This will be a link-heavy post for people who just want the facts, Ma'am.
First, thanks to Journal Sentinel reporter Michele Derus who brought to the front page of the real estate section the problem of failure to understand seniors' needs when developing housing.
And although the Milwaukee Aging Consortium is a membership organization, not an advocacy organization, it's fair to say that we are advocates for anything that will improve the lives of seniors!
Let's start with what aging looks like in Milwaukee County: this wonderful report, Now at 60 What I See.
Looking for new ideas about redeveloping sites as communities in which to live, work, and age? The results of the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning Aging in Community Senior Housing Ideas Competition will be displayed on their website by the end of February. And a white paper covering the week of events begining with Eden Alternative guru William Thomas will be developed and posted at the UWM Center on Age and Community.
In Milwaukee County, the mecca for all information about health services for older people is the County Department on Aging's Elderlink.
Interested in resources for housing and health care for older adults in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties? Try Senior Resources Online for 2006/2007.
Worried about older people not being able to afford housing? Steve Falek of the Milwaukee Housing Authority says call and write your senators and representatives to support Senate bill 427 (thanks to Brian Peters for the correction), the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act. This bill makes available new home production and older home rehab as well as Section 8 vouchers and re-institutes the currently unfunded program to fight crime and drugs in low-income housing. It also calls for creation of a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Why is affordable senior housing so important? See what the Retirement Housing Fund has to say: "It is illusionary to believe that we can have good healthcare in this nation unless persons have decent, safe, and secure affordable housing because affordable housing is the base which makes good health a possibility."
And that's just a start! If you're interested in doing something creative to advance aging in community here, call me (414-289-0890) to be put on the e-mail list for our project exploration group!
Showing posts with label Elderlink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elderlink. Show all posts
Monday, February 12, 2007
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Close to home
There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers; those who will be caregivers; those who will need caregivers.
Oh boyhowdy, was Rosalynn Carter right about that!
There’s another group, though: those of us who should – or would like to - be caregivers but can’t and feel guilty about it.
I’m in that group. While Mom lives independently in senior apartments, she can’t drive anymore and needs help with transportation and other things. Because she lives in Oshkosh, and because I’m a sandwicher with kids still at home, my sister and niece share the privilege and responsibility. I know my sister is overwhelmed sometimes, and tired often.
A friend of mine e-mailed me today to explain that she wasn’t coming to our women’s group meeting tonight because she was in California. Her mother had a bad fall and had been having a rocky recuperation.
I'm flying back to Milwaukee Wednesday. My sister-in-law will be here for a couple of days. The big question then becomes whether or not Mom and William will accept the amount of home-health assistance Mom really requires for as long as she requires it.
Concerns about caregiving are everywhere, if you talk to people long enough. Without a “seamless” system of caregiving, everyone has to figure out how to patch together a net of help that eventually goes beyond family and friends.
The umbrella name for all that’s needed, I’ve recently learned, is longterm care. I used to think that meant nursing homes!
In Milwaukee County, we’re fortunate to have Connecting Caring Communities to help in “developing partnerships to improve long term care and supportive services systems to meet the current and future needs of older adults” and in getting the word out on longterm care.
And then there's Elderlink, a great centralized source of information and assistance. Calling 414-289-6874 opens the doors of information to the county's older people and those who are helping them.
Maybe later we can talk about the two elephants in the room when we're on the subject of caregivers this subject. The first is public policy for a national system of caregiving: there isn’t one.
The second is gender: caregiving is largely a woman’s issue. The white paper Caregiving in America, prepared in conjunction with the Caregiving Project for Older Americans and available online, found that 90% of unpaid caregivers are women. And most of the people they care for are women. Especially when you enter the domain of the old old, those over age 85.
Mom, if you're reading this: you don't look old old, though I know sometimes you feel it.
Oh boyhowdy, was Rosalynn Carter right about that!
There’s another group, though: those of us who should – or would like to - be caregivers but can’t and feel guilty about it.
I’m in that group. While Mom lives independently in senior apartments, she can’t drive anymore and needs help with transportation and other things. Because she lives in Oshkosh, and because I’m a sandwicher with kids still at home, my sister and niece share the privilege and responsibility. I know my sister is overwhelmed sometimes, and tired often.
A friend of mine e-mailed me today to explain that she wasn’t coming to our women’s group meeting tonight because she was in California. Her mother had a bad fall and had been having a rocky recuperation.
I'm flying back to Milwaukee Wednesday. My sister-in-law will be here for a couple of days. The big question then becomes whether or not Mom and William will accept the amount of home-health assistance Mom really requires for as long as she requires it.
Concerns about caregiving are everywhere, if you talk to people long enough. Without a “seamless” system of caregiving, everyone has to figure out how to patch together a net of help that eventually goes beyond family and friends.
The umbrella name for all that’s needed, I’ve recently learned, is longterm care. I used to think that meant nursing homes!
In Milwaukee County, we’re fortunate to have Connecting Caring Communities to help in “developing partnerships to improve long term care and supportive services systems to meet the current and future needs of older adults” and in getting the word out on longterm care.
And then there's Elderlink, a great centralized source of information and assistance. Calling 414-289-6874 opens the doors of information to the county's older people and those who are helping them.
Maybe later we can talk about the two elephants in the room when we're on the subject of caregivers this subject. The first is public policy for a national system of caregiving: there isn’t one.
The second is gender: caregiving is largely a woman’s issue. The white paper Caregiving in America, prepared in conjunction with the Caregiving Project for Older Americans and available online, found that 90% of unpaid caregivers are women. And most of the people they care for are women. Especially when you enter the domain of the old old, those over age 85.
Mom, if you're reading this: you don't look old old, though I know sometimes you feel it.
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