Housing Options

By Marianne Delorey “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think...

While in college I worked at a nursing home where I met Mary. Mary had severe dementia and was combative. One day while trying to bring her to the commode, she punched me. Hard. With both fists. In the kidneys. I saw stars. Cathy was another resident who would lash out. Cathy did not honor social envelopes nor did she know when enough was enough. She would interrupt me without thinking and would talk for hours if left unchecked. Sometimes, if she felt she was being ignored, she would get in my face and say some pretty unkind things.

By Marianne Delorey Each industry has their own way of showing off their accomplishments to the world.  The armed forces gives out medals, the music...

By Marianne Delorey A large part of our success in aging well has to do with how we cope with changes in our bodies.  All...

By Marianne Delorey In Stephen King’s, “The Green Mile,” the main character, Paul Edgecomb, talks about his primary role with the inmates on death row....

By Marianne Delorey “Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head… That way it will go with...

By Marianne Delorey We, as a society, have created an elaborate safety net for all people. These systems were put in place to help everyone...

Fair Housing legislation was created in 1968. It protects people from being discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the sale or rental of housing. Since its inception, many protected classes have been added including age, pregnancy status, citizenship, familial status, disability status, veteran status, genetic information, and most recently, sexual orientation.

I sat down recently with four card players. It turns out, only one was still driving. There seemed to be a common thread among the others – in all three cases, it seemed like they all had stories where driving had been taken away from them in a seemingly underhanded fashion. One lady recently moved back to Massachusetts from Florida. Her son told her to sell her car and they’d find her one up here. Well, conveniently, finding a new car has not become a priority.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Proverb When people think of planning for their later years, they think about saving for retirement. This is great, but it is not enough. Planting a tree requires thinking about water, soil and sun. People have more diverse needs. They need food, clothing, shelter, and health care. But they also need to fill their psychological needs. Some need something to do, a purpose in being, a goal. This may be harder to plan for, but it is important none the less.