- [Announcer] This program is made possible through support from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, in partnership with all one foundation and charities.

Reach out today and see how your local agency on aging can support you or your loved ones, because in Pennsylvania, we are all aging together.

Visit www.aging.pa.gov or call 1-800-753-8827, today.

(bright upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Pennsylvania's Aging.

We're all aging, and in the next 30 minutes we're going to talk about it.

I'm Julie Sidoni, director of journalism at WVIA Public Media.

A year ago WVIA and our colleagues in Harrisburg from WITF, partnered with Pennsylvania's Department of Aging, detailing a 10 year strategic plan called Aging Our Way PA. A plan for lifelong independence, which you can find at aginginPa.org.

It's a comprehensive report that dives into caregiver support, scams and elder justice, and the cost of long-term care, just to name a few.

First, a report about how knocking on someone's door can help turn a neighborhood into an age-friendly community.

- I think, as we age, our connections sort of slowly disappear, and we don't notice it often.

- A lot of evidence on people's quality of life, mental and physical, during aging, and community is important.

- I think what makes us consider ourselves and other communities consider themselves age-friendly communities is that we pay attention to what's happening to our population, to the residents that live there, and that they're aging, and that their needs might be changing.

- Later on, you realize your friends are gone or your kids moved away, so I think it's important for a community to have resources where people can still meet each other, check in on each other.

- It could be as simple as knocking on your neighbor's door and saying, how are you doing?

I haven't seen you in a while.

Or bringing them a cup of coffee or saying, I'm going to the grocery store, can I pick up anything for you?

- Noticing that their grass needs to be cut, or their walk needs to be shoveled and salted.

- Those are interesting ways in which people can gain something, helping each other, being there for each other in different ways.

- It also inspires an older adult to feel connected, and that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

- The Greenhouse Project offers all kinds of activities, both gardening-related and outdoor and active stuff.

It's just really important to give people the opportunity to try something.

And then, when they've tried it, they can go on and do it somewhere else.

- Or they can pull a friend in or a community member and say, hey, you should go try this.

- The curiosity that exploring something new, maybe it's deciding to paint in nature, plant or painting.

Maybe it's deciding to join a group of friends and committing to a walk every Wednesday morning.

- Guided nature walks by naturalists are really popular.

We have 20 people go on most of those walks.

- Keeping their physical abilities as good as they can be.

We've probably taught about, I'd say, 100 people, most of them over 60, how to kayak.

- And one reality about getting in and out of a kayak, and this is true of any age group, it's not that easy.

(upbeat music) One of the best things about Pennsylvania, we have natural features, mountains and rivers.

So, our goal of having a trail and a park within 10 minutes of every Pennsylvanian means that they have an opportunity to get outdoors.

- We've taught probably 200 to 300 people how to play pickleball.

And again, almost all of them are over 60.

And then they go and join the gym.

- So there's all kinds of opportunities, but the engagement, connectivity is really important.

And people form friendships for life.

- We have a couple that met taking a poetry class here during the pandemic who are now married.

- It helps not only our older adults, but indeed it helps the whole community.

A lot of my friends are getting into fishing for the first time.

- And I thought, maybe we could have seniors who already know how to fish teach kids.

It's a great way for senior volunteers to work with kids and to be invigorated with kids and for kids to work with older adults.

- I see a lot of grandparents taking their kids on a walk.

And that kind of intergenerational passing of knowledge and commitment, telling a story, is one of those things that builds commitment to Pennsylvania.

When you think about the asset our aging Pennsylvanians really are, from volunteering to teaching and passing on skills, there's a real untapped resource out there.

- And we should celebrate that and welcome them in and not push them out.

I think it's good for the community and it's good for the older adult.

You just have to think about the kind of community that you want to be.

(upbeat music fades) (somber music) - When you have a family member, you step up to the plate, you do what you have to do, and so there was never a question about what was gonna happen with Isabella.

When she was born, I knew what I had to do.

My daughter and Isabella's father both were opiate users and that's why youth and family services got involved.

And so their parental rights were terminated on the spot.

I did kinship care with them for probably about three years, and at the end of three years I was allowed to adopt my granddaughter.

I later found out after she started school, I put her in pre-K, and they started noticing cognitive delays.

I'm like, "Wait a minute.

I have a child who has something wrong."

So, I'm trying to access different agencies that could help me financially better address her needs that she was having.

That's how I got involved with the Office of Aging.

(uplifting music) - The Caregiver Support Program, which is part of the Department of Aging's mission to provide vital support and assistance to older adults across the Commonwealth, it's what the title entails.

It's a caregiver support program.

We want the caregiver to feel like they are strong, healthy, and able to carry out this important role that they have.

Who qualifies for the program?

Those who are 18 years of age and older who may be caring for an older adult, someone who needs assistance with activities of daily living.

