• “You Are Going To Die”

    Posted on January 28, 2013

    It was a headline that really caught my attention, from an article posted in the opinion section of the New York Times online: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/you-are-going-to-die/. The article goes on to talk about the author’s sadness at his mother’s announcement that she was moving into an assisted living facility. Having visions of an old fashioned “nursing home” where the patients were just left to die, out of sight and out of mind, his fears were unfounded. The facility was beautiful and his mother was really quite excited to move there. However, he makes the point that his sadness comes more from the realization that he will lose his mother one day. It’s something we are all confronted with at one point or another. Whether it’s our own mortality or the loss of our loved ones, we have to deal with this reality. While we cannot predict the quantity of our lives, we certainly have more tools today to maintain our quality of […]

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  • Assisted Living in Vancouver, WA – A Story of Hope

    Posted on January 21, 2013

    Assisted living includes a pretty wide spectrum of senior living options from adult family homes to long term care facilities. Most often, we are helping people transition from fully independent living situations to environments where they get the help they need at the level they need it. Frequently a family will decide it’s time to move mom or dad to an assisted living environment because the parent has come to a point in life where they no longer care for themselves as well as they should. Often there is some resistance from Mom or Dad. Especially when they have lived in their home for many years, often raising their children and entertaining their grand children and great grand children there. Many families will first try in-home care. Having someone come in a few times a week to prepare meals and make sure that the elder person is keeping up with things like eating and taking their medications, helping with basic […]

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  • A New Program In Clark County Washington That Provides A Service For Seniors

    Posted on January 6, 2013

    There’s a new program in Clark County Washington that provides a service for seniors who are in long term care facilities, hospitals, or other settings. A Clark County Elder Justice Center ancillary organization, Friends of the Elder Justice Center, has been doing great work providing emergency boarding and foster homes for pets of seniors during times of crisis. According to The Columbian article, the Pets of Older People program is designed to help keep elderly people and their pets together for as long as possible and enhance the well being of elderly people who may refuse care because they don’t want to be separated from their pet or they have no one to care for their pet while they are hospitalized, receiving rehab or other needed services away from home. Friends of the Elder Justice Center was originally formed to provide resources and support for vulnerable adults not available through the judicial system or Adult Protective Services. And, through this […]

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