JustCare

Tag: Buddy

  • Adults use dining app to make new friends

    Adults use dining app to make new friends

    We hear often about all the lonely people. We also know that social engagement is one of the best things you can do for your health. A new app, Timeleft, connects you with other friend-seekers at a dinner table in hundreds of cities across the US, reports Hira Qureshi for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

    Whether you’re 30 or 70, live in Miami or New York City, like Thai food or plain old American, Timeleft matches you with a small group of strangers at a local restaurant.

    You can engage in conversation about whatever suits your fancy. Everything’s on the table. Your work, your favorite restaurants, why you used the app. It’s not about dating specifically, but rather a way to build a network of friends or simply have dinner companions.

    Timeleft has taken off since its founding in 2020 and is now in 275 cities. In Philadelphia, it sets up dinners for people each Wednesday based on a questionnaire they complete. On the day of the dinner, you learn a bit about your dinner mates, including where they are from, their work and their zodiac signs.

    Timeleft picks the restaurants based on their cost and Google ratings. After the dinner, if people hit it off, they can continue connecting through Whats App. For sure, it’s a way to meet people you likely never would have met otherwise, without the pressure of being on a date with them.

    Different strokes for different folks. Some people make new friends on sports teams or at clubs. And, some people are simply looking for company on a given evening. Whether you live in the city or you’re from out of town, you shouldn’t have to eat alone.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Why social health is as important as physical and mental health

    Why social health is as important as physical and mental health

    I’ve written a bunch about the value of a buddy or buddies to your overall health, as well as the health costs of social isolation. A new piece by Kasley Killam in The Guardian lays out why “social health” is worth paying attention to. In a few words, it is as important as food and water.

    Curiously social health remains underappreciated in the US. We tend to focus on exercise, eating right, avoiding alcohol and tobacco and getting a good night’s sleep as the best ways to stay healthy. No question that these activities all improve physical and mental health.

    But, social interactions take physical and mental health to a whole other level. We all need people to support us, whether in an emergency or when we’re having a bad day. We need time alone. and we need time with family and friends.

    Relationships–both friendships and romantic relationships–as well as simply hanging out with others can lengthen our lives and stave off chronic conditions. When we build relationships with others, we improve our social health. We enhance our self-worth.

    There’s been a bunch written of late on the health risks of loneliness. The US Surgeon General called it a public health emergency in 2017. But, there has been less written on the health benefits of relationships. And, the data suggest that Americans are increasingly less healthy socially.

    Since the mid-90’s, for example, 2o percent fewer Americans enjoy a cadre of 10 or more close friends. And in the last ten years, 20 percent fewer Americans participate in communities. No question that we are further isolated in the wake of Covid-19.

    One national survey found that around 50 percent of Americans felt that they had no close friends or family who understood them.

    While the data suggests that Americans are not doing well from a social health perspective, people in other countries are also not doing well on the social health front. One Gallup poll found that, all told, 330 million adults don’t speak with friends or family for weeks at a time. One in five adults around the world say they have no one to connect with if they need help.

    Without social connections, the data show that people’s likelihood of stroke increases by 32 percent, dementia likelihood is up 50 percent and premature death by 29 percent. But, 80 percent of people in the US and UK, who lack social relationships do not appreciate the severity of their situation for their health and well-being.

    Everyone needs connection and community, whether lonely or not. So, nourish your relationships, don’t ignore them or put them aside. For your health!!!

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  • Escort requirements keep people from receiving medical procedures

    Escort requirements keep people from receiving medical procedures

    Paula Span reports for the New York Times on outpatient procedures that require patients to have someone to escort them out of the doctor’s office. Consequently, sometimes patients must forego important care because they have no one to escort them out of the doctor’s office afterwards. These escort requirements are a particular challenge for people living alone, without friends and family to assist them.

    There are a range of outpatient procedures for which some physicians require you to have an escort. For example, if you need a colonoscopy or cataract surgery, to name two procedures that require anesthesia, you might not be able to get an appointment if you don’t have an escort to pick you up after the service. Without the name and contact information for your escort, doctors might not allow you to schedule these procedures.