- They have been, are aware of the fact that my granddaughter's here with me.

- The second category of caregiver would be those individuals who are 55 years of age and older and are caring for a relative child.

- Kinship care is basically anyone who is a blood relative or a friend, a close friend, a neighbor, who takes care of children who biological parents are unable to take care of them.

- When I initially purchased this home here in Pennsylvania, I just wasn't thinking about grandchildren.

I was thinking about, "Okay, I raised my two guys, now it's my time."

You know, but that's not how it turned out.

- And now they have to take on this tremendous responsibility of raising a child.

Maybe again, you know, being a parent a second time.

Mainly what the program can offer is financial reimbursement of approved caregiving related services and supplies.

- There may be documentation issues that they have to make, educational decisions for children or medical decisions.

You need either a custody or guardianship or social security cards, things like that.

So, sometimes they will have difficulty having that paperwork, so, we will help them to get that paperwork.

- When you are my age and you're a caregiver for someone, a question that's never asked or that I never asked was, "What happens if the caregiver gets sick?"

I had to have an emergency hysterectomy.

I had Isabella, but she was with her paternal grandmother at that time.

But it didn't click.

I didn't think at the time about the fact that I'm aging, because I'm now 65.

"Sandy, what are you gonna do with Isabella?

What is your backup plan?"

I didn't have a backup plan.

- Caregivers may need to purchase respite or personal care and have maybe the services of a home healthcare agency, even if it's just for a few hours a day.

And through the Caregiver Support Program, caregivers who are eligible can receive financial assistance with paying for the care of their loved ones, that allows them to take a break, to maybe attend church, maybe take a walk, maybe get together and connect with friends.

- At PA KinConnector, we have a monthly virtual support group.

Then we also have an in-person support group in Bucks County.

And then we have a relationship with support groups across the state.

So, we provide resources, information, support, and education.

- Caregivers are some of the most committed people in the world and some of the most dedicated people in the world.

- I'm investing in my granddaughter, and then I have agencies that invest in me, that support me and give me the support that I need to continue to do the things that I do for her, to be able to be at a position where I can continue to stand.

And that's what the Office of the Aging means to me.

- Investing in people and in communities, there's more information at aginginpa.org.

One thing we hear from law enforcement is how difficult it can be to investigate scams perpetrated on older adults, particularly romance scams, which are often thought to be widely under reported because people are embarrassed.

One woman decided to tell us her story in an effort to help others realize it can happen to anyone.

(pensive music) - I have been on Facebook for a number of years, but I never, ever accept friend requests from someone I don't know.

It was during the lockdown of the pandemic, and even though I had been widowed for 12 years at that point, the lockdown of the pandemic was a different animal to deal with.

And whether I was lonely or just feeling a little frivolous that day, whatever, I hit the accept button and it changed my life.

And I wish I could go back in time and either yell at myself not to do that or try and figure out what was going on in my head.

He told me his name was Tony.

I had been widowed for 12 years, and I never looked to have another relationship.

So I wasn't looking for this, but it kind of found me.

After a day or two on Facebook, he asked me to download an app so that we could speak to one another.

He wanted to hear my voice.

I mean, there wasn't anything out of the way about it.

It was just, he would call me every day and say, "How was your day, honey?"

No one has said that to me since my husband died.

It just was a nice conversation that I look forward to each day.

And I will admit, I did have some feelings for him after a while, even though I hadn't met him.

Tony did not ask me for any money for several months.

By that point, I trusted him.

These folks are very patient.

The scammers are willing to take whatever amount of time necessary to lay down that trust and reel you in.

Now, the way the money started was his daughter sent me an email frantic that she was sick and had no money.

So I called Tony and said she was sick and what have you, and he asked me if I could get her a gift card, and I took the pictures and I emailed it to her.

And before I got up from the computer, I checked the balance and it was already down to zero.

The financial loss was devastating, truly devastating to me, but the loss of that love that I had opened myself up to again, just it broke my heart and I cried.

I had a friend, she would say to me, "There's something about your voice.

You sound so sad.

Is there something you need to talk about?"

And I'd say, "No, I'm fine."

But after about two weeks, I finally broke down and cried with her and I told her the whole story.

She said, "You need to call the police."

But I didn't get very far with them at that point.

Most people, it's one of the most under-reported crimes because people are too embarrassed to admit.

You are not stupid.

You are not dumb for falling for this.

It's a crime.

You are a victim of a crime.

If you think you're going through a scam, you really need to find someone you can talk to.

If you don't wanna do it with your family members, maybe someone at church or a club you belong to or senior center, someplace you can go.

There's not a lot of help on getting the money back.

You really need to report this to the Department of Aging, Banking Insecurities, the FTC, the FBI, I mean, you know, everybody you can think of, you need to report it because the more information they can gather, the more likely they are to be able to close down a whole scamming industry rather than looking for one person.

