Monthly Archive

That’s what happening to long-term care and services costs. Genworth Financial released their annual “Cost of Care” report today and as predicated, the cost of growing old in our country keep going up. Here are the highlights:

The average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is$76,460, or $209 per day. That’s a 17 percent increase since 2004.

The elderly person typically spends 2- 1/2 years in a nursing home. That means that person, their loved ones and/or the governemtn would pay $190,000 for their care.

Assisted living costs rose 25 percent. Now, it costs an average of $36,090 each year to live in assisted living community.

Care costs are up even if you stay at home. The cost for a Medicare-certified home health aide to visit you rose to an average $38 an hour, up at a 7 percent since 2004.

Of course, these costs do vary by region. Check out this map to see how elders in your area fare. Here in DC, nursing homes cost $216 a day. I know I’m not prepared to pay for that for myself or a loved one.  Are you?

The Colorado Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (CAHSA) honors members who have innovative Quality First programs. 2007 was the third year of the awards. Videos of the award winners are available on their site. Click the links below to view the videos.

The award winners are:

Christian Living Communities; “Pinewood Project”; Click here to watch video

Good Samaritan Society Fort Collins Village; “Video Care Plans”; Click here to watch video

Seniors’ Resource Center; “Strategic Plan”; Click here to watch video

Good Samaritan Society Fort Collins Village; “Character First Movement”; Click here to watch video

Seniors’ Resource Center; “Coordinated Care Model”; Click here to watch video

Marycrest Assisted Living Center; “Traumatic Brain Injury Educational Series”; Click here to watch video

Jewish Family Service of Colorado; “Colorado Senior Connections”; Click here to watch video

May is just around the corner and with it comes Older Americans Month. This year’s theme is Working Together for Strong, Healthy and Supportive Communities. Why not combine your Older Americans Month event with your AAHSA Homecoming event?

The Homecoming toolkit is full of ideas that will work for both celebrations. A few of them are:

• In view of Memorial Day, honor your community’s veterans. If your community doesn’t already do so,
  partner with other civic organizations to plan an event. It’s a good time to have a community-wide picnic.
• Sponsor an interfaith service to honor the oldest members of your community. Partner with your local interfaith council or reach out to several churches and synagogues in your community to schedule an Older Americans Month interfaith worship. Whether you publicize it as an “open” event or issue invitations, be sure to include local leaders and elected offi cials and if it’s feasible, give them the opportunity to offer either comments honoring your seniors or an inspirational message.
• Develop a senior story hour. Many of your residents and seniors have rich memories (some good, some bad and some simply funny) about your community’s history. Ask them to share these memories and the roles they played. Invite your neighbors to hear these stories and to share their own, as well.

Click here to get your materials for Older Americans Month and your AAHSA Homecoming toolkit. Don’t forget to let us know what you are doing so that we can share it with other members.

In honor of Earth Day, this week’s residents of the week are the members of the Green Council at the Whitney Center in Hamden, Connecticut. According to their Web site, www.grayisgreen.org, the council’s mission is to “seek to repair the damage (of their generation) and to leave the world a more habitable and greener place.”

The council members participate in a variety of activities to acheive this goal. They established resident and management “green teams” to help conserve energy, recycle plastic and reduce water runoff in their community. 

Check out their newest resource, Handbook for Consveration in Retirement Retirements. It features great tips individuals young and old can use to reduce their impact on the environment.

Looking for resources on going green in aging services? Visit the Environmental Stewardship section of the AAHSA Quality First Web site.  

Happy Earth Day! In honor of the earth, please watch this video. It is discusses how each of us can help save the environment.

To find out more about how you can help, click here. Visit Green Seniors to download fliers and find out what older people are doing to help the environment.

With just a few weeks until AAHSA Homecoming week begins, members from 15 states have shared how they are celebrating their community treasures with us. Here’s just some of the events that we’ve heard about:

• Cetenarians will be at the center of University Village Retirement Community’s celebration. This Tulsa, Okla. organization is hosting a program that will not only honor their oldest resident, but feature a noted longevity researcher and the director of an “Adopt a Centenarian” program.

• Lake Ella Manor, an affordable senior housing community in Tallahassee, will invite their postman, bus drivers and other services providers to lunch as a way to recognize their commitment to people they serve.

• Louisville’s Episcopal Church Home will co-host a prom for senior and students from Fern Creek High School.

Here in Washington, Goodwin House - Bailey’s Crossroads will commemorate homecoming by hosting the grand opening of their new health and wellness center. This center will feature a variety of services and opportunities for community members, including a new pool and a memory support program.

Haven’t registered your event yet? Let us know how you plan to celebrate today.

Tomorrow is National Healthcare Decisions Day. The initiative is meant to “encourage patients to express their wishes regarding healthcare and for providers and facilities to respect those wishes, whatever they may be.”

Organizing a celebration in your community is a great way to gain public recognition and more important, showcase your commitment to ensuring older adults’ care and service preferences are met.

The initiative’s website lists many great outreach opportunities to help educate people about creating advance directives. The following are just a few ideas they list:

• First and foremost, lead by example…be sure you have thoughtfully considered and made your own healthcare decisions known.

