Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer

Aging in one’s own home is a dream of many people. Photo from SFGate.

And at the bottom of this blog, please see links to past blogs about aging, senior workers and continuing careers!

NOTE: added June, 2023 – A resource for seniors on Fall Prevention

NOTE: Update April, 2022 – An online resource with many helpful practical actions: “Home Security – Keeping Seniors Safe at Home.”

NOTE: Update September, 2019 – a 5th resource added to this blog, “Making the World Safer for Senior Citizens – An Injury Prevention Guide” from Seniorliving.org.

As a diversity and career development consultant with an active blog (average 3 posts per month for over seven years!), people in the community often discover my blog and then send me information to assist one or more diverse constituencies.

Last month I included a blog with social security benefits information for same-gender married couples (link) since that is brand new to many people in the USA. And this month, I am providing four useful resources graciously provided by publichealthlibrary.org to assist seniors who may be starting to experience physical challenges to remain in their homes longer. The publichealthlibrary.org is “a project by some premedical students who love the opportunity to geek out with medicine and technology while serving the community.”

Aging in place is a dream for many seniors. Of course, the older we get, the more likely we are to be living with some form of a physical disability, meaning our homes will likely need some changes in order to allow us to remain there for as long as possible.

But don’t worry: publichealthlibrary.org has compiled a great list of helpful resources with links that will help you understand how to assess your needs as a disabled senior, and create a financial plan and make modifications accordingly.

• Guide to Room-by-Room Repairs for Easy Accessibility for Disabled Loved Ones. This handy guide will help you make an accessibility plan for your bathrooms, kitchen and yard – three of the most treacherous places for individuals with disabilities.

A ramp like this one is included in the several items suggested by retirementliving.com

• 11 Low-Cost Aging in Place Modifications You Can Do Yourself. Fortunately, not every safety upgrade requires an arm and a leg, and many can be done DIY!

• Senior’s Guide to Paying for At-Home Long-Term Care: How Your Home Can be a Great Asset. Your home can actually be a great tool for paying for any needed accessibility modifications – without having to sell it! This guide offers seniors ideas for funding options their home can provide to pay for both minor and major updates.

• How to Make & Pay for Home Modifications to Enable Aging in Place. In addition to your actual home, there are more options than you might be aware of to fund safety upgrades. This guide offers lots of helpful tips and links to other resources for helping you fund your home modifications.

This list only scratches the surface of this topic, of course, and as an advocate for people of all ages with disabilities, we’re here to help. If you have questions on how to make your home a safe space for your Golden Years, please feel free to further explore publichealthlibrary.org

* * * * *

Links to blogs I wrote earlier about aging with a focus on the workplace:

Three parts series and aging in the workplace:
Part 1 – The Diversity of Aging – General Life and Workplace Overview.
Part 2 – Aging and intersection with LGBT
Part 3 – Aging and considerations for the workplace.

Five Tips and Best Practices for Engaging Senior Talent Through Job Sharing – Part 1 and Part 2

Village Hearth – an innovation in LGBTA senior living!

Timothy Humphrey, IBM Vice President, Chief Data Officer and NC Senior State Executive

Note: See links to my past leadership lesson blogs from the Raleigh Chamber C-Suites series as well as the Triangle Business Journal’s Power Breakfast gatherings at the bottom of this post.

The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce holds its “C-Suite Perspectives” breakfast meeting several times per year and features area senior level executives sharing their leadership stories and insights. The November session with IBM Vice President, Chief Data Officer and NC Senior State Executive Timothy Humphrey provided another excellent session with several important leadership lessons.

After sharing his own unique career journey from NC State University to IBM to Lenovo and then back to IBM (sprinkled with a sense of humor – Tim labeled himself “a goofy engineer who cares about people”), Tim shared 10 main points organized within 4 topics. Here they are.

Topic A – The Foundation

1) Be Authentic. That is the foundation for all leadership, and Tim found that trying to be someone he wasn’t simply does not work.

Topic B – Personal Leadership

2) Build Diverse Teams. Diversity does drive innovation.

3) Engage Employees. It is important for leaders to set an example and create a culture that engages employees which drives positive business results. And build a culture where employees feel free to ask questions, get coaching and take chances.

4) Give Back. It is important for leaders to give back to the community. For example, Tim serves on the Wake County Boys & Girls Clubs Board of Directors and on the University of North Carolina’s World View Advisory Board.

Topic C – Personal Growth

5) Have a high performance mindset …. Even when no one is watching.

6) Have a vision and a long-term perspective.

7) Go beyond just networking and build relationships. Great leaders have a ton of strong relationships.

Topic D – Business Leadership

8) Focus on measurement and outcomes.

9) Visualize success and adjust your plan along the path as you need to.

10) Make data-driven decisions. It is important to remove bias, including seeking others’ opinions to assist with this.

* * * * *

My earlier C-Suite Perspectives Leadership Blogs:

September 2017: Six Leadership Insights from a local “Fortune 1000” CEO – with Martin Marietta CEO C. Howard Nye.

November 2016: Learning about Leadership through Life – with Duke Energy NC President David Fountain