- Americans are living longer.

Life expectancy in 1900 was 47.

In 1950 it was 68.

Today it is nearly 79, and by 2060 it's projected to be 85.6 years.

These increases thanks to improved living conditions and healthcare.

Reaching old age or senior status is a blessing in many ways but there are challenges facing older folks, which deserve our attention.

There are nearly 68,000 seniors, those 55 and older, in Midland and Odessa.

So tonight we plan to focus on the pleasures and perils of aging.

I'm Becky Ferguson, coming to you live from Basin PBS, the Anwar Family Studio with a special Town Hall supporting our seniors and our community.

Tonight's Town Hall is made possible by our generous sponsor, Diamondback Energy.

So let's get started introducing our panelists.

Saul Herrera is the Director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP for Senior Life of Midland.

Kathleen Kirwan-Haynie is the Executive Director of Senior Life of Midland.

Kristi Edwards is the CEO of Centers, which provides counseling and support services in Midland and Odessa.

Craig Stoker is the Executive Director of Meals on Wheels in Odessa.

Isaac Garnett is the community Development Manager for the City of Midland.

And Dr. Stephanie Caples is a psychologist working closely with the development of the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center, currently under construction between Midland and Odessa.

I wanna start with some definitions tonight.

The AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, starts sending you invitations to join on your 50th birthday.

McDonald's and Arby's, give senior discounts if you're 55.

The federal government will provide social security checks beginning at 62.

Some major companies called 65 retirement age.

Kathleen, what say you.

- So, Senior Life Midland, we define being a senior as 60 years of age and up.

- [Becky] And tell me why you do that?

Why you pick that age?

- We feel it's a good gauge.

60 years of age seems to be an age where a lot of our seniors are at home and maybe quit working.

So for us that's a good indicator we feel.

- Craig, what about in Odessa Meals on Wheels?

- Well, when we were first talking about it, I struggle to find a definition there.

There are so many, and through our program, we tend to stick to the state guideline with our Texas Department of Agriculture grant, which defines a senior at 62.

- Okay, so all over the place.

- [Craig] All over the place.

- Paul, I'm gonna come to you and ask you why it is important to think of seniors differently than other citizens?

I mean, how are their needs different?

- An older person, so to say, 'cause sometimes the word senior, they don't like it.

I've noticed that when I first started working there, the word they're saying, I'm not a senior, and they were 88 years old.

So I said, okay, I have something to learn here.

But sometimes they have so much to give their experience, their knowledge, and their talent can be lost if it's not continually used.

And through our services and our programs, we tap into everything that they can provide for us.

- I'm gonna ask you for some details of that in a few minutes.

But Stephanie, I want you to talk, if you don't mind, about what's different about mental health needs for seniors.

- Well, you know, seniors are a special part of our population.

And as you mentioned before, people are living a lot longer.

And so that means that we're seeing also mental health challenges with seniors.

But a lot of it tends to be from situational things besides just medical conditions that could bring on depression and anxiety.

We're seeing things like loneliness rampant among seniors, a lot of seniors or aging people or people that are older.

Whatever.

- We're supposed to call it.

- Whatever word we're supposed to say.

But whatever label that you put on or identify it, I think as you're aging, you start to realize that not only is loneliness kicking in because maybe you lost spouses or friends or loved ones, but also too you're limited in different tasks and things that you were previously able to accomplish.

So that brings an extra set of challenges.

Not to mention that our population that is of that age also manifest, their symptoms manifest a little differently than you might see in a normal aged adult of 20 to 45 years old.

- Kristi, you mentioned when we spoke last week about how the elasticity of our brains continue into later years.

That's very encouraging.

Can you talk a little bit about that and are there some strategies for keeping our brains healthy as we age?

- Sure.

So what we will sometimes see as people get older or of a certain age, as Stephanie says, it's they feel like their world should shrink, right?

It's like, you know, maybe you're not working, maybe your social circle is not as great as it used to be.

What we know is the more that you can interact with other people and stay connected and be vital, you know, go for walks, go have coffee wherever you want.

You know, have some friends going, what local Whataburger, wherever it might be.

You know, take in shows at the Wagner, you know, stay active in church.

