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Aging in Place - What Does That Mean?

By Marilyn Ellis

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Published: 05Nov2009
Word count: 585
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"Aging In Place" is a senior care industry term for helping elderly remain in their home rather than live with family or go into assisted living. I hate this term. It sounds like leftovers rotting in the refrigerator. Who wants to do that?

We are all living longer than anybody expected. When Social Security was created, people retired at 65 and the government expected them to die by age 72 and they did! Not so, now. It is not unusual for people to live well beyond eighty and indeed the population of those 100+ continues to grow. In fact, futurists predict that by the middle of this century, living beyond 100 years will be the norm.

So if seniors want to remain at home, what exactly do they need to accomplish that? I'm here to tell you that aging in place is more than grab bars in the tub and Meals on Wheels delivery. Remaining at home doesn't mean days filled with TV and solitaire either.

Let's discard the term "aging in place" right now. I prefer using the term "Safe, Happy and Engaged In Life at Home". No rotting in the frig allowed. If your beloved senior is rotting at home, its time to make a change or move them somewhere else.

The term "use it or lose it" applies here in the very strictest sense. In this youth oriented world, seniors are made to feel irrelevant. With most of them non tech savvy, the internet makes them feel left out. The world is scarier now, crowds make them nervous and politics make them crazy. Without anyone to talk to, they can become very unsociable and even more reluctant to re engage in life. So what is the solution?

First of all, families of seniors have to be willing to look deeper into the lives that their elders are living. If they are slipping in to dementia, is it because they have nothing to do other than watch Jeopardy and play solitaire and nothing to think about or is it for organic reasons? I'm not entirely convinced that all dementia is organic. In my senior move management practice,I have seen many seniors blossom both physically and mentally when they are reconnected with the outside world. So can they be Safe, Happy and Engaged in Life at home? Maybe. It will take more than a visiting nurse and food delivery to accomplish it. Seniors need to BE in the world - participating at a Senior Community Center and taken to their beloved symphonies,lectures or theatre as well as interaction with younger people. A couple of basic classes on the internet wouldn't hurt either! What fun to send emails to their grandchildren!

So much of their lost mobility is due to lack of exercise. A colleague of mine commented the other day that if she saw one more group of seniors playing balloon volleyball, she was going to scream. Seniors need physical activity too -from professionals - not just the activity director who is also in charge of arts and crafts. We have to remember that these little old wrinkled bodies once ran the world, indeed SAVED the world and still have a lot of show us and we owe them more than a life of Jeopardy and Solitaire at home.

If you have a loved one who wants to stay at home, make sure they are not rotting like leftovers in the frig. If you choose to move them to assisted living, stay clear of balloon volleyball!

Marilyn Ellis, Author, Speaker, Professional Organizer, Senior Move Manager and Business Development Coach, loves working with senior clients and their families. She also coaches individuals and companies on how to grow their senior service businesses. For three FREE reports on how to become part of the growing senior care industry, visit her website at http://www.movemomanddad.com .

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