A former
client recently called to let me know that she has settled in San
Antonio , where her niece provides home care that my client could
not afford while living alone in San Francisco San Francisco
Last month, SF Main Library hosted a panel discussion, From Homelessness to Housing in San Francisco, moderated by San Francisco Chronicle Editor-In-Chief Audrey Cooper, and featured BART Board Director Lateefah Simon, District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell, San Francisco Chronicle Reporter Kevin Fagan, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing Director Jeff Kositsky, and Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach. Jeff proposed ending the home mortgage income tax deduction, which has been used by at least one-third of upper-income taxpayers; instead, he favored Germany’s model of tax incentives for rentals. (Trump’s proposed tax plan to retain the mortgage tax deduction while doubling the standard deduction would likely further benefit higher-income taxpayers instead of broadening home ownership.)
Several homebound
clients, formerly homeless and now living in permanent supportive housing,
appeared in a related exhibition, Everyone Deserves a Home, at SF Main Library. This exhibit showed photos of residents holding signs handwritten in
response to “What does home mean to you?” and oral histories of their
experiences of coming to San Francisco and their struggles (trauma, neglect,
substance abuse, poverty, racism, etc.) that led them to their current home.
While
home is important to age in place,
the consequences of isolation and loneliness from being homebound and aging without community was the topic at the April 27, 2017 hearing before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Experts testified on the negative mental, behavioral and physical health
outcomes of isolation and loneliness, including the oft-quoted research finding
that prolonged isolation is comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day! (Effective April 1, 2017, California
Therefore,
I encourage my homebound clients (especially if living alone and watching TV)
to venture outside of their home (comfort zone) and into our communities, when
possible. And thanks to technology, I
hope my blog can help bring the community (engagement, resources) to them!
SFSU Gerontology Program Coordinator Darlene Yee and College of Health & Social Sciences Dean Alvin Alvarez welcomed
160+ guests to SFSU Gerontology Program’s
30th Anniversary Dinner held on campus. (SFSU Gerontology
Program—the first and thus oldest graduate gerontology program in the California State University and University of California
Serenaded by campus musicians
Dinner plate
Faculty table with Professor Brian de Vries, lecturer and
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) founder Pat Mc Ginnis, and
Professor Annabelle Pelham
Classmates Ardath, Diane, Kay, Mary, Lois and Raenika
Classmates May (holding up donation envelope) and Ardath
Pat Mc Ginnis presented Distinguished Long-Term Care
Advocate Award to Mark Leno, State Senator (2008-2016), for his advocacy of consumer
protections for aged constituents: increase minimum wage and sick days for IHSS
workers (SB 3), ban on admissions to RCFE if risk of harm (SB 1153), RCFE
Eviction Protection Act (SB 897), etc.
Bayview Hunters Point Multi-Purpose Senior Services Director Cathy Davis and Aging Commission President and SFSU Gerontology alumna Edna James
I took vacation
leave to attend worthwhile JCCSF’s 10th
Annual Art of Aging Gracefully Resource Fair: Stay Vital, Healthy and Fit,
organized by Adult Programs Manager Shiva Schulz.
Margaret
Chesney, Director of Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF, presented “Outsmarting Stress, Enhancing Resilience & Optimizing Health in Today’s World.” She recommended BREATHE strategy to enhance well-being:
Be present with self in the moment -
slow down
Realistic goals - celebrate meeting
them
Everyday events – notice positives and share with others
Acts of kindness – create positive
events for others
Turn negatives around – reframe to
find silver lining
Humor – smile
End each day with gratitude
Department
of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) Nutritionist Linda Lau at one of the busiest resource tables. According to the most recent DAAS Needs Assessment,
senior meals funding has shifted from congregate to home-delivered meals. Does this reflect pattern of growing
isolation of seniors at home? When clients tell me they are discouraged from
eating at congregate meal sites because site staff/volunteers attempt to
collect “suggested contribution,” I advise them to file complaint with DAAS!
Health Librarian
Janet Tom at SF Public Library table. I often refer homebound clients to
Friends for Life to borrow books, DVDs, CDs, etc. by mail. SFPL also has its own youtube channel.
Office on Women’s Health hosted Women’s Health Leadership Institute, which I participated in almost 4 years ago,
so always happy to reconnect with Regional Coordinator Kay Strawder (pictured
at right) and Public Health Advisor Sheila James (not pictured at JCCSF because
she was participating in Walk to Work Day). Since women outlive men, the future is female
…. but with attempts to repeal Obamacare, what is the future of women’s health?
