Helping seniors age in place, with help from family BY SUE WEBBER • CONTRIBUTING WRITER Aging in place is the new mantra for many senior citizens. They want to be able to stay in their homes as long as possible. But another option is sometimes possible, or even desirable. Sixteen years ago, Willard Eggan, then a 77-year-old builder who had constructed many homes in Eden Prairie, was living in a large home with his wife, Beulah. They decided to downsize to a double bungalow, but even that seemed to be too much for them. At about the same time, their son Terry Eggan and his wife, Nancy Vest, were about to build their dream home in Eden Prairie. Terry, a Realtor, came up with the idea of the two couples sharing the new home. So Terry and Nancy built a separate wing at their new home for Terry’s parents, complete with laundry, kitchen and their own private entrance. “My in-laws were quite independent then, and it worked beautifully,” Nancy said. “They were still driving, and they had an active social life. There were times when I would walk in the door after work and my mother-in-law would have a roast beef dinner waiting for us.” The secret to the living arrangement “working beautifully,” Nancy said, was maintaining personal spaces and boundaries. “We could have dinner together and hang out together, but then I could go to my own space,” she said. As it turned out, the first eight years were easy. But then, Nancy said, “We had to step up and be caregivers.” Trained as a social worker with a background in home health care, Nancy said, “Usually one child in the family comes forward to do that. The care can be quite complicated. It gets very intimate. You have to be able to switch roles [and ‘parent’ your parents], and it’s hard.” Her husband really stepped up to the plate as “someone you would want as your advocate,” Nancy said. “He is a busy Realtor, but he has been so focused on making sure his parents are comfortable and well cared for,” she said. “He keeps track of their blood pressures, their weights, their medications and what they’re eating.” Her mother-in-law died at the age of 92 in the spring of 2013, after several years in hospice care.
Enjoying a meal at the home they shared in Eden Prairie are, from left, Terry Eggan, Willard Eggan, Terry Vest and Beulah Eggan. (Submitted photo) “Willard and Beulah were blessed,” Nancy said. “They were married for 72 years and had a lovely, long life.” Her father-in-law, now 93, is in hospice care, too. But he’s still at the Eggans’ home, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. “That is his wish, and it’s our wish, too,” Nancy said. “We were serious about this; it’s been a labor of love for us,” said Nancy, who first met the Eggans when she was 13-years-old. “They were good to me when I was a kid,” she said. “It’s a privilege to take care of someone you love. We wanted to give them as much dignity as possible.” The family has used a variety of home care services to assist Willard and Beulah in the last eight years. Now, one of Willard’s granddaughters has volunteered
to move into his living quarters at the Eggan’s home to care for him, Nancy said. As the numbers of senior citizens increase, the number of older adults who need to adapt their living arrangements or receive help also increases. In Bloomington, for example, 15,218 residents are over the age of 65, according to the 2010 census. That amounts to 18.36 percent of the city’s total population. The median year for home construction in Bloomington is 1969, meaning that many older owners of 40-plus year-old homes may need repairs or help with maintenance. For senior citizens who may be disabled and/or living on a fixed income, such work is daunting and may require a little help. PLACE - TO PAGE 3
Page 2 Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014
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Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014 Page 3
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Place FROM PAGE 1 Bryan Hartman, the program manager for the Bloomington Housing and Redevelopment Authority, said the city offers home improvement loans. “We have money available right now, and we serve a lot of seniors,� Hartman said. “We offer the loans city-wide and are actively seeking applications.� Typical projects for which the money is used include new roofs, windows or siding, and installation or repair of air conditioning or furnaces to make them more energy efficient. The city of Bloomington also contracts with outreach groups, such as Senior Community Resources at Creekside Community Center, to which it refers older adults who need help with snow shoveling or lawn mowing. The city is able to refer seniors to transportation services, and food
and meal programs that offer socialization with others in addition to rides and nutritious menus. One of the available outside resources is Household & Outside Maintenance for Elderly (HOME), which provides a variety of affordable services to help seniors ages 60 and older to continue to live independently in their homes. Alyssa Kriesel, one of HOME’s program coordinators, said volunteers are available to assist seniors with homemaking chores such as laundry, house cleaning, errands and grocery shopping. Help is also available for lawn mowing and snow removal, raking, window washing, minor repairs that don’t require a licensed plumber or electrician, and interior and exterior painting. “We work with volunteers from all kinds of different organizations, groups, schools and corporations,� Kriesel said. “Volunteers sign up to help, the organizations contact us and we coordinate with our clients.� Seniors contribute to the cost of the service based on their monthly income and ability to pay.