Do some of those things that's gonna help those neurons stay connected as you move along.

Whenever you are busy and you are engaged, you wake up in the morning excited about the next thing to do.

If you are not doing anything, when you wake up the next morning, you're like, okay, so what am I going to do today?

So that does prohibit some of that growth that we wanna continue to 89, 90, however long you live.

- You're gonna live.

Isaac, you mentioned the other day when we were speaking that the city is involved in a mental health program for seniors related to resilience.

Could you talk a little bit about that?

- We offer a, well, the community, lemme back up.

Our community, through surveys, through focus groups, through chats, revealed to us the need for some kind of resiliency factors.

I oftentimes deal with the community centers.

The city of Midland run two, three community centers.

They have a subcontractor, and we get feedback from the individuals there.

And what was apparent was the need for these kind of services.

So we offered a grant and to a subrecipient, and they're providing these services by LPC and it's to build up in more educational than, you know, client counseling to give you things that can boost you up or make you understand the conditions that you may be feeling at the moment.

A lot of seniors are isolated, particularly since Covid, and we're still feeling the effects of that today.

- Where would somebody go to participate in the resilience training?

- We have the Southeast Center, which is at Washington Park, and we also have the Westside Senior Citizen Center, and it's on west Illinois in the shopping center.

Casa De Amigos also have a senior program at their facility.

- So the resilience program is offered at all of those places.

- Yes.

- Super.

Craig, we're gonna come back to more mental health questions in a few minutes, but Craig, would you speak to some of the the physical services that are provided for seniors in Odessa?

- Well, as I continue to learn, I have been at the helm of Meals on Wheels of Odessa for a year.

It's next week.

So I'm still learning a lot of the services that are out there for seniors.

Something that we offer our seniors is a benevolence fund.

We talk about aging in place and how important it is for these seniors to stay in their home as long as they're physically and mentally possible.

So we offer our clients access to, if you need a wheelchair ramp, if you need a grab bar in the shower.

We have worked very closely with other organizations like Odessa Links, who does help connect those with services available.

The ABLE Center has worked with us on ramps and they actually just did a little fan drive for us.

So helping our clients there, and other organizations like Christmas in Action, where you have folks who maybe they need a roof, maybe they need large investments in their home, but these organizations are out there to help them with those beyond what we're just offering with our daily delivery.

- You mentioned that the daily delivery is more than just delivering a meal.

- Yes.

- It sounds like y'all are scoping out what problems there are.

What are the other things that you provide?

- Well, we view our organization as a family and the people we're serving are part of that.

And of course, Meals on Wheels, the delivery of the meal is key and that's what people know.

But the wellness check that we provide every day, we're delivering to almost 700 folks a day.

Being able to knock on their door and see their face and get a measure of how are you doing today?

What's going on?

What can we help you with?

And being able to assess their needs and find solutions for 'em is how we're trying to grow our program.

I look at Senior Life as a wonderful example of really a one-stop shop for what seniors need.

We're trying to build that in Odessa.

The conversation you and I had prior was, you know, the gap really isn't in services, it's the knowledge of how to find those services- - To find those services.

- And being able to provide that to our clients is really key.

- Kathleen, I want you to talk about the services that Senior Life in Midland provides along with Meals on Wheels.

- You know, I think that Craig mentioned several.

In Odessa, we house many of those at Senior Life Midland.

Of course, Meals on Wheels is our biggest program.

And you did a great job speaking about many of the programs that are offered and the resources are just invaluable.

But the actual meals, of course, are key.

That's a basic need of food.

That safety check is so important.

But also we learned during Covid and of course talking about the mental health aspect.

Just somebody knocking on that door and reminding you, you are not forgotten.

We care about you.

That is so important.

But also we have One Day at a Time program.

Did you wanna say something?

- No, no.

- Okay.

The One Day at A Time program, we're finding you need so much more than that meal.

Our seniors need additional food.

Many are also raising grandchildren, or there's multi-generations in that home.

Maybe there is a daughter who works outside of the home and she has several kids in that house.

They need extra food.

They also need a wheelchair.

We also do the handyman program, which are the grab bars to prevent falls, wheelchair ramps, Meals on Wheels for Paws is a lot of people's favorite program.

