safety and fall prevention, home health services ranging from homemaker companions to specialty therapists and nurses, an understanding of how Medicare,

Medicaid, and insurance pay for aging-in-place, and local options for transportation and social activities so that aging-in-place does not lead to isolation and depression.

Too often, the decision about where you or your loved one will be living in the future is made in whispers outside a hospital room.

Instead, by planning ahead, seniors can make that decision themselves and preserve their dignity, independence, and community connections by exploring aging-in-place opportunities.

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See?

Mayo Clinic Healthy Aging and Independent Living Lab supports Aging in Place

Stephanie Borden is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist trained by the AARP and the National Association of Home Builders who has taught aging-in-place courses at the FGCU Renaissance Academy. She is a graduate of the Florida Mediation Institute?s family mediator training and was named a Person to Watch in 2009 by The News-Press. Stephanie consucts workshops titled: ?There?s No Place Like Home? in her region of the country near South Fort Myers, FL. She can be reached by phone (239)-424-0182.

Biography

Stephanie Borden holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications fromSt. CloudStateUniversityinMinnesotaand has completed training as a family mediator at theUniversityofSouth FloridaandHarvardLawSchool. She has worked as a licensed private investigator intern and has taught workshops on aging-in-place and consumer fraud protection for the Renaissance Academy of Florida Gulf Coast University.

Source: http://aginginplace.com/2012/09/guest-post-if-i-had-known-then-what-i-know-now-about-aging-in-place/

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