West Side Inter-Agency Council for the Aging

What a terrific program!

Seated Tap Dancing Helps Seniors with Dementia A seated tap dancing class boosts the mood of seniors with dementia.

Business as usual...

Long Hours, Low Pay, Loneliness and a Booming Industry The ranks of home health aides are expected to grow more than any other job in the next decade. What kind of work are they being asked to do?

✨Expected Death ~ When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.

There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.

We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!"

We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.

If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.

Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic.

Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.

Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.

After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.

Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.

You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.

Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breadth away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.

Credit for the beautiful words ~ Sarah Kerr, Ritual Healing Practitioner and Death Doula , Death doula
Her original video link is here ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mG0ZAym0w

Beautiful art by Columbus Community Deathcare
Always With Love

An amazing nteresting project for young and old!

100 Day Project provides self-directed creative learning Thousands of people of all ages participate annually in The 100 Day Project to learn something new or improve a skill according to their own personal design.

Interesting article. WSIACA hosted a session a couple of years ago that addressed end of life and we highlighted this movement. Let us know if you'd like to learn more about it.

‘Death Doulas’ Provide Aid at the End of Life End-of-life doulas support people emotionally, physically, spiritually and practically: sitting vigil, giving hand massages, making snacks.

Join us at our annual (virtual) garden party - click to register.

End of Year Gathering: Honoring the Past Year and Planning Ahead End of Year Gathering: Honoring the Past Year and Planning Ahead

Food for thought...

Opinion | Will Congress Abandon America’s Seniors? Republicans are right that elder care only loosely counts as infrastructure. But something must be done about it.

May 20: Update on COVID-19 Vaccinations and Treatments – WSIACA Doctors from Montefiore, Mt Sinai and NYU Langone will explain the conduct and safety of the drug trials; side-effects and differences between the vaccines with a focus on the science of how/why the vaccines work; how re-openings and re-emergence will impact older adults and how to recognize new var...

In case you missed it, you can find a recording of Valerie Bogart's presentation on Medicaid changes at the April WSIACA meeting here:

April 2021 Update on NYS Medicaid Changes – Lookback and Home Care Assessment Webinar conducted by Valerie Bogart, Director, NYLAG Evelyn Frank Legal Resources Program for the Manhattan West Side Interagency Council on Aging on April ...

Please join us for our May 20th meeting on covid updates!

Update on COVID-19 Vaccinations and Treatments Update on COVID-19 Vaccinations and Treatments

Please join us for this important session outlining updates to the NYS budget and Medicaid presented by Valerie Bogart.

Apr. 15: NY Medicaid and Home Care Update, April 2021– presented by Valerie Bogart, Director, Evelyn Frank Legal Resources Program at NY LAG (NY Legal Assistance Group) – WSIACA Join us as Valerie Bogart, Director of the Evelyn Frank Legal Resources Program at New York Legal Assistance Group, discusses:

Have you seen our latest news?

Next Thursday! Zoom meeting on Aging in Place