Aging in Place: New concept
helps elderly live independently longer
Newswise — Getting older can
sometimes mean moving around. Older adults may have to give up the
comfort of their own homes to move into senior housing and then,
possibly, assisted living. This is what University of
Missouri-Columbia nursing researcher Marilyn Rantz calls the
“slippery slope” that leads people to assisted living, nursing homes
and eventually the hospital.
“Consumers say they never want to
go to a nursing home. I have never met anyone in a nursing home who
says he or she really wants to be there.” said Rantz, professor in
MU’s Sinclair School of Nursing. “I think there is a better way to
do this.”
“Aging in Place,” according to
Rantz, is a new concept in long-term care that keeps people off the
“slippery slope” and in their own homes with high quality care.
Rantz is director of TigerPlace, one of four Aging in Place pilot
sites in Missouri. TigerPlace consists of more than 30 various-sized
apartments with access to on-site fitness, meals, medical care,
personal care services, wellness programs and more. The goals of
TigerPlace include helping people stay healthier and active longer
to avoid hospitalization and the need for relocation to a nursing
home.
“Aging in Place provides services
that people need in the privacy of their own homes while focusing on
maintaining function and abilities until the end of life. In most
cases, with this type of care, people wouldn’t need a nursing home,”
Rantz said.
The Aging in Place initiative has
postponed or prevented nursing home admission for more than 250
older adults, according to Rantz. The participants walked better,
were less depressed, had better short-term memory and experienced
less pain than their counterparts in nursing homes.
Rantz’s work recently earned her
the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Gerontological
Nursing Association. This award is intended to recognize individuals
whose contributions and accomplishments have had significant
national or international impact on the care of older adults. This
annual award is the highest honor the association bestows on one of
its members.
Rantz presented her Aging in Place
study as the keynote address at the most recent annual convention of
the National Gerontological Nursing Association in Myrtle Beach, SC.
An overview of the research program is currently being published in
the Western Journal of Nursing Research.