• Next, make sure everyone in your organization is informed about NHDD (including staff, board of directors, volunteers and others) and ask for their involvement to promote NHDD in your community. (Suggestion: Have staff wear a sticker that says “Ask Me About Advance Directives!” See sticker template located above in the Outreach Resources section.)

• Set up an exhibit about NHDD at your main entrance and offer information about advance care planning as people come by.

• Distribute NHDD promotional materials and advance care planning educational brochures at upcoming community events or health fairs.

• Give a presentation to community organizations (i.e. Rotary Club, senior centers, workplace settings, faith communities, libraries, patient or family support groups, neighborhood associations) and to the public promoting NHDD and offering advance care planning resources.

• Sponsor a community event or “town hall’ meeting about advance care planning. Big events are more likely to generate media coverage than small presentations and they offer an opportunity for more in-depth dialogue with your community.

The way we finance long-term care isn’t just a problem for older people. It affects all of us, including 20-somethings like me. That’s why our association is looking to get younger people’s opinion on caregiving and how our country pays for it.

Here are the five questions we’re asking young people (for now, that’s my mostly my friends) that I’d like any younger readers to take a moment to consider:

1. Do you worry about how you and your parents will pay for the care your older loved ones may need in the future?

2. Are you worried about how our country will cover the baby boomers’ health care costs as they age?

3. Do you worry about how you will pay for own health care when you get older?

4. Do you worry about how you would pay for care and assistance if you had
a major accident or illness?

and finally

5. Which of these four situations concerns you the most?

If you know a young person who’d be willing to share their insights, pass along the survey to them. Their responses will help us move our forward our plan to make affordable to care a little faster.

Watch out, Washington.  Everyone’s favorite domestic diva/lifestyle mogul is coming to town. And she isn’t her to share a new recipe or helpful housekeeping hint. She’s here to tell Congress why we must support those who care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

Martha will join noted aging experts, including Dr. Robyn Stone from our Institute for the Future of Aging Services, at a Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing entitled, “Caring for Seniors: How Can We Support Those on Our Frontlines?”

During the hearing, the committee will review a major Institute of Medicine report that features major recommendations for improving and expanding the skills and preparedness of the long-term care workforce.

Martha’s no stranger to caregiving. She care d for her beloved mother, “Big Martha,” until her death last year. That experience inspired the corporate giant to establish the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Siani Hospital in New York in 2007. The clinic services as a model for coordinating outpatient geriatric care services for seniors across the city.

The hearing will be held at 3 p.m.  on Wednesday in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Be sure to catch the Webcast if you can.

From from baking perfect pies to transforming our workforce. Is there anything Martha can’t do?!?!

Here’s a great posting from AAHSA’s Quality First Blog about a topic that providers everywhere need to consider: meeting the needs of GLBT seniors today and tomorrow.

I came across an article this morning that reminded me that it really is the little things that make life great. The article discussed natural waking in nursing homes.

One resident who was interviewed summed up my thoughts on it well. She said “I worked all my adult life, and I’m due this.” Being able to choose when you get up and/or eat breakfast helps set your day off to the right course. A course decided by you.

While there are some hurdles to overcome when switching to a system of natural waking, it seems like the end results for the residents are positive. The author notes that some of the residents still wanted to remain on their old schedule but about 2/3 wanted to change to waking up on their own schedule.

Have you modified your wakeup procedures? What sorts of challenges and rewards have you gotten from changing it?

As an organization that puts quality first, you know the importance of telling your story. Use your AAHSA Homecoming Week event to highlight your community involvement; talk about your activities and commitment in your speeches and mention them in your event materials. AAHSA Homecoming Week isn’t simply about hosting one event; it’s about sharing your good work with the community-at-large. Your Quality First initiative works hand in hand with this effort.

Quality First Connections

Highlight Quality First Element #4. Community Involvement by planning:

• Volunteer opportunities
• Social accountability programs that benefit the local community
• Activities with local business or faith organizations
• Public policy activities

Align with Quality First Element #10. Public Trust & Consumer Confidence to earn trust with:

• Residents and families by sharing their stories with your neighbors
• Employees by including them in the festivities
• Trustees and board members by showing them what you do everyday
• The media by teaching them more about your commitment to your community
• Policymakers by developing your relationship with them

Need more information?
Access additional Community Involvement and Public Trust resource materials in the “Resources” section of www.aahsa.org/qualityfirst.

Or find other quick Homecoming Week event ideas at www.AAHSAhomecoming.org.

Don’t forget to click here and let us know what you are doing for Homecoming.

It seems like I write or say that AAHSA members serve two million people everyday. But what do I really know about these people? I wanted to see their faces. I wanted to know their stories.  I  wanted to hear their wisdom. And I knew others might want to do the same. Then it came to me: the blog!

Each week, I’ll do a little investigating to find an inspirational person that an AAHSA member serve. Then, I’ll share that “Resident/Client of the Week’s” story on the blog.

