NAIPC Turns Up the Volume
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Welcome to Home/Life, the National Aging in Place Council's new monthly e-update. Each month we'll be reporting to you on national developments related to senior living as well as reports on the activities of NAIPC members and chapters throughout the country.
Home/Life is just one of the new features of NAIPC as we embark on an aggressive campaign to establish ourselves as a nationally recognized and utilized senior support network.
The advent of the internet has changed our lives into an ongoing conversation, among friends, but also among strangers with shared interests. NAIPCs mission is to facilitate that conversation among seniors and those who can provide them with the services they need.
In addition to this update, NAIPC is in the process of creating a new web site that we expect to launch in October to coincide with 2009 National Aging in Place Week. The new site is designed to address both NAIPC members and consumers searching for senior support. Its features will include a much improved Directory of Service Providers that will include both national listings and local listings accessible by city or zip code as well as landing pages for each local NAIPC chapter.
We hope you will all join us and become active participants as we try to best serve America's growing senior population.
Preparation for Aging in Place Week Begins
NAIPC Hosts Webinar, July 21
Senior Fests. Aging in Place Seminars and Roundtables. A Miss Senior Pageant.
2009 Aging in Place Week is scheduled for October 12-18 and preparation is beginning all across the country.
Aging in Place Week is a great opportunity for local service providers to capture the attention of local seniors and inform them about the concept of aging in place and the available resources in their community.
To help you prepare for Aging in Place week in your community, NAIPC will hold a free webinar on Tuesday, July 21 from 2-3 PM Eastern time. Featured speakers will be Darryl Hicks of NAIPC, who has been coordinating Aging in Place week events for the past few years, and Barbara Franklin of Franklin Funding and an active member of the local chapter in Charleston, South Carolina.
To register for the webinar, please click here.
MetLife publishes study on changing role of home equity
MetLife, in collaboration with the National Council on Aging, has published an insightful and inspiring new study entitled Tapping Home Equity in Retirement that argues for a major change in the American perspective on the role of housing equity for seniors, "shifting from a financial planning strategy that aims to preserve housing wealth to one that uses this asset as a retirement resource." As a result of longetivity, the decrease in lifetime savings and concern about the future of entitlements, a majority of America's seniors are worried they will not have enough cash flow in retirement to meet their basic needs. One solution--in some cases the only solution-- is the conversion of home equity into monthly income to help manage cash flow.
The comprehensive report, researched by Barbara Stucki, the Director of the Reverse Mortgage Initiative for NCOA, states that 46% of those who have taken reverse mortgages have used them to pay off exisitng mortgages in order to lower monthly expenses.
The report also emphasizes the benefits to individuals and to society of aging in place and calls on reverse mortgage sellers, benefits managers. home care providers and financial advisors to all work in unison to help plan for the best utilization of a seniors' resources for possible future developments.
The report can be found at www.MetLife.com.
Meet the Member--Carolyn Sithong
When Carolyn Sithong notices a problem, she doesn’t just complain about it--she takes action. After several years working in hospitals as an occupational therapist helping patients prepare to return home, she realized that there was a need in her community of Orlando for a service that would help prepare the homes for the returning patients.
“’I want to go home, I want to go home,’ they would say. But their home wasn’t ready to accommodate them yet,” said Carolyn. Carolyn’s consulting practice, Home for Life Consulting and Design, was inspired to serve this need. Carolyn brings together doctors, nurses, designers, contractors, and family members to discuss the needs of the patient and to help re-imagine the home as a place that allows all of the residents to live as full of a life as possible.
Since she opened her practice last year, Carolyn has found that it’s not only the patients who benefit from her unique services. “There is a generation,” Carolyn said, “the sandwich generation, who are often still raising young children when they bring their parents into their home. On top of that, they are still working full time jobs themselves. Having a house with accessible kitchens and bathrooms allows the caretakers the ability to lead normal lives without worrying too much about their house’s ability to serve the whole family.”
Carolyn’s business has benefited from the relationships she has formed with other business owners and Aging in Place specialists while working together on clients' needs. But there was no structure in place in Orlando to bring such professionals together. Problem seen, problem solved. Carolyn Sithong is the founding member of NAIPC’s newest chapter, The National Aging in Place Council Central Florida chapter.
For more information on Carolyn and her Home for Life Design, please visit www.homeforlifedesign.com.
Innovation: The Alzheimer's Store
Automatic faucets and medicine dispensers, anti-scalding devices, a phone with photos for each stored number, clothing with dignity and a whole line of products to deal with falling. All of these can be found among the more than 300 products offered by The Alzheimer's Store, a catalogue and website driven business run out of the Cummings, Georgia home of Mark and Ellen Warner.
The idea for the business gestated when Mark, an architect by trade, wrote a book entitled The Complete Guide to Alzheimer Proofing Your Home. "We received endless calls from people looking for products," says Ellen Warner, "so we looked at each other and said, is there a business here?"
With an estimated five million Americans coping with the effects of Alzheimer's Disease, the Warner's saw the potential value in servicing their needs, but also realized many people would probably like to have someplace to call when they were searching for problem-solving advice. "With Alzheimer's disease, the unexpected happens on a daily basis," says gerontologist James Thames. "And you need to be prepared for the unexpected."
The Alzheimer Store distributed 14,000 catalogues in its first year of operation--and 75,000 in its second year. To access the company go to www.alzstore.com or call 800-752-3238.
Chapter Chat
(A monthly sample of the good work being done by your NAIPC colleagues around the country)
Orlando
The newest NAIPC chapter is in the midst of a local "AIP Awareness Campaign," introducing themselves as a new asset to the community via presentations at meetings of other organizations, appearances on local television news shows and coverage in local caregiver magazines. For Aging in Place Week they are preparing an event entitled "A Step Ahead: Central Florida's Vision for Aging in Place" at the local Home Builders Association facility and featuring speakers and roundtables focused on implementing AIP practices into individual businesses. The event has been accredited for continuing education credits for city developers and planners.
Baltimore
The Baltimore chapter, 25 members strong, meets monthly at the Towson Library. Meeting agendas include presentations by members to familiarize fellow members with their businesses, planning for local events and presentations and a guest speaker. Recent speakers included a representative from the city's Department on Aging and a professor from the gerontology department at Towson State University.
Chapter members have aggressively been spreading the word about AIP in presentations at local senior centers. Each presentation generally focuses on one subject (medicare, home adaptation), but also gives the members the opportunity to introduce the existence of and services available from their chapter. Chapter members have often attended senior events en masse including the recent Bravo Health event at Morgan State Univeristy, where each vendor had a table of their own to offer their sercies as well as an NAIPC sign on their table.
(Join with ten other service providers in your community and form your own local NAIPC chapter.
Our office will provide you with a step-by-step starter kit. For more information go to our website, naipc.org, or contact Marty Bell (202-939-1745) or Adam Gerber (202-939-1777)).
Home/Life is published by the National Aging in Place Council, 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 420,
Washington, D. C. 20036. 202-939-1770. www.naipc.org
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