Where Do We Find the Resources to Successfully Age in Place?

As we kick off National Aging in Place Week, surveys tell us that an overwhelming majority of older adults want to remain in the comfort and security of their own homes for as long as possible. But many families are not equipped with the resources and expertise to accomplish this goal. In today’s episode, the Executive Director of the National Aging in Place Council, Tara Ballman, talks about her organization’s mission to provide families and caregivers with the education and tools they need to age with grace and dignity. Tara will describe how NAIPC has grown over the years into a proactive nationwide network of experts in health care, financial services, elder law, Medicare and Medicaid specialist, home design, home care, assisted living, and dozens of other fields—virtually every area of expertise that families might need to age in place, wherever that place might be at later stages of life. Tara, who has worked in the aging services field for almost two decades, is co-author with 19 other NAIPC members of the Council’s just-published first book, “Aging In Place Conversations: What Industry Experts Have to Say.” She’ll detail the book’s impressive array of resources and commentary, listed by NAIPC’s “Five Pillars of Aging,” as well as talk about the organization’s online tool-kits, YouTube TV channel, events, blogs and practical advice. Just as many of us made a plan to go to college (and then put our kids through college), we should have a plan for our aging years—a plan that need to be just as detailed, and just as commonplace, in our society.