Several weeks ago I wrote about elderblogging and introduced some of my favorites-Ronni Bennett’s Time Goes By, Gorgeous Grey and others. In today’s edition of Diane Driver’s monthly newsletter Resources in Aging from the University of California at Berkeley, she lists two new blogs for seniors and their families.
The first is by Candacy Taylor who has spent several years doing research on waitresses in diners and coffee shops and written about them in her blog, Counterculture Waitress.
The purpose of her blog is “to build a community around (her) project Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress.” She wants“ to spark a new appreciation for the hardworking women who race to our tables, quarrel with the cooks, and bring warmth and culture to the American roadside dining experience. The project consists of a traveling photo exhibition, a NPR radio documentary and a forthcoming book and film documentary. Candacy “hit the road in 2001, traveling over 26,000 miles throughout the US, . . . interviewed and photographed 59 waitresses in 43 cities. Each interview lasted 1-3 hours, all of which were transcribed, logged and indexed for the book and the exhibition. The waitresses are 50 and older and have worked in coffee shops or diners for at least 20 years and have a loyal following of regular customers.”
The second is the New Old Age from the New York Times about aging, finances, health and relationships between seniors and their adult children. “Adults over age 80 are the fastest growing segment of the population, and most will spend years dependent on others for the most basic needs. That burden falls to their baby boomer children, 77 million strong, who are flummoxed by the technicalities of eldercare, turned upside down by the changed architecture of their families, struggling to balance work and caregiving, and depleting their own retirement savings in the process.” Some of the recent posts are related to such topics as home safety (the bathroom, the most dangerous room in the house), why families wait so long to call hospice, a new easier email program for seniors called PawPawmail. The posts are insightful and well written. The New Old Age is going on my sidebar with the other Senior Links that I think are so important.
Also, I have two elderblogging friends who have retired in the past few years. Carolyn Gopalon moved from the East Bay to her new home in Conoor, India last year and she chronicles her travels in her blog, Retirement Journey to India.
My other friend is Kathryn Hill who was the broker in my office for many years. She now spends most of the year in Yelapa Mexico, but since her retirement, has spent six months each year travelling around the United States. Last year she was in the western U.S. and British Canada. This year she is in the southeast. Her blog is called Travelkathryn’s weblog. I am amazed at all that Carolyn and Kathryn have accomplished. Their writing is great and their photographs are phenomenal.
Neither Kathryn nor Carolyn have special computer skills and taught themselves what they needed to know to produce their blogs. They both felt that they had something to say and that others might be interested in what they are doing. Their blogs are wonderful because they are so excited about their journeys. If you think you might like to have a weblog and need some help, let me know. I have very user-friendly instructions which were developed by the secretary in our office. I would love to see the elderblogging community grow.
One of the reasons that we have such good resources for seniors in the East Bay is the School of Social Work Resource Center on Aging at UC Berkeley. They have always been on the forefront of addressing senior issues and have trained many geriatric social workers in the area. Diane Driver’s monthly e-newsletter, New Resources on Aging is one of the really great publications of the department. For seniors, their caregivers and families and service providers, it is an invaluable resource.
Every month, Diane Driver writes about new articles and programs in the media, upcoming educational and cultural events here in Berkeley and the Bay Area and the latest research findings in gerontology. She lists local, national and international conferences and events of interest. This month’s issue is particularly interesting because of all of May’s special events for Older American’s month. To see this month’s issue, click here. Back issues can be obtained by clicking here.
Diane also publishes a comprehensive list of jobs in the field of aging. To subscribe to this list, email her at ddriver@berkeley.edu and type “jobs only” in the message field.
Ashby Village:
Ashby Village has scheduled two more house parties. The first will be on May 17th at 2717 Hillegass and the second on May 24th at 1711 9th Street. Both locations are in Berkeley and both will start at 2:00 pm. People should RSVP to Shirley Haberfeld at shaberfeld@ashbyvillage.com if they want to attend. Those who would like to host a House Party can also email Shirley at the same address.
Gilbert Guide:
If you have not yet subscribed to Gilbert Guide’s Weekly Update or Gilbert Guide Monthly, you have missed a lot in the past few months. Last week there was an article about a pre-fabricated apartment that you can purchase and install in your backyard with everything you will need to take care of an aging parent. The units are fabricated in Indianapolis and can be installed within 10 days. It enables families to keep loved ones close while they maintain their independent life style. The base price is $35,000 with some additional installation costs in some locations. They will also research local building codes and regulations to see if you can add the unit on your property. Contact Next Door Garage Apartments for more information.