Back to the mental health aspect, having a little dog or a cat, I mean, sometimes when that spouse does pass away, it is the only companion in that home many times.

And just that furry companion is so much relief and comfort.

And we want them to be also cared for.

So our senior is not sharing their meal.

We bring cat food or dog food.

We see several times when a senior has fallen and needs to go to the hospital, they don't wanna go because their little dog's gonna be left alone.

So we kennel their little dog.

- Wow.

- So many of those programs are wonderful.

We also have three senior core programs.

Of course, I'll let probably Saul tell you a little bit about those.

But volunteering, we talked about having that purpose, getting up every day.

Volunteering is a huge aspect of what we also do at Senior Life Midland.

So we really have home bound seniors, but also active seniors that we work with every day.

- Craig, you wanted to add something, I believe.

- I did.

I heard it both from Kathleen and from Kristi.

And I've heard from several of our clients' family members about how important the daily check is, not just because it's a check, but my mother gets up and she gets dressed and it gives her a reason to get up that day.

And, you know, again, I've heard that twice and just wanted to send it home and definitely with the animal program is something we are trying to beef up because that is a companion.

It is somebody, we sent the dog to the ranch this weekend and already he's missed.

And so you take a senior who has nobody else, that dog is or cat is such a great companion.

So I just wanted to touch back on that and talk about the importance of those things.

- I love that.

The City of Midland, Isaac, also provides some services for seniors in Midland.

Can you talk a little bit about what the city provides?

- My office provide, again, Midland is a entitlement city for HUD funds, and we receive approximately 1.3 million annually.

- And when you say HUD, the housing urban development- - Housing urban development.

Yes.

And we receive about 1.3 annually and we provide public service needs, infrastructure needs, housing needs, and those are three of our primary focus areas for, again, public service.

Kathleen, we also support some of their emergency food programs when, for instance, we had the water break like this early this year and some of the resources that we were able to provide for them we're able them to buy off the local because the kitchen was shut down.

And that's where we come, that's where the city comes in, in those moments when you really need something to happen and we can coordinate it, we can get it to happen and sometimes fund those things.

We have a program for minor repair on the homes.

A lot of seniors have fixed incomes.

Their homes are in, they've been there for a long time.

They didn't have the money to repair it.

Many people don't have insurance.

And so they can come to us and we can offer them a grant up to $5,000 to do certain repairs around the house.

- Wow.

- To keep them in their home, to keep the home up to standard as best we can and things of that nature.

- Craig, I'm wondering if you have seen the needs of local seniors change over the years?

I mean, what are you seeing?

- Well, you know, my prior job was at the food bank and we had programs that worked with seniors and really watching that population age and kind of back to the fact that it is very expensive to live in Midland and Odessa.

You saw more and more food insecurity as those were trying to stay in their homes, as they were trying to make the repairs.

We've had several, you know, pretty decent hailstorms that have required repairs.

We've had weather, we've had, you know, other disasters that have happened.

So you see these things happening and food is always something you can cut from your budget.

We see this a lot with the, I ran over something in the road and had to replace four tires and now I'm out $1,200.

What do I do to the next pay paycheck?

This food is something that you can cut back on and as a senior, it's something that is, they will go without in order to feed the dog.

They'll feed the dog half the meal.

That's important.

You talk about mental health and medications.

They're that are medications that our seniors won't take because it'll upset their stomach if they don't have food to take it with.

You see 'em stretching their medicines, okay, I'll only take it every third day.

Well, that doesn't work.

That's not- - Right.

- That's not how it goes.

- Right.

- So you see these problems arising that you can tie directly back to the economy and the cost of living.

Where now we're coming out of a situation where I don't care who you are, your grocery bill went up.

- Right.

- And it hurt.

And so when you're only bringing in enough to sustain, you're budgeted down to that last dime.

These services are so important, not only to keep food on the table, but to keep you in your home, to keep you healthy through your medicine.

And, you know, back to mental health, those things are an ease.

- Yeah.

- If you don't have to worry about where your next pills is coming from- - Right.

- Or whether or not I can get my next pills and I'm feeling dizzy.

