Posted on 06/02/2004 9:52:03 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
Project aims to identify needs of growing elderly population
Lillian Lee of East Point learned the hard way that going without needed home improvements is risky for the elderly.
Not long ago, the 79-year-old widow found herself stuck inside her bathtub for two hours when she was unable to pull herself out. If she'd had a safety bar installed the potentially dangerous incident could have been avoided.
"I turned this way and that way," Lee said. "I finally got out."
Lee's story is the kind the Atlanta Regional Commission wants to hear. ARC is gathering experiences from senior citizens like Lee to set up programs to help the elderly with home improvement and transportation needs.
The metro agency mostly known for its sermons against suburban sprawl has launched a four-year campaign on the needs of the elderly, particularly in East Point and the Toco Hill neighborhood of DeKalb County. The areas were chosen because of their large elderly populations.
In East Point, volunteers are conducting surveys and disseminating information on free public services available to seniors.
Armed with pink fact sheets, the yellow shirt-wearing senior volunteers want to know how seniors are getting around, what inconveniences them the most and what services they need to stay in their area.
The survey portion of the $2 million ARC project will end this month. The results will be used to develop a long-range plan to help seniors in other parts of metro Atlanta.
"The main goal is to reach people who are not connected to the system and find isolated seniors and get them engaged in any way we can," said Kathryn Lawler, project director of ARC's Aging Atlanta.
Senior citizens are good for the local economy, according to ARC. They have assets and tend to be stable homeowners. Few have school-age children, so they do not burden the school system. They tend to stay in one area for a long time and are home during the day, looking out for communities in an era of two breadwinners. The elderly also tend to volunteer more than other age groups.
ARC already has identified a couple of big issues: getting around and home repairs. By 2025, more than 1 million residents of metro Atlanta will be over age 65, the ARC estimates. Nearly 100,000 of them face difficulties in getting health care because they do not drive, the agency said.
One possible solution is a trial program that gives poor senior citizens an allowance of $100 to $200 a month. Their modes of transportation then will be analyzed.
"They can hire their daughter, they can hire their neighbor, they can take a taxi, they can use their MARTA card, and they can do whatever they want, and we'll be watching how they get around," said Lawler, of the Aging Atlanta project.
Such an effort is crucial, said Professor Frank Whittington, a sociology professor and director of the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University. Whittington was a consultant to the ARC on the aging project.
"We are going to have to plan better than we have done for the future because our senior population is on the verge of exploding," Whittington said. "Where the funds are going to come from is uncertain."
Census data show 13 percent of East Point's senior citizens, who make up 8 percent of the city's 40,000 residents, live below the poverty level.
After paying for gas, phone, electricity, cable bills and groceries, Lillian Lee said she has little left each month from her Social Security check.
Lee, who has lived in East Point nearly all her life, said she can no longer afford to live in her home. "I don't have enough money to take care of everything."
Farther north in Toco Hill, life is more affluent, but the demographics on the elderly are similar: 16 percent of the population is 65 or older. Many are Jewish and live in old neighborhoods of 1950s ranch-style homes.
ARC has reached out to the Jewish Family & Career Services and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, plus the DeKalb County government, in trying to create a place for seniors to meet during the day. The agency also has created "Safe Homes for Seniors," a home repair program that provides minor repairs for seniors at no cost.
Denise Solomon, a 70-year-old widow who lives in a small three-bedroom ranch off Briarcliff Road, cited two instances where she felt she was cheated when it came to repairs: $500 to upgrade the ceiling lights in a bathroom and $1,000 to fix a hole in the crawl-in basement.
Her elderly friend, Gloria Kersh, summed up the feeling.
"This is not a good city if you're old," the grandmother of four said. "If you get older, you need contact with people of your own age. To me it's important to sit and talk, to connect."
Last Dakotan wrote:
I am also highly sensitive to non-Christians using the bible to attack the motivations of Christians.
I think the previous generation was the WW I and II "Greatest Generation", these are the "free love hippie" baby boomers.
Every one whose age was given in the article is a member of what has come to be known as the Greatest Generation. The oldest member of the boomer generation is still not yet sixty.
btw, thinking that even mid sized % of boomers were "free love hippies" is like thinking that all those in the 1920s were flappers. The media paints a false picture of almost everything.
