Staying Independent Through Aging: Creating Your Independence TOOLKIT

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/12/16 - 10/24/16
2:45 pm - 4:00 pm

Location
Centers for Families and Children

Categories No Categories

                                                             STAYING INDEPENDENT WHILE AGING-Creating Your Independence Toolkit

 This program was created by Home Instead Senior Care and offered through the Baldwin Wallace Institute for Learning in Retirement. Participants will meet a wide variety of other senior healthcare professionals through the course. Contact Peggy at 216-386-9782 for details on enrollment. 

This series is designed to help seniors and their families build a proactive plan for the senior years. The focus of this series is the practical hands-on information all aging consumers’ need to know to make informed decisions through a variety of stages in life. It encourages participation in the programs offered by other professionals and retirement centers on legal and final documents, Medicare and specific illnesses. Participant will  build their personal toolkit through the course. Participation is limited to sixty people. Participants will enroll for and attend six sessions.

 Mondays, Sept 19, 26, October 3,10,17,24. 2:45 to 4:00

1. CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS-This session helps you open the door to difficult, but important conversations about what you want for your life.  Aging changes family roles, making it more effective to have crucial conversations with oneself, spouse, children or friends BEFORE major changes happen. An unexpected turn in health can suddenly startle us and others. Learn how to:1. look clearly at what YOU want 2. steer the crucial conversations with others 3.  let others know  how YOU want YOUR  life to continue to unfold 4. Inform others of their role in implementing your decisions.
2. GET IT ALL TOGETHER!-Step One in Staying Independent for Life begins with knowing 1.where everything is, and 2.  what resources you have. Gathering everything is a road map. Knowing WHAT to gather and then how to get critical information to decision makers  is a key first step in safe guarding your independence. You’ll learn to build your own toolkit and prepare for situations most of us encounter as we age.
3. WHAT IF I HAVE TO MOVE? CHANGING WHERE AND HOW YOU LIVE-Living options have changed and there are many living options out there. Knowing how and when to make decisions will keep you independent and in control.  A panel will guide you through At-Home care; the difference and cost of Senior Apartments, Independent Living, Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Memory Care Homes and Hospice. You’ll learn how to recognize stages, options and costs, where to find helpful resources and support networks and more.  You will feel better informed and confident to select the best care options along life’s journey before you need to make a move.
4. I’M NOT LEAVING MY HOUSE!-Everybody says they want to age at home. Making proactive changes in the home prevents injuries and keeps you safer in the home you love. This session shows do-it-now strategies,  kool inventions, tools and technology  that help you transform your home into a safer place to age-in-place. It includes a home safety checklist to help you prevent falls and injuries. This class features experts in age-in-place services. It will allow you to meet the experts, learn the how-tos and the costs.
5. PREVENTING HOSPITALIZATIONS-As Seniors the issues of aging can make us particularly vulnerable to the potential risks of hospitalization. This program explores a processes and resources to help avoid hospitalization. Based on The idea of Get-It-Moving  program, it focuses on the importance of an active physical and social  lifestyle while enriching  our senior  mind, body and soul. It includes activities designed to help keep seniors engaged and fit.
6. Coping with Loss-Once we retire loss means a lot of things. As we age we feel loss differently. We feel it when we stop working, lose stamina, experience health issues, face the death of friend or a spouse, forfeit driving or have to make changes in living arrangements…the list can go on. By understanding the effect of aging on feelings of depression and loss we can employ our own strategies to stay alert, involved and living well in every moment. Aging happily requires big attitude adjustments and practical strategies.  This session explores ways to counteract and overcome feelings that can lead to poor health, depression, malnutrition and isolation. Learn new ways to energize, reinvent and redefine, keep learning, growing and moving forward through the changes of life.