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Providing management and coordination of personal, financial, legal, and health insurance matters
| September 2009 - Issue 13: Seniors Aging in Place - How Can Concerned Neighbors and Landlords Help?
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In This Issue:
1. Seniors Aging in Place: How Can Concerned Neighbors and Landlords Help? - A Client's Story
2. Free Consultation
3. Rebecca R. Eddy & Gideon Y. Schein in the Public
4. Previous Newsletters Archived on Our Website
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Seniors Aging in Place: How Can Concerned Neighbors and Landlords Help? - A Client's Story
Joyce is renting an apartment in a lovely pre-war co-op building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The apartment is a small one bedroom which until recently Joyce kept in excellent shape. In 2008, the magazines, charitable requests, and junk mail began piling up on table tops, and the floor and the bills were lost in the midst. There was little food in her refrigerator; she frequently forgot to take her medicine; and her friends in the building were concerned that she might trip on her rugs or forget to turn off the stove. Even the doormen were involved, making sure that Joyce didn't go outside in inclement weather without a coat, hat, scarf and gloves.
Joyce's neighbor connected her out-of-town sister (who was just beginning to realize that memory loss was substantial) with Eddy & Schein. As a first step, we researched Home Health Agencies and found one that would pre-pour Joyce's medications and then call her each morning and evening to remind her to take the pills. We then worked with Joyce to sort through piles and in the process eliminated many trip hazards. We helped her clear out files, pay bills, gather documents to go to the accountant for 2008 taxes, and deal with the bank to remove unnecessary fees.
If it had not been for the neighbors and doormen, this sweet, independent 80-year old woman who still sings with a church choir and loves to walk all over New York, might soon have been relegated to a nursing home.
Aging in Place
Joyce is only one example of the phenomenon called Aging in Place. The number of seniors living in co-ops, condos, rentals, and private homes is growing. There are buildings where larger percentages of residents are retired seniors. Those buildings are referred to as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC). In New York State, not-for-profit agencies have applied to the State to be able to certify a building as a NORC and receive funding to serve the residents. In other buildings, the managements are struggling with this increasing problem: how to deal with the large number of seniors living alone who are, themselves, dealing with the challenges of aging.
Building management and owners may be aware of and concerned by:
• Fear of fires due to unattended stoves
• Fear of leaks due to lack of maintenance of plumbing
While many residents are self-sufficient, at some point they begin to need help due to:
• Slow deterioration of eyesight, muscle function, memory, or brain function
• A sudden illness or accident, stroke, heart attack or fall which can change the situation in an instant
In most cases they can continue to live in their apartment, but they might need:
• Help with paperwork and bills
• Help with shopping, cleaning and cooking
• Companionship and encouragement to keep up routines
• Help with activities of daily living
What You Can Do To Help
Do you have a neighbor who may be declining? Are you on the Board of your co-op building? Do you worry about the long-term residents who are now seniors? Do you wonder what can be done to make life better for the seniors and to ease the concern by neighbors, owners and management? How can you help your building management prepare for the resident seniors’ diminishing physical or mental capacity or a sudden fall or illness?
We believe there are ways that boards of directors and management companies can be more proactive in working with their growing senior populations. Ideally, there would be training for the boards of directors, management companies’ staffs, and the superintendents of buildings and their staffs, presented by a panel of in-home support staff such as:
• A financial organizer
• A geriatric care manager
• A representative of a home health aide or companion agency
• A professional organizer specializing in seniors and hoarding
The training would address the following issues:
• How to recognize oncoming problems
• How to assist seniors
• Hoarders and chronically disorganized people
• Accessibility
In addition, building management would sponsor seminars for resident seniors and their families, and aging Baby Boomers, which would address the joys of aging in place and how to avoid the pitfalls.
Preparation is the key:
• Preparation by people aging in place
• Preparation by family members
• Preparation by friends and neighbors
• Preparation by building management and boards
Call us to set up a seminar for seniors, training session for your staff, or a consultation for your neighbor/resident.
Free Phone Consultation – Call 212-987-1427
Rebecca R. Eddy & Gideon Y. Schein in the Public
September 16th - Gideon and Rebecca addressed the Health Care Professional's Breakfast at the Isabella Geriatric Center - "Help Your Senior Clients: Ten Mistakes Your Clients Can Avoid."
September 22nd - Rebecca to be interviewed by Barbara Friesner on VoiceAmerica’s Age Wise Living Radio Show on Tuesday, September 22 @ 10 to 11 AM Eastern Time.
October 1st - Rebecca to speak at Health Fair 10am-2pm, Main Building at Isabella Geriatric Center - 515 Audubon Avenue, New York, NY 10040.
November 5th - Rebecca and Patricia Mulvey of Jewish Home Lifecare to speak to Health Leaders of New York (HLNY) - www.hlny.org on "The Team Approach to Elder Care: From Home to Institution and Home Again."
Rebecca and Gideon are available to speak to groups on a variety of topics related to seniors and their families. Please
contact our office to discuss possible presentations.
Previous
Newsletters Archived on our Website
Our previous newsletters are archived on our
website at http://www.eddyandschein.com/newsletters.php
At any time, from our home page, you can click on the
"View Archives" link situated below the subscription sign up space.
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If you found our newsletter informational or
useful, please scroll back to the top of the page and click on the link send this to a friend - to send it to anyone else
who would benefit
from it!
Please feel free to contact us and take
advantage of our free telephone consultation. We would be happy to talk
to you about how we can provide Life Keeping, Not Just Bookkeeping®.
Sincerely,
Copyright, July 2009, Eddy & Schein, Inc.
About Us
Partners
Rebecca R. Eddy and Gideon Y. Schein, both MBAs and certified
Professional Daily Money Managers, have a primary focus on the needs of
an aging population:
• Seniors
who need help in organizing and streamlining tasks such as expense and
revenue tracking, bill paying, health insurance claims management, or
providing regularly required information to accountants and lawyers.
• Seniors who may or may
not have an estate plan in place, but need to catalog assets and
personal effects and coordinate and track philanthropic activity.
To learn more about us, check out the May 2008 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement
Report. It describes the services of daily money managers and quotes one of our clients.
Our Promise
Eddy
& Schein In-Home Administrators for Seniors® is dedicated to making
life easier when it comes to managing seniors' personal administrative
matters. From simply gathering and paying bills each month to
performing a complete review of seniors' financial and personal
affairs, we provide exactly the help needed. Working with Eddy & Schein, clients are given private, one-on-one attention at home. Together, we'll develop a plan to address our clients' specific needs. And of course, privacy is strictly guaranteed.
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