    Easy access to transportation home after a procedure is not enough. Some physicians require people to have someone to get them from the doctor’s office to the taxi or car and then from the taxi or car into their homes. The concern is that the patient might have a bad reaction to the anesthesia and end up in a stupor or vomiting or totally disoriented.

    Not every doctor requires an escort. But, some doctors do. One person enrolled in an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan could not find a doctor to perform a procedure he needed unless he had an escort. But, he did not have one, and Aetna won’t cover the cost of the medical escort.

    An escort requirement is a big issue for many people who live alone and don’t have people to turn to for help. They might need a procedure to stay healthy. But,  if they also need an escort for their safety, they are in a quandary.

    Is there a way to avoid having an escort? If you do not have an escort to accompany you to a procedure where an escort is required, you should ask your health care providers that require escorts whether they would allow you to wait in their offices for several hours after a procedure in lieu of having an escort. Sometimes they will.

    How to get an escort? You might try contacting your local church or religious institution. Or, if you’re up to it, look into volunteering in your community for credits. Organizations like TimeBank allow you to bank credit from your own volunteering to enable you to get a volunteer to escort you home from the doctor.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Live alone? How to make sure you have the supports to get the medical care you need

    Live alone? How to make sure you have the supports to get the medical care you need

    Over the years, I’ve written about the importance of having a health care buddy, someone whom you can talk to about your health, who can be another set of eyes and ears at the doctor’s office, someone who can take you to a health care appointment. If you live alone, don’t have a buddy, and need help getting to a medical appointment, Kerri Fivecoat Campbell writes for Next Avenue about what you can do.

    If you’re married, you might not have yet thought about the complications that arise when you need someone with you after a hospital discharge or a colonoscopy visit. But, it’s challenging. Our government generally doesn’t have any systems in place to help. It can take a lot of effort.

    An Uber or other hired driver won’t help because you need someone to be with you for an extended period after discharge.

    Who can you count on when you’re living alone? Lots of people are in this situation. More than one in four adults between 50 and 64  (28 percent) live alone. More than one in three over 65 (36 percent) live alone. Many of them cannot afford to pay someone and so are often forced to skip critical medical care.

    While transportation issues always have posed challenges for single people, the situation appears to be worsening. Families are increasingly spread out across the country, and there are fewer social supports in most communities.

    How to find help? 

    If you don’t have family or friends who can serve as a health care buddy, look into the PACE program. There are hundreds across the country, although many have long waitlists. They are designed to help isolated older adults age in place, providing needed community supports. That said, beware of for-profit PACE programs. 

    It could be worth learning about senior centers and other local community organizations offering services to older adults. You can contact your Area Agency on Aging or you can visit the Eldercare Locator, a government service through the US Administration on Aging, which provides information on local resources.

    You might also try contacting your local community college or religious institution. These non-profits might offer volunteer services.

    Many communities offer free transportation services and have volunteers who can provide additional support. The challenge is finding them. So plan ahead!!!!

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Let postal workers help care for older Americans

    Let postal workers help care for older Americans

    Elisabeth Rosenthal writes for Kaiser Health News on how postal workers could help care for older Americans. They have the time and they reach millions of homes a day.

    Postal workers have less mail to deliver nowadays since so much correspondence is electronic. They could raise additional revenue for the USPS if they were paid to spend time doing home visits and basic health checks of isolated older adults. It sounds like a crazy idea. What skills do they have for this work?

    Believe it or not, other countries are using postal workers to perform this work. These countries understand the dangers of social isolation. In response, they have successfully enlisted postal workers to check on vulnerable citizens. France and Japan both do so. It’s one way to address the shortage of home care workers and would help the US Postal Service earn needed revenue.

    Today, literally tens of millions of elderly Americans are aging in place. They are living at home, but need help in order to remain in their communities. But, there is not enough help to go around.

    Many older Americans with mental and physical conditions are forced to fend for themselves, even though they do not have the means to do so properly. For sure, they are not taking their medicines as they should and likely not eating properly either.

    Rosenthal argues that the US Postal Service could make time for home visits by ending daily mail service and, instead, delivering mail three times a week. They would then have three off days to take on some of the home care services people need. They do not need a health care certificate to take a few minutes to speak to homebound elderly and make sure they have the food and prescription drugs they need. If trained, they could check blood pressure and blood sugar levels for diabetics.