This week, there is an article about the Tetra Society of North America, a group of volunteer engineers who develop assistive devices for individuals when there is not a solution on the market that meets their needs. Their focus is on quality of life–anything which enhances someone’s ability to participate in all aspects of life, including work, family, community affairs, and recreation. Some of their projects have included: modifying a walker for height, an art easel for painting with a mouth brush, a special golf club for someone with limited grip strength. Their website lists several of their recent projects and a form that you can submit if you have a request. Tetra’s services are free to the client, whose only costs are materials and the incidental expenses of the volunteer.
The April Gilbert Guide Monthly has featured articles on the use of herbal medicines for cancer treatment , financial planning for seniors, long term care insurance and Medicare’s 5-star rating system for assisted living facilities, in addition to the regular articles and expert columns on everything from dementia to finding retirement communities for your loved ones to assistance for caregivers.
I think that The Gilbert Guide e-newsletters are the best way to keep up with senior issues. I think they are the best source around for solutions to problems that seniors, their families and caregivers are experiencing. You can subscribe to both The Weekly Update and Gilbert Guide Monthly by clicking here. If you are a senior living in the East Bay and subscribe to the Gilbert Guide e-newsletters and East Bay Smart Senior, you will be very well informed.
There is a new reverse mortgage program for senior which became available in January as part of the financial stimulus package which Congress passed last fall. This program is called HECM for Purchase. HECM stands for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage. This program enables seniors to purchase new homes and never make another mortgage payment.
Borrowers must be at least 62 years old and the property being purchased must be a principal residence and owner-occupied. The program covers home appraised up to $625,500 and the down payment must be substantial. The size of the down payment varies depending on the age of the buyer and the interest rate of the loan. Borrowers who are applying for a reverse mortgage are required to participate in reverse mortgage counseling . Berkeley residents receive free counseling from Eden Housing, a non-profit housing organization in Hayward.
One of my clients is 85 years old and has a lovely condo in Berkeley, but wants to move into her own house. She plays the piano and does not like worrying about making too much noise. Also there are things she wants to do to the condo (painting the exterior, landscaping, etc.) that the other condo owners are not interested in doing.
We have been looking for quite some time, but until yesterday, could not find a nice house in a good neighborhood that she could afford. She will use about half of the proceeds from the sale of her condo as the down payment for her new house and obtain a reverse mortgage for the remainder of the cost. She will be able to save or invest the remaining of the funds from her condo so she will have money to pay for care at a later date, should she need it. She will never have to make another mortgage payment.
This program is good for seniors who want to downsize from their current homes or for seniors who want to relocate to our area. With Ashby Village and all of the other resources for seniors in our community, Berkeley is becoming more and more attractive as a place for seniors to live. This reverse mortgage program might be useful to some of them.
I was not a fan of the previous reverse mortgage program, primarily because of the high fees associated with it. The fees for the HECM for Purchase program are higher than a regular mortgage, but not as high as those for the old program. For more information about the new HCEM for Purchase loans, click here for an excellent article in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.
About a year ago my friend Judy Boe, also a Seniors Real Estate Specialist at Red Oak Realty here in Berkeley, and I read about a program in Boston that helped seniors stay in their own homes as they grew older. The program is called Beacon Hill Village and had been established by people who lived in that neighborhood. They liked living in Beacon Hill and they wanted to find a way to stay there.
The program they developed included every imaginable service to enable seniors to remain at home rather than moving to assisted living. The people who joined Beacon Hill Village could receive virtually any form of assistance they needed-grocery delivery, dog walking, home repair, you name it. There are also lots of social activities and cultural events. Their annual membership fee provides many free and discounted services, referrals to vetted providers and other amenities. Click here to find out more about this program.
Judy and I were excited because this model offered seniors some options as they grew older. We felt that it was very important to have a program like this here in Berkeley. We started talking to city officials and others that we thought might be interested. We found out that a group of people in south Berkeley had been working on developing a program in the Elmwood and Rockridge neighborhoods. They had been meeting monthly for a couple of years and called their program Ashby Village.
We had a couple of meetings with Pat Sussman and Shirley Haberfeld, two of the founding mothers of Ashby Village. Judy and I lobbied for expanding the program to all of Berkeley and they agreed. The plan is to launch Ashby Village in January 2010. They have been having house parties since the beginning of the year to tell people about Ashby Village and are scheduling more over the next few months. You can click here to see their website including the scheduled times and places for the house parties.
