Senior Spotlight: Aging In Place & Memory Care

Welcome back to the Bobbi Decker Senior Spotlight. Most of you know that many years ago my passion for working with older adults during life transitions drove my career as a Senior Real Estate Specialist®. But supporting seniors meant so much more than just selling homes, and many seniors have no intention of selling at all. Thus, my heart and mind opened to learning about ways to help seniors access resources that enabled them to live safely, happily and healthy wherever they wanted and needed to be. Most often this was in their current homes, which is why today’s blog is dedicated to aging in place.

The National Council On Aging (NCOA)® reports that 88% of adults aged 50-80 want to stay in their homes as they age. Critical considerations to make this happen are often finances, quality of life, safety and of course support systems. The benefits of aging in place are often apparent – maintaining independence, not having to ensure the life transition of moving, continuing existing support systems in the community, and possibly saving money (long-term care facilities are not cheap!).

While aging in place is desired by most, it is not ideal for all. The NCOA® indicates that aging in place presents particular challenges for those with dementia – which impacts nearly 6 million people in the US. This doesn’t mean that those with memory decline cannot stay in their homes, but that the NCOA® has identified 6 concerns that need to be addressed.

This section below is courtesy of the NCOA® website; read in full HERE.

“Six challenges to aging in place for people with dementia are:

1.Memory decline: Memory loss is progressive in people with dementia, becoming more pronounced as time goes on.

2.Low mood: You may notice a person with dementia is not participating in their usual hobbies or interests.

3.Social isolation: People with dementia may wind up socially isolated (physically alone) or experience loneliness due to feelings of shame or inadequacy.

4.Problems with mobility and completing physical tasks: In addition to the progressive cognitive decline with dementia, people often become less active. This leads to loss of muscle mass and can impact walking or other physical activities.

5.Issues completing activities of daily living (ADLs): Instrumental ADLs (IADLs) are activities like paying bills, driving, and maintaining a household, whereas basic ADLs (BADLs) include bathing, grooming, dressing, and feeding oneself. ADLs get more challenging with cognitive impairment, and BADLs often become more challenging later as the illness progresses.

6.Lack of education regarding cognitive impairment: Family, friends, and caregivers may not be educated about special considerations for people with dementia and their care.”

We hope that this topic has been a new, informative and helpful one for you. If you know of a loved one who would like to age in place, it may also be a good idea to work with them and their medical team to see what considerations are relevant to their needs. This list could likely be modified to support many individuals and couples who plan to stay in their homes as long as possible.

Cheers to living longer & living better!

Bobbi

Bobbi Decker
DRE#00607999

Broker Associate
650.346.5352 cell
650.577.3127 efax
www.bobbidecker.com

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