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May 2006 Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Being Well The Social Side of Senior Housing, By Toby Laping, Ph. D., C.S.W., Private Care Manager
There are many resources for finding how to make physical changes to an environment. From taping down rugs and using step stools to replacing door knobs with levers, there is a lot of good material available on home safety-proofing. Try the library or AARP. But, you’ll find less help with the all-important issue of personal interacting as we age. A major benefit of senior housing is the close proximity of other people. You’ll need to take affirmative action to duplicate that. I’m increasingly sold on the value of medical alert buttons for anyone over 75 or so, who lives alone. They’re innocuous, inexpensive and go a long way toward alleviating the fear of a fall resulting in the inability to summon help. These systems can even be used to answer telephones or to contact 911 if one feels threatened. They can be worn around your neck and no one need know you’re wearing one. Know your neighbors; introduce yourself if you don’t know them. Pick two or three of the friendliest and ask if you can keep their phone numbers for use in an emergency. Give one of them a key. That way, not only can they get into your house if necessary but also, if you go out and forget your key, you can borrow one back. Just don’t forget to return it to the neighbor. Get out and talk with people every single day. Just running to the store and saying hello to the clerk isn’t enough. You need to use your brain; you need to interact. If the weather is awful, then phone calls will have to suffice, but you must have the names and numbers of people that you can call and with whom you can commiserate. One of the great benefits of senior housing is the strong impetus to socialize, and don’t underestimate its importance to good mental health. It’s often too much work to make a decent meal when you’re only cooking for one. That problem can be addressed by the meal plans that are frequently offered by senior housing. Meals on Wheels can be one solution to inadequate nutrition; alternatively, arrangements with local restaurants to deliver meals via taxicab can easily be made. Neither of those options provides the socialization that is a critical part of mealtime, however. For that, go to a hot lunch program at a nearby center, become a regular patron of a neighborhood restaurant so that staff gets to know and talk with you, arrange weekly pot luck suppers at your church or temple, and/or talk with friends or acquaintances about having meals together each week. This isn’t negotiable; it’s essential to both nutrition and mental health to eat with other people periodically. With attention to details, you can replicate, in your present home, many interactive arrangements that make senior housing developments a particularly good idea. www.wnycaremanager.com back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