You know, these are things that a lot of people don't think about, but they're just incredibly important to the people we're serving.

- Kathleen, have you seen seniors' needs change over the years?

- Yes, I have.

I have been with Senior Life Midland nine years and the need has grown and evolved.

There's so much more need than there was nine years ago.

It used to be kind of the meal at noon was sufficient and now it is.

We don't have any other food other than the meal you give us at noon.

And now it is.

Well, you know, I can't get outta my house to go to the doctor.

I don't have a ride to go to the doctor.

I don't have a wheelchair if I do go to the doctor.

It is so much more than just that noontime meal.

And, you know, it's what are we gonna do for them to help them.

- Saul, we've talked a lot about services that are provided for seniors, but you work on a program where seniors are providing services for other folks.

It's called RSVP.

So remind us what RSVP stands for and tell us about the programs that are a part of RSVP.

- Yes, ma'am.

It's the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

In Midland, it's coming on 30 years now.

And it's a program that provides volunteer support for local nonprofits.

Currently we work with about 40 local agencies, Centers is one of our partners.

And we provide volunteers for their particular needs.

And the way the program works is that we do an interview process.

I interview, or my coordinator, Valerie, will interview a potential volunteer, find out their interests, their available time, their skills, and we present them the needs.

The volunteer themselves makes the final decision as to where they want to go.

Sometimes they're very energetic, very enthusiastic, and they will mark four or five, six different things.

And I go, wait a minute.

You can't possibly do all those things.

You could try, but you can't.

So we try to get it down to a couple.

And there are some things that they can do, like Meals on Wheels.

It takes one hour a day once a week or however, many times they wanna deliver.

So they can go to the food bank or they can go to Centers or wherever else and serve.

But the beauty of the program is that it's so flexible.

Some volunteers may have grandkids with 'em or they have grandkids living somewhere else and they'll say, Saul, I'm gonna be taking a month away.

You're gonna miss me.

I said, yes, we are gonna miss you.

- How many people participate in the program and what is the age range of your volunteers?

- [Becky] Age range is 55.

We currently have two 97 year olds- - Wow.

- And yes, 97.

And they are probably two of our most active volunteers.

- That's just amazing.

Last week we visited with some of the RSVP volunteers about their experiences volunteering, why they do it, why it's important, what they give and what they get.

(lively music) - I volunteer at several places.

I started this after I retired from teaching 10 years ago.

A friend of mine invited me to start with the Texas High School Garage Sale.

And I did and I loved it.

And when the sale was over, I said, what do I do now?

And so another friend said, well, come with me to the hospital.

We need volunteers at the hospital, Midland Memorial.

So I went with her and I loved that too.

So, and then someone else said, how about Meals on Wheels?

Would you like to do that?

So I volunteer at the Texas High School Garage Sale, at the Midland Memorial Hospital.

I'm part of the Auxiliary, and then I do Meals on Wheels once a week for that one.

I also started two years ago, Hunter's Hope, which is a ministry that minister to mommies that lose their babies through miscarriage or stillbirth.

And so we send out packets to encourage them, to give them hope and just to minister to them and let them know that someone is praying for them and thinking of them.

- Wherever I see a need, I'm there.

And there are people as you well know, that are shut in and can't get out and about.

And then when I think about, I will someday, if God says the same, be those ages with some kind of ailments where I might need some help.

So it's like, do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

That's found in the Book of Luke.

Yes.

I stand by that.

So it's very important to stay active.

- I deliver Meals on Wheels.

My wife and I deliver.

We run a route every Friday.

I'll give you a quick story.

Mrs. Redwine is on our route and we've become friends with her.

So, you know, it's not just handing a meal and leaving, I mean, you're standing there and talking and you become somewhat friends.

And we turned to leave and she just said, I love you guys.

And that just, you know, touched our hearts that, and she meant it.

And we said, we love you too.

- I come from a huge family and we couldn't afford, I couldn't afford to go to school, to college.

And so I was able to qualify for financial aid.

And so I got through school and that's how I became a teacher.

I got through school.

And so to me, in the back of my mind has always been, I wanna give back to the community because when I needed help, I was given help.

And now I'm just paying it forward.