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Deb Hoger, a licensed social worker at Senior Outreach and Caregiver Services in Bloomington, said transportation, finances and personal care are primary concerns for many senior citizens that often make it necessary to consider alternate housing for them. “We set up appointments to meet with seniors and their families to look at the whole picture and work out a plan,� Hoger said. “Sometimes families and seniors don’t even know where to begin. We help seniors to find answers. We’ll go out to their homes and help them assess the situation.�
Information: • Senior Outreach and Caregiver Services, 952767-7890 • HOME, 952-746-4046.
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Volunteers from Household & Outside Maintenance for Elderly (HOME) are pictured with a senior citizen to whom they lent a helping hand. (Submitted photo)
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Page 4 Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014
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Luxury living
Trillium Woods, 5855 Cheshire Parkway in Plymouth, will offer garden homes, apartments, and a plethora of amenities for people age 60 and above. (Submitted photo)
Trillium Woods senior living scheduled to open in Plymouth in 2015 BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER The ultimate in luxury living and amenities for people age 60 and above will open in Plymouth in 2015. The first phase of Trillium Woods, at 5855 Cheshire Parkway, will offer 209 independent living homes (including 14 twin homes). The second phase will include 150 more independent living units. Construction is underway, with move-in expected in late summer to early fall 2015. Amenities will include a convenience store, postal area for mailing, onsite banking, fitness center offering personalized exercise plans, library, chapel, woodworking center, auditorium, restaurant serving meals to suit dietary needs, café, cocktail lounge, housekeeping and laundry services, spa and salon,
and underground parking. Pets are welcome. Concierge and valet services will be available 24/7 and will assist with scheduling transportation. A preferred choice dining program will offer cooked-from-scratch foods prepared by a professional chef. In addition to an onsite Minute Clinic, the piece de resistance will be an on-site medical facility where licensed professionals will provide a range of health care options, including shortterm recuperative care, assisted living, long-term skilled nursing and memory care. The first phase of the medical facility will accommodate 44 patients in the care center. Up to 90 patients will be accommodated when the second phase is completed. The Trillium Woods Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) will allow residents to move from indepen-
dent living to any of the varied levels of health care, as needed, at no additional cost. “People who like life care are planners; they like to be in control,” said Katie Kubinski, marketing director at Trillium Woods. “This is a peace of mind plan. People want to know where they will get their services, and they want to be in control of who will provide their care.” Vicky Lansky, who already has secured a unit in the Trillium Woods development, formerly had a townhouse in Excelsior and an office in Deephaven. She now lives with her husband on the 16th floor of a high-rise near Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. “We saw the ads for Trillium Woods and thought it sounded like the type of place we’d like to live in, but we weren’t in a real hurry to move,” Lansky said.
“We like it here [near Lake Calhoun] a lot; it’s beautiful. But it’s not a real community, and we are social people. We’re trying to take things easy and enjoy things more.” They liked the sound of the plans for Trillium Woods, she said. “We’ll be happy to get back on a grassy main floor,” Lansky said. “We don’t see squirrels or bugs now.” The 14 floor plans at Trillium Woods range from 788 square feet to 2,057 square feet. “It’s different from rent, and it’s not ownership,” Kubinski said. Residents will pay an entrance fee and a monthly lifetime access fee. Apartment residents will pay an entrance fee ranging from $280,000 to $718,000, and a monthly fee ranging from $2,730 to $4,145. WOODS - TO PAGE 8
Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014 Page 5
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Sell your home, or modify it to accommodate your needs? are some other Keller agents who have decided to help seniors,” she said. “They, too, are independent Anne Saatela lost her mother, father and sister contractors like me, but I don’t believe they take it to within a two-year period, and was faced with decid- the extreme we do,” she said ing what to do with a houseful of possessions. Because so many senior citizens want to age in “I didn’t know where to turn, whether I should fix place, sometimes what’s needed is an in-home modithe house up or not,” she said. fication. That’s where Ability Solutions comes in. Working as a real estate agent in 2006, she came up The Burnsville company installs stair lifts and also with a plan for helping families like hers. She estab- remodels bathtubs so they are accessible. lished a senior transition team that will clear out the Such adaptations may be less expensive than a Recontents of a home, find people to conduct inspec- altor’s fees. tions, make updates and repairs, and ultimately put “Some seniors aren’t able to manage the stairs any the home on the market for sale. more, or their family calls because the senior citizen She has continued her work with senior citizen re- is afraid of falling,” said Karen Petrone, office manlocations since becoming an independent contrac- ager at Ability Solutions. tor at Keller Williams in Eagan in 2008. Jack Benke