Wondering if Aging in Place is for You? As Your Aging in Place Specialist, Yes, It Is!
- Cyndy McNaul
- Mar 2, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 13, 2024
Consider me your aging-in-place specialist. By being in this time of life, I know all too well—aging in place. Because I'm doing this, makes me a specialist. Is this where you find yourself, also? You are getting on in your years and you have begun to show a couple of health issues or multiple health issues. (I fall into the latter.)
We must face our immortality as we grow older and realize we need to prepare for the challenges of growing older. I will show you from personal experience, what to expect to age in place as a senior resident.
When is a realistic time to start planning for aging in place?
I started after having open heart surgery less than a year after going through a divorce. I lived on a five-plus acreage by myself and still tending a much-reduced flock of laying hens (down from a flock of two hundred hens and three roosters) and slightly less than one hundred quail. The quail I released into the wild promptly into their natural habitat, and a neighbor took the rest of the chickens.
Medicare paid for an in-home visiting registered nurse immediately after discharge from the hospital, so I did not have to enter a rehabilitation center. Around here these centers are in a nursing home. Then after the home nurse, a visiting physical therapist came until I was able to drive again and enter cardiac outpatient therapy.
Living in a Senior Apartment Complex
At this point, my parents were still alive and much of my life’s philosophy came from their experiences and examples in living. My brother wanted to move home from out of state to be closer to the folks. He bought my acreage. Leaving me with the decision to move into a senior housing apartment complex.
It was fine living there for a while, but I grew unhappier as the years drew on and battled depression. (But then everyone was due to Covid 19 shutdowns and forced shelter-in-place.) And being a country girl, I felt too cooped up in a one-bedroom apartment.
"I needed to feel a sense of freedom and take a deep breath."
COVID took our parents within two years of each other—Dad was fully vaccinated, and Mom passed before doctors knew what was happening in our society. Your story may be similar to or completely different from mine.
Something in your life is causing you to rethink the plans for your aging in place.
My aging-in-place specialist technique to bring this information to you about the steps to take is based on my acquired acknowledge and subjective experiences of what others have chosen. Pouring over multiple studies and research projects, my info uses their data along with testimonials. Their research does not provide this for you, because all their writers are younger than our senior years.
The rest of this article focuses on ways high technology can serve us seniors with declining health issues. My favorite is the at-home medical alert system. Medicare connected me to the Phillips Lifeline which has brought me more peace of mind to help manage self-care for prolonged health problems, like diabetes, severe heart disease, and kidney failure.
In short, medical alert systems connect through:
1. Landline: This is the cheapest and more dependable than relying on Wi-Fi/internet, but the downside of this is that it only works within 1000 feet of the monitor. This works for my budget and needs.
2. Cellular: Runs off Wi-Fi and cellular services. The wearer has a choice of wristband or necklace. The downside is it only works if you have reliable cell phone coverage. And in rural areas, cell coverage is often dubious at best.
3. All-in-one wearable systems: This system runs on Wi-Fi services that a person wears either a wristband or a necklace. It is only as dependable as the satellite service. If satellites go down, so do all the Wi-Fi gadgets and cell phones.
4. Two-piece technologies: This is like the all-in-one wearable system but has the choice of wristband or necklace connected to a home-based machine. But it depends on the use of satellites to work properly.
5. All-in-one smartwatch: This is a smart watch that uses the latest technology that makes summoning Emergency Medical Services amazingly easy and convenient unless the satellites are down. Then, calling 911 will not work. I do have a friend, diagnosed with severe Parkinson's shows, who uses his watch. He swears by it as he shows me how it works after witnessing me crash from blacking out. This is the most expensive medical alert system out there.
For me, I wear a necklace that runs off a frequency from a box connected through a landline; this is the cheapest. The benefit is not only cost-acceptable, but it remains functional if satellites are down. However, it is only good within my home or a little way outside my door. It serves me well and has proven itself for the good, a hundred times over. Since one of my health conditions is…heart stops and I black out.
As soon as I hit the floor unconscious, the monitor (I call it the squawk box) comes on with trained EMS personnel trying to get a response from me. If they do not hear anything from me within 20 seconds, they call the ambulance.
The following is a link to a company that has done extensive research on the different medical alert systems. I do not receive support through companies with these links, but it is highly informative on how the systems work, prices, and how to contact them. https://www.seniorliving.org/medical-alert-systems/
Having Peace of Mind is Priceless—To Age or Not to Age in Place, which is the Answer?
Having an alert system has given me the freedom to be an aging-in-place specialist at the old homestead where my siblings and I grew up. I think that if my folks could breathe their last here on the farm, then I can too. I have strong family support, even without having children of my own. My sibs check on me regularly, as do two of my nieces. We are blessed with having a large family with me being the oldest of eight siblings.
Dedicated support is necessary to thrive in your choice to age-in-place where you are comfortable in familiar settings. Referring to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) map shows that 20% of those 65+ years of age stay in their homes in the country. In the cities, it shows that 15% remain in their homes.
A key to aging in place is to avoid isolation, which leads to loneliness and depression.
If family support is unavailable or not close to you, contact these agencies to create a support system.
· https://www.dav.org/get-help-now/ For Veterans benefits, do not go this alone, call DAV to help you, it is free.
· https://www.agingresources.com/ For Iowa Residents
· https://micaonline.org/ For Iowa Residents, Mid Iowa Community Action.
· https://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/ Meals on Wheels: contact your local chapter to get meals delivered. Place your zip code into the Find Meals button to find the closest chapter for you.
· https://www.momsmeals.com/ They deliver anywhere.
Public and Private Transportation Services
For transportation services, check your local transport for rides. Medicare and Medicaid pay for senior rides for medical appointments. Even in our rural areas, transportation service usage is increasing regularly for public and private transport services.
In Summary, today’s technologies make it easier than ever for seniors, like me, to age in place in a familiar and safe environment. Whichever direction you take in your aging decisions, there is great hope for our twilight years. And technology makes it even better to stay right where we are. And that is a nice thought!
More exciting posts coming soon for this site about today’s tech for today’s seniors to live safely on their own. Click on my contact information form to let me know what you think, any questions you have for me to answer, or what you would like me to research next just for you. I will quickly get back to you.
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