- One of the things that you find rewarding is that when you give to others, you are rewarded, you know, 10 times more as a result of that act of kindness on your part.

You know, you stop and think about the blessings that you have and how all around you, I mean, all you have to do is turn on the TV and see that there are so many negative things going on in this world, in this country.

And you can make something positive out of maybe the many negative things that are bound out there.

So that would be, you know, something I certainly would count as a great motivator and inspirator for me.

- You know, and Midland is very fortunate to have so many incredible nonprofit organizations.

What we need more of are volunteers.

I think most of the nonprofits will tell you that, that the struggle really is with finding volunteers who are willing to serve.

- And I always think of, as a matter of fact, I was thinking on the way over here, something that Midland could do better at, it has to do with families taking a bigger part in the care of their loved ones.

And I'm not saying that they don't, but they, I think they need to be taught how to do that and just offer the service to them so they can take better care.

Still use the volunteers, but family members ought to be really, really involved.

- I just read somewhere where Midland County is the wealthiest county in the state of Texas, and we do have people that are in need in this extremely wealthy community.

- I grew up in Plainview, Texas.

My mom who passed away in '02, was an RSVP member.

I remember so well when I was in college in and out, you know, I'd come home and she'd be on her way to a meeting.

And so when she got worse, she couldn't do that anymore, I appreciated so much the program itself.

'Cause I knew that they were taking care of one of their own.

So they were taking care of my mom really well.

So I have a sense of pay it forward.

- God has given us all an innate desire to have value, to have self-worth and to be needed.

And you see that in parenting is a good example.

A mother knows that their child needs them, gives them value, gives them self-worth.

We all have that within us.

And one way to fulfill that is through volunteering it.

It's a great way to feel valued and needed.

- Stephanie, I'm gonna come to you.

Dean Byrom alluded to altruism, which you have talked a lot about, and you have told me that that is a protective defense against depression.

Can you explain that?

- I can.

I'll state first, the video was so lovely.

And I- - Lovely people, yeah.

- Very much so now.

But I think you can see from each of their experiences, the power of altruism, their firsthand experiences.

So altruism is simply a, it's a defense mechanism.

And when I say defense, I don't mean the negative connotation of defensiveness.

I mean, our bodies are all equipped to naturally deal with depressions and anxieties and our life stressors.

One of the ones we're all equipped with innately is altruism, which is giving to other people.

And Kristi talked earlier about brain and brain function and keeping those neurons connected while serving other people helps to do that.

It also helps release dopamine in the brain, which is what makes us all feel good, right?

When we connect with others or when we have ice cream, in my case, or when some people work out whatever that is that brings that joy, dopamine is the chemical that's released there.

When you're giving or serving to other people.

I think Mr. Richard Torres in the video said that is you feel like it's given back to you tenfold just from that feeling.

And that's simply altruism.

Just focus on someone else, give to someone else.

A lot of us will give our money, but do we give our time?

And I think it's so important to give our time because we're connecting for ourselves and for someone else.

And we've talked about in the aging population how detrimental loneliness and isolation can be.

And that's really one of the major risk factors for depression and anxiety.

And so if we're just taking that time to connect with other people by giving our times, looking people in the face, saying, I see you, I notice you, I'm here, are you okay is so cathartic for them as well as for us.

- I love that.

Okay, so Kristi, altruism is an important defense against depression.

The 85 year Harvard longitudinal study of healthy adaptations to life ask the question, what makes a good life?

Their answer from studying hundreds of people for more than 80 years is relationships.

Would you agree with that?

And can you talk a little bit about that?

- I do agree with that and I will talk about that.

I also read this study that you're referring to and, you know, like in real estate you talk about location, location, location.

- [Becky] Yeah.

- In this study it talked about the most important thing as you get older are relationships, relationships, relationships, right?

So, you know, one of the things that we've gotta do is to stay connected and to feel those, the warm fuzzies that you get, you know, Steph's talking about that altruism, it's hard for me to say that, but you're getting those same things whenever you're being with someone and you're doing for someone, it doesn't matter whether you're on the receiving end more or the giving end more.

It's one of those things that you know that you are, that you start looking forward to.

And it gives you a sense of purpose.

And I think we've all kind of talked about that a little bit.

