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Independence
December 2017
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Caregiver Corner
The holiday season is an optimal time to sit together and review the needs of older adults in your family. Holidays offer many people the opportunity to spend time with relatives whom we see infrequently. As they age, there may be a decrease in their functional or cognitive abilities that go unnoticed in brief telephone contacts. Spending time over a holiday meal sometimes alerts us to the fact that there is need for more support if our family member is to remain living independently in the community.
Make time this year to review the needs of your family. Do you know how they get their food shopping done? Are they preparing meals or relying on rolls and crackers to satisfy hunger? How do they get their medications? Do they take their medications accurately? Do they go to their doctor appointments alone? Who rakes the leaves and shovels the snow? Are they keeping their check book up to date?
It is very easy to miss the signs that someone needs help to remain at home. It isn't always cognitive deficits that lead to problems for older adults. Many times, it's aches and pains and difficulty walking that leads them to reduce their activities. Walking around large super markets can be daunting. Waiting alone in a doctor's office can seem more trouble than it's worth, so people start skipping appointments. It is easier to step in and help make a plan for the tasks of life someone needs help with than it is to face the crisis of having to place someone in a nursing home
because they can't live at home safely any longer.
Talk with your family this season. If you need help finding resources to help an older adult in your family, contact the closest agency on aging in CT at 800-994-9422.
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Are you a caregiver?
GIve yourself a gift this holiday season. Sign up for
Powerful Tools for Caregivers, a six-week workshop series for family caregivers, designed to provide you with tools and strategies to better handle the unique caregiving challenges you face. Starts January 11th.
Find out more.
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Did You Know?
Of the older adults who were living outside nursing homes or hospitals in 2010, nearly one third (11.3 million) lived alone. Of those over 75, 51% live alone.
Isolation involves quantifiable measurements, such as social engagement, availability of transportation, and ability to access resources and information. Isolation is a growing health epidemic.
- More than 6.7 million adults age 65 and older - about 17 percent are isolated.
- The health risks of prolonged isolation are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Loneliness denotes how people perceive their experience and whether or not they feel isolated.
- Nearly half of older adults in the United States experience some degree of loneliness.
- The subjective feeling of loneliness increases risk of death by 26%.
AARP
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Spotlight on Volunteering
The nine AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members who began their service year in August have been busy throughout New Haven.
- VISTAs observed the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance with artwork of appreciation and thanks to share with local first responders.
- We volunteered with the United Way of Greater New Haven, Connecticut Food Bank and New Haven Reads, distributing books and fresh food to neighborhood families.
- For the third year in the row, we fielded a team at the New Haven Reads 6th Annual Spelling Bee in support of literacy tutoring programs for kids throughout the city. Our team's theme, Letters of the Day, was inspired by the Sesame Street song. Though we didn't win, everyone had a great time!
- VISTAs are also working on a variety of assignments ranging from senior employment here at the agency to after-school programming at St. Martin de Porres, Squash Haven and Yale Peabody Museum and community outreach at Dwight Hall at Yale.
We thank all our VISTAs for their dedication and hard work!
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C
HOICES:
Because of severe cuts in the state budget passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor in October 2017, over 100,000 CT residents are facing the loss of assistance in paying for medical costs through the Medicare Savings Program (MSP).
MSP has three levels of coverage. The current monthly income guidelines for QMB are $2,120 for an individual, $2,854 for a couple - new guidelines as of January 1 are $1,025/$1,374.
MSP Income Guidelines
If you lose MSP, your Medicare Part B monthl
y premium will be deducted directly from your Social Security benefits, which is is currently $134. QMB recipients (over 90% of MSP recipients) will also have additional costs in relation to copays and deductibles for Medicare Part A hospital and Part B medical covered services.
Are you or someone you know impacted by these changes? Here is something you can do - contact your legislator & let them know the impact of these cuts.
Click here.
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A recent study underlined the importance of SNAP and why AOASCC continues to make it a priority to help older adults sign up for this important benefit. In fact, SNAP is cited in this report as one of the the "programs that have worked to alleviate hunger for years, and without them, the situation would be even more dire."
- 25 percent of New Haven residents live in poverty, and an additional 40 percent struggle to afford basic necessities like food and housing.
- 22 percent of New Haven residents did not have enough food or money to buy food and this increases to 1 in 3 residents in the lowest income neighborhoods. For 63% this lasted over a long period of time.
- 3 out of 4 people who are food insecure in New Haven have difficulty in eating healthy meals, which has a considerable impact on the health of these residents.
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Need help finding support at home?
Care Network Link is a wonderful resource to find trusted providers: Homemaking, Personal Care Assistance, Live-In Caregivers, Wheelchair Ramps, Fall Alert Systems, Hair Stylists that come to your home.
Give us a call at 203-495-1655 or sign up for membership at
CareNetworkLink.org. Membership is FREE and will earn you discounts from the providers you hire. Care Network Link credentials all the providers before allowing them on the network to make sure they are trustworthy businesses to have in your home.
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