Senior News May, 2003 Vol. 22. No.  5

 

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Big plant sale May 10 FADHS clients have a hand in their garden

Natoinal Council on Aging and American Society on Aging meet to enhance growing older

MSSP turns 20 Vital service has to be cut back by 13 people per month

Serving older Americans

McKinleyville Seniors driving safely

What is Olmstead and why should you care?

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Natoinal Council on Aging and American Society on Aging meet to enhance growing older.
by Cynthia Ross

    "Making Our World a Good Place to Grow Old" was the theme of
the 2003 Joint Conference of the National Council on the Aging and
the American Society of Aging. The four-day conference, held in
Chicago was like going home for a visit-I moved moved to Eureka in
1989 from Chicago. Just as the Windy City expresses diversity and
growth for the future, so did the conference. The sessions covered
home-based programs, day programs, dementia, mental health issues and
long-term care issues. The themes throughout the conference were
choice and independence for the people we serve and elders throughout
our nation.
    Bill Thomas, a presenter on the quality of life in long-term
care said, "We must change the way we think about, regulate and
deliver services to the elderly and disabled." This concept applies
to people of all ages and includes those who live in nursing homes or
care homes.

Consumer direction:
    One of the sessions, "Getting Ready for Consumer-Directed
Services" focused on the need for service providers in the local
community to develop services for people with disabilities so they
can choose to live and participate in the life of their community.
    The presenters suggested assessing four areas in the
community to see if the service providers and the consumers are ready
to make choices leading to independence and a higher quality of life.
    * The first assessment is opportunity for choice. Whether
people live in a long-term care (LTC) facility or at home, they must
be able to direct their own life choices such as where to live, how
to participate in the community and what services they want or need.
    * Secondly, people must have meaningful participation in
designing their life style, stating what services they want, and
having an advocate to assist in complaints and the resolutions to
them. Some consumers want to work or go to school or have services in
the home. Is this possible in our community?
    * The third assessment focused on the need to have local
services such as transportation, housing and caregiving to meet the
needs of disabled and elderly people.
    * Finally, we all need to assess financial security and other
safeguards that are a part of daily living. Social services such as
In-Home Support Services and money managers provide assistance to
elders and disabled people in Humboldt County.

Advocacy:
   Several sessions at the conference addressed the quality of
life provided to consumers who live in nursing and care homes. The
session "Elderhood and the Challenge to Meet the Needs of the Very
Elderly" suggests new ways of addressing the crisis in present
institutional settings.
    We need to think and talk about the developmental phases of
life and include the very elderly. We speak of childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, elderhood, and the final phase, the eldest of
the elders.

Green Houses:
     According to Bill Thomas, proponent of the "Green House"
model, we can move to where our world is a good place to grow old and
nursing homes as we know them, could become obsolete. It is an issue
of creating environments that foster elderhood as a developmental
process.
    Rather than the large nursing home institutions, Thomas
supports a small six- to eight-bed group home of elders who live
together to maximize their quality of life. The elders invite
professional staff such as nurses, doctors, and certified nursing
assistants into their living space to provide care and services. The
key supportive person is a professional Elderhood Developer who
assists the group of residents to "cherish" one another.
    Training programs for these professionals are already in
existence. Would such a home be preferable to the present long-term
care nursing home? There are models of the Green House homes being
developed in Tupelo, Mississippi where the state and local
authorities and members of the community have worked to build and
license small group homes that provide skilled nursing services.
For more information on the Green House concept or training
contact http://thegreenhouse project.news8-1.htm.

My thoughts:
    In light of the recent Supreme Court decision, Olmstead vs
LC, the above assessment areas suggest the need for Ombudsmen
(advocates for residents in long-term care) and other community based
providers including the consumers to evaluate the availability of
present services and the future needs in Humboldt County. The
questions for Ombudsmen are, can people living in a nursing home move
back into the community, and are there the needed medical and social
supportive services in place?
    I would like to see our community establish the continuum
from one's home, to senior housing, to residential/assisted living
facilities, to the Green House. Along with our community support
services, we must join together in Humboldt County to make our place
a great place to grow old. At the heart of the continuum is providing
choice and independence for each consumer.
    A special thanks to Area Agency on Aging and the Humboldt
Senior Resource Center for their support of elders in Humboldt County.
Cynthia Ross is Ombudsman and Long-Term Care program manager
for the Humboldt Senior Resource Center. Her e-mail is ccross@
humsenior.org. See also Kim Laney's story on the Olmstead decision
and Nancy Conlon's story on the MSSP program which accomplishes some
of what is asked for by the Olmstead decision and yet is being cut
back by the state legislature.