Last Monday, Judy and I attended a conference in Oakland. It was put on by Beacon Hill Village for programs like Ashby Village which are in the planning stages to find out what they had learned as they developed Beacon Hill Village. People came from all over the country to find out how to set up villages in their own communities. People from other villages (including Capitol Hill Village in Washington D.C., Front Desk Florence in Florence, Oregon and San Francisco Village which started serving seniors in January) participated on educational panels. There is also a networking organization which will facilitate communication between the villages.
This is such an exciting time for all of us who are growing older and looking for alternatives to retirement communities. It is another great reason for seniors to move to Berkeley. I will report regularly on Ashby Village as it prepares to launch.
Several months ago I started working on East Bay Smart Senior, thinking that it would take a couple of weeks to get it ready to publish. It has taken almost ten months, but now I am ready to share it with the world. I hope that you enjoy reading it and that you learn a lot about what our community has to offer its elderly residents.
You may be asking “Why all of these photos of seniors in bathing suits and with surf boards?” I hope you will take a few minutes to scroll down to the first articles I wrote last summer that describe the reasons for the blog and its theme. Seniors surfing-why not?
I feel fortunate to have had a career working with seniors and their families. I have learned so much and want to share that knowledge with others who might be able to use it. But I certainly do not know everything. Please send your comments and suggestions for future articles. I want to know what you think about my little blog and I want it to be helpful to you. If you press the subscribe button at the top of the page you can sign up to receive updates.
There are so many interesting and exciting things going on in the field of aging now. This is a great time and a great place to be a senior.
One of the really great resources for seniors and their families here in the East Bay is its system of adult day care programs. Following is an article about adult day care by my friend and colleague, Maureen Dixon who is the Communication Director for the Alameda County Adult Day Services Network.
When someone you love needs help with everyday chores, is beginning to suffer from memory loss, or has a number of chronic health conditions, you want to help. Yet how can you be of service when it feels like you can never do enough? And how can you make sure that the person you’re caring for has enough stimulation and enjoyment in life?
If you are caring for a friend or family member, you’re not alone. As many as 52 million Americans are informal caregivers, and one in four households is caring for a person age 50 or older. Caregiving is very rewarding, but it can be exhausting and overwhelming as well. How do you find the balance of giving care and taking care of yourself? Adult day centers can be a huge help.
Live at Home, Stay Well, Have Fun
Adult day centers provide a welcoming community for frail older adults and adults with disabilities. They provide health services, creative activities, a hot meal and transportation to and from the program. These daytime programs make it possible for frail elders to live at home, protect their health and independence, and enjoy themselves. Perhaps most importantly, they provide socialization and involvement for participants and a much-needed break for caregivers. “The adult day center has given my mother more joy than she’s had in years,” says one caregiver. “Thank you for giving my mother a life.”
Adult Day Care
There are three kinds of adult day centers. “Adult Day Care” (ADC) centers are designed for older adults who might fall, have an accident, get depressed, or who need to socialize with other adults. Starting at about $30 per day, these centers offer activities and outings, creative expression and arts, medication reminders, mild exercise, intellectual stimulation, a hot lunch, and assistance with transportation to and from the program. Scholarships and subsidies may reduce the daily cost.
Adult Day Health Care
“Adult Day Health Care” (ADHC) centers add medical services to those listed above, and are ideal for people recovering from a recent injury or hospitalization or who have several chronic conditions. These centers are covered by Medi-Cal, so there may be no cost to participants. They are also covered under some long-term care insurance plans. (If you are not eligible for Medi-Cal and do not have long-term care insurance, private pay rates start at about $75 per day.) Here the individual can obtain physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, medication management and the assistance of social workers, dieticians and nurses. Some of these centers specialize in dementia care, insuring a low staff-to-participant ratio and extra family services.
Program of All Inclusive Care
A third option is the “Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly” or PACE. These programs are designed for people who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal. The PACE program functions like an HMO for end-of-life care, providing many services for the remainder of the participant’s life, including an adult day health center, in-home care, comprehensive medical care, 24-hour emergency care, rehabilitation services, hospitalization, medications and more.
Free Referrals
The Adult Day Services Network is here to answer your questions and help you decide which of the 14 Adult Day centers in the county may meet your needs. We’ll talk with you about your unique situation and then make a recommendation or two. We also have a packet of caregiver information, which we would be pleased to send to you. For more information or a free personalized referral, please call us at (510) 883-0874 or see our website at www.adult-day-services.org.
