Health Care Reform and Aging in Place
Timing is everything. And as valuable a concept as Aging in Place may have been since its conception, is it possible that current events can shift it from a nascent idea to a widely recognized national movement?
Wherever your own passions may lie in the national health care debate, there is no argument with the fact that a national effort to enable seniors to remain in their homes rather than relocate to hospitals or nursing homes not only provides the aging population with better day-to-day lives but also reduces the financial burden of health care on America’s taxpayers. (Just how much of a financial effect this does have will likely be quantified this year in a new study proposed by HUD.)
By actively participating in the Aging in Place movement through your local NAIPC Council, you place your business in a favorable position to acquire new referrals from your local network of senior support providers. But, looking at the larger picture, you also become an active participant in helping our nation try to put some reins on healthcare costs.
America’s Senior Support Network
Here at NAIPC we realize that referrals are essential to all of your businesses and a large part of our mission is to facilitate you finding them. In evaluating the short history of our organization, we feel that all of us have probably spent too much time talking amongst ourselves rather than reaching out to the senior community. And so our focus is on designing the tools to familiarize our senior population with the Aging in Place movement and directing them to you.
We will be rolling out these tools over the next few months. In order to help get his message across in a clear and simple manner, we have adopted the catchphrase “America’s Senior Support Network” as a part of our logo. We encourage you to utilize the phrase in your own marketing efforts.
Innovations
Employee Assistance with Elder Care Program (EAEC)
Kathy Johanns, Care Connect
In difficult times, seniors and their care providers may turn to any number of resources to help accommodate their needs. For financial needs, a financial planner or mortgage advisor may suffice. For home repair needs, a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) remodeler will do. But for the larger issues of aging with dignity and comfort, perhaps no community is as accommodating or well placed to serve as the faith-based community.
Care-Connect, a program of Lutheran Social Services of the South, sees the concerns of its community and provides solutions that appeal to the persons full set of needs in a comprehensive and pluralistic way. Kathy Johanns, a certified geriatric care manager in Austin, TX, describes Care-Connect's service as a "comprehensive assessment of seniors in their environment to help find ways to keep the senior safely and comfortably in their home."
These assessments, which bring together family members, physicians and other Aging in Place professionals, are just the beginning of the array of senior services that Care-Connect provides for the community.
The organization also has a focused program to ease the needs of the care provider community as well. The innovative Employee Assistance with Elder Care (EAEC) program seeks to support companies whose employees are struggling with care giving and are challenged by their own family members' care needs.
Kathy notes that these employee workshops to alleviate the stress of the employee are, "an excellent employee benefit for all companies to reduce lost time and dollars due to absenteeism and employee turnover due to adult care giving."
From engagement efforts with their faith-based community through church bulletins and senior publications to services directed at easing business owners HR-related needs, Care-Connect is uniquely positioned to be a key player in the networking and education necessary to grow a sophisticated Aging in Place professional community.
Lutheran Social Services of the South has been providing elder care services since the 1930's. As the organization and the senior community evolved, however, it has become apparent that a focus on Aging in Place is a critical part of any comprehensive approach to senior needs. For more information on LSSS, Care-Connect, or the Employee Assistance with Elder Care program, please contact Kathy Johanns at kathy.johanns@lsss.org or visit www.care-connect.org.
Byron Andrews, Advanced Renovation Solutions
In our previous newsletter, we shared the story of Byron Andrews and his work as a certified Aging in Place Specialist remodeler and universal designer. For more information on Byron and his business, Advanced Renovation Solutions, please visit http://www.advancedrenovationsolutions.com
Did you miss our Webinar?
Download the FREE Video
NAIPC Webinar: Building a Better Aging in Place Community
Learn how to build a better Aging in Place community with leaders from current and developing NAIPC chapters. Tools for running meetings, building membership, and maintaining a strong community will be discussed. Download the free video here.
If you need any assistance with downloading the video, please contact Adam at agerber@dworbell.com
Chapter Chat
Shari Crook
Jackson, MS
Shari Crook is a natural networker. As a reverse mortgage loan office for Trustmark Bank in Jackson, MS, Shari does double duty as both the trusted advisor and resource to her senior clients and as the center of exciting networking opportunities for her fellow aging in place professionals in the area.
For more than three years, Shari has worked through networking outfits such as Business Network International to facilitate relationship building with other companies. Working with NAIPC, however, has opened doors for Shari's business and the businesses of her community members that were not available before. For years, Shari explained, she attempted to get involved in the senior resources available through her local chamber of commerce to no avail. Now, as she spearheads the growing NAIPC community in Jackson, she has been invited to speak at their upcoming events. To drive home this point, Shari has a clever strategy. To encourage and highlight membership in her chapter, she is inviting new members in her area to join her at these special events that only NAIPC has access too.
The Jackson, MS aging in place professional community has grown dramatically in recent years. Together with fellow chapter leaders Marla Baker of Home Instead and Josh Creed of Acadian On Call, Shari uses NAIPC as a way to differentiate her group from individual service providers seeking access to the senior community. Membership in NAIPC assures seniors that service providers are committed to ethical behavior and best practices.
To learn more about Shari's chapter building efforts and her work with NAIPC, download our 'Building a Better Aging in Place Community' webinar video by clicking here. If you have trouble with this link, please email Adam at agerber@dworbell.com.
NRMLA Annual Meeting & Expo 2009
National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association
November 18-20
San Diego, CA
Join members of the reverse mortgage industry for a summit of ideas and issues facing, not only this financial product for seniors, but many more issues of interest to the Aging in Place community including:
-Marketing to Seniors on the Internet
-How Will the Burgeoning Boomer Pool Change Our Country
-Spotting Elder Financial Abuse—And What You Should Do About It
-Serving the Senior Hispanic Population
-The Phone as Your Office: How the Next Generation Will Alter the Way You Conduct Business
-As well as many more topics on legislative, technical, ethics, and financial relating to the reverse mortgage industry
Join us at the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt in sunny downtown San Diego for this tremendous event.
Register Now: http://bit.ly/F6I8V
Preliminary Agenda: http://bit.ly/lokoY
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