Maplewood Looks To Identify Senior Needs and Expand Senior Services

Unfortunately, information about the June 5th forum has been marketed even more poorly than the survey.  It seems unlikely that neediest, least mobile, most isolated seniors will know anything about the forum let alone attend.   The audience for the forum will be  further limited by the other local events being held at the same time including the Artist Studio Tour, the Annin Flagmakers lecture at Durand Hedden, and the Pride Run among others, which are apt to take away from the potential audience of those more active/informed seniors who would otherwise attend the event.  If those reading this post do attend the forum, they should take a global viewpoint on the information and services the towns need to provide to enable more of our senior population to be able to age comfortably in place so the needs of our neediest seniors can be heard. 

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

How 'bout a couple of "Death Panel" days? No, seriously, would it be possible, once or twice a year to have presentations by a physician and maybe a lawyer to explain options at end of life? This could be accompanied by a legal form where we can choose limits to our medical care and have it documented?




Can someone list the services, programs, and events that the town now provides for seniors? On the M.O.L. calendar, there are two events that might be of interest to seniors. Are they the only events offered?

Also, maybe a professional who could help with making up a death folder. This would incl. passwords, bank/brokerage accts,safety deposit boxes, will, and on and on. This is something kept in a safe place to make it easier on loved ones in the event of a sudden death. Would contain every bit of info your executor would need. Makes a difficult situation a little less stressful.

georgieboy said:

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

How 'bout a couple of "Death Panel" days? No, seriously, would it be possible, once or twice a year to have presentations by a physician and maybe a lawyer to explain options at end of life? This could be accompanied by a legal form where we can choose limits to our medical care and have it documented?




Can someone list the services, programs, and events that the town now provides for seniors? On the M.O.L. calendar, there are two events that might be of interest to seniors. Are they the only events offered?

Also, maybe a professional who could help with making up a death folder. This would incl. passwords, bank/brokerage accts,safety deposit boxes, will, and on and on. This is something kept in a safe place to make it easier on loved ones in the event of a sudden death. Would contain every bit of info your executor would need. Makes a difficult situation a little less stressful.

This is true.  My Uncle passed away last fall.  I was the Executor of his Estate.   He was reasonably well

organized with things like stocks,  bonds, annuities etc.  

However we searched high and low and never found the Title to his car, or the Deed to his house

Both could be replaced but we could have saved much searching had they been readily available

Looking forward to the meeting

georgieboy said:

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

How 'bout a couple of "Death Panel" days? No, seriously, would it be possible, once or twice a year to have presentations by a physician and maybe a lawyer to explain options at end of life? This could be accompanied by a legal form where we can choose limits to our medical care and have it documented?




Can someone list the services, programs, and events that the town now provides for seniors? On the M.O.L. calendar, there are two events that might be of interest to seniors. Are they the only events offered?

Also, maybe a professional who could help with making up a death folder. This would incl. passwords, bank/brokerage accts,safety deposit boxes, will, and on and on. This is something kept in a safe place to make it easier on loved ones in the event of a sudden death. Would contain every bit of info your executor would need. Makes a difficult situation a little less stressful.

Why not come to the forum on June 5, 2016 at 2 pm at the Woodland and share these ideas?

Forum was well attended.  Lots of good suggestions/observations made.  Much agreement as to what is needed.  Next step is for consultants to put the material together and prepare a set of recommendations for action going forward.

The sub-group I found myself in at the forum was asked to come up with ways in which a larger proportion of the towns' seniors could become more involved in the community.  My focus sub-group responded unanimously by saying that the problem was not that seniors did not volunteer in sufficient numbers but that too many non-seniors were not volunteering as well.

The TC seems to agree with my forum sub-group.  At the TC meeting last night, one of the discussion items was a proposal to set age-grade quotas for service on town advisory committees because a disproportionate number of persons over the age of forty held those positions!   Furthermore, these quotas, if enacted, would take effect within a few short years.  

I can understand our elected officials interest in getting younger residents more involved in the town, in reinstating the culture of volunteerism that was so integral a part of life in this town when most of our current seniors moved here so many years ago.  That said, codifying age discrimination is not the way to go about reaching this goal.  

I thought we were a town that looked beyond labels and self-identification in making such decisions.  I hope I am not wrong. Setting age-grade quotas on township committee advisory committees sends exactly the wrong message at a time when we are trying to come up with ways to make Maplewood a more age friendly place. We need to embrace the skill, knowledge, and willingness to serve that our present seniors have to contribute to our town rather than sending the message that they have aged out of civil involvement.

On the Kitchen reFurb thread (https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/126926-Kitchen-reFurb-not-renno), there is mention of a concierge type service - "Homeowners Hub".  This type of service, especially if it had some offerings tailored to Seniors, could be very helpful to the goal of staying in ones home as long as possible, especially if it could handle things like snow clearing as well as in-home repairs and maintenance.

Joan, I agree with your post 100%.  

As for getting more sub-40 volunteers on advisory committees, I think that would be very difficult given that the focus of the vast majority of our citizens in that age group have other priorities at that point in their lives--their young children and everything that entails (child care, schools and related activities, children's sports), dealing with their first home and home maintenance, and establishing their professional careers.  They are busy with little free time for things that do not directly impact them. 

From my own perspective I would love to see more involvement with those 40+---not only on township committees, but also in volunteerism in general where volunteers and leadership roles tend to be dominated by those in the upper age brackets who have a major concern about finding younger faces to participate and prevent staleness by taking on leadership activities. 

sac said:

On the Kitchen reFurb thread (https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/126926-Kitchen-reFurb-not-renno), there is mention of a concierge type service - "Homeowners Hub".  This type of service, especially if it had some offerings tailored to Seniors, could be very helpful to the goal of staying in ones home as long as possible, especially if it could handle things like snow clearing as well as in-home repairs and maintenance.

They made a presentation at a recent Senior Share meeting making a case for seniors subscribing to their service, even offering a senior discount.  They sound good for basic needs; less so for more specialized needs.

krnl said:

Joan, I agree with your post 100%.  

As for getting more sub-40 volunteers on advisory committees, I think that would be very difficult given that the focus of the vast majority of our citizens in that age group have other priorities at that point in their lives--their young children and everything that entails (child care, schools and related activities, children's sports), dealing with their first home and home maintenance, and establishing their professional careers.  They are busy with little free time for things that do not directly impact them. 

From my own perspective I would love to see more involvement with those 40+---not only on township committees, but also in volunteerism in general where volunteers and leadership roles tend to be dominated by those in the upper age brackets who have a major concern about finding younger faces to participate and prevent staleness by taking on leadership activities. 

Agree with you completely.  What is needed is an attempt to find ways to get this age group more involved;  but, not at the expense of those who are already serving the community.