For seniors, the price of a long life is often aches and pains and trouble with balance. Those difficulties come regardless of income, but those with less resources are often unable to get needed help and relief.
Plymouth Village, an ABHOW continuing care retirement community in Redlands, Calif., is working to close that disparity by sharing its therapists with neighboring ABHOW affordable housing communities.
“It’s part of our being in a wider community and it’s part of Plymouth Village being a nonprofit, public service,” says Keith Kasin, executive director. “We want to do everything we can.”
Plymouth Village’s team of five therapists — two occupational, two physical and one speech — travel to nearby Fern Lodge, Mount Rubidoux Manor, and Casa de la Vista where they meet one-on-one with residents, make individual assessments and conduct clinics on avoiding falls. Residents then have the choice of visiting Plymouth Village to enter a therapy program.
The effects can be dramatic for residents who were resigned to their aches and pains.
Shirley Richards, a Fern Lodge resident in her 70s, struggled with back pain and legs so weak she couldn’t climb stairs. When her daughter moved into a new two-story home, Richards couldn’t get up to see the second floor. But after sessions with Anocha Suphol, the rehab coordinator at Plymouth Village, she made it up and down the stairs for the first time.
“My daughter was so proud of me,” says Richards. “She said, ‘Oh, Mom! That’s really great.’”
For Richards, the care at Plymouth Village was as good as the results.
“You can’t find a better person than Anocha,” she said. “It was fun to go there. You get tired, but it never felt like that because it was so much fun.”
Suphol, 31, uses posters to announce his visits to the communities and goes door-to-door urging residents to come for an assessment. With fewer options for care and exercise, Suphol says affordable housing residents often resign themselves to enduring their physical problems alone.
“I tell them, ‘I can’t get you 100 percent better, but I can improve on what you’re doing now,’” he says.
And that show of interest, Suphol says, can also be therapeutic.
“Just talking to somebody about how to get better or about their family and their life — that makes them feel like they are talking with someone who really wants to get to know them. Sometimes that’s all they need,” he says.
Doreen Weerasinghe, 80, of Fern Lodge can’t get to Plymouth Village, so Suphol comes to her once or twice a week — sessions she says have given her great relief from back pain.
“When he gave me the therapy, I felt wonderful,” she says. “I am thanking God we have something that helps us.”
Kasin believes the spirit of sharing between the communities will continue to grow in the future.
“I’d really like to see us be more involved,” says Kasin. “It’s kind of neat to see the communities blend together, to knock down some of those walls.”
About ABHOW:
Founded in 1949, ABHOW is widely known for its pioneering leadership in senior housing and health care. The company serves more than 5,000 residents in 37 retirement communities in California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.
To learn more about ABHOW visit www.abhow.com.
This article appeared in the February 2011 issue of ABHOW Words.