of Real Estate Opportunities, Inc., says Her group advises people who are interested many seniors opt for a home assessment to determine in selling their homes to first select and remove whether they can or should remain in their home, the sentimental items whether it makes sense to they want to take make improvements to with them. the home to their “We can’t predict what will happen, adapt “We’ll offer sugneeds, or whether a lifebut we can prepare for it.” gestions on where style change is needed. to relocate,” Saatela “We help aging adults,” said. “We’re familBenke said. “People love - Jack Benke their independence and iar with 50 or 60 senior facilities.” want to stay in their own Her team homes as long as possible. sometimes even arranges for an estate We try to work out the best lifestyle we can with the sale. money available.” “We determine what needs to be Benke said many senior citizens haven’t sold or done [to the house], we get estimates, purchased a home for 20 years or more, and find that we coordinate the work, we ar- roofs and windows at their current residence need to range for cleaning crews to clean be replaced before a sale can occur. the home top to bottom, and we Sometimes a reverse mortgage can be useful if imput it on the market,” she said. provements can be made to fit the changes in lifestyle. “We’re the only company in the “It’s a phenomenal and very misunderstood tool,” Twin Cities to do things to the said Benke, who has a background in estate planning. extent that we do. We have a remodel- “AARP and others approach it as a last resort, but I ing crew. We’ll even coordinate the move feel it’s the first thing to explore. It’s at least worth a so we’re there while they pack up the senior conversation. It’s another bucket of money to draw citizen and then we go to the senior facility from. It takes an effort for people to sit down with a and put the bed together for them. It’s very professional and make sure they understand it, but I fulfilling.” hate to see it ruled out because of lack of informaHer group also works with homeowners tion.” who are hoarders, but they have to be out A reverse mortgage is a loan available to homof the house, Saatela said, adding, “We’re eowners who are 62 years or older that enables them not hoarders’ therapists.” to convert part of the equity in their home into cash Her group doesn’t charge for its coor- while still living there. It is called a reverse mortdination services, just the commission gage because instead of making monthly payments on the sale of the home, Saatela said. “As the years have progressed, there NEEDS - TO PAGE 9 BY SUE WEBBER • CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Page 6 Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014
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‘Joining My Journey’ program helps dementia residents BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Living with or caring for someone with dementia has sometimes been called “the long goodbye.” But in the last year, Copperfield Hill in Robbinsdale has found a way to assist its 50 residents with dementia, along with their families, in that dayto-day challenge. “Joining My Journey,” a program for dementia residents, involves gathering an in-depth history from the family so caregivers will know everything about the patient. “Dementia causes a great deal of anxiety in the individual, so by being able to go back to a time that they remember, they feel safer, accepted and understood in the present,” said Naomi Farr, whose husband, Darrel, built Copperfield Hill. “This has proved to be a wonderful and therapeutic program. The families are also included and educated on how to relate to their loved one who may not remember yesterday but is crystal clear on something that happened 50 years ago.” The “old way” of dealing with dementia patients, Farr said, was to redirect a person with memory loss – to try to “drag them back into reality.” “But the fact is that their reality is 40 years ago,” she said. “To do anything else agitates the person. Our reality isn’t theirs. We need to step into their reality.” For example, a Copperfield Hill resident a few years ago who had been a farmer became extremely agitated at 4 p.m. every day, and nothing seemed to calm him, Farr said. “He wanted to get up and get going,” she said. After talking with family members, the staff learned that the patient had been accustomed to milking the cows each day at 4 p.m. “Once we found that out, we could assure him that someone else would be taking care of the milking that day,” Farr said. “It calmed him right down.” The “Joining My Journey” concept was original with Copperfield Hill in that the facility wrote the program, Farr said. Other memory care facilities may be doing something similar, but “not to the degree we do,” she said.
Photo illustration Copperfield Hill staff meets with each patient’s family prior to move-in to get a history of the individual’s life journey, Farr said. After the patient moves in, one aide is assigned to work primarily with that resident. “We have the same aides take care of individuals; they get comfortable with faces,” Farr said. “The worst thing for a person with dementia is change. They often have a lot of fears. Nothing is more frightening to them than to move. It turns their world upside down.” Staff receives in-depth special train-
ing, and they are asked to read the family histories for every dementia patient, Farr said, particularly the individuals who are in their care. “We do everything we can to get to know our residents,” she said. “We find out what they like to eat. Even our [food] servers know the story of each individual’s life. It has worked extremely well for all of us.” The program is helpful for family members, too, who often don’t know what to talk about when they visit someone with dementia.
