By Paula Span for The New York Times
Up to two million seniors in the US rarely leave their homes
What she mourns most, says Solange DeLaPaz, are the mundane pleasures and rituals of her once-active life. A weekly manicure at the corner nail salon. Saturday excursions to Macy’s shoe department.
“I miss going to Sunday brunch on Second Avenue with my friends,” she said. “I miss going to church.”
Though only 67, Ms. DeLaPaz retired early with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and now struggles to leave her Manhattan apartment. She needs constant oxygen, and carrying even a portable oxygen unit troubles her breathing.
Climbing or descending the few steps from the elevators into her building’s lobby presents another obstacle. “I wouldn’t dare do that on my own,” she said.
About every three weeks, therefore, the home care aide who provides 12 hours of city-subsidized weekly assistance accompanies Ms. DeLaPaz outdoors. They walk to the corner and back, perhaps a six-minute expedition. Other outings are largely limited to medical appointments, with an escort from the social service agency Dorot.
Unlike some homebound older people, Ms. DeLaPaz doesn’t feel isolated, she said. Friends and relatives stop by; between a son’s and a grandson’s visits from Texas and California, she stays in touch online and by phone. A hairdresser and a priest make house calls. A volunteer helps with grocery shopping; a pharmacy delivers prescriptions.
Being homebound in rural areas can be harder and lonelier. Even for Ms. DeLaPaz, however, “being inside the house all the time is stifling. I’m confined.”
Almost two million people over age 65, or nearly 6 percent of those Americans (excluding nursing home residents), rarely or never leave their homes, researchers recently reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. The homebound far outnumber the 1.4 million residents of nursing homes.
Read the Full Article at The New York Times.
I am 66, have DJD, COPD and need my electric wheelchair to get to the nearest bus stop. My landlord tried to evict me and failed and took my ramp I used to get my chair down 3steps and back up in to my apartment. Now I have lost my independence, what little I had.