As you age, it‘s common to require additional support during your day-to-day activities, either to increase social interactions or to help you with activities of daily living. There are a lot of organizations, non-profits, government programs, and private companies that provide services tailored to the needs of older adults, including financial assistance, health care support, and social engagement opportunities.
Understanding the variety of resources available to you within your community can go a long way towards ensuring you have all the resources you need and making your golden years more safe, easy, and fun!
Resources in Your Community
Before you start researching available services in your area, look to your community first: Are there friends, family, or neighbors you can ask for help? You can ask someone to do your groceries with or for you, ask for rides to doctors appointments or community events, or even plan weekly or monthly hangouts with them. Once you’ve determined the services that would be most beneficial to you, find an organization in your community to help. According to the National Library of Medicine, here are some of the main services you can potentially outsource.
Homemaker Services
Services designed to maintain a healthy home environment such as housekeeping, meal preparation, laundry, and shopping.
- Home-delivered meals: Get meals delivered to you or your loved one’s if you cannot prepare or obtain adequate nutrition. Programs like Meals on Wheels deliver nutritious meals to seniors at home, ensuring their dietary needs are met.
- Cleaning services: Home cleaning and daily chore services.
- Home-safety assessment: When you enroll in Medicare, you’re eligible to receive a one-time health risk assessment that is included in the first 12 months of Medicare Part B coverage.
Health Care Assistance
One of the most pressing needs for the elderly is healthcare. Several programs and organizations focus on ensuring that older adults receive the medical attention they require.
- Medicare and Medicaid: Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people aged 65 and older, covering services such as hospital visits, outpatient care, and preventive services. Medicaid offers assistance for low-income seniors to cover healthcare costs not paid by Medicare.
- Senior clinics and geriatric care: Some communities have clinics that specialize in caring for elderly patients, offering specialized geriatric care that addresses the unique health needs of aging individuals.
- In-home care: Many elderly individuals prefer to remain at home while receiving care. In-home services include medical care (administered by a visiting nurse) and non-medical services like help with daily activities, including bathing, dressing, and meal preparation.
Transportation
Mobility is often a challenge for older adults, but reliable transportation options ensure they can maintain independence.
- Public transportation discounts: Many cities offer reduced or free fares for seniors using buses, subways, or other public transportation.
- Paratransit services: Paratransit is a specialized transportation service designed for individuals with disabilities or mobility issues. It offers door-to-door service, making it easier for elderly individuals to attend medical appointments, go shopping, or visit community centers.
- Volunteer driver programs: In some communities, volunteers provide free or low-cost rides to seniors who do not have access to reliable transportation.
Social and Recreational Programs
Staying socially engaged is essential for maintaining your mental and emotional well-being as you age. Many communities offer programs that allow older adults to stay active and connected, which in turn decreases symptoms of isolation and depression and increases cognition.
- Senior centers: Senior centers are community hubs where older adults can participate in various activities such as exercise classes, arts and crafts, games, and social gatherings. They often provide educational workshops, nutrition programs, and health screenings.
- Clubs and organizations: Local clubs for seniors, such as the Red Hat Society or other recreational groups, encourage older adults to form social bonds and participate in community life.
- Adult day care services: These programs offer a safe environment for elderly individuals who require care during the day while family members are at work. They often provide meals, social activities, and healthcare services, allowing seniors to interact with peers and receive supervision.
- Volunteer programs: Organizations like Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) offer seniors opportunities to engage in meaningful volunteer work. Whether it’s tutoring children, helping at local food banks, or participating in environmental projects, volunteering allows seniors to stay engaged and active.
- Lifelong learning: Many universities and community colleges offer free or discounted courses for seniors, enabling them to continue their education and engage in new hobbies. Programs like Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes provide non-credit courses specifically designed for older adults.
Safety and Emergency Services
Ensuring the safety of older adults, especially those living alone, is paramount.
- Medical alert systems: Many seniors invest in personal emergency response systems (PERS) that allow them to summon help with the push of a button if they fall or face a medical emergency.
- Elder abuse hotlines: Unfortunately, elder abuse is a concern, whether it be financial, physical, or emotional. Hotlines like the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) provide resources to report and prevent elder abuse.