    The US Postal Service is losing money and at risk. Rosenthal argues that we should not lose our postal service because people are not mailing as many letters as they used to. We should make use of the postal workers in ways that help them and isolated adults living at home. There is a critical need.

    To be sure, postal workers cannot cover the $160 billion US Postal Service budget gap through home visits to isolated older adults. But, Congress could take this first step of relieving postal workers of the requirement of delivering mail six days a week and allowing them to offer “nonpostal” services.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Eldera connects older adult mentors with young mentees around the world

    Eldera connects older adult mentors with young mentees around the world

    There’s nothing like a buddy to keep your mind and body active and to improve your health. Younger buddies can be especially meaningful and rewarding. Kerry Hannon reports for Next Avenue on a new intergenerational mentoring program that connects older adults with pre-teens around the world. Here’s how it works.

    If you’re the parent who wants her eight to thirteen year old to connect with an older person, you can reach out to Eldera. Eldera finds a volunteer mentor match for your child and provides a video link for their meetings through Zoom. Mentors and kids typically meet for between half an hour and an hour and a half each week.

    Eldera screens all mentors before matching them with kids. The kids can be from a large number of countries, including Brazil, Germany, Kenya and South Korea. The volunteer mentors are all based in the US.

    Parents might look to Eldera for an expert on topics their children have burning questions about. Kids could be deeply curious about a range of topics that their parents have little or no knowledge about. And, school might not be able to satisfy the kids’ curiosity.

    Eldera’s goal is to tap into the wisdom of older adults and have younger generations benefit. The coronavirus pandemic was the spark that fueled its establishment. Already, there is a waitlist for parents looking for Eldera mentors for their kids.

    If you’re interested in volunteering your services to an intergenerational program, here are a few other tech programs that promote intergenerational learning: Generation to Generation, Big and Mini, Sharing Smiles, Boombox Collaboratory, CIRKEL, and CareerVillage.org.

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  • Top predictor for a longer life: close relationships

    Top predictor for a longer life: close relationships

    Only one in 5,000 people in the U.S. reach the age of 100. But, there are places where five to ten times as many people live to 100. Some researchers say that the top predictor for a longer life is have at least a few close relationships.

    People live longer when they are surrounded by friends and family who care for them, in places where old age is respected. Some analysts say that between 10 and 25 percent of a person’s life span can be explained by the person’s genes; the remaining 75-90 percent of the person’s longevity is determined by lifestyle. Based on his studies, Dan Buettner explains in his TedTalk, that people with a plant-based diet, who are socially engaged and have purpose, live longer.

    Buettner found that Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California and Okinawans who wake up in the morning with a sense of purpose and little stress, and who connect with their families and friends regularly, are more likely to live longer than others. They surround themselves with people who are “trusting and trustworthy.”

    According to Buettner, both men and women in the highlands of Sardinia live into their 100’s far more often than people in the U.S. There are ten times as many centenarians there than here. These Sardinians are surrounded by multi-generations of family members and friends. Their diets and daily physical activity may help explain their long lives. Mostly, it’s their social networks, their personal interactions with family, friends and neighbors.

    Psychologist Susan Pinker also studied Sardinians to understand why they live longer than people in the U.S. She notes in her TedTalk that women typically live six to eight years longer than men in the US. Women are more likely than men to spend time with their friends and family, talking to them, dining with them and bonding with them.

    For a longer, healthier life, Pinker argues that it’s important to have at least three stable relationships. These relationships can lower your stress level and rates of dementia. They can make it more likely for you to survive a disease. She says that “social isolation is the public health risk of our time.”

    You don’t have to be positive or upbeat to enjoy a long life. You need to be socially engaged, surrounded by people who love you and care about you. To promote a longer life with fewer chronic conditions, we benefit from buddies  on whom we can rely to spend time with us. Casual contacts with the postman and the grocery store clerk also are valuable. So are dogs and other pets.

    Of course, diet, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking or drinking too much alcohol all contribute to a healthy, longer life. But, the most likely way to improve your odds of living a long life is to have buddies, people with whom you are socially interacting regularly, people you can count on to take care of you, people you can share stories with.

    And, to be clear, we thrive with face-to-face contact–eye contact, physical contact. This contact releases oxytocin, lowers stress, generates dopamine–gives us a little high. It’s far different from online activity.