So if you have that, that is the thing you get outta bed and do in the morning or you think about what you're gonna do or you think at some point you start going, okay, I don't have it so bad because I know someone who has it worse, right?

So I think that's good for how things, you know, kind of go in the world.

- And I'm gonna jump back to you Stephanie, on the topic of relationships.

When we spoke the other day, you talked about how important family is for older folks, but friends are more important?

- Right.

- Tell me more about that.

- It's so important for our aging people.

Notice I'm saying aging people, not our seniors.

I wanna be PC, but it's so important for our aging population to have peers, whatever they consider their peers.

It's wonderful for them to have family relationships.

If you're living in the same community as your aging parents, make sure you're seeing them and visiting and taking care of them.

I know my mom comes once a month and it's the best time for me, but that's just 'cause she does all my laundry.

I sent her an article the other day about spending time with your grandkids adds five years to your life.

And she sent it back and said, uh-oh.

And so while that's a great thing to be with your aging family members, really one of the most resilient factors is to make sure they're connected to their peers.

So while, you know, we love for our parents to babysit and go spend time and we're thinking they're enjoying it, and they are.

To have someone in your age group that's at a similar life stage is so imperative because that enhances the connection, it enhances that sense of real belonging, right?

And let's just face it, there's just some things you can talk about with your girlfriends or your guy friends no matter what age that you don't wanna talk about with your children or your grandchildren.

- Right.

- So allowing our aging population and encouraging them to have friendships, whether it's church relationships, social relationships.

I love when the people that I see and work with have, you know, their bridge clubs and their cards and I have one lady, oh, she's just, she's amazing.

She does cheer yoga, which I think is the sweetest thing in the world.

- That's what?

- Cheer yoga.

It's for group a class for 80 years and up and they meet once a week and they do cheer yoga.

So whatever it is to get with like people in the like stages to connect with them on that level is so, it's resilient for them.

It allows them to maintain some sense of resiliency and belonging.

- We're sticking with mental health for y'all.

Kristi, go ahead please.

- I was gonna just say, I think Isaac and Stephanie have both talked about the resiliency that we need.

That is something that I think is lacking from the time, you know, like our teenagers and even younger people, we've gotta start, you know, teaching, training, building that sense of resiliency.

If you are a senior and you're living alone and let's say you fall and you break your leg or something.

I mean, if you do not have that built in resiliency, you pretty much go, I give up, my life is over.

And if you have that, and if you have people that live that and talk that and you show that, you're gonna go, okay, this is a little bit of a setback, but I know that I will be able to go to cheer yoga again, or I'll be able to go to bridge club or I'll be able to babysit my, you know, kids again, instead of folding in on yourself.

And one of the things in that Harvard study talked about the loneliness factor is more severe than alcoholism, or major depression.

- Wow.

- So it's- - The loneliness and resiliency those don't go together.

So I think if you have one, if you've got the resiliency, you don't, you can fight the other.

- May I?

- Yes, Isaac, please.

- One of the things that the city does is also provide funds to sub-recipient for transportation so that individuals can get to those places to interact.

Many seniors don't drive or don't drive as often to get places.

And if we can do more as a city, as a community to get people from A to B safely and allow them to have that wonderful interaction that's good for everyone.

But that is a, it is a bit of a roadblock at this point.

- Stephanie, I'm gonna ask you to talk about this exciting new project that will have some special services for seniors, the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center.

Tell us about that.

It's under construction right now.

When will it be finished?

What kinds of services will it provide for seniors?

- Right.

Well, the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Hospital is something that I'm just really excited about and so honored to be part of that initiative.

So what we are designing, we're in the, we're kind of completing the design phase and about to start the construction phase somewhere between mid August and September.

And it is basically an acute inpatient facility for behavioral health needs.

So when I say that typical behavioral health centers, acute centers allow you to stay for that four to seven days if you're having a mental health crisis and that this is going to follow suit with that.

So what we have found in our community and some of the surrounding communities is when the aging population is needing these services, there's really nowhere to place them.

A lot of times they have comorbid medical conditions that rule them out to be able to be placed in a mental health hospital or they have more mobility issues that rule them out.

