Changing Aging

I dig these videos by Aging Services of California, the association that represents California’s non-profit aging services companies. They all come under the theme: Age is Just a Number.. They’re right. This is the kind of positioning and creativity that gets people excited about aging. It underscores that aging is all about living . . . even at the end of life.

I like Nebraska’s thinking on saving for aging services.  What do you think?  Taking a leadership role they’ve launched a savings option called The Long-Term Care Savings Plan. 

Here are some key elements of the first such state plan in the United States:

- You can put $1,000 ($2,000 filing jointly) in an account to qualify for savings that’s state-tax free until withdrawn.  They’re looking to increase those contribution limits.

- When withdrawn they can be used to pay for a multitude of aging services, including home care, nursing care, assisted living, technology and other services.

- If the account is not used, and the account holder dies, it can be passed on to a spouse or other family members.

- At the age of 50, the account holder can withdraw savings tax-free to pay for long-term care insurance.

 There are a number of appealing things about Nebraska’s program:

- It elevates the importance of planning ahead for aging services and makes you think about how you want to live if you need assistance or care.

- It allows you to save money beyond traditional retirement accounts.

- It gives you flexibility.  You ultimately determine what services your dollars buy.

- If you want to buy long-term care insurance, but don’t want to buy it in your 30s and 40s (which the vast majority of Americans don’t), you can use your savings to pay for premiums later in life.

- You can pass the accumulated savings to heirs for them to use to pay for aging services, undescoring the need that even though we might come from different generations, we likely all will have the need for some type of assistance and care.  And we have to pay for it.

Key to successful aging are feeding and growing your social, spiritual, and vocational parts of who you are. 

The other day Linda Hanson of the Duluth News Tribune did a wonderful story of a person who exemplifies this (We’d link to it, but the News Tribune hasn’t put it online.)  The story was about Monsignor Patrick McDowell, who resides at Ecumen’s Lakeshore community in Duluth and is pictured here with Bayshore and Lakeshore chaplain Rev. Alice Olson. 

(For our readers around the country saying to themselves ”I recognize that guy.”  You’re right, Monsignor McDowell was the priest in the movie North Country.)

We’d like to share a few excerpts from the story:

When Monsignor Patrick McDowell moved into an apartment at Lakeshore in Duluth, he felt uncharacteristically shy about meeting other residents.  A Catholic priest since 1954, he had served several Duluth Diocese parishes and always felt accepted, but at Lakeshore he didn’t eve know who was Catholic.

One day another resident patted him on the shoulder and asked whether he had heard what happened to the Pope, “He has that bird disease,” the man told him.  “He got it from one of his cardinals.”

With that joke, and others that followed, McDowell soon felt at home.

“I began to realize I have some kind of mission here,” said McDowell, 79.  Shortly after he moved to Lakeshore in 2006, McDowell offered to celebrate Mass.  Now he does it five days a week.

At a time of life that for many is marked by loss of loved ones or physical abilities, McDowell has found joy in serving a new flock.

“If I’ve ever experienced Christianity, I’ve experienced it here in the greatest sense of the word.  The spirit here is tremendous,” he said.  “Everyone is accepted.”

 . . . Although he has has health problems, he adapts to them.  McDowell recalled the Bible story of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and how only one thanked Jesus.  He said he used to be guilty of being one of the nine who didn’t give thanks.  Now, he said, he thanks the Lord for many things, such as being able to get dressed on his own without falling.

“God’s been very, very, very, good,” he said.  “My faith has increased 100 percent since I came here.”

Thank you Monsignor McDowell and the many other people we in the senior housing and services profession have the honor of serving each day who contribute mightily to the vitality of our communities and are wonderful role models for successful aging.

A lot of retirement books look at how much you’re saving.  Mapping Your Retirement, a new book (it’s really part book and part workbook; it forces you to be an active particiapnt) by husband-and-wife team Mark and Janet Skeie, and Julie Roles does that, too, but a whole lot more.

It’s much wider ranging guide to help you plan for how you want to live the rest of your life.  And it delivers insights from a variety of expert contributors, a number of which have been through the process.  What’s also neat about this book is it’s a labor of love by the authors.  We hear a lot about retirees finding purpose in the next part of their lives.  These authors are living it.  To learn more about the book, the authors and reviews, go here.