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Maureen Dixon is the Communications Director of the Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County
All of us want the best for their parents. We want them to be happy, safe and as independent as possible for as long as they can be. Whether your parents live with you or elsewhere in the community it is very important that they are safe in their homes. One third of people 65 years and older will fall at least once each year. Injuries that a younger person would recover from are often devastating for an older person. I deliver Meals on Wheels to seniors and I am appalled at the safety hazards I see in their homes.
Some things you should think about in your own home or in your parent’s home are:
- Are smoke alarms working throughout the house?
- Is the lighting adequate, especially in hallways and stairways? Is there a light switch at both the bottom and top of the stairway? Are there nightlights and a lamp or light switch near your parent’s bed?
- Are the bathroom and kitchen safe for your parents? Are items they use frequently in convenient locations so they don’t have to climb up to get them? Are the electrical outlets safe?
- Are the handrails (especially at the entry way and stair way) adequate? Do you have grab bars near the tub and toilet?
- Is the hot water temperature set below 120° Fahrenheit?
- Are there other hazards like loose throw rugs and wrinkled carpets, extension cords, cluttered pathways, etc. that need to be dealt with? All walkways must be clear.
- Are emergency numbers posted next to the phone?
The Alameda County Public Health Department Senior Injury Prevention Project has published an excellent Home Safety Questionnaire which you may use it to make your home safer. Click here for your own checklist
One question that is often not included on safety questionnaires is correct medication management. Seniors frequently take multiple medications. Their physicians may not be aware of all of the prescriptions and over the counter medications they are taking. There may be serious problems which result from taking the drugs together. The other potential problem is not taking medications correctly. The print on medicine bottles is so small and the instructions are sometimes very confusing. Incorrect medication use can cause all kinds of problems–drowsiness, fatigue, clumsiness, confusion. It is very important to be sure that you and/or your parents’ primary care physician knows all of the medications (including over the counter) that are being taken and that they are being taken correctly.
Other things you or your parents can do to prevent falls is to:
1) Working to become or stay physically fit.
2) Eat a healthy balanced diet.
3) Changing behaviors that increase your risk of falling.
4) Paying close attention when you walk–especially on stairs or uneven surfaces.
If you have further questions about preventing injuries contact the Senior Injury Prevention Project of the Alameda County Public Health Department. Growing older is inevitable, but falling is not.
You and your mom and/or dad have decided that the best option for them is to move to the East Bay. It is a good choice because you (and perhaps other family members) are here. We have very good resources for seniors in the Bay Area. Programs like the Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County (www.adsnac.org) Alzheimer’s Services of the East Bay (www.aseb.org) and others make our community a model for older adults. Besides, the weather is great and we have lots of really good restaurants. For many seniors, this is an important benefit because they just don’t want to do much cooking any more.
If your house is already large enough or if you have an in-law apartment, you are all set. But if you don’t, there are some things you might want to think about.
If you are renting or own a house that is too small for your parent plus all of the other people that you live with and you want to purchase a larger home that will be suitable, talk to a realtor. If you do not have a realtor, you can talk to me. You might be able to transfer the tax basis of your existing home to a replacement property and/or, if your parent is disabled, you might qualify for low interest loans available for buyers living with a disabled person. You should talk with the county Tax Assessor to find out what programs apply to your situation.
Another option is the accessory dwelling unit. They are the 21st century equivalents of in-law units. This is a small permitted unit built on your property. It can be between 300 and 640 square feet, but the square footage cannot exceed 25% of that of the main house. Your lot size needs to be at least 4500 square feet.
You can convert or add on to the original structure, as long as the entrance is not located on the front of the building. There are other restrictions and I encourage you to contact the City of Berkeley Zoning Office to get more information.
Whether you stay in your current home, build or move to a new one, you might need to make accommodations for your parents-ramps, hand rails, grab bars, kitchen and bathroom modifications or rearranging the floor plan so your parent can stay on one level. There are low interest loans available for home improvements that improve accessibility for disabled persons.
You might need an architect or contractor to help you with these types of improvements. There are several organizations in the Bay Area as well as architects and contractors who can provide this type of assistance. The Gilbert Guide (www.gilbertguide.org) is a wonderful resource.
If you and your parents do not want to live together, there are also lots of options in the Bay Area. Many seniors move into apartments or condos when they are ready to downsize from their family homes and make their lives a little easier. Your parent could do this. Studio condos are available from about $250,000 and one bedroom condos begin about $350,000.