    A version of this post was published on August 20, 2017.

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  • Well Connected provides companionship to older adults by phone

    Well Connected provides companionship to older adults by phone

    Well Connected, a free program launched by Covia, a nonprofit organization that promotes positive aging, offers phone and online companionship to older adults. It aims to address social isolation and improve people’s physical and mental health.

    The data suggest that having people to talk to and engaging in social activities improves your health and extends your life. Buddies can provide mental, physical, emotional, social and psychological support that many older adults, particularly those living alone, are lacking. Indeed, even casual buddies, people you may not know well, but with whom you are in regular contact, can improve your health.

    Through Well Connected, people can participate in group conversations on a wide range of topics seven days a week. Topics include everything from advocacy to religion, just plain conversation, books, health and wellness. There are more than 20 pages of options listed in the Well Connected catalogue.

    Group discussions are usually no larger than 12 people. And, there’s always a facilitator. People from all backgrounds and all parts of the country come together on the call. The goal is to provide a venue for mutual support, where participants can learn from and support one another.

    Calls are free of charge–there’s a toll-free number–and last 30 minutes to an hour. If you enjoy the program and want to participate on multiple calls, you can join as many sessions as you’d like.

    Today, more than 1,500 older adults from 41 states enjoy the benefits of Well Connected. If you’re interested in learning more about the program, you can contact Covia at 877.797.7299, or [email protected]

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  • Younger adult companions are now available on-demand

    Younger adult companions are now available on-demand

    One new “buddy” service for older adults matches older adults with younger adult companions. It’s called Papa. And, it launched in Florida in January 2018.

    Andrew Parker, Papa’s founder, started the business after seeing how much his grandfather benefited from a younger adult companion. Papa provides part-time jobs for college and graduate students.  It meets older adults’ practical needs–transportation, household chores and help with other basic activities. And, it promotes social engagement, which goes hand in hand with better health. It keeps older adults from feeling socially isolated and lonely.

    What does it cost to bring a younger adult buddy into the life of an older adult? Right now, it costs $20 an hour for Papa’s basic service, which does not require a membership fee. If you want to interview your buddies and choose the ones you want, there’s a $30 a month fee on top of the $20 an hour. But, Papa does a fairly intensive screening of all the students it recruits, including personality tests and background checks. Papa only enlists about 5 percent of student applicants.

    How does Papa work? Papa relies on technology to match students with older adults, which makes the experience of finding a companion as seamless and efficient as possible. Today it serves more than 2,000 people. The goal, in Parker’s words, “To make sure every interaction is awesome.”

    Papa is currently only available in Florida. Parker plans to expand Papa’s services to New York in the next 90 days and in many other locations over time.

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  • More than any other generation, baby boomers aging alone and lonely

    More than any other generation, baby boomers aging alone and lonely

    Whatever your age, having a buddy or buddies does wonders for your social, emotional and physical health. The older you are, the more important it can be to have buddies, though it is often harder to have even a single buddy. The Wall Street Journal reports that older baby boomers are, more than ever before, aging alone and lonely.

    Not only does social isolation and loneliness take a toll on individuals, making people’s retirement challenging, it is a threat to the public health. Today, more than 25 percent of boomers never married or are divorced. About 8 million Americans, 9 percent of people 50 and older, are without a partner or child. And, that number is only expected to increase.

    The physical toll loneliness takes on older adults is equivalent to smoking as many as 15 cigarettes a day or drinking six cocktails, beers or glasses of wine a day. Loneliness shortens people’s lifespans. It is worse for your health than being overweight or not exercising.

    Loneliness in older adults imposes a large cost on the federal government. It costs Medicare nearly $7 billion a year, according to a 2017 AARP study, in partnership with Harvard and Stanford. Loneliness leads to more time hospitalized and in nursing homes.

    To address loneliness, study authors propose the need for a tool to screen older adults for social isolation and the testing of interventions that recognize cultural, socio-economic, mental and functional differences among people. They recommend that, once developed, the tool be used in Welcome to Medicare and Medicare annual wellness visits.

    Recognizing the challenges of social isolation, Great Britain recently appointed a minister of loneliness. The Trump Administration is focused on expanding faith-based partnerships.

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