Helping Seniors in the Community

Before moving to the bay area, I didn't realize how many senior buildings there were in the city. Also, there are many seniors that are in need of services. Currently there is a shortage of beds in nursing homes for seniors and many people do not know where to send the seniors who needs services. This is where I could possibly suggest a place for a senior....

I work for a place that has ALL-INCLUSIVE care for seniors. What that means is, medical, dental, transportation, medication, physical therapy, occupational therapy, recreation therapy, meals, adult day health, etc...all in ONE PACKAGE. This is a wonderful place that's been around for 35 yrs. We are the first places (www.onlok.org) to start this program in the nation. The simple qualifications are, they would need to be medi-medi, which means, if they have medi-cal and medicare, they do not have to pay for our program. Also, they have to have at lease 1 or 2 activities of daily living (ADLs) that they need help with. What are activities of daily living? Activities of daily living is walking, bathing, grooming, toileting, eating, etc...Also, they would have to be 55+ yrs older, living in the city of San Franciso, Fremont, Newark, or Union City. We will be opening an office this summer in San Jose, so when that opens, we are welcoming citizens from the city of San Jose as well.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I've been struggling to find the right job for me since I graduated from college, and I have finally found the job. I am very happy with what I do and to know that doing my job is helping seniors be happy and healthy, it's the happiest job of all. (don't get me wrong...every company has their own politics...FYI) =) I've always had a heart to help people, and now I get paid to help out and reach out to the community to let them know what kinds of services there is available.

I am hoping, as I work longer at this place, that I can make a difference in my job, and a difference in seniors lives too. I do a lot of outreach, and events with seniors, so if any of you suggestions on activities for seniors, please send them my way.

Here are a couple of pictures of a Valentine's Day Scarf Project I did. We had volunteers from the community knit scarves for the homeless children's network and then we had the seniors decorate bags and stuff them with scarves and valentine's day goodies. They had so much fun doing that.