- Community policing and safety programs: Some communities have safety initiatives targeting senior populations, offering regular check-ins, fraud protection advice, and security assessments of their homes.
Mental Health and Wellness Services
Mental health is an essential part of overall well-being, particularly for the elderly, who may face isolation, grief, or depression.
- Counseling services: Many local organizations provide free or low-cost mental health services for seniors, including counseling, support groups, and therapy.
- Alzheimer's and dementia support: For elderly individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, services such as memory care centers and support groups offer specialized care and community for both the patient and their caregivers.
- Grief and bereavement support: As seniors experience the loss of loved ones, grief counseling and bereavement support groups can provide emotional guidance and a sense of community.
Finding Resources in Your Area
Once you know what services you’d like to outsource, here’s how to locate what’s available in your community:
- Eldercare locator: Enter your ZIP code or city and state to find resources in your community including Area Agencies on Aging that provide information and assistance for older adults and caregivers.
- State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs): Find phone numbers and websites for organizations in your state with information about local, personalized counseling and assistance to people with Medicare and their families.
- Religious organizations: Also look into available programs at nearby religious organizations you may be affiliated with to see what eldercare options and volunteer services they may offer.
Find a Geriatric Care Manager
According to the National Institute on Aging, a geriatric care manager, also known as a case manager or an aging life care expert, is often a licensed nurse or social worker who specializes in health care for elderly adults. Geriatric care managers work with older adults and their families to identify needs, make a care plan, and find services and resources in their community. They can be especially helpful when a caregiver lives far away or is feeling stressed out, an aging parent is refusing care, or there are conflicts in how to handle the care of an aging parent. Geriatric care managers can:
- Develop short- and long-term care plans
- Make home visits and evaluate in-home care needs
- Recommend services and community resources
- Coordinate medical services
- Refer other care specialists
- Address emotional concerns and provide support
If you think enlisting the support of a geriatric care manager is right for you, this online tool can help you find a Medicare-certified home health agency that’s right for you.
Read Up On Aging and Care
As you enter this stage of your life, it’s also important to be well informed about the changes you might experience. Taking the time to read or listen to audiobooks with important insights, tips, and personal stories help make the transition easier. Here’s a list of books that may be worth reading:
- Elderhood: Most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood, and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the very moment that humans are living longer than ever before, we've made old age into a disease, a condition to be dreaded, denigrated, neglected, and denied. Noted Harvard-trained geriatrician Louise Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients, and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that's neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy--a vision full of joy, wonder, frustration, outrage, and hope about aging, medicine, and humanity itself.
- Aging Wisely: Strategies for Baby Boomers and Seniors: Written by Dr. Robert Levine, a former chief of neurology and a retired clinical professor at Yale, Aging Wisely: Strategies for Baby Boomers and Seniors emphasizes the importance your attitude towards getting older can have in aging well for both your mind and body as well as the importance of maintaining your quality of life as you age.
- The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully: Best-selling author Joan Chittister’s The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully is a moving collection of essays that give you a personal look into the aging process. Chittister's approach recommends using your individual perspective on life to help you become active and stay connected with your community.
- Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being: Considered a classic in this genre, Dr. Andrew Weil’s Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being provides a balanced approach of traditional and non-traditional advice to help all individuals age well — including key topics like maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly and safely, and reducing stress while being well-informed about the things that come with this phase of your life.
- The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age: In The Longevity Paradox, Dr. Steve Gundry offers advice for one of life’s dilemmas: how do we live to a ripe old age while still enjoying the health and benefits of youth? Dr. Gundry explores the idea that your gut’s microbiome determines your health over the years for everything from cancer to our skin appearance. In this book, he outlines his strategy for a diet and lifestyle that supports your gut and helps you live the best possible life at every age.
As we grow older, access to specific services and resources becomes crucial for maintaining independence, health, and well-being. Across communities, various services are available to support the elderly, catering to diverse needs such as healthcare, social interaction, financial assistance, and safety. From healthcare and housing to social programs and legal aid, these services allow seniors to lead fulfilling, dignified, and independent lives for as long as possible. Staying informed about the available options is crucial for both seniors and their caregivers, ensuring that they can access the help they need when they need it most.
