![[graphic image of isolated individuals]](./solos.jpg)
Future:
2024-05-22 We will have a social gathering with games.
2024-06-26 Kendall McMillan, Eldercare Social Worker, Orange County Department on Aging will prepare us for Living Alone with Dementia/Brain Change.
2024-07-24 Marie Dagger, Aging Transitions Occupational Therapist, Orange County Department on Aging will educate us about Fall Prevention.
Past:
Here is a sketch of some of the topics we have covered in past meetings, in case you wish to contact the leader, or ask for a repeat or more detailed session on the same topic. The first publicly advertised meeting of the Solo Agers group was held in July of 2022.
2022-07-22 Diane Decker - designing a home to promote aging-in-place
2022-08-24 Lisa Anthony shared the joys and challenges of developing a culture of caring among neighbors in the Falconbridge community.
2022-09-28 Nora Spencer, Executive Director of Hope Renovations - shared a presentation on aging in place repairs and remodels
2022-10-26 Steve Lackey, Attorney - shared thoughts on advance planning and crafting your legacy as a solo ager
2022-11-30 Linda Erickson - Financial Planning and Management
2022-12-21 holiday social event
2023-01-18 Brandi Beeker, Transportation Specialist - transportation resources in Orange County
2023-02-22 Sheila Evans facilitated a discussion about the group's desires for its future.
2023-03-22 Nelson Strother facilitated a discussion about potential communication tools for the group.
2023-04-26 - Sharon Kilpatrick, Geriatric Care Manager - Aging Life Care
including information about the
Aging Life Care Association
and their
directory of local professionals.
While Sharon Kilpatrick works with clients in Orange County, she is based a bit further away than may have been the radius from e.g. Chapel Hill used in constructing
our list of local Geriatric Care Managers
so we include her telephone number here: 330-240-2048 .
2023-05-24 Lydia Arnold, Gerontologist - Options for Advance Directives
June Ehrler – Monarch Support Group
2023-06-28 Lydia Arnold, Rebecca Bratsch, Shenae McPherson ... all of Orange County Department on Aging - presentation on Perennial Legacy Project – interest session for new pilot volunteer program!
2023-07-26 Ann Bradford, Director of Home Services, Carol Woods continuing care retirement community - An Overview of Continuing Care Retirement Communities
2023-08-23 Jennifer Albright - Family Care Homes
2023-09-27 - Anne Westin, founder of Green Burial Project and End of Life Choices Senior Resource Team member - Death Cafés
e.g. the Daylight Death Café which typically meets on the third Monday of each month from 9:30 - 11:00 at the Seymour Center
2023-10-25 - Kay Wright, Mental Wellness Senior Resource Team member and solo ager attendee, MS Mental Health Counseling and BSW - “Antidotes for worries and feeling blue”, followed by conversation circles (books, movies, travel, etc.)
2023-11-15 [changed from usual fourth Wednesday to avoid Thanksgiving Eve] We had fun playing a team word game called scatagories.
2023-12-20 [changed from usual fourth Wednesday to avoid Seymour Center closure between Christmas and New Year's Day] - We had a holiday social gathering with potluck hor d'oeuvres.
2024-01-24 Landon Bailey, Piedmont Health SeniorCare - Piedmont Health SeniorCare, which is a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
2024-02-28 Landon Weaver, Orange County Community Paramedic - Community Paramedics.
2024-03-27 Alison Smith, Social Engagement Programs, Orange County Department on Aging - Respite Programs (R Place).
Since as of early 2024 the
R Place
program is filled to its current capacity, there is little information available about it on the
Department on Aging website. When this program began in the fall of 2023, it was the first social engagement respite program following the
Respite for All roadmap or model that was sponsored by a secular organization. R Place with its tens of volunteers (you too could be a volunteer) currently serves about sixteen friends each Wednesday for four hours, allowing the usual caregivers of those friends a few hours of respite. The friends need to be able to be sufficiently independent to eat lunch and use the bathroom without assistance.
2024-04-24 Cayla Julianna, Occupational Therapist and Certified Aging in Place Specialist, presented topics to act upon and small home improvements to make Aging in Place safer and better.