Our first Resident/Client of the Week is Pat Chan.  Pat’s a resident of The Marvin, an affordable senior housing community in Norwalk, Conn. Pat’s the picture of the determination - literally and metaphorically. 

She grew up poor on a farm in rural China. At age 11, Pat’s family sold her to another family so that  could have more food to eat. Pat had to flee to the mountains when the Japanese invaded China, and later evacuated to the city to avoid the Communist regime.

Once she arrived in America, her church in San Francisco helped her escape an abusive marriage and move to New Haven. She raised her daughter, Carol, while working as a housekeeper. 

But her problems didn’t stop stateside.  Pat is legally blind, has had open heart surgery and conquered breast cancer.  It is become her mission to live a healthy life.  Pat can often be found practicing her own form of Tai Chi on The Marvin’s front lawn and offers lessons to anyone who wants to learn.  She uses one-pound vegetable cans to for strength training and prefers vegetables and fruit to cookies and candy.

“People ask, ‘how are you so happy?’ I’m happy because I don’t need to worry anymore. I pray for energy every day and I pray for my health. I want to live for a long time. I tell everyone to think positive and to take care of themselves so they can be healthy.”

Wise words from a wise woman that an AAHSA member is proud to serve. Do you have a good Resident/Client of the Week candidate? Send me their story and keep watching the blog to see if he or she has been choen.

When it comes to aging services and public policy, I  think that all of us, regardless of our political affiliation, share the same vision: to make America a better place to grow old. 

It was in the spirit of that vision that hundreds of AAHSA members took to Capitol Hill last week as part of our Future of Aging Services Conference. Their charge? To come together as “one voice” and share with their policy makers how they could help us transform that vision into a reality.

I got the chance to accompany group of members as they visited with Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) These members of Congress represent different states, serve on different committees and have different policy interests. Yet, they had the same point of view when it came to our field, both personally and professionally.

Rep. Lynch openly shared the challenges his family while caring for his elderly father-in-law in their home. ” I realize my family had resources and supports to help us that others can only dream of” he said. ” That shouldn’t be the case.”  Rep. Crowley, on other hand,  discussed how moving into a naturally occurring retirement community helped a friend stay health and active while living independently.

When it came to policy, both were enthusiastic about AAHSA’s Long-term Care Solution , especially after they heard that our research found that Medicaid costs could have been cut in half if our plan were in place just three years ago. That’s got to be important to a policy maker faced with tough funding decisions every day.

These’s two meetings were start the start of it. Check out how members used their “voice” with their policy makers:

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) listens intently as an AAHSA member shares his thoughts on a new nursing home transparency billl. 

After meeting to discuss issues including long-term care financing and Home and Community-Based Services program expansion, AAHSA members from Oregon pose for a photo with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

A lot, according to two new reports from AAHSA’s Centers for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and AARP released last week about the perceptions

In their report, AARP researchers found that older people are willing to use devices—like those that regulate lights and temperature, detect when someone has fallen, or monitor blood pressure—if using them will help them stay at home longer.

Then there’s the caregivers. Many of them were enthuastic about using technology to “make sure the person they cared for was safe” or get “peace of mind.” But 80 percent of caregivers believed that their loved ones wouldn’t they’d receive pushback from their elders if they tried to get them to use these kind of technologies. It sounds to me like the best way to conquer this divide doesn’t require technology. It requires open and honest communication between caregivers and the loved one.

Both groups, however, see the same two barriers for bringing technology into the home: cost and control.

When it comes to cost, 75 percent of caregivers and 80 of those 65-plus willing to pay $50.00 or less per month for technologies. Both groups also question technology usability, maintenace and ultimate control they will have offer the information that is collected.

So, what’s the bottom line? In a nutshell, it’s that seniors and caregivers must communicate among themselves and with their providers and policy makers to bring the technologies they want into the places they call home.

Bill Thomas offers a new perspective on aging and how we define it in our society.

This morning, I attended an insightful session at the Future of Aging Services conference. It was about cultural competency and diversity in aging services. The speakers discussed what cultural competency is, how to foster an inclusive environment and how to manage challenges.

It was inspiring to hear members’ stories. AAHSA members are working hard to make sure everyone in the community has a positive experience. This past summer, I interviewed Mary Devlin, administrator at Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, New York, about their efforts to become more culturally competent. Here are some of the insights she shared:

“Because 35 percent of its residents speak Chinese as their native language, Cabrini wanted to ensure it was adequately providing for this segment of its population. The program started out simply. Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO, noticed upon her arrival in 1991 that residents were eating very little and that their relatives were bringing them food. The center hired a Chinese chef and dietician, and residents began to eat much more. By providing residents food they enjoyed, Cabrini ensured it met residents’ nutritional needs.

“The success of the dietary changes encouraged the center to expand its initiatives. Establishing cultural competency in its programs required that staff be able
to function sufficiently within an environment that incorporates the residents’ cultures. Cabrini hired bilingual staff and taught Chinese to the staff.”

Creating an environment that both staff and residents are able to thrive in is key to being a quality community. What sorts of things are you doing in your community to increase your cultural competency?