Resources for Aging Population and all who care for our seniors

Living well as we age ... 

As we age, we find new needs arise. Some may not take particular notice at first because we age one day at a time. Sometimes our children notice it first. 

My grandchildren and many others are aware and attentive to their elders. Or you know it when it becomes more challenging to grocery shop or to enter or exit the house with a walker because of stairs. Or, you realize you need a hand rail at the steps on your front porch. We discover home delivery of groceries and prepared food.  

Fortunately, there are answers and solutions to these and many other concerns and issues. There’s a great new Southington Community Resource Guide that can connect you to local programs and services offering solutions to ease some of the changes in senior living. Mom needs financial or estate planning assistance or dad needs dementia care.

The free comprehensive handbook was developed in collaboration between the Connecticut Center for Healthy Aging and North Central Area Agency on Aging
 sponsored by the state of Connecticut and funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The resource guide covers topics such as home safety, transportation, elder law, tax, healthcare, rental assistance and other vital essentials. The free guide’s listed resources serve Southington and also refer to state level programs. Users can also access the information by dialing 2-1-1. 

Learn for example where to call for a ride for a doctor’s appointment or general support services and senior center information.  

Your Southington Resource Guide i free at Connecticut Center for Healthy Aging at the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Bradley Memorial and New Britain campuses, and MidState Medical Center in Meriden; Southington Care Center, 45 Meriden Ave.; and online at cthealthyaging.org where you may link to Southington Community Resource Guide or call for more info the Connecticut Center for Healthy Aging at 1-877-4AGING (1-877-424-4641). 

Personal reflections on aging... for your amusement 

In the rear-view mirror of life, what seemed a small event now takes on bigger significance. Thinking about one's age sometimes turns on the memory of a past scene. We suddenly do reruns of pieces of our lives, like past episodes of a TV series that we watch over and over and still enjoy.

As an illustration, I remember the time when I was a boy of about eleven when I had seen a movie about the Coast Guard.  I decided I wanted to be in the Coast Guard.  My mom bought me a uniform which I loved to wear that summer.  While it was the uniform of a naval officer and came with a Captain’s hat, I was proud to pretend I was in the Coast Guard. That fall I joined the Junior Blue Jackets of America at my church and was part of a Drum and Bugle Corps. I learned to play the bugel and my youngest brother learned to play the drums.   

As I think now about that time, my mind forwards quickly to about ten years later when I left home ate age 21 to put on another uniform, this time Army.  

My boyhood fantasies are quickly replaced by the realities of that later uniform.  Some of my comrades in arms did not come home.  

But, now that I’m on in years, I still grieve at times for those many lives cut short in one instant. 

Memorial Day Services are a particularly sobering reminder to me of that time during the Korean War. When I hear TAPS played... well, you know the feeling.

I remain proud that I served and am grateful that I came home.

Please take some time to look at the Southington Community Resource Guide at the above links. 

Check out other stories, briefs and events at More from Appleseed  on the right side of this page and scroll down for previous posts to Appleseed Online.