“This really helps the family understand the journey,” Farr said. “They can join in it, too.” “The response we get from patients is that it calms them and makes them comfortable,” Farr said. “That tells me the program is working. We have way fewer behavior issues.” Tim Jackson, whose mother, Verna, is a resident in the Memory Care program, said, “There are lots of activities and outings for memory care residents that my mother enjoys, but she really lights up when there is live musical entertainment. She be-bops and dances around and loves to sing along. She sang in the church choir and I think it brings her back to that moment.” The care of senior citizens evolved naturally for Farr and her husband, a real estate developer, she said. “In the early 1980s, Darrel saw senior housing coming,” she said. “Robbinsdale is an aging community with a great need for that kind of housing. Senior housing is as much about family as it is about the individual who needs care.” Darrel Farr built Copperfield Hill in 1985, when his mother was in the market for senior care. “His dad had died, and his mother was in a regular apartment,” Farr said. “She didn’t drive. Darrel considered her needs and wants.” His mother was a resident at Copperfield Hill for 14 years before she died. Farr eventually built 22 senior communities. Currently, the family business includes daughters Lucinda and Ashley and operates under the name Pope Bucknell Co. They own and manage three facilities: Copperfield Hill in Robbinsdale, one in Maple Grove and another in Austin, Minn. Senior housing has become Naomi Farr’s passion, too, she said. “Copperfield Hill is definitely my baby; I’ll never be away from it,” she said. “My one big overriding goal is to give purpose to each person every single day, including those in memory care. We have one veteran who puts the flag out every day. That gives him a reason to get out of bed every morning.” Copperfield Hill’s location on Highway 81, not far from Interstate 394 and Highway 100, is convenient to a lot of its residents’ children, Farr said
Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014 Page 7
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Woods FROM PAGE 4
The smallest unit has a $280,000 entrance payment, fees of $2,730 per month for the first resident and $1,125 per month for the second resident, with no increase if either resident moves to the health center. Garden home (twin home) residents will pay an entrance fee between $701,000 and $789,000, and a monthly fee between $4,095 and $4,210. The monthly fee includes a $325 allowance for meals in the restaurant, though residents can purchase more. It also includes a private room in the health center as needed, property tax, insurance, 24-hour security, water and sewer, cable, gas, electricity, valet and concierge, weekly laundry and housekeeping service, in-home maintenance and preventive care for appliances, lawn care/landscaping/snow removal, trash removal, fitness center, swimming
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pool and whirlpool. The 46-acre Trillium Woods site, bounded by 57th Avenue on the south, Cheshire Parkway on the east, County Road 47 on the north and Juneau Lane on the west, will offer views of Pomerleau Lake and Begin Oaks Golf Course. It will connect to a network of trails to the Northwest Greenway and Medicine Lake Regional Trail. A trail just over a mile north connects to Fish Lake Regional Park, and five miles beyond that to the Elm Creek Park Reserve. French Regional Park is three miles south. Prospective residents have been invited to lunches and other promotional events for the Trillium Woods development during the last five years, as the developers worked to obtain financing for the project, according to Kubinski. The development now is 76 percent reserved, she said. “People are coming from all over the nation,� Kubinski said. “We’ve had people reserve a spot without even coming in. Those are exciting phone A rendering of the garden terrace shows how Trillium Woods will look when it is completed in Plymouth in 2015. (Submitted photo) calls to get.�
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Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014 Page 9
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Before and after photos show how Anne Saatela’s Senior Service team in Eagan helps to prepare homes for sale. (Submitted photo)
Needs FROM PAGE 5 to a lender, as with a traditional mortgage, the lender makes payments to the borrower. You are not required to pay back the loan until the home is sold or otherwise vacated. As long as you live in the home, you are not required to make any monthly payments toward the loan balance, but you must remain current on your property taxes, homeowners in-
surance and condominium fees (if you live in a condominium). Other times senior citizens decide to move to be closer to their children, to interact with people their own age, to be closer to shopping or because their neighborhood has changed. More and more out of economic necessity, multigenerational living is making a resurgence, Benke said. “Some parents have no trouble sharing space if they have in-law space,” Benke said. Such arrangements have the added benefit of offering grandparents access to their children and grandchildren, in return for help with babysitting, meals and expenses.
Multigenerational living is a challenge for cities because of zoning, Benke said. “Cities are very reluctant to allow a home to be remodeled to give the appearance of two families,” he said. “It will be necessary to allow larger footprints on existing space.” Benke encourages seniors to opt for changes in advance, while their health is good and they have the energy to make changes. “It’s good to take a look at it early on, before the need arises,” Benke said. “We can’t predict what will happen, but we can prepare for it.”
