aging in place
Medical Foster Homes – An Emerging Supportive Housing Choice for Older Veterans
Medical Foster Homes – An Emerging Supportive Housing Choice for Older Veterans
Housing Choices in Later Life
As our population ages, more and more living scenarios are surfacing for how to live out our lives safely with dignity, comfort and with as much control as we can maintain. Increasing numbers of older people remain in their own homes as long as they can in order to preserve their independence. The number of people living out their whole lifespans in the comfort of their homes has increased by 50% over the last two decades.
When living alone is no longer an option, elders often opt to move closer to adult children who can provide assistance and advocacy. Often, additional hourly home caregivers are brought in; at times, live-in roommates exchange services for rent. Full-time, live-in caregivers are another, albeit expensive, option.
“Aging in place” member-driven, non-profit, community-based organizations such as Marin Villages strive to provide the kinds of support that older people are looking for in order to continue to live in their own homes, apartments or condo’s.
Independent living retirement communities serve as well-known housing alternatives for older adults. Assisted living and skilled nursing facilities come into the picture as health declines and care needs increase.
Smaller “board and care” homes are another alternative – with usually 2-6 residents. Board and care homes can be comfortable and safe environments, particularly for those older adults who do not need the full medical services available in assisted and skilled nursing facilities.
A Special Alternative for Veterans
Recently I found out about an interesting project that the Veteran’s Administration has been spearheading for several years called “Medical Foster Homes”. These homes provide an alternative to nursing homes for veterans who are unable to live safely and independently at home or lack a strong family caregiver. The homes are open to vets of all ages but the average age is 70.
Initiated by VA social workers in Little Rock, Arkansas, the program currently serves about 600 veterans and has cared for 1,500 since it began. The program has grown to operation in 36 states and is scheduled to expand to 10 more states soon. Program administrators have reported that 30 percent of veterans who would qualify for VA-paid nursing homes choose instead to live in – and to pay out of pocket for – medical foster homes. This is evidence, they state, that the vets prefer a home setting.
Living in a medical foster home is paid for by veterans from their VA and social security benefits – the monthly costs range from about $1400 to $2500 depending on the applicant’s income and the level of care he/she needs. It should be noted that the VA rigorously screens and monitors the Medical Foster Care homes – only about 1 in 10-15 applicants is accepted.
For more information, read the full New York Times article For Veterans, an Alternative to the Nursing Home or go to the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Foster Home website. You can also call the Marin County Veterans Service Office at (415)473-6193 and speak with Marin County Veterans Service Officer Sean Stephens. Sean’s email address is veterans@marincounty.org.
Won’t it be interesting if the VA’s valuable knowledge obtained as they continue to grow this popular housing solution can be translated for the general, non-veteran population of older adults? Stay tuned!
Volunteering as Older Adults – Why Is It a Good Idea and Where Can I Help?
Volunteering is good for our health.
Regular reports in local newspapers and publications extol the great contributions of Marin’s many individuals who generously volunteer their time and leadership skills to help local organizations.
A report published by the Marin Community Foundation entitled “Volunteering by Older Adults in Marin County: the Impact on Volunteers and the Organizations They Serve”, read:
“Older adult volunteers represent a significant resource that nonprofits can leverage during a time ofdecreased funding and increased demandfor services. Marin County’s growing population of older adults is rising to meet this increase in demand for volunteers.”
What may be less known, however, is how beneficial the practice of volunteerism is to the health and wellbeing of the volunteers themselves.
According to the MCF report, the following are some of the major benefits to older adults of serving as volunteers in their communities:
1. Enhanced sense of purpose and self-worth. Contributing wisdom and know-how based on past careers, special interests, experience and life lessons leaves volunteers with a sense of satisfaction and of being valued.
2. Improved mental and physical health. Over half of older adult volunteers report that volunteering contributes moderately or significantly to their physical health, helps them feel significantly better emotionally and “keeps their minds sharp.”
3. Increased confidence in one’s ability to make a difference in the community. Older adult volunteers emphasize how fulfilling it is to use their time, skills and experience to make differences in their communities.
4. Greater social support and community involvement. Volunteering helps most people feel more connected to their communities.
5. Exposure to new experiences and perspectives. Meeting new people, sharing skills, and hearing life stories leads to changing perspectives about community groups and issues.
6. Increased connection to younger generation. Older volunteers emphasize how energizing and valuable it is to spend time helping out younger people and feel that they are making a positive difference in these young folks’ lives.
Where Can I Go To Volunteer My Help?
This is easy to find out in Marin. We are fortunate to have Volunteer Marin, a program of Marin’s Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership. Founded in 1965 as the Volunteer Bureau, the Center has been building the capacity of volunteers and nonprofits for over 40 years.
If you are Internet savvy, it is simple to log in to a very cool tool: www.VolunteerMarin.org. Once on their home page, click on “Opportunities”. You will see a calendar of all kinds of opportunities, organizations, locations, dates and times that way.
You can also do wonderfully fruitful, customized searches by specifying your specifics and preferences, such as:
- your location, and how far you might be willing to travel
- your weekly schedule; what dates you are and are not available
- what kinds of things you would like to do, for instance:
-
- work with a particular organization
- address a specific issue area, like arts, education, health, hunger, environment, or justice.
- apply your special skills such as administrative, counseling, animal services, education, or construction.
- specify what kinds of people you’d like to serve, such as age, gender, ethnic group, LGBT, veterans, families, or visitors.