Just reach out because you aren't alone going through this.

(lively music) (screen whooshing) - Ageism is that bias, those stereotypes and the way that we think about age across the life course, and we might make some statements that we think are pretty harmless, but really, they impact us all.

- A lot of people, you know, look at older Pennsylvanians and older Americans and think that, you know, they don't have a lot to offer.

We have a volunteer program here of over 500 volunteers and they are more active, and have more energy than I do on any given day, and they're in their 70s and 80s.

People think that once... You know, first of all, they think that people, when they reach a certain age, retire.

That's not true.

In this day and age, there's a lot of people over the age of 60 and 65 that are still in the workforce.

- You hear statements like, "She can't run this program.

She just finished college.

She's too young."

Or we hear, "He's too old.

He doesn't know how to work an iPad."

So when we make those kind of blanket statements that really does harm people and harm how we consider our contributions that we all make in society.

Think about maybe the last time you bought a birthday card and it made fun of someone's age.

Oh, you're over the hill simply because you're a certain chronological age.

Think about a time we all laughed about a joke and it was making fun of a disability that someone might have.

Maybe they're heart of hearing and it's age-related hearing loss.

So we're making fun of an older person who can't hear.

- We're all gonna age.

We can't stop that process.

We're all gonna be there at one point.

And I think when we talk about helping older Pennsylvanians, making sure that they stay in the community, you know, stay in their homes as long as possible, that is supporting, you know, communities as a whole.

They're giving back on a daily basis.

- As we age, we gain experience, we gain different life lessons.

We are living longer and healthier lives now.

Recognizing all that is why it's important that in our programs and in our policies, we start to consider that.

- When we talk about older Pennsylvanians and the needs of older Pennsylvanians, there's a trickle-down effect.

it's really gonna be able to support the needs of everyone, whether they be bike lanes, walking paths that we're gonna be looking forward to in this plan for Aging Our Way, PA. Those are gonna be open to everyone.

- Language is really at the heart of how we shape perceptions of age.

If we think about it, from when we're two and three years old, there are jokes that we hear, there are ways that people reference older people.

There are television shows that we watch that make fun of older people.

- We may even need support of federal or congressional delegations.

But it's really at the local level where people live, where they work, where they're interacting with their grandchildren, and in their community that the changes need to be made.

- Some of the next steps that if you're watching this and you're thinking, "What can I do next?"

is you definitely wanna look at the Pennsylvania Department of Aging's website for resources, and take a look at the Aging Our Way, PA. Take a look at the multi-sector plan as it's been written.

It's covering much more than the Department of Aging.

This is all agencies within the Pennsylvania government.

(lively music) (mellow music) - Looking good.

- Uh-huh.

- [Nan] Tom is an amazing guy.

He is a leader, a protector, a first responder, he is a adventurous, we love doing things together.

I have this crazy little happy face mug, and this particular morning he had heard about this restaurant that was giving away these mugs.

And before I was even awake, he was already home with the mug.

And he said, "Good morning."

And then he told me that if I brought this mug to that restaurant every day, I could have a free cup of coffee.

That's just Tom.

We traveled the world, we traveled the country, we traveled different cities, and we just traveled very close to home.

And what I loved about him, and I still do, is that he is very emotive, but he's very strong and sometimes a little controlling, which is a good thing in an emergency situation.

I first started noticing changes in Tom years and years before his official diagnosis.

Suddenly something was in a pile, or his coffee cup was in a place where he never put it before.

And so what ended up happening was he took that memory test and it turned out that he had MCI.

(dramatic music) When I finally decided to put him in long-term care, I felt defeat.

I have to tell you, I wanted to cry.

I feel like crying now.

It was a personal failure for me.

I said, "Why can't I keep doing this?

Why can't I keep doing this?"

And everybody who knew me, like, "Nan, look at yourself.

You're ragged.

You're tired, you have bags under your eyes."

And Tom looks best life ever.

What was eye-opening to me about the cost of long-term care was the fact that I could have long-term care for $7,000 a month, $18,000 a month.

So let's take $10,000 a month.

That's $120,000 a year.

That's like 150,000 pre-tax dollars.

And how many years is that gonna have to last?

Nobody can afford this.

- My name is Juliette Marcella.

I'm the Deputy Secretary for the Office of Long-Term Living within the Department of Human Services.

So for individuals to access and use government assisted programs for the Office of Long-Term Living and long-term care, long-term services and support, the best way to access our services and begin eligibility and application process is to connect with the Pennsylvania Independent Enrollment Broker.

That organization will provide education on all of the services that are available through the Office of Long-Term Living and help folks along the journey of becoming eligible for the Office of Long-Term Living Programs.

