Care Givers Award Breakfast
Non Profit Seeks Volunteer Caregiver Award Nominations for “Kudos for Community Caregivers” Awards Breakfast
Posted by Steve Gurney 3 days ago
LifeCircle Alliances, a non-profit charitable organization, announces their “Kudos for Community Caregivers”, awards program. This is an annual awards program that recognizes outstanding volunteer caregivers in Fairfax County, the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax. Nominees submitted may be for an individual, a family, a faith community, an organization, or a corporation in the Fairfax County, VA area. Nominees must be actively providing care to older adult(s) or adult(s) 18+ with developmental, intellectual or physical disabilities.
NOMINATION PROCESS: Any individual, faith community, corporation or organization in the greater Fairfax County area may submit a nomination – only one nomination per year may be submitted. Deadline for submission of award nominations is 5PM, June 30, 2011 to LifeCircle Alliances, 4031 University Drive, Ste. 200, Fairfax, VA 22030. Nominees must provide volunteer care giving within Fairfax County or the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax City. For the nomination application form, visit www.lifecirclealliances.org. For more information, contact Christine Hyland at LifeCircle Alliances office 571-321-2018, chyland@lifecirclealliances.org
Awards will be presented at the second annual LifeCircle Alliances’ “Kudos for Community Caregivers” awards breakfast slated for September 26, 2011 at The Mason Inn on the campus of George Mason University. Scheduled Keynote Speaker will be best-selling author, journalist and lecturer, Gail Sheehy. As the best-selling author of over a dozen books, including Passages, Gail Sheehy has rocked the culture and changed the way millions of women and men look at the stages of their lives. A Library of Congress survey named Passages one of the ten most influential books of our time. In her latest book, Passages in Caregiving, she offers essential guidance in navigating the emotional and practical sides of the caregiver role.
As a literary journalist, Ms. Sheehy was one of the original contributors to New York magazine. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984, she won the Washington Journalism Review Award for Best Magazine Writer in America for her in-depth character portraits of national and world leader. Ms. Sheehy is a seven-time recipient of the New York Newswomen’s Club Front Page Award for distinguished journalism.
Interesting facts relating to care for adults with disabilities, older adults and caregiving in the U.S.:
· In a recent study put forth by the Metlife Foundation it was determined that the population of those older than 65 is projected to double to 72million in just twenty years.
· Currently almost 1/3 of the U.S. adult population plays a caregiver role – 65.7 million caregivers. Mostly a woman’s job- 66% and are an average of 48 years old.
· Seven in ten caregivers care for someone over age 50.
· In Virginia, over the past 40 years state policy has called for a shift from institutions to community supports for persons with disabilities. Despite gaining recognition across the world, the Commonwealth has been slow to respond and is currently 46th among states in its funding for community-based services.
· The World Health Organization reports that people with disabilities are the largest and fastest growing minority group
To date, the Kudos for Community Awards is sponsored in part by Inova Health System; CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield; Thomas West Financial Services and the Mason Inn Hotel & Conference Center. Sponsorship Opportunities are available online or call Irma Gennaro 571-321-2018 igennaro@lifecirclealliances.org for more information.
LifeCircle Alliances champions the concerns of older adults and adults with disabilities as they hold a unique place in the life circle of our community. The collective wisdom, individual talents, and unique life journeys of these individuals enrich the fabric of Fairfax County. LifeCircle‘s mission is to develop collaborative partnerships with private, public, business, educational and philanthropic entities to build community capacity, create innovative long term care initiatives and enhance existing programs which will enable older adults and adults with disabilities to live independently in their communities of choice. LifeCircle also supports the needs of their families and their caregivers and service providers.
To learn more about LifeCircle Alliances’ programs for adults with disabilities, older adults and caregivers, contact Christine Hyland, Executive Director, 571-321-2018, chyland@lifecirclealliances.org or visit their website at www.lifecirclealliances.org.
THE GREAT ENIGMA
We all like to get special treatment, yet, we all want to get treated just like everybody else.
We constantantly fight against separate but equal. We learned that as kids when our parents mediated battles between two siblings by dividing the spoils in half. Our knee-jerk comment was (and I know you are as guilty as I) “You gave him/her the bigger half!” When we thought we were not getting treated like our peers how many of us said something to the effect of ” Mary get’s to stay up until 11:00 pm, Why can’t I?
Such is the dilemma when dealing with our adults with disabilities and the elderly. These groups want to be treated just like everybody else yet may desire/need special treatment to even the playing field or provide for their safety.
The object and desired result when working with the elderly/disabled groups should be to make our efforts to help them be received as “special treatment” not as restricting their right to “be just like everybody else”.
This is particularly hard to do with our own parents. If you need to take away Mom’s car keys because it is unsafe for her to drive how will you make that “special treatment”? Will she “buy” some story that you are paying her back for all the thousands of trips she made chauffering the kids around and now it is her turn to be chauffered? Love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
New-Home Sales Remain Sluggish
What a great time to buy in an Active Adult Community, bargains to be had. If you are a contemplating a sale this year do it now while inventory is still low.