Like Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey (exhibit 5 years ago), I looked forward to this month’s opening of Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs – this time
with the living artist in person!
New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast's memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is about an only child
providing care for elderly parents until the end.
Exhibit
included short film of Roz revealing that she wrote Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? because “I didn’t want
to forget how they talked, and I didn’t want to forget how they were …”
Couch below speech balloons painted on wall provided photo opportunity
Journalist
Belva Davis moderated Alzheimer's Association 9th
Annual African American Caregiving and Wellness Forum at Ed Roberts Campus
in Berkeley
Rochelle
Woods, MD, delivered keynote, “Self-Care While Caring for Someone with
Dementia” reminding us that African-Americans are almost twice as likely to
develop Alzheimer’s, and tend to take care of family to age-in-place. African-Americans, especially women,
have capacity to tolerate stresses, but are more susceptible to effects of taking care. She said caregivers need to put their mask on first (maintain mind-body-spirit, MBSR), educate about dementia (The 36-Hour Day) including support, have fun (old man dancing), be smart and savvy (advance directives, power of attorney, life care planning).
Heather
Gray presented “Understanding and Responding to Dementia Behaviors” reminding us that people with Alzheimer’s still want independence and opportunities for participation/contribution,
yet may not have language to express their needs. Instead of stepping in and insisting something be done a certain way, let go if the person with Alzheimer’s can remain safe
and content/engaged/involved. It takes a
village, so reach out to the community for support.
“Ask the
Experts Panel” Discussion, with presenters plus Rita Hartgrave, MD, addressed
practical issues like when it’s time to go to nursing home, taking away car
keys, bathing, etc.
John Olichney, MD, presented “UC Davis’ Disparity in Brain Aging Research,” finding low levels of vitamin D is associated with cognitive decline. Since the body makes vitamin D through sun
exposure, many older adults (especially shut-ins) are low in vitamin D because
they are not outside enough. African-American
and Hispanic subjects had lower levels of vitamin D than white subjects, as
darker skin reduces the amount of sunlight absorbed. Overall, subjects with
inadequate Vitamin D levels lost episodic memory and executive function more
quickly.
Cynthia
Carter Perrilliat emphasized personal approaches to grief (process of healing
from loss) in her talk, “Managing Grief and Loss While Caregiving.”
Asha
Koshy, Program Manager at Bay Area Community Services Adult Day Health Care, presented
“Connecting to Loved One Through Home-Based Activities.” She reminded us of 3
keys for failure-free activities that engage:
- go with the flow
- praise effort
- acknowledge skill
Activities
can include arts and crafts, music therapy, cooking, reminiscing and exercise. Create a routine that is SPECIAL:
Schedule
Peace
Eliminate caffeine, especially at
night
Cue what to expect
Include in activities
Activity
Lights
Intergenerational drumming
at Berkeley
Black Cuisine in
Bayview
Dance
outdoors to Bobbie "Spider" Webb and make vitamin D!
April 15
Tax March protesters called on Chicken Don (30 foot inflatable made in China) to release his tax returns, as every U.S. President has done so for past 40
years.
Dark Room Truck performs “Dump Trump Bump” protest song
Earth Day
“eye heart science” buttons
March for Science posters
Intergenerational March for Science from Ferry Building to City Hall
Now in
its 9th year, Livable City’s Sunday Streets Tenderloin offered live music, arts and crafts, information sharing by community
non-profit and government agencies, etc.—opportunities to increase physical
activity for all ages in a car-free environment!
Curry Senior Center, providing medical and social services since 1972 to seniors who make up half of the population in the Tenderloin, gave away toothbrushes! Alisa Oberschelp, MD, and Angela Di Martino wear black Curry Senior Center T-shirts.
Central City SRO Collaborative organizes with SRO (single-room
occupancy) tenants in San Francisco
Permaculture is the answer
Butterfly
effect: Be the change you want to see in the world! Artists transform 4 Corner Friday wall at Golden Gate and Hyde.
“I’m at peace with myself”
Minority communities will be hit hardest by soaring rates of Alzheimer’s disease
ReplyDeleteBy DAVID SATCHER and WILLIAM A. VEGA
JUNE 14, 2017
...According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s deaths increased by 55 percent among all Americans between 1999 and 2014. But they increased 99 percent for African-Americans and 107 percent for Latinos. While striking, that’s likely to be an underestimate because some independent studies have found that Alzheimer’s deaths are underreported on death certificates by approximately six times because death is often attributed to more immediate causes, like pneumonia.
