Sea Pines volunteers show how to keep seniors out of nursing homes

At 91, Terry Murphy has bad knees and arthritis in her hands.

It's difficult to walk up stairs and empty the dishwasher without dropping a plate or two.

She often has trouble buttoning her sleeves and fixing her hair.

When she drives, she only makes right turns.

But since she broke her right wrist in a fall while folding laundry in October, a group of friends are helping with daily living activities.

"We don't allow her to fold laundry anymore," said 66-year-old Emily Newman, who helps Murphy with anything from light housekeeping to cutting her hair to filling the birdbath.

Newman, a Sea Pines resident, also has recruited some friends to help those who can't grocery shop, clean house or bathe on their own.

Normally, seniors who have trouble with such daily activities move into an assisted living

facility or a nursing home.

Newman hopes a local group can help change that.

She is a member of the Coalition for Aging in Place, geared toward helping residents remain in their homes as they age. It is an initiative of Together for Beaufort, a countywide effort to improve the lives of Beaufort County residents. On March 8, the coalition will meet in the Sea Pines Center to create a network of volunteers.

The "village concept" would provide services in three categories, said Lynn Mulkey, chairwoman of the local coalition and a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina Beaufort:

• Concierge services would include housecleaning, dog-walking, yard work or help with daily living.

• Health care services would include home health or transportation to doctors' appointments. Mulkey said providing home health care would require partnerships with local hospitals and medical professionals.

• Social and cultural services would include linking some seniors with others interested in attending theater productions or concerts.

The coalition has received a $3,000 grant from Beaufort County to start the villages countywide. The villages would be developed in Sea Pines and in areas of northern Beaufort County, such as Sheldon and Burton.

Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York have created similar programs.

Instead of a formal system of care provided by nursing homes or assisted living facilities, coalition member Jim Glasson said, the village concept provides services from an "extended family," consisting of friends and neighbors.

Though participants would have to pay to use them, Glasson said, services are largely provided by volunteers.

In Boston, for example, residents of the Beacon Hill

Village pay $600 a year or $850 per couple to become members. Memberships are subsidized for those who can't afford

them.

While traditional senior services are largely center-based, the village concept would cater to members' individual needs.

"It's a paradigm shift in what age means," Mulkey said. "It's growing old gracefully so you are still living."

Mulkey added that having friends and neighbors take care of the eldest residents would create relationships that might not be found in a nursing

facility.

Emily Newman said there is a feeling of family among those she helps.

"I'm not knocking retirement communities, but I think it would be depressing to only see 85-year-olds every day," Newman said. "I'd rather hear somebody's dog barking in the neighborhood, somebody cussing on the street and a leaf blower in the backyard than just be around a sea of white

heads."

Terry Murphy agrees and said she doesn't want to leave her home of 35 years.

Murphy said she probably couldn't have managed on her own if Newman hadn't helped out during the two months she couldn't use her wrist. She said she would pay for village-like services, which she expects to need more as she ages.

"When I can't drive anymore, I'll need them," Murphy said. "When I broke my wrist, the doctor told me we are all living too long, and he looked at me like it was my fault!"

"I don't know what I'd do without Emily," Murphy said. "She's like a daughter to

me."