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Story Core: Meet Janet and Gil
Like so many other people who take on the role of caregiver for a loved one, Janet had no advance preparation or training. Fortunately, she was referred to LIFE’s Caregiver Support Program. “I didn’t know about senior daycare, I didn’t know about PACE. I didn’t know about any of it. But through talking to LIFE Senior Services, they guided me in the right direction.”
Janet is a retired chemist, thoughtful and well-educated. “LIFE Senior Services is a huge thing. After I started exploring what I needed to take care of Gil, I knew I needed to talk to somebody, but also knew counselors were expensive.” However, thanks to a grant from the Tulsa Area United Way and the support of generous people in the community, Janet, and others like her, can receive those services at no cost.
“Gil’s a late-life friend. I met him at church and we’ve been together for about 16 years. The first 10 or 12 years were wonderful. We traveled all over and went to England on my 70th birthday. I noticed a couple of years ago, his memory started changing.” At first, Janet was unsure if she was overreacting, but Gil’s memory continued to worsen. “As a retired chemist, of course, I got out my notebook and started to write stuff down.”
Erin suggested taking Gil once or twice a week to LIFE’s Adult Day Health (ADH). Many people wait too long to start a program and their loved one has a difficult time adjusting.
Janet began by taking Gill twice a week. Gil said, “Yeah, it’s a good program. We had three dogs come yesterday. They all came over to see me and I patted them. There’s singing, there’s everything anybody could ever want from nine to three, and lunch. So how can you go wrong? Yeah, and it gives Janet a break from me,” he said with a chuckle.
Qualifying for the LIFE PACE program and transportation affords Gil the opportunity to attend ADH five days a week and gives Janet some flexibility in her schedule. “Gil wants to be in the room with me all the time. If we’re sitting in the den, and I move to go fix supper, he follows me. I’m his security blanket. We definitely benefit with the PACE and ADH programs. I have time to do what I need and Gil gets to go up there. He has a community he wouldn’t have if he were just at home.”
Memory decline isn’t a problem to solve and overcome the way a chemist might solve other challenges. “It changes from day to day,” said Janet. “I hope someday we will have treatments, but brain chemistry is so complicated, and we don’t even have a test for Alzheimer’s. A lot of memory loss is overlaid with simple aging which changes your whole system. So, it could be this or that, or the other 20 things it might be.” Summing up, Janet said, “I guess the main thing I’ve gone through is grief. I’ve probably read 30 books on dementia and Alzheimer’s. The brain knows a lot of stuff, but that doesn’t help the heart.”
Discover More Stories
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Meet Marybeth
LIFE’s SeniorLine recently received a call for help from Marybeth, an 82-year-old diabetic woman. She dropped and broke her blood/sugar monitor, and her insurance company wouldn’t pay to replace it. So, she called LIFE’s SeniorLine crying, scared, and frustrated.
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Meet Linda and Chris
What does a hard-working, single professional do when a parent needs 24-hour monitoring? Dr. Christopher Allen would say, “Several of my friends recommended LIFE Senior Services, and I couldn’t be more pleased, honestly.”
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![Elderly couple smiling indoors with wooden furniture in the background.]()
Meet Janet and Gil
Like so many other people who take on the role of caregiver for a loved one, Janet had no advance preparation or training. Fortunately, she was referred to LIFE’s Caregiver Support Program, who guided her in the right direction.”
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Meet Loretta and Kerri
Loretta moved to the Tulsa area to live closer to her granddaughter Kerri. After Loretta remarried, Kerri grew concerned over her living situation and possible abuse. They contacted LIFE Senior Services and were guided through some major changes.
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Meet JoAnn
JoAnn first brought her husband to LIFE’s Adult Day Health 25 years ago, and it was a lifesaver for her. He was an older spouse and developed Alzheimer’s. Joanne said, “The first time I picked him up, he was busy working on an art project and didn’t want to leave until he finished it.”
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Meet Patti
Patti requires a wheelchair for mobility and no longer drives. When the need for dialysis arose, she needed transportation three times a week. Unable to afford both housing and transportation, she faced an unimaginable dilemma.
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Meet Charlie
Charlie has always possessed a love for learning, and now he has the time and opportunities to continue honing old skills and learning new ones. How? Participating at Roma Berry’s Active Senior Center, and you make it happen.
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Meet Ernesto
The work of LIFE Senior Services improves the lives of so many older adults. Yet, when someone reaches out to say that LIFE literally helped to save a life, it leaves us all feeling humbled and amazed. Ernesto is one of those people.
