St. Luke's Home: Stronger, Longer- Elder Care with Purposeful Compassion

With the burgeoning population of Elders in our society, comes the need for compassionate care. Nearly 7 people a minute turn 65 in the US. By the mid 2030’s there will be more Elders than people under 18. Less than half of these Elders will have the resources needed to get through retirement. Of those who do, they can still find themselves in need of assistance. This is due to a great variety of reasons. Many Elders have been sandwiched between caring for their own parents, and helping their children longer due to widely documented costs of education and the job market. Others, find that illness and subsequent medical costs can devastate savings earmarked for retirement. Sometimes, life just throws a curve ball.

St. Luke's Home is a non-profit, nondenominational assisted living community dedicated to fighting the three plagues of aging: loneliness, boredom, and helplessness. These plagues were identified by Dr. William Thomas, co-founder of the Eden Alternative. We have over 100 years providing compassionate care to the vulnerable. Our focus is on low income Elders who fall into an income gap, meaning they are unable to afford private care, nor are they ill enough, or poor enough, to qualify for government assistance. Still, these Elders are not able to safely live alone and would face either great risk or homelessness if it were not for St. Luke's Home. Among our Elders are the essential workers who have given so much: the teachers who taught us; the nurses who healed us; the ministers who consoled us; and the veterans who fought for our freedoms. These Elders pay what they can to call St. Luke’s Home, their home, but it doesn’t cover the costs of their 24/7 care. We must raise the difference. On average we must raise $10,500/ per Elder yearly for a total cost of $672,000.00. This is done through grants, fundraisers, foundations, and donors like you.

St. Luke’s Home is requesting funding to continue our Stronger, Longer Program with I-Pads or Samsung Tablets ($10,000); obtain needed facility tech upgrades($30,000), and tools to maintain St. Luke’s Home($1,500.00).

The "Stronger, Longer" Program at St. Luke's Home, serves to help Elders remain healthier longer by focusing on three areas: physical exercise, nutrition, and cognitive vitality. The advent of COVID -19 has led to opportunities for innovation to maintain the health and well-being across these three areas for the Elders we serve. St. Luke's Home wants to ensure these elders can have contact with their doctors, therapists, family and friends by virtue of I-Pads or Samsung Galaxy Tablets, and technological improvements to the facility.
Interaction, including, and perhaps especially, intergenerational interaction, is vital to the cognitive vitality of Elders. The tablets will enhance our ability to ensure Elders are connected when a phone call just isn't enough. The Wi-Fi technology improvements to our 100 year old building are also needed to ensure Elders can connect reliably.
This technology will not only assist Elders through Telemedicine and connection to family, especially important while we are closed for visitors during COVID-19, but will enable our ongoing partnership with the local University students from the departments of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and nutrition. The clinics and educational classes were usually held face to face, but this is not possible at this time. Moreover, these clinics were mutually beneficial to both Elders and our future essential workers, as these students learn to assess, communicate with, and offer intervention for, the Elders who may present special needs for each of these disciplines. The additional privacy this technology could afford, as opposed to being in a common area with a doctor or therapist, is invaluable. Additionally, the connection will open further opportunities for Elders to enjoy continuing education safely.
Finally, a 100 year old building will need some repairs from time to time and maintenance. St. Luke’s is requesting a nominal amount of funding to purchase needed tools.
Recently we created a hug tunnel for our Elders:
https://www.kold.com/2020/08/20/families-hug-first-time-monthsthrough-pl...

Here are more links to see the Elders you would be helping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdA9e3F61Uc&t=77s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwNrgecMddI

On behalf of St. Luke's Home, Elders and Staff, we thank you for the opportunity to have your kind attention.