Marie, an elderly woman with limited mobility from Westmoreland County, has lived in her split-level brick home for over 60 years. She and her late husband bought the house when they moved to be closer to her parents. Marie eventually had a cathedral ceiling installed in the dining room to resemble the saltbox homes in Massachusetts and Vermont, where she lived during the early years of her marriage.
The 89-year-old’s sprawling community has nothing in common with historic New England. There are no sidewalks or bus lines, so getting around isn’t easy for someone who needs a walker and doesn’t drive. That makes it difficult for Marie, whose full name Spotlight PA is withholding because she lives alone, to get to her many doctor’s appointments.
She said the visits had increased due to a heart attack last summer, a broken femur last winter and macular degeneration in her eyes.
“My calendar looks like a bingo card,” Marie said ironically.
The joke brings a smile to Polly Leipold, a volunteer with Wesley Family Services’ “Open Your Heart to a Senior” program, which provides free in-home, non-medical care to seniors in Westmoreland County. Neighboring Allegheny County has a similar initiative called “In Service of Seniors: Pittsburgh.”
Volunteers help with everyday tasks such as reading the mail and transportation to the grocery store and doctor’s appointments. Leipold lives nearby and has driven Marie to many doctor’s offices.
Leipold began volunteering with Wesley Family Services through her church in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, shopping for groceries for the elderly. Leipold says she spends a few hours a week with people like Marie and tells Spotlight PA if everyone donated a little of their time, it would go a long way to helping those in need.
Marie has a son who lives about an hour away. She said he has asked her to move to a care facility that is closer to him, but Marie enjoys living in her own home and says she is perfectly capable of doing so as long as she gets a little help.
“I like to step in where the family cannot, because not everyone is lucky enough to have family next door,” says Leipold.
Aging at home is good for the well-being of older people, says Alicia Melnick, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work who studies mental health and care for older people. Melnick explains that people often experience cognitive changes as they age, so living in a familiar environment can be important for a person’s well-being and autonomy. In addition, staying at home often strengthens older people’s sense of independence.
Joanne Grossi, president emeritus of AARP Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that advocates for the elderly, told How We Care that was the case with her father. She recalled that it was a lot of work to help her father stay at home after her mother died 10 years ago. But the Italian immigrant and former factory worker was attached to his home.
“It’s the dignity that comes with staying in your own home,” she said of his connection to his house. “The pride that comes with being able to stay in your own home. The joy of being surrounded by great memories.”
And the more years someone stays at home, the more their retirement savings stretch, as the cost of long-term care is enormous. In Pennsylvania, the average annual cost of a one-bedroom apartment in an assisted living facility is $66,600, according to Genworth Financial’s 2023 Cost of Care study. For a semi-private room in a nursing facility, the median is $129,216 per year.
Medicare, the government insurance program for older Americans, does not cover long-term nursing home care or assisted living, which is designed for people with less complex health needs. Services provided at an assisted living facility may include help with medications, meal preparation and social activities.
Medicaid, the government insurance program for low-income Americans, has similar restrictions. In most cases, Medicaid does not pay for assisted living in Pennsylvania. The program only covers the cost of a nursing home if it is medically necessary and the person is impoverished – meaning someone must first use up all of their assets before they can qualify for this government assistance.
Another benefit of programs like Open Your Heart to a Senior is that these initiatives can help prevent loneliness in older adults. Melnick says people in previous generations were able to rely on more extensive support networks as they aged because families were larger. Research shows that social isolation increases the risk of certain diseases, including heart disease, obesity and Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s clear that Marie and Leipold have a genuine affection for each other, and the two say they’ve kept in touch while Leipold spent part of this year in Florida. Marie relies on Leipold to help her fill out medical forms, and compares the volunteer to a daughter.
Leipold enjoys helping Marie because she knows how devastating it can be for an older person to leave home and give up their independence. That was the case when Leipold’s parents moved into an assisted living facility for health reasons. The move brought her parents closer to their adult children, but the facility was not a home.
“She reminds me a lot of my mother,” Leipold said of Marie.
The volunteers not only provide companionship but also give caregivers a break, Grossi says. After her mother died, Grossi cooked, cleaned and washed for her father. Her sister helped by running errands for him and driving him to church or the casino, and her niece did his weekly grocery shopping.
Caregiving was still emotionally and physically demanding for Grossi, but not being the only person her father had to rely on helped extend his time at home. Although Grossi’s family had enough caregivers to not have to rely on volunteer help, she said programs like Open Your Heart to a Senior or Meals on Wheels are essential when that’s not the case.
“It takes a village to care for our elderly residents… One person simply cannot do everything,” Grossi said.
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