The last decades of life are filled with new challenges. With your continued support for our work, the Council on Aging at the new Kane Center can help seniors find care, food and a reason to get up in the morning.
The new centrally-located facility is designed to help seniors sooner rather than later. In fact, one goal of the Council's care system at Kane is earlier intervention to prevent a life crisis.
Donor support for the Council's compassionate work remains vital. Please don't assume that your gift of $25, $50 or $100 is no longer needed because of the new bricks and mortar. Seniors continue to need your help. In the last decades of life – illness, diminishing resources or outliving beloved family can place any of us in need of help from others.
Please keep reading to find out how the Council on Aging strives to help the seniors in crisis and strives to help seniors avoid crisis.
To deal with dependency – the Council on Aging provides care.
"My neighbor was just hospitalized but his wife can't be left alone because she has Alzheimer's Disease. She's out in my car right now. Can you help her?”
A Council care manager found emergency nursing home placement for the wife who could not remain at home alone. But, this crisis in care would have been avoided if the elder couple had received earlier service intervention from the Council on Aging.
Entering the Council's care system can be as simple as a phone call followed by an interview. A Council care manager can assess current, future and emergency needs. Then, a care plan is developed addressing identified needs, which can include an emergency care plan.
The Council on Aging can offer ongoing care to dependent seniors who remain in the home. The following services also provide relief to a stressed family caregiver preventing a caregiver crisis.
Adult day program – trained healthcare professionals provide day-time care including socialization, therapy, medication management and medical monitoring for dependent seniors;
Personal care – a trained aide provides in-home assistance with bathing, grooming and dressing for a dependent senior;
In-home respite care – three to four hours of "time off” for the caregiver while a trained aide provides care to the dependent senior in the family home; and
Ongoing care management – a care manager monitors care plan progress, service delivery and the senior's living situation as well as updates the care plan when life circumstances change.
The Council on Aging at the Kane Center is in the process of developing a shared information system with Martin Memorial Health Systems. Upon admission to the hospital, this system would provide vital information from the Council on Aging regarding a senior's care plan, services received and living arrangements. In a sudden hospital admission of a family caregiver, this shared information could be life saving for the dependent senior left at home.
You contribution will support the continuation and the growth of the Council on Aging's work.
Help us provide a greater safety net for the most dependent seniors.
To deal with hunger -- the Council on Aging provides food.
"I'm feelin' kinda shaky but I rode my bike over ‘cause I heard you help people with food. I need food.”
The gentleman on the bike received donated canned goods from the Council's emergency pantry. But, to prevent another "weak with hunger” crisis, he was also referred to a neighborhood senior dining center for regular meals.
Most people know that the Council provides Meals on Wheels to ill, homebound seniors. However, the Council also serves hot, noontime meals every weekday to able bodied, low-income seniors at dining centers, which are intentionally located in or near economically-depressed areas.
Seniors can go directly to a meal site to be registered to receive food assistance. Because of the convenient locations, seniors can walk, bike or take a short bus ride to receive free meals at locations in Stuart, Indiantown, Jensen Beach and Port Salerno.
Your gift to the Council on Aging will mean a lot to folks who don't always have the resources to buy needed food. Whether homebound or able bodied, an empty stomach is the most curable crisis.
To deal with isolation – the Council on Aging offers involvement.
"Are you open yet? My wife died several months ago and…I feel lost without her. I honestly don't know what to do with my days.”
There is no immediate cure for grief at the loss of a spouse or the accompanying loneliness. However, there is an immediate need for a place for lonely seniors to go and enjoy the company of others. After talking to this gentleman a few moments, his desire for such a place was evident.
"I can't keep going to the library every day,” he admitted. "I'll just keep driving by until I see you're open.”
The Council on Aging at the Kane Center will open opportunities for seniors to become engaged and involved with others and with the larger community.
The Town Center entrance to Kane houses miniature storefronts holding a senior art gallery, computer lab, caregiver resource library, activity room, bistro, senior service offices plus places to just sit down and be in the company of others. The Frances Langford Theatre and Auditorium will offer classes, clubs, concerts, dances, movies, lectures and other activities to bring people together.
Just as we hunger for food, we hunger for companionship, camaraderie and connection. Yet, being a friend to those who are alone is sometimes seen as an unnecessary or extravagant concern for the Council on Aging.
Unbroken isolation breaks the spirit. However, the intervention of a friend can revive life and being a friend can return meaning to life.
Please be a friend to seniors by making a tax-deductible gift to the Council on Aging of Martin County. Your generous support will be the source of many good works.
I look forward to personally thanking you when you have the opportunity to visit the Kane Center.
Sincerely,
