(Photo ehow.com)

 

Life’s most rewarding challenge lies in defeating the temptation to merely exist.

- Laurie Harper,  A Taste for Life (1983)

 

I called my friend Frances the other day; she’s in her 90’s and residing in a traditional nursing home. Our conversation always gets around to her anguish over being “stuck in this “godforsaken place.” Her home defined her in a very real sense; it was her life’s purpose.

She now depends on a wheelchair for mobility and her mind has atrophied from the lack of stimulation. I miss our challenging conversations in her home office and watching the squirrels together, under the tree in her yard.

When Aging in Place Doesn’t Work

Howard Gleckman wrote a thought provoking piece on the challenges with aging in place. His premise was that  factors having to do with social issues, more so than medical concerns, are often the barriers to aging in place:

-Lack of qualified caregivers

-Lack of services such as basic transportation

-Lack of housing or funds for repairs

-Lack of social networks and isolation

His solutions include more flexible Medicaid programs (they pay for NH, but limited benefits for home care) and an emphasis on long term care insurance which will provide financial resources to care for loved ones.

Gleckman concludes that we can’t keep everyone home (i.e. those with severe dementia), but postponing institutionalization of the elderly, by even months or years, is a goal worthy of our best efforts.

I agree keeping the dream of aging in place alive is not easy, and neither is telling a loved one they must leave their home…

Listen to: Convincing an Aging Mother to Take a Hard Step

See:

Aging in Place is not so Easy

The Death of Nursing Homes

Can Aging in Place Reduce the Cost, Increase Quality of Healthcare?

Swedish “Night Patrols” Help Elderly Stay out of Nursing Homes