Our Act 150 program, for example, supports individuals who don't meet Medicaid eligibility, but still need personal assistance services.

- [Nan] The advice I would give to families in the future would be this.

The minute you even suspect something is a little off-kilter, just go get it checked out and then make a plan.

Look at your finances.

Maybe now you're downsized.

Maybe now you rearrange your life while things are still good.

Take that cruise that you always wanted to go on.

- So there's quite a number of policies in the works to make long-term care accessible.

We've recently added beneficiary support services to better assist individuals as they navigate care options and applications.

In addition, we're expanding the use of assistive technology, voice activated tools, automatic doors, devices that promote independence.

There is a wide diverse world of incredible technology out there that can be supportive and help people stay in their own homes.

- [Nan] And despite all the challenges, the thing that keeps me going is that I am very positive by nature and I try to find the joy in everything.

And my family is beyond dear to me.

And also when I visit Tom and I see him and he recognizes me, that just gives me a flutter of joy.

- So to improve the system of long-term care and long-term services and supports for future generations, we really need to get upstream as much as possible.

We need to educate everyone on how do they plan for long-term services, preparing for perhaps situations that are unexpected here that they didn't otherwise expect.

Having all of those in order and having that information available and ready and knowing what the plan is in advance and sharing that plan, I think is critically important to helping people connect faster.

- And as far as aging, I say do every single thing that ever makes you joyful because you just don't know.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - For anybody who's comfortable on a computer, if you can book a hotel room, if you can do it by favorite and buy shoes online, you can do this.

You go into medicare.gov, you set up an account, your username, your password, you enter your drug list, pharmacies you'd like to shop at, and you can see what potential costs would be and what your options are for plan.

You can actually put three plans side by side to compare 'em.

PA MEDI is part of a federal program to help people with Medicare.

It's over 30 years old, operates in every community in our state.

And MEDI stands for Medicare, Education, Decision, and Insight.

My name is Mary Doyle.

I'm a PA MEDI Medicare counselor.

When someone's turning 65, they suddenly have an assault of marketing about different plans and different options, and looking for one source of information, someone who's not biased and is going to help them understand the best decision for them.

We frequently have adult children who are not yet on Medicare trying to help a parent, and they wanna know, "Where do I start?"

I would say, make an appointment.

Come to see us.

We can help you with the foundation of Medicare to give you that understanding, and then talk about the specific needs and challenges that your parent is facing.

If someone's new to Medicare, it's really explaining the basics of Medicare, that alphabet soup of parts, A, B, C, and D, and what that really means for them.

It's also helping them understand what plans might best serve their needs for medications and for access to medical care, and what those costs would be.

Whether you're new to Medicare and getting a lot of mail, or you're in the open enrollment period, hearing and seeing a lot of information, give us a call.

We can help filter through the options and make sure that you are informed to make your decisions.

The key is to be not afraid to ask a question.

People come and say, well, feel that they should know something.

No, this is complicated.

We're unbiased.

We're not affiliated with any insurance company.

Everything that we talk about is held in confidence and we're have continuing education and training to stay up to date with all the changes.

And we work one-on-one with the client to help them navigate through Medicare to understand what options they have, that they're informed in their decision making.

We screen and we explain the benefits of a program, and give them the information for enrollment.

In Pennsylvania this year, there's 14 drug plans, and just because your friend chose a certain plan doesn't mean that's your best choice.

You really have to look at the medications you take, the pharmacy that you want to shop at to determine which plan is gonna be most cost-effective and give you the medications that you take.

It's about you as an individual.

There's no stupid questions.

Look, there's lots to know.

It is complicated.

Misinformation bubbles around in the community.

We are happy to talk to anybody.

There's no judgment here.

We meet you where you are in your understanding.

Many times when people come to us, they are overwhelmed with the situation.

The stories sometimes are heartbreaking, and we can help them sort of filter through to understand what their best next steps are.

There's no questions that you should be afraid to ask, and we're happy to help you through that wherever you are in your understanding.

The best thing about PA MEDI is that they are your ally.

Everything that they're going to talk about is based on the training and education that Medicare gives the counselors.

All the information you share is held in confidence, and the services are free.

We're here in your community.

We're members of your community that can help you with this.

(gentle music) (lively music) - "Aging Together in PA, Working to Make A Difference" is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and the All One Foundation and Charities.

You can find more resources and information at aginginpa.org.

I'm Julie Sidoni and on behalf of everyone at WVIA and WITF, thank you for watching.

(lively music continues) - [Narrator] This program was made possible through support from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging in partnership with All One Foundation and Charities.

(uplifting music) Reach out today and see how your local agency on aging can support you or your loved ones.

Because in Pennsylvania, we are all aging together.

Visit www.aging.pa.gov or call 1-800-753-8827 today.

(uplifting music continues)