Tulsa senior care expert talks aging in place, safety risks and caregiver burnout

Aging in place or transitioning to a new living situation is a choice many families are navigating every day.

News On 6's Dave Davis sat down with Sharyn Willard, a senior home coach and community educator with Home Helpers Home Care Tulsa, to discuss her experience working with older adults, how families can support aging loved ones and the importance of preparation.

Q: Tell us about your experience with seniors over the years and how you've come to care about this population.

A: "So, for me, over the past 15 years, my focus has been on seniors. I was a realtor by trade, a long time ago, and in 2010 decided that I love this sector. I started and I went and got my designation as a senior real estate specialist, and then proceeded to go and get my designation as a certified senior housing professional. Helping seniors with the transitioning of A to Z."

Q: You've mentioned a trend called the ‘silver tsunami.’ What is it and why does it matter?

A: "Yes, it's one of those things where people are not paying attention to it. And over the next few years. By 2030, there's gonna be more seniors over the age of 65 than 18 and under. So there's so many people that are used to doing things a certain way and they're not thinking about that. Everything that's going to go into seniors and realizing that because it's the largest population, they're going to be left in the dark. They have no idea, and so it's just a matter of just realizing everything you do. In your business, in your life, everything at some point it's going to be really important that you know that you need to be in place to be able to, to be able to help the largest population."

Q: Let’s talk about aging in place. Many seniors want that option. What does it mean and how can families support it?

A: "So approximately 80% of the seniors want to age in place. And so that was kind of where I shifted, and not only is my heart there, but I just know that that's where they want to be. So what does that look like for them to be able to age in place? And let me clarify one thing. Aging in place doesn't necessarily mean that they have to age in the home that they're in right now. It could be a senior community, it could be somewhere else where they call home is what they call aging in place."

Q: Support makes it possible. That’s one of your big points. Tell me about that.

A: "Yes, absolutely. So there's resources out there. So, where I am right now with Home Help Home Care, we are a company that provides non-medical medical. So, that basically means we are there to offer companionship to the seniors. Any assistance with activities of daily living, whether that's shower, bathing, cooking, transportation, whatever that looks like that way allows them to remain independent at home and it keeps their dignity."

Q: Home modifications are also part of making aging in place work. What are some of the most important ones?

A: "So safety is a big key. A lot of times, people don't realize it, but if you don't have the right type of flooring, if there's carpet that's uneven surfaces, stairs, things that modify, if they're in a house, to where there's 2 levels. If they want to maintain the bottom level widening of the doors, is it wide enough or are there grab bars in there? They don't necessarily have to be the rounded ones, but the universal design that looks fancy, looks nice, but yet and still they have something to support. The showers being able to navigate that. So there's a lot of things that they can do as far as having a certified aging in place contractor, which I highly recommend because they know all of this stuff."

Q: On the flip side of this—when is it time to consider moving? What are some of the warning signs?

A: "Isolation absolutely because people don't realize when you're at home by yourself and you're aging, it brings about dementia. And so you're there and you might have family coming. The seniors might be living with a family member, but they go off to work and do their things and leave them at home. So they may forget to take their medicine, things like that's really critical. That's really important that it's it's really important for them to not be isolated at home."

Q: Caregiver burnout is a big issue nationwide. What do people need to know?

A: "Yes, over 63% of caregivers are taking care of a loved one. And they end up 63% of them end up passing away before the person that they're actually caring for. So you want to be there as their spouse, but it seems like this is your child. And so it's very exhausting. You want to be up for them emotionally, but you just get tired. And that's when you need somebody to kind of step in and do those things for you. So when you are with them. You can actually love them for the person that they are."