- select types of activity
- choose upcoming events that need volunteers
-
I tried out the Volunteer Search Tool and entered a stipulation that volunteer opportunities be within 10 miles of my home in Mill Valley. Up came 120 different interesting opportunities for volunteering at great organizations, including:
- The Redwoods
- The Audubon Center & Sanctuary
- The Marine Mammal Center
- Project Coyote
- Hospice By The Bay
- Marin History Museum
- Fair Housing
- Marin Art & Garden Center
- Marin School Garden Network
- The Bay Model
- The Civic Center
- and more
Doing things like…
- tutoring kids
- serving as a tour guide or docent
- taking care of injured animals
- coordinating cultural and entertainment events
- visiting the dying
- serving hot meals to the homeless
- designing web site and marketing materials
- doing historical research
- reading stories to children
- managing a website
- leading arts groups
- working with autistic children
- and so much more
For those of you who are unable to access Volunteer Marin online, you can contact them on the telephone through their parent organization, the Center for Nonprofit and Volunteer Leadership at415-479-5710.
In this time of decreasing funding for excellent causes, and increased need by our fellow citizens, consider helping out and doing yourselves a favor, too. Try becoming a volunteer.
Another Great Resource in Marin for Aging in Place
The Marin Center for Independent Living
As we’ve been hearing, by 2020, the population of older adults in Marin will almost double. This statistic is based on findings in the Marin Community Foundation Publications: “Report on Services of Older Adults in Marin” and “A Portrait of Marin.”
Older adults in our county vary greatly in their economic levels, education, physical abilities, health situations and access to family support. One thing is certain, though, and that is that almost everybody faces or will face a time when they are looking for help.
The Marin Center for Independent Living (MCIL) is an amazing local nonprofit agency dedicated to empowering our Older and/or Disabled Adults to live rich, independent lives in their own homes. MCIL provides a wealth of information, peer support and an in-depth Personal Care Attendant Registry.
MCIL was founded in 1979, organized by a group of dedicated volunteers, following the world changing movement for disability rights begun next door in Berkeley in the 1960’s. It does not charge for its services.
MCIL runs an elegant and simple to use online matching service to help people find carefully screened, competent and compassionate local caregivers – it’s called QuickMatch.org. There are customizable search preferences so consumers can hone in on caregivers’ specific skills, availability, trainings/certifications, and work experience.
MCIL’s Personal Care Attendent Registry is important to know about because: using a for-profit home care agency, a consumer’s current cost for private home care in Marin can average about $60,000/year* (for 44 hours of care/week). The for-profit agency manages all the details for you and charges you for that service.
However, using MCIL as your guide, support and screening agency to directly employ your own caregivers can save you a significant amount of money. For the same 44 hours/week, using MCIL registry caregivers, your cost would average about $40,000/year. This is a wise choice to know about and to consider when you are weighing your options.
In addition, MCIL provides information and support on a full range of topics including:
- assistive technologies
- benefits planning
- personal care and coping skills
- financial management
- household management
- home modification
- housing assistance
- individual advocacy
For more information, go to www.marincil.org or www.quickmatch.org or call them at (415) 459-4265.
*National Clearinghouse for Long Term Care Information, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Planning for LTC. Date accessed, January 18, 2012.
*U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Clearinghouse for Long Term Care Information, 10/22/08.
Have You Heard of NORC’s = Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities
NORC’s = Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities
Not Exactly like the Village Model
Recently, I’ve been involved with the Village Movement and working on organizing a new Village in my home town. I’ve been a fan of the Villages idea for years since I learned about the Beacon Hill Village where the movement started in 2002.
The Village model involves a local grassroots, nonprofit Village forming where members join for annual fees ranging from $200-900 across the country and then have access to a range of services. Members join in activities together, recommend service providers to each other, are provided with a very well screened list of other service providers, provide volunteer services for each other, and can receive a host of volunteer services themselves.
The NORC’s, from what I understand, are a little different. They range in shape and size across the country so each of them are a little different, too, reflecting their communities and members. There is no membership fee so the NORC’s are usually affiliated with a not for profit organization, government grants, donors and other fund-raising sources that allow them to offer services for no charge to members.
NORC Movement Founder Fredda Vladeck
The founder of the first NORC is Fredda Vladeck whose wonderful interview I read yesterday: Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities: An Interview with Fredda Vladeck.
Fredda was a geriatric social worker in NYC in the mid-1980’s and began to notice a lot of older people coming in to the ER with issues that could have easily been addressed – and prevented – at home if they had had the support and knowledge.
Many of these people lived at Penn South Mutual Redevelopment Houses in Chelsea, a cooperative housing development built in 1962 by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. There were 6,200 residents with 5,000 them seniors.
Many of them were old labor organizers who had devoted their lives to the unions and so did not have traditional family support systems. Fredda designed a unique program to empower these people to age in place – her program became known as a NORC. Now there are dozens in NYC alone and hundreds across the US.
NORC WOW’s
The NORC’s are not just located in housing complexes, there are also NORC WOW’s – Naturally Occuring Retirement Communities Without Walls in communities such as the St Louis NORC which consists of a 3 square mile neighborhood. NORC’s typically have over 50% of the population as older adults and can result from:
- In-migration: a location where retirees move because of things like access to services and quality of life,
- Evolution: where a community naturally ages together, and
- Out-migration: where younger working folks tend to move to other locations leaving older people behind.
Older Adults in Mill Valley
As Mill Valley Commissioner on the Marin County Commission on Aging, in October 2009 I presented my annual report to the Mayor and City Council members on the status for baby boomers and older adults living in Mill Valley. Here is a link to my report presentation notes – I hope you will find it helpful to give you an idea of some of the opportunities and challenges for older people in Mill Valley as of autumn, 2009. Some things have changed – statistics, numbers, contact information perhaps, so do note that this report is from 2009. Older Adults in Mill Valley