The CDC’s data highlight the acute challenges this disease poses for African-American and Latino communities, where this ever-worsening brain disease is growing disproportionately and where personal resources for fighting it are inadequate. In these communities, trust in medical institutions has been eroded by racism, low standards of care, and unjust past medical research practices.
Compared to whites, African-Americans are twice as likely and Latinos 1.5 times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. A recent report by the University of Southern California Roybal Institute on Aging and LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s found that the number of Latinos in the U.S. living with Alzheimer’s disease is projected to increase by 832 percent by 2060.
Even though Alzheimer’s is more common among Latinos and African-Americans, they are less likely to be diagnosed with the disease in a timely fashion than whites. That steals valuable time to plan care. Further, Latino and African-American families are less likely to recognize the symptoms and signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia than whites, punctuating the need for increased promotion of brain health and research engagement within these growing communities.
The federal Administration on Aging has estimated that, by 2030, minorities will make up close to 30 percent of the older adult population in the United States — a trend that could be devastating for a growing number of Latino and African American families, as the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s doubles about every five years after age 65. As our society ages and becomes increasingly multiethnic, addressing Alzheimer’s across all racial and ethnic groups must be a public health priority for state and federal governments.
The CDC’s data also illuminate the impact that Alzheimer’s is placing on families and caregivers. According to the CDC, “Significant increases in Alzheimer’s deaths, coupled with an increase in the number of persons with Alzheimer’s dying at home, have likely added to the burden on family members or other unpaid caregivers.” That’s putting it mildly.
In 2016, informal caregivers provided over 18 billion hours of unpaid care for individuals living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, at an economic value of more than $230 billion. African-American and Latino caregivers have reported spending more time providing intensive care for loved ones compared to their white or Asian American peers.
We must work across federal agencies and independent organizations to address this crisis as we did with the polio epidemic in the 1950s, HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, and, more recently, diseases like Ebola and Zika.
Any national effort must be adequately resourced to match the tremendous challenge that Alzheimer’s represents for our communities and our economy. Our national investment in Alzheimer’s research and programming totals less than 1 percent of the $259 billion we spend on the disease in direct and indirect costs annually, with more than half of that borne by Medicare and Medicaid...
Alzheimer’s costs, which may rise to $1.1 trillion by 2050, have the potential to bankrupt our economy. This financial burden is made even worse by the emotional toll Alzheimer’s takes on families…
https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/14/alzheimers-disease-minority-communities/
SF libraries as sanctuaries for the homeless — Hollywood movie captures realities
ReplyDeleteBy Kevin Fagan
Saturday, March 9, 2019
…There’s one place that fills the bill for a homeless guy like Martinez, who at 78 moves more like someone who’s 88.
The library.
… He’s got a lot of company — in the burgeoning number of homeless folks who have discovered welcome mats at public libraries all over America. And now, there’s a Hollywood movie coming out about them.
“The Public,” set for national release on April 5, is a fictional drama about a group of homeless men who take over the Cincinnati Main Library one winter night to avoid freezing to death…it achieves a rarity in films about the homeless. It captures reality.
Credit this to Estevez, the 56-year-old director, writer and star of the movie. A longtime social activist …Estevez did his homework on the street with homeless people. His project was 12 years in the making, and it shows in the way he captures the reality of what goes on in the typical library when homeless people use it.
…Estevez began his research after reading a 2007 essay by Chip Ward, a now-retired Salt Lake City librarian, about the surprising numbers of homeless people using libraries as asylums. But the core of the director’s research was on the sidewalks in Los Angeles, where the 2,000-soul Skid Row is the biggest homeless sprawl in the nation.
…“Just by listening to the stories and allowing the people I talked to freely express themselves, I learned quite a lot. It’s a fine line between being vulturistic and being a researcher.”
The point of the film, Estevez said, is not to just entertain people, but to raise awareness of the new role libraries fill for homeless people…“I thought it was important to create a conversation and shine a light on the unsung heroes — the librarians — and on the problem of people who are experiencing homelessness,” Estevez said...
Librarians began noticing about 15 years ago that homeless people were coming in in increasing numbers to use the internet, wash up, take naps — and, as much as anything, simply read and have some quiet time. Just like anyone else. After all, as city homelessness Director Jeff Kositsky said, “It is a public place, and unhoused people have every right to use it as housed people do.”
In San Francisco, dozens, sometimes hundreds, of homeless people like Martinez come to the libraries daily. Around the Bay Area, that number runs into the thousands.
