Help is there for local elderly, but many don’t take it

By Cynthia Pegram

Published: October 18, 2008

A fixed income means exactly that. It doesn’t move when the prices rise.

“The cost of everything is going up,” said Susan Jones, Campbell County Social Services supervisor.

 
The following, from Home Instead Senior Care and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, suggests people might want to be alert to these indicators that the downturn in the economy has impacted seniors in their families or neighborhoods.

- A home is too warm in the summer and too cold in the winter.
- The lawn isn’t mowed and the
sidewalk isn’t cleaned. Home repairs aren’t being made.
- A planned vacation got cancelled.
- The family member speaks of not being able to afford
medications and starts skipping doctor appointments.
- There’s not much food in the house, and the senior seems to have cut back on eating out as well as going out for entertainment.

One of the concerns is for the old still living independently — elderly people who grew up in the Depression, and are used to taking care of themselves. They have a fear of that embarrassment of “not being able to care for myself.”

They will go without rather than ask for help, said Jones.

She sees a new and troublesome issue turning up — “elderly in the trap of payday loans.”

Those are high-interest, on-the-spot short-term loans. Social Security money deposited in a bank account is not safe from garnishment right now, said Jones.

Sharmaine Edmunds, a social worker for Campbell County Social Services, said they’re also seeing older people going back to work, after having been retired for many years.

They’re going back for financial reasons, she said.

Edmunds said that the jobs they find are greeters at stores, cashiers in fast food shops, companions and as sitters in hospitals or nursing homes.

Social services sees edgy problem-solving such as the person who quit taking medications in order to pay for four tires — without the tires the car would not pass inspection.

“The vehicle — that’s the last vestige of their independence,” said Jones. “If they get dependent on someone else for transportation, it really changes their lifestyle.”

The network of agencies, churches, and other ecumenical or service organizations provides much to fill the gaps for all those in need. Sometimes a client can be helped by what amounts to a quilt of services made from bits of many agency’s resources — one might be able to provide $25 of help, another some groceries, and another, medications.

Campbell County Social Services — like many similar agencies — has a general fund used to help in areas for which there’s no allocations.

For example, to raise money, each year Campbell has a flea market. They also have small fundraisers during the year — but help can come in a can of donated food, a few dollars to add to others. Social services agencies can use such gifts to help pay a light bill, or use gift cards to a grocery store to keep someone from going hungry.

Social Services gets continuing requests for food, said Jones, but donations to food pantries are down.

“More people need food,” Jones said, “but fewer people are able to donate.”