Joan Black took
a serious tumble two years ago, climbing up on a stepladder to reach
for a punchbowl. She was about to host one of her frequent patio
parties for a regional theater company in Montpelier, Vt.
Ms.
Black had been doing quite well in her ground-floor apartment downtown.
But the fall broke a vertebra, and since then she’s had trouble walking
and standing for any extended period.
Once
she worked as an interior designer. “I take a great deal of pride in my
home,” she told me in an interview. “But I couldn’t keep up with the
vacuuming and dusting. I couldn’t garden. I used to start dreading
winter in mid-July.” (She couldn’t shovel snow.) Living on Social
Security payments since the recession plundered her savings, she
couldn’t afford to hire helpers. “Seeing things in my life go downhill
became very depressing,” said Ms. Black, now 80.
Happily,
a city program called the Reach Service Exchange Network began
operation in the fall of 2010, powered by a grant of $1 million from
the federal Administration on Aging.
The
network functions as a time bank. Montpelier residents of all ages join
for $25 and get access to a site listing requests and offers: driving,
pet care, reading aloud, help with grocery shopping, computer tutoring
sessions and more. “We ask all members to provide services to the
network,” explained Daniel Hecht, the network’s director. “We think
people of any age or level of ability can contribute.”
We’ve
talked here about various alternatives to assisted living and nursing
homes that allow people to age in place, or at least age in place
longer. Co-housing, shared housing, villages, N.O.R.C.’s — the
approaches and the economics vary, but the goals of independence and
interdependence, which aren’t contradictory in old age, are much the
same. People want community, but they also want privacy; most try to
maintain their own households for as long as they can. “I told my son
and daughter-in-law that I want to be carried out of my apartment,” Ms.
Black said, voicing a common sentiment.
Can
an organization like Reach make that happen? “Volunteering and
increased social interaction are known preventions that mean better
health,” Mr. Hecht pointed out.
So
far, 200 locals have joined Reach, half of them over age 58. The staff
runs criminal background and sex-offense checks on each member and
reviews the motor vehicle records of anyone who has volunteered to
drive. “This sort of vetting means nobody’s going to come to your home
and steal your jewelry,” Mr. Hecht said.
As
a group, Reach members currently contribute 300 hours of services each
month. Ms. Black, for instance, has arranged to have a member vacuum
and dust her apartment each week, which takes about two hours.
Cara
Barbero, who lives a block or so away, shows up to shovel snow, often
before dawn. “I get up in the morning, and the path is already cleared
and salted and the car is cleaned off, and I can get out and go,” Ms.
Black said.
In
exchange, she operates the Reach Network’s information table at the
farmers’ market most summer weekends and works at the guided tour desk
at the restored state Capitol building. She still hosts soirees to
benefit the Lost Nation Theater — though someone else handles the
punchbowl — and she arranges a high tea each March that supports a
college art gallery. By helping Ms. Black, Ms. Barbero has earned hours
that she uses to get child care.
Friendships
develop. Ms. Barbero’s daughters came over to sing “Jingle Bells” and
deliver Christmas cookies to Ms. Black last month; she invited them and
their mother to her 80th-birthday celebration. She has signed up for
classes that Reach is offering in the Alexander technique, which she
thinks may ease her back pain.
As
one downside of aging in place can be isolation and depression, “I’ve
made it a point to get out and meet people,” Ms. Black said. “It keeps
the juices going.”
But
when the federal grant ends after three years, can Montpelier keep
Reach going? It faces the same challenges as many elder care
alternatives, including the much-touted village movement: It needs to
raise money, if only for office space, Web site maintenance and at
least a skeleton staff. And it needs to keep bringing in new members,
including those younger and able-bodied. Its goal, in this small city
of 7,500, is to attract 600 members who provide a collective 1,000
hours of service each month. That’s a far-off target.
Many
of these experiments can keep older members in their homes when they
need driving and dog-walking. As they age, a high proportion will
eventually need help with the more basic activities of daily living —
bathing, dressing, using a toilet. Few of these housing or
community-building efforts are equipped to offer long-term care. “We
can’t guarantee services to anyone,” Mr. Hecht acknowledged.
So
Reach represents a model with limitations but also great benefits. “It
reminds me of when I was growing up on Long Island and people just
naturally helped and took care of each other,” Ms. Black said. “It’s
tightened our community. I just hope it goes on forever.”