So they face a lot of challenges in being able to get proper services.

We're gonna try to close that gap as best we can.

And so we actually have a unit specified just for, we're labeling our geriatric unit.

I think I might go back to the architects since they were gonna relabel.

- [Becky] I like seniors better than geriatrics for sure.

- I do.

It's common language.

- Right?

- So it's just a label as of now, but don't worry I'll be changing it after tonight.

And so we do have a unit of 28 beds at this point stipulated for our geriatric population.

We have not stipulated what age that that's gonna be, whether it's 55 or 60 or 62 - Right.

- And up.

But because we understand that the aging populations experience mental health crises differently, they have different symptom onset, they have different medications that they can take because of comorbid medical conditions or fall risk or mobility issues.

So there's small little nuances that we want to make sure we're paying very close attention to, to be able to serve the population while also maintaining and helping them reach stability for their mental health issues.

And then also to helping them have active services after they are released from the hospital to maintain stability.

I think mental health is something that we think of.

It's kind of scary if you haven't been in the world, but really to me, we need to incorporate mental health, whether it's for our aging population or our pediatric population as preventative care.

So many of the conditions can be managed just like so many chronic medical conditions can be managed.

A lot of conditions can be, a lot of onset of conditions can be prevented.

So I think if we pay the proper attention with the idea of understanding the challenges to particular populations, we can really provide an excellent service to our community.

With the hospital we're slated to open, I know you asked me, we're slated to open November of 2025.

- Okay.

- And it is going to be a facility that it will have the capacity for 200 beds.

So we have not seen anything like this in the Permian Basin.

- [Becky] And it's halfway between the cities.

- It is.

It is going to be out right behind the Wagner Noel, 1788.

So we will be starting construction here soon.

It's gonna be exciting.

- It's very exciting.

Thank you, Stephanie.

You mentioned gaps.

Let's talk about some gaps in physical services for seniors.

What are you seeing, Kathleen, that are gaps in the community?

Things that we need to pay attention to.

- At Senior Life Midland, what we hear almost daily is a little bit about what Isaac touched on, transportation.

I think that Saul and I talk a lot.

We get calls every day.

I have a doctor's appointment and I don't know what to do.

I can't see to get to my doctor's appointment and my ride fell through.

What do I do?

I just heard this week, my son's in a wheelchair, I'm elderly and I've gotta get him to Lubbock.

What do I do?

I don't drive anymore.

So we hear a lot of transportation.

We see a lot of dental issues among seniors.

Dental care is a big thing.

We do a lot of ground up meals for Meals on Wheels.

A lot of our senior population, they don't have teeth because they have not cared for their teeth, they cannot chew.

And nutrition is a major thing for elderly population.

What are we doing for dental care right here?

I don't think we're really handling that well.

So I think there's a lot of things that we really need to do better.

And I love things like tonight where we're really getting together and talking about it.

And I think that's how solutions start taking place and happening just having conversations like this.

- So transportation and dental care.

Craig, what about Odessa?

- Well, you know, transportation was something that came up fairly early when we had a veteran who actually lived a block away from our office who was unable to get out to the VA, which is out on 191.

We office kind of downtown Odessa and I called a friend of mine who is on the Easy Rider board and he said, well, we offer that service.

And it's, again, one of those, the gap isn't the service, the gap is the knowledge about the service.

And so we have have distributed lots of information about how to use those Easy Rider programs.

I was at the Odessa City Council meeting Tuesday night and they provided a lot of funding towards programs that Easy Rider could use.

You know, the the thing I often hear about is, is more about capacity.

When you are needing that wheelchair ramp, some of these organizations who provide those, it's a six month wait.

So what do you do for those folks who, we helped one lady who had, was in a new motorized wheelchair and unfortunately could not get in or out of her house.

So what do you do in an emergency situation?

Those are things we're trying to identify and help bolster the capacity of the organizations who are already providing the big, big things.

But what small things can we do to really fill that gap before they can get the true service?

- You mentioned when we spoke the other day that medication, paying for medication is a big issue.

Can you talk a little bit more about that and what you see as a solution?

- Right.

Well, we had a few days before you and I spoke before this, we had received a note that was written on the cover of a book that our client had torn off.

