Meeting you wherever you are in the Aging Process
Maintain Me feels blessed to have referrals from other community partners who serve our aging population. Our success story today is one of many reasons we believe in “meeting people wherever they are in the aging process”.
I was introduced to a family via phone when the son “Sam” had called to discuss his mom and dad who wanted to age in place here in Colorado.
I immediately heard his parents’ goal of “home” being in the place they currently live and with proactive prompting gathered more about the couple to identify what Consulting Program this family would most benefit from. After a 30 minute Basic Needs Assessment or Screening Call, I had determined that this family had a lot of support from two local sons, therefore may just need a Personalized Action Plan to get them moving in the right direction.
Sam and I scheduled an in-person meeting to complete the assessment including a Home Safety Evaluation. Sam’s mom and dad were doing pretty good in their current situation and had three major actions in their Action Plan that could take them from good to an improved quality of life.
We had all but agreed on this new plan, there was just one thing left to do… the Financial Assessment. No matter who you talk to, a plan cannot be carried out without first making sure it’s not only affordable but also sustainable.
Although Sam’s parents could afford to stay at home and age in place, once we started talking about what resources cost, as well as what we call “the tilting point”, they were suddenly interested in the alternative of a possible Transition.
Both Sam and I were surprised but what we came to see is that his parents wanted to age in place because they thought it was their only option. In reality both parents had more than one progressive disorder that could make staying at home not sustainable due to care costs, therefore planning ahead and learning that Transition or Community Living was indeed an option, it became more desirable.
Once being educated on their options with zero bias, they started to open up about the things they were feeling while managing life at home. They felt like they only used small areas of the house as it was becoming overwhelming, the wife was feeling isolated and depressed. The husband was worried about his ability to care for his wife as she had just gone through an acute change. The room was unloading, and it was raw and much needed. We worked through their feelings and started to help them visualize what life could be like for them. They got excited, so much so that the wife had asked about surrounding shopping and ability to connect with others.
Had we not offered more than just transition services I would have never been part of this journey with this couple. Getting to know them, seeing hope restored and gaining new friends is worth more than you know. A big thank you to this referral source for trusting us with this family!
Chelsea Sweeney
RN Case Manager
Phone: 720-629-3050
Email: Chelsea@maintain-me.com