Home is where the heart and health are!
A 2024 AARP survey showed that 75% of adults in the U.S. over 50 years old wish to remain in their current homes as they age.
CAPABLE - Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders - is a free program for low-income seniors in the Richmond area offered by Jewish Family Services and sponsored by Beth Sholom. CAPABLE is a client-driven program. The CAPABLE team of an Occupational Therapist, Registered Nurse and Handy Worker help individuals identify their own goals that will help them remain in their homes for longer.
Over 4-6 months, Richmond-area CAPABLE clients will work with Occupational Therapist Tomeeker Gary, JFS RN’s Penny Amos or Belinda Hensley, and handy workers from Project Homes to evaluate their home environment and implement plans to support the client to achieve their goals.
Meet CAPABLE Mary Kay Lane (in photo below with Tomeeker Gary). Mary Kay is a retired Paralegal in her 70s who lives in a senior living apartment in the Far West End. Mary Kay left her legal work due to balance issues and lives alone. She is the oldest of seven children, and her brother lives in the same complex. She visits her mom at St. Mary’s Woods when she can.
In her conversations with the CAPABLE team, Mary Kay told everyone: “I want to be able to go to 7-11 to get a Slurpee and walk in and out without falling.”
Occupational Therapist Tomeeker continues, “I loved this goal! Mary Kay and I brainstormed many different approaches that could lead to Mary Kay successfully meeting her goal. CAPABLE is a client-driven program, so, if we discuss a tactic that is an absolute “no” for the client, it is marked off, even if I feel it would be a good fit. Mary Kay has been very receptive to the CAPABLE team’s thoughts but is not shy about stating exactly what she does NOT want!”
Some of the tactics the CAPABLE team is working on with Mary Kay are getting her a new walker, starting in-home therapy to help with muscle control, and grab bar installations inside and outside her patio door, in the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. However, when the idea of getting her a motorized power wheelchair to help her get around was discussed, Mary Kay immediately rejected it. She said, “I can’t do much, but I can do this.”
Focusing on the client’s own goals, CAPABLE enhances the client’s motivation and increases their self-confidence as they make progress toward the goals and get some much-needed coaching and support.
Gary adds, “As an Occupational Therapist with the CAPABLE program, my role is to guide Mary Kay on how to use different strategies to meet her goals. It is also my responsibility to help her understand how those strategies could be generalized to other meaningful activities that may be difficult for her to perform”
(Above from left): Belinda Hensley, JFS RN; Penny Amos, JFS RN; Robin Abbott, JFS Chief Administrative Officer and CAPABLE Program Administrator; Nicole Storm, Director of Fund Development at projectHOMES; Brad Burnum, Director of Volunteers at projectHOMES; and Tomeeker Gary, Owner of Functional Home Transformations and CAPABLE OT.
Tomeeker continues, ”After 4-6 months, the home modifications will be completed, Mary Kay will have a new walker, and new services will be in place like her schedule of in-home therapy. The CAPABLE team will be honored and proud to have been on this journey with her when Mary Kay walks out of her front door on her way to the 7-11 to get her Slurpee. But Mary Kay will be the proudest!”
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