By Pam Walatka
Four experts on services for seniors got together recently to present a seminar, “Planning for the Future: Issues for Seniors, Their Families and Caregivers,” at the Los Altos Senior Center.
The event, co-sponsored by the senior center, the Community Services Agency and Senior New Ways, offered informative advice on financial organization, memory loss, home care options and case management.
The Los Altos Senior Center and the Community Services Agency are well-established local resources. Senior New Ways is a new program that evolved out of a popular program at the Los Altos Methodist Church.
Financial organization
and life management
Tari Vickery, a Palo Alto business owner, talked about financial management. Several years ago, she helped her dad dig out of a paperwork mess. She found undeposited checks and a number of things that needed to be taken care of.
Now Vickery helps seniors who need help organizing their financial affairs.
She goes into the home and resolves whatever issues there are. Seniors often have tremendous needs, which they hide from their family, or even hide from themselves. Vickery helps seniors remain independent by making sure that date-sensitive issues are handled in a timely manner. She helps seniors get in control.
Her services include helping organize for taxes and going with the client to the CPA. She digs through any stack of paperwork and separates the junk from the essential, then tackles whatever needs to be tackled.
The benefits are reduced stress, cost savings (for example from less tax), more time for the client - and less time worrying.
She never throws out a stack of clutter without looking through it, because she finds valuable papers within the clutter; she once was going through a stack of magazines and found the deed to the client’s house.
Tari Vickery charges $100 an hour. She can be reached at 462-1485 or tbvickery@yahoo.com.
Is it Alzheimer’s?
John Timbs, Family Care Specialist with the Alzheimer’s Association in Mountain View, talked about memory loss.
Alzheimer’s is a disease process, not simply growing old. It causes deep forgetfulness, as opposed to the normal forgetfulness that happens with aging.
The first patient diagnosed with Alzheimer’s said, “I’ve lost myself,” Timbs described.
The disease cannot be identified for certain except in autopsy, when lesions - plaques and tangles - are found in the brain. But physicians can reliably diagnose it with a series of tests. An early diagnosis is helpful because there are some treatments available.
A doctor who suspects Alzheimer’s would first rule out a problem with medications, or depression, or deficiencies in the blood. If a deep forgetfulness problem is none of the above, then it is probably Alzheimer’s, but it could be other dementia, Timbs said.
An Alzheimer’s gene increases an individual’s risk factor, he said.
Timbs said there are ways you can help protect yourself from Alzheimer’s:
• Take care of your blood vessels, blood pressure and cholesterol. If you have diabetes, take care of it.
• Keep your brain active; seek higher education.
• Get plenty of physical exercise.
• Increase your social life instead of sitting home on the couch. The Los Altos Senior Center, 947-2797, offers social activities.
The Alzheimer’s Association, whose regional offices are in Mountain View, seeks to educate and to find a cure. If you are dealing with Alzheimer’s and would like free information and advice, drop by the office at 2065 West El Camino Real, Suite C. (south of Rengstorff), or call 962-8111. The 24-hour number is (800) 660-1993. Log on to www.alz.org or e-mail info@alz.org.
Home care options
Tani and Chris Wheaton, owners of Sunnyvale-based Visiting Angels, talked about home-care options. Visiting Angels offers living assistance services to seniors at home. Services include doing chores, preparing meals, cleaning, assisting with hygiene, providing respite for care-givers and taking clients to appointments.
In-home services can make it possible for seniors to live in their own homes or the homes of their children, instead of moving to an assisted living facility.
Tani Wheaton warned that home health care is a rapidly expanding field, with many newcomers who do not really know what they are doing. She gave advice about how to select a home-health provider.
For more information about Visiting Angels, call (408) 735-0977 or log on to www.carebyangels.com. The fee is $21 per hour, for any kind of care.
CSA case management
Cathy Chavez, director of Senior Services at the Community Services Agency (CSA), spoke about case management and community resources. CSA, which serves Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, provides free case management to any resident over 60.
Chavez said CSA will send a case manager to a senior’s home to evaluate, coordinate, and monitor the senior’s needs, in order to support seniors in their home as long as possible.
A CSA case manager might help you prepare questions for your doctor, accompany you to the doctor, write down what the doctor says and leave a written report for your review.
The case manager would also look at your physical and mental states, and give referrals for treatment if necessary.
Another issue addressed is loneliness.
Chavez said some seniors become isolated in their neighborhoods, living in old houses surrounded by unknown new neighbors in mansions. Getting together with old friends or talking on the phone might be difficult, she said.
CSA would help seniors engage in social activities, such as involvement in the Los Altos Senior Center or in a church or day care program.
The Los Altos area is resource rich, Chavez said, and there are many programs that CSA might refer a senior to.
El Camino Hospital, offers a day program, Older Adults in Transition (OATS) with activity, exercise, nutrition and group support.
The cost of OATS is covered by the participant’s insurance, mostly secondary insurance, under mental health. Medicare covers 80 percent.
A program called Road Runners offers transportation and charges by the mile, but much less than a taxi (see related story, Page 14).
If the senior lacks financial resources, Santa Clara County provides in-home service and a day program. CSA helps people contact financial resources, including state and county, and helps with applications for assistance.
Advance directives and power of attorney are important paperwork that needs to be addressed.
CSA also has senior volunteers who escort seniors to the doctor, bank, or store - they wait at the appointment and bring home the senior home safe. Some volunteers do shopping, or go with the senior to shop.
“Our seniors love our volunteers and our volunteers love our seniors,” Chavez said.
CSA provides help with transition to a new type of housing when necessary.
CSA refers people to programs that may cost money, but the case management services are free. Call 968-0836 or see www.csacares.org.
A CSA case manager is at the Los Altos Senior Center the third Wednesday of each month.