New-home sales continued to fall in February as prices took another tumble, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
New-home sales dropped 16.9 percent last month–the third consecutive monthly decline. New-home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000 homes; economists view a 700,000 a year pace as healthy for the sector.
The median price of new homes dropped nearly 14 percent to $202,100–its lowest level since December 2003.
The new-home market has been pummeled by the sluggish housing market in recent years as it tries to compete against low prices and a huge inventory of foreclosures on the market.
A turnaround in the new-home market may not come for another three years, analysts say.
Residential construction continues to slow nationwide. Builders started on fewer homes last month than in nearly two years as building permits fell to their lowest level in more than 50 years.
Source: “Sales of New Homes Plunged in February to Record Low; Median Price Tumbled to $202,100,” The Associated Press (March 23, 2011)
AIR housing recap meeting Friday March 18
The “Aging in Reston” committee looking at housing topics as they relate to creating sustainable neighborhood citizen groups formed for the need to provide unmet services, popularly called “villages”, will be gathering to write up their short report with recommendations, challenges, etc. for current and future housing issues in Reston.
Reverse Mortgage Woes
Daily Real Estate News | March 9, 2011 | Share
AARP Sues HUD Over Reverse Mortgage Policy
AARP, an organization representing seniors, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development saying that HUD’s policy changes with reverse mortgages have pushed more older home owners into foreclosure. HUD regulates reverse mortgages, which pay older home owners a regular sum against the equity in their house.
The lawsuit centers on reverse mortgages where only one spouse signed the loan document. The AARP argues that HUD’s policy change in late 2008 has caused surviving spouses who are not named on the mortgage to be required to pay the full loan balance in order to stay in the home, even when the property is underwater.
Reverse mortgages were intended to be nonrecourse, so that even if a home’s value drops the borrower would only lose the house and would not be required to pay anything additional.
The lawsuit says HUD’s policy changes are unfair because they allow underwater homes with reverse mortgages to be sold to others for less than the full mortgage balance, while requiring spouses or heirs to the property to pay the full amount.
”HUD has illegally and without notice changed the rules in the middle of the game at the expense of vulnerable older people,” says Jean Constantine-Davis, a senior lawyer at the AARP Foundation.
Source: “AARP Sues U.S. Over Effects of Reverse Mortgages,” The New York Times (March 9, 2011)
A Solution for Downsizing Paralysis
Over the years I have talked to many individuals that have seemed enthusiastic about moving to a senior living option that have suddenly become paralyzed amidst making a decision or a move. Many times the root of this paralysis can be traced to the downsizing process.
In general its not the process or the practical matter of downsizing that slows people down, it’s the memories associated with their home. Most of the time they agree that their home is too big and not practical anymore, but its leaving behind all the memories that paralyzes them. If you stroll the halls of any retirement community you will see some examples of this, a huge armoire squeezed into a small space is a common sight!
The solution to this paralysis not difficult and can be a fun activity or a great gift to an elder. Start documenting the home with video, photos or even a scrapbook. Tell the story of the dining room table, the backyard and even the shed in the back packed with lawn equipment. Once you document these memories you will find that making the transition will come much easier. Best of all, you have preserved the memories for future generations.
Once you are in your new home and feeling a little “homesick”, its easy to stroll down memory lane with a video or a scrapbook.
Steve Gurney is the founder and publisher of Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook, www.retirement-living.com. He speaks frequently about senior living options, aging in place and ways we can reinvent how we define age and celebrate elderhood. He shares his thoughts and ideas on a blog at www.everyoneisaging.com.
Downsizing Meeting with BusyBuddies a successs
Latest AIR housing meeting was downsizing. The owners of a move management company, Busy Buddies, gave a presentation on the the dos and don’ts of downsizing. Info was very enlightening. The ladies have been in the business for 17 years and have a terrific reputation.
Next week’s meeting is on suitable affordable housing in Reston.
Aging In Reston “housing” meeting this Friday
We will be looking at demographics of the Reston area to explore the future needs for age appropriate housing for a “grayer” population. We will try to use as much of the most recent census data as possible.
Meeting is at 2pm Friday.
Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff
Ugh! We have collected many things from baseball cards to Barbie dolls, to fina china and porcelain, to coins, to wine, to books, to records, to Welches grape jelly Flintstone glasses (and the list goes on and on and on and on). When will we and when can we let go? How much of this prescious collection of ours will actually be wanted by our prodigies? What is actually value and what is just clutter? This brings a thought to mind. Who is preparing to build the dumps and junk yards needed to handle all this memorabilia? Should I buy stock in refuge handlers? The heck with building an infrastructure for health care, housing, transportation, etc for the oncoming onslaught of aging Baby Boomers, we need trash bins!
Baby boomers to reshape housing market — again
Below is a link to a story written in the Chicago Trib, January 28, 2011|By Mary Umberger | On Real Estate.
I can’t help but think that some of the observations may be true but as the country comes out of recession will the frugalness of some of the predictions be as important? You be the judge.
Boomer Article