'"I think the previous generation was the WW I and II "Greatest Generation", these are the "free love hippie" baby boomers."
The first woman mentioned was 79 years old, the same age as my mother and my father. My dad was a B-17 pilot in WWII. I don't think you'd want to call him a "free love hippie baby boomer." He wouldn't take kindly to it. I'm 58, and even I was out of college before the hippies made their appearance.
The people discussed in this article are the same age as those WWII vets just honored at the WWII Memorial.
They are old, now, and many need help. I, for one, don't begrudge them any help they can find. Over 1000 WWII vets die each day in this country. Over 400,000 lost their lives during the war. Where I come from, you just don't dis these folks....ever!
As I posted earlier, I think we should all take a look around our neighborhoods and towns and see if there aren't members of that generation who could use a hand. Maybe they need some light bulbs changed, or a stair railing fixed, or a grab rail installed so they can get out of the bathtub.
Imagine everyone helping someone from this generation who needs help. That would be the end of any government participation, don't you think?
So, what are you willing to do?
Churches are set up for helping severe needs like immediate shelter, food ect. How about you call any of your local Churches and see just how much help grandma and grandpa could get for their special needs. I dare say you'll come up as empty handed and they will. If our Goverment can give billions of our dollars to people like the Palis who hate our guts and all those other foreign nations who wish us dead they can damn sure spent some of what we pay to take care of our elderly in this Country!
I see alot of French blood on this thread....maybe if y'all are lucky we'll have a heat wave and your money won't have to go toward helping OUR older Americans
Greedy geezer bump,
You're right. I looked at it after I posted, but couldn't call it back. My mind is obviously not all there today. I plead insanity due to dealing with my four fighting children. : )
The "Greatest Generation" gave us the New Deal, and with it the idea that Big Government can and should fix everything for us.
I look in on and shovel snow for my elderly neighbor, but I don't think that's going to keep the bureaucrats inside the beltway from finding a never-ending litany of "unmet needs" that they simply must have more money and resources to address.
"I look in on and shovel snow for my elderly neighbor, but I don't think that's going to keep the bureaucrats inside the beltway from finding a never-ending litany of "unmet needs" that they simply must have more money and resources to address."
"The "Greatest Generation" gave us the New Deal, and with it the idea that Big Government can and should fix everything for us."
Actually, you're off a generation. The Greatest Generation was in school during the depression. They had nothing to do with the New Deal. That was their parents, my great grandparents.
When the Greatest Generation finished high school, they joined the military and fought WWII. Their parents are long dead, now.
Dates? My dad graduated from High School in 1942, then immediately joined the Army Air Force. He had nothing to do with the New Deal, but a lot to do with fighting the Germans in the war.
The New Deal had nothing to do with my dad or his generation.
Nellie's told me quite a few stories, but since she had a mild stroke a couple of years ago, it seems to be mostly the same two or three, now. She usually asks if I've heard them before, but I always act like they're new to me. I don't really think I'm fooling her, but we do it anyway.
That pretty much says it all.
"I don't really think I'm fooling her, but we do it anyway.
"
Good job!
Now that IS a great plan. Too bad our generation can't find the time (except) to figure out how to get the assets and our children don't want to be bothered.
Only four?....slacker:)
"Now that IS a great plan. Too bad our generation can't find the time (except) to figure out how to get the assets and our children don't want to be bothered."
Speak for yourself, OK? I know lots of people who do find the time to help the elders in my community. I know some who don't, but they aren't my friends.
All each of us can do is to do what we can, as individuals, to make our own lives and the lives of those around us as good as possible.
You are cynical about your own generation. How sad! The cure for that cynicism is to get out there and make a lie of it. Do something yourself, and you'll soon find the others who are doing the same.
That assesment was based on the "Greatest Generation" reference that was put forth in post 42. Your father's (and mine's) generation weren't part of the inception of the New Deal, but the massive expansion of the federal government that it started continued apace under their watch, and the expanded Commerce Clause became an ever increasing source of authority for the federal government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.