How will the recent grant specifically help improve the lives of seniors in Southern California? Will it have the capacity to develop initiatives aimed at preventing nursing home abuse and neglect?
Research in Affordability of and Capacity for Assisted Living in San Diego County
What will the $30,000 grant allow CARR to do specifically? According to the article, the advocacy group will be working with Civic Knowledge, which is a California benefit corporation based in San Diego. The primary tasks required to help to move San Diego toward becoming “an Age Friendly/Livable Community for All Ages” involve both research and analysis. The article indicates that “CARR will identify capacity and affordability of assisted living in San Diego County.” In so doing, the advocacy group will develop findings that “will allow families, service providers, local, and regional governments to understand the gaps and policy issues posing barriers to achieving an age-friendly region for seniors and disabled adults.”
Why are these tasks important? Currently, the rate of San Diego County residents aged 65 and older is growing. As that figure continues to increase, the region will need more assistance in developing “affordable housing and care solutions” for those elderly adults. As we mentioned above, this is not the first time that CARR has been tasked with improving the lives of seniors and taking steps to prevent elder abuse and neglect.
As the article clarifies, the non-profit group has been providing San Diego seniors and their families with information on local assisted-living facilities in the area since 2009, while also “advocating for resident rights and obtaining accountability.” In addition to the recent grant and the contract for developing an assisted-living facility rating system, CARR has previously won additional awards and was selected as the contractor for the San Diego County “Choose Well” program.
What is an Age-Friendly Community?
What is an “age-friendly community,” and can its existence in a particular region help to reduce the rate of injuries from elder abuse and neglect? According to a report from AARP, an age-friendly community is simply one in which seniors not only can remain healthy, but can thrive. There are many ways in which cities can become age-friendly communities, and in some respects the specificity of those tasks will depend on the elderly makeup of the area. What age-friendly communities have in common is that they attend to the “eight domains of livability” for elderly residents in some capacity, which include the following:
- Outdoor spaces and buildings;
- Transportation;
- Housing;
- Social participation;
- Respect and social inclusion;
- Civil participation and employment;
- Communication and information; and
- Community support and health services.
While reducing the rate of nursing home abuse and neglect is not a specific aim, many of the “domains of livability” listed above, if properly attended to, ultimately could help to prevent seniors from sustaining injuries as a result of abuse and neglect.
Contact a San Diego Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
If you have questions about options for seniors in San Diego or have concerns about a loved one’s safety, an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.
See Related Blog Posts:
Checks and Balances in the California Elder Care Industry
Elder Mistreatment Education at USC
(image courtesy of Kaiwen Wang)