Another option are senior coops. When someone purchases a coop, he/she buys a share in the corporation. The minimum age is 55 years. The prices are usually lower than comparable condominiums.
There are two coop buildings s in Berkeley. A few blocks away at 2550 Dana Street is Berkeley Town House, a 60 unit senior coop. It was one of the first, if not the very first, senior cooperative in the country.
Back in the early 60’s, the business and political leaders of Berkeley and the University decided to build a place where their retirees could live and not have to worry about the upkeep and worry of a big house. It was the pride of the community when it opened. There are several UC Berkeley retirees as well as parents of UC Berkeley staff living there. The atmosphere is collegial and stimulating. They have a lot of social and cultural events, like literary readings, concerts and pot lucks. I have spent a lot of time in that building and to me it feels like a college dorm for seniors. When I grow up, that is where I want to live.
The last studio apartment sold for $160,000. One bedroom units cost between $200,000 and $350,000. The other coops in the area are very different from Berkeley Town House. They are not specifically for seniors, but many seniors live in them. When the developments first opened, buyers had to pay cash and seniors were about the only ones who could do that.
There is one building north of campus on Oxford. Units there do not come on the market very often and they are considerably more expensive than those at Berkeley Town House, about $500,000.
Another coop is Highland Place in Castro Valley. The units are large and very nice. They are located on a woodsy hillside above Castro Valley with great views.
Rossmoor is another possibility. It has both condos and coop options. It also began in the early 60’s when Stanley Dollar Jr. sold his ranch to Ross Cortese, founder of Leisure World. Today there are 9,000 residents living in over 6,000 homes.
Prices for coop apartments and condominiums in Rossmoor that are available now range from $177,000 and go up to $750,000. There is also a $7,000 entrance fee.
The environment there is also very different from Berkeley. It is a secure self-contained gated community with houses and multiple family units built around a golf course and nestled in the hills. They have four swimming pools, eight tennis courts, riding stables, arts and crafts programs and many clubs and social organizations.
My dad lives in a small town in central Texas. I know that if he were to move to the Bay Area, he would not like living in Berkeley or Oakland, but he would love Rossmoor. They also have an assisted living facility for their residents
There is another senior housing option that probably will not work for your parents, but may work for us–Elder Co-Housing. The first elder co-housing project in the country, Glacier Circle, opened last year in Davis. It is a beautiful development and appears to be working very well, but it took years of preparation. The residents there began thinking about co-housing over ten years ago. There are several groups in Berkeley working on elder cohousing projects.
If you have questions about any of these senior housing options, please call me.
Several years ago I heard about a new resource for those working with seniors. It was called The Gilbert Guide and was a comprehensive guidebook about retirement communities in specific areas. The first one was for San Francisco and after a few months, one came out for the East Bay. At that time there was nothing like it. When I read it, I wanted to know more.
The Gilbert family had been looking for a retirement community for one of their members. They were having a very hard time finding reliable information that they could use. Being the resourceful people that they were, they started their own company to review the senior housing programs in their area. They hired knowledgeable and experienced researchers to do comprehensive analyses of facilities, their staffs, programs and anything else they could think of. Their guides are excellent. I use the one for the East Bay all of the time.
They have expanded in the past year. They now have a monthly online newsletter (Gilbert Guide Monthly) which focuses on many aspects of aging, especially dementia. There are three items in this month’s edition on Alzheimer’s: Understanding Wandering Behavior; Streamlining the Search Process for Superior Alzheimer’s Care and Transitioning from Home to Assisted Living. They have articles on senior housing, homecare and columns written by experts in many fields related to aging. Their newsletter has become the premier information resource for seniors, their caregivers and their families. Click here to view all of the published newsletters and to subscribe to the Gilbert Guide Monthly.
Recently they started a weekly email report (The Weekly Insider) which reviews resources for seniors. They have articles on everything from lighting to accessible bathrooms to how to write personal histories. This newsletter focuses on products and services that seniors cannot live without. They also have a Gilbert Guide Marketplace where you can go to find out about all kinds of products for seniors. Click here to subscribe to the weekly e-newsletter.
If you are looking for senior housing, click here to their website, enter your zip code and other basic information and get a list of all the retirement communities that meet your criteria.
The Gilberts have made major contributions to the field of senior resources. They are no-nonsense and practical. (They also return phone calls.) I trust them explicitly. The experts they work with are excellent. To check out all of their wonderful resources, click here. You can see all of the recent publications and sign up to receive them yourself.