Page 10 Mature Lifestyles • Thursday, March 20, 2014
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Immigrant homes stood the test of time BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Irish and Norwegian immigrants who settled in the Twin Cities in the mid-1800s built sturdy homes, some of which still remain intact. Andrew Yurista’s great-grandfather, Peder Foss, was a Norwegian immigrant who settled in New Brighton with his wife, Ingebor, in the late 1800s. He built a home on Silver Lake Road in 1894 that has been preserved and maintained for 120 years. Peder’s brother farmed at Old Highway 8 and Foss Road (named for the family). “Peder was a small-business man who had various occupations,” Yurista said. “He tried his hand at farming in New Brighton, but then connected with another Norwegian and they opened a furniture store in Minneapolis.” When his parents were first married, Yurista said, they rented space in the Foss homestead in New Brighton. “There was an in-law apartment in the back,” Yurista recalled. The home stayed in the hands of the Foss family until the mid-1980s, surviving a tornado that changed a windmill on the property into a twisted mass. When the daughter who was living there moved to a nursing home, the grandchildren decided to sell it. First, however, they got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. David and Kathryn Brewer were well aware of the Foss home’s history when they bought it 25 years ago. “My husband drove by the house every day on his way to work,” Kathryn said. “He used to put notes in the mailbox, asking the owners to call him if they ever decided to sell.” When the Fosses called the Brewers about a possible sale, the time wasn’t right, so the home was sold to someone else. “There was one owner between the original owner and us,” Kathryn said. The next time the Foss home became available, the Brewers bought it. “It had been maintained in a pretty primary state,” Kathryn said. “There was 50-year-old carpeting when we moved in, but it was of extremely high quality and it had protected the floors.
The woodwork had never been painted.” Yurista now lives right next door to the Foss homestead, in a home his own father built in 1955. But he cherishes the times he spent in his grandparents’ home next-door. “We were always over there,” he said, noting that the property still has three out-buildings left from the farm. “The pump house is still there; they used to pump water from Silver Lake,” Yurista said. “The little building was the milk house. The granary is still there.” The Brewers, well aware of the home’s historical significance, have restored the porch columns on the home and re-shingled the tower, Yurista said. “It’s a neat place,” Yurista said. “It’s kind of different not having it in the family.” About the same time Peder Foss was settling in New Brighton, Irish immigrants were buying land in Columbia Heights. Today, neighbors on Madison Street in Columbia Heights often call the white, two-story home in mid-block the Sullivan house, though it’s been decades since any Sullivans lived there. Just down the block is Sullivan Park and Sullivan Lake. Not far away, in Fridley, you can find the Sullivan Shores housing development. They’re all named for Irish immigrant relatives of Jerry Manley, on his mother’s side. Manley, age 83, has lived in Fridley his entire life. “My mother was a Sullivan, and the original homestead on Madison Street goes back three generations, to 1850 and 1860,” Manley said. “There was a dirt road east to Central Avenue. It was all prairie out there then.” His great-grandfather settled there in the early 1860s. “The Sullivan family then owned almost everything from Hilltop to Moore Lake, from University Avenue to the Ramsey County border,” Manley said. His mother was one of nine children, and her father was one of 12 children, Manley said. Manley’s maternal great-grandfather gave each of his sons and daughters a portion of land, and his grandfather did the same.
Peder Foss, a Norwegian immigrant, built this home on Silver Lake Road in New Brighton in 1894. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. “My mother got a portion on Moore Lake, on the north end of the homestead,” he said. “It was on the east side of Central, north of Highway 100 and south of Moore Lake. There’s a big insurance company there now.” The white, two-story “Sullivan home” in which his mother grew up was built in 1862, and now is owned by Andy Danko, whose parents bought the house in the early 1960s. By then, it had been converted to a duplex, though some of the original windows are still in place. “My father owned it and rented it out until 1984, when I bought it,” Danko said. Before his father bought the home, Danko said, “There was a pump outside and a dormer upstairs. The house
had never had indoor plumbing and electricity. But it was solid. You could see where they added the stairs, where the trapdoor to the basement was and where the root cellar was.” Some of the Sullivans still stop by the house, Danko said, just to see where their family’s roots began. Manley’s father was one of two children, though his grandparents came from a big family, Manley said. “Great-grandfather on my dad’s side was prominent in Anoka,” Manley said. “The second generation was all railroad workers. My dad worked for the post office.” Manley’s entire working life, right out of De LaSalle High School in 1949, was at Paper Calmenson, where he spent 47 years before he retired.
Mature Lifestyles â&#x20AC;˘ Thursday, March 20, 2014 Page 11
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Page 12 Mature Lifestyles â&#x20AC;˘ Thursday, March 20, 2014
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