Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Posted 02/02/2011
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AdvantAged is a great site that starts digging in to the issue of how to measure whether your community is “Senior friendly.”  Here are some of the initial questions they ask to evaluate your community.

The AdvantAge Initiative helps counties, cities, and towns prepare for the growing number of older adults who are “aging in place” while creating livable communities for people of all ages.
Does your community help older residents maintain their health, live independently, and lead productive and satisfying lives?
Does your community engage older adults as resources, tapping their civic and social strengths?
Is your community able to meet the changing needs of the frail, disabled, and homebound?
What do your older residents think about your community?
Would they consider it elder-friendly?
Is planning for a growing older population a priority in your community? Does your community have reliable data to inform planning?

Aging Boomers and Their Growing Needs

Posted 01/31/2011
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As of January 1, 2011–10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day. Within the next 20 years there will be more than 75,000,000 Americans over the age of 65. 85% of seniors over the age of 75 say that they would like to die in their own homes but today approximately 80% die in a hospital. Now our country is not set up very well to care for this aging population and there all kinds of businesses that are popping up to try and accommodate the anticipated needs of this group. There are a lot of businesses that are focusing on how to help seniors age in their own homes ranging from offering home retrofitting to make a home safer to technological approaches including different ways to monitor what’s going on in the home from afar. (ie: sensors in the bed, or on the water faucet or kitchen burner—to make sure Mom or Dad got out of bed, turned off the bath water and/or turned off the burner) There are businesses to help seniors monitor their vitals, medications, to stay in touch with family and to challenge their cognitive skills. So far these are all extremely fragmented and progress and adoption are slow. As we all age—that is bound to change.

 

I’m interested in all the businesses that are appearing but am mostly interested in finding efficient ways to help aging adults figure out how to navigate through it all. What is the fastest way to find trustworthy answers to the endless questions that come up for an aging individual or their kids, as they work to navigate through it all. My thoughts and hopes are to explore options and share the answers as I discover them, ideally becoming a good resource for all. Away we go.