This can be a problem, when someone who’s mentally ill rants in the aisles or addicts shoot up in the bathroom. But many libraries around the nation have learned to keep those issues to a minimum — thanks largely to a pioneering program in San Francisco that stationed a social worker on-site to help the desperate, instead of just keeping a lid on them with police interventions.
The social worker, Leah Esguerra, was posted to the Main Library 10 years ago after complaints by other patrons about homeless behavior. The idea behind Esguerra’s experiment was that instead of rousting the people out, a professional counselor could get them help for housing, shelter or rehab, or just chill out the atmosphere, help everyone fit in together.
It has been so successful that 30 other libraries in the nation are replicating a form of Esguerra’s program. She now has six assistants — formerly homeless people, trained to help — and her team has helped house 200 people and routed hundreds of others into shelter and services…“What we do works because people are already here in the library,” she said. “Why not access them where they’re at?
“It’s warm, it’s a sanctuary. There’s a sense of stability here. We see those experiencing homelessness as people. We don’t ‘other’ them. We know they’re experiencing trauma, and if we approach them like that, most of the time they appreciate it…
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-libraries-as-sanctuaries-for-the-homeless-13674982.php
A homeless Oakland couple moved into a $4 million Piedmont home. Then came the calls to police
ReplyDeleteBy Otis R. Taylor Jr.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Greg Dunston and Marie Mckinzie lived on Oakland’s streets for almost 10 years, pushing their carts around with all their belongings and sleeping in the doorway of an Alameda County building.
But for the past three months, the couple have lived among the wealthy — on a nearly $4 million property in one of the Bay Area’s most exclusive neighborhoods in Piedmont. The homeowner, Terrence McGrath, did something few in his position would dare do: He opened his doors to homeless people in need.
Poor, black homeless people — in a mostly white, rich neighborhood.
Dunston and Mckinzie are more than turning heads whenever they venture out onto the sidewalk of Hampton Road — he’s 61 with a stooped walk and she’s 53 with a slight limp. They’re prompting phone calls to the local police…
McGrath, who is white, read about the couple in a column I wrote in January. I shared their story of survival and hope… But peaceful nights of sleep were few, because street life — the threats, the fights, the retaliations — can be loud for people who want to avoid that kind of noise. Dunston always had to be on the lookout for thieves looking to prey on the weak.
They packed everything they owned — their entire lives — into two utility carts before the building opened in the morning. They wearily pushed the carts everywhere they went, spending most of their days near Jack London Square before again settling down for the night.
McGrath arranged to meet the couple …he knew that letting them move in was the right thing to do.
He was living in a 4,500-square-foot home on an idyllic, tree-lined street. His daughters had gone off to college. And he had an empty in-law unit with a separate entrance, kitchen and bathroom.
But the couple weren’t sure moving to Piedmont was a good idea…
It was hard for them to believe that someone they didn’t know who had more money than they could ever imagine wanted to help them. What did McGrath want in return?
Nothing, McGrath told me.
McGrath, 60, was raised in St. Helena in Napa County. He was one of nine children, and he told me his family was poor and on welfare for significant periods of time.
Today, McGrath is a real estate developer and investor...
“It’s helped bring me back to my roots as a young kid,” he said. “I cannot avoid the responsibility I have to life around me. I have a personal obligation to take responsibility when I see injustices. And to me, this is a clear injustice.”
… When they lived on the streets in downtown Oakland, they were invisible — mostly. No one really saw them. Now, it’s different. Dunston and Mckinzie are usually dressed in jeans and oversize T-shirts. They both laugh a lot and have friendly faces. But they can’t blend in.
One of the major obstacles to solving homelessness is how many people see the unhoused if they see them at all.
Yes, there are homeless people with significant problems, but not all are addicted to drugs, stealing everything in sight to sustain a crippling habit. Not all homeless people suffer from mental illness,…Not all homeless people are beggars.
Some homeless people…have just gotten lost. Some have college degrees and multiple jobs. Some are veterans. Some have families. They’re struggling to survive in an area they can’t afford to live in. And they don’t have money to move anywhere else.
They’re stuck on the street. And many choose not to see them.
But looking past the problem won’t make it go away. Any plan to eradicate homelessness won’t be effective until we see the unhoused for what they really are: human.
“I don’t think there’s any other issue that is more symbolic about who we are as a society than this issue,” McGrath said. “It’s an absolute reflection of us. There is no other way to see it. Just because it’s there doesn’t make it right or make it acceptable.”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/otisrtaylorjr/article/A-homeless-Oakland-couple-moved-into-a-4-million-13812019.php