You know, not even having a piece of paper to write on, to send this note.

And in it, the client described that they were dizzy and didn't know if they could hold on long enough to receive the refill for the medication and didn't know how they were gonna pay for it.

And so I reached out to a friend of mine at Medical Center and said, what can we do?

And it turns out there is a program through the Medical Center Pharmacy that will help with indigent care.

You get into that geriatric, some of these words just are, but they'll help the folks who are needing that little extra.

And so we are in talks now with Medical Center about how to use that program with our clients, how to, you know, extend it out to the greater community because it is our county hospital, it's our dollars paying for this and these are services that we can get back.

And after our conversation, speaking with the pharmacist at Medical Center, it's a one page about four question application and the formulary list was sent and it's, I haven't had a chance to really look over it, but there are things that are provided through that that will help extend the patient's budget, or cover it not at all where they're struggling to even survive.

So programs out there exist.

We're also looking at another program with Medical Center that they had a partnership with somebody who was on the Meals on Wheels of America board and came up with this idea that a lot of our clients, as they are aging and becoming, getting these health issues where maybe you're diabetic and you can't afford your supplies to test or, you know, maybe you've ended up with a situation that you need a catheter or a colostomy bag.

Providing these medical supplies that aren't cheap.

But being able to provide those to our clients at no cost is a program we're exploring with Medical Center right now.

So again, it's building these partnerships and like Kathleen is saying, this is a great opportunity tonight to sit down with others who are doing the work and learning from them and learning about programs that are offered.

You know, especially City of Midland.

There are things that the city of Odessa funds that help our clients and it's something sometimes as simple as mowing their yard and you don't think about that.

But it not only helps the client, but it helps our volunteers.

We don't want our volunteers to have to trek through a three-foot high yard and encounter a critter that they may not want to.

But those things that again, are so simple, we sometimes might lose sight of them.

Those are the things that I believe the capacity to grow those is there and that's what we need to work on.

- Isaac, you mentioned that a gap for seniors in Midland is housing and that the city is looking at ways to address that.

Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

- That's correct, but I do wanna say that our community here does a pretty good job of marshaling resources as best we can.

Yes, there's a lot to be done and a lot long way to go, but our community does a pretty good job of marshaling resources to help those in need and those of our seniors that are in need.

Housing as person on the video was speaking about, housing become a major issue for those who are marginally homeless, homeless and those who are struggling to stay in their home.

And we're, I'm speaking specifically with pricing people out of their home, pricing people out of their market rate apartments.

So we are, the city is working with the housing authorities and other tax credit developers to try to alleviate some of that stress by having caps working with the state and on tax credit developments.

And those things have a cap on their income base.

And so we're really doing a decent job of trying to increase the number of those housing in Midland.

And there is a great need and there's a lot of coordination that's happening and we want everyone, oh, I would be remiss if we didn't have a specific focus on seniors that are actually homeless.

- Right.

- We have a, the point in time count for this year we had 265 individuals who are essentially homeless and a substantial number of those individuals are 55 and above.

In fact, I was talking to a couple just the other day, they are living under, living on an old dirty mattress under canopy and it was extraordinarily hot.

- So what is the city doing related to homelessness for the seniors?

- Well, we are devising a, which my office is devising a strategy to address it.

I've been in touch with Lubbock.

Everyone has a issue and we're all trying to figure out the best way forward.

These are not easy things to address.

- So we'll look forward to hearing more about that.

- Indeed.

- In the future.

- And we're also trying to fold that in our strategy into a more comprehensive plan for the city.

- Craig, you mentioned several times this evening that there are services available.

Sometimes the difficulty is a person connecting with the service and you've told me there is a telephone line that people can call.

Would you talk about that?

- Yes.

There is a service provided through a service called 211 Texas.

From your cell phone, you just dial 211.

- Or your landline.

- Or your landline.

Learning something, but you have the ability to call 211 somebody answers.

And basically you say, I need help with food, I need help with medicine, I need help with housing.

Any number of things that they can help with.

And they cultivate and maintain a list of places and organizations who will help you with those things.

- The reason I brought up landline is when Stephanie and I were visiting the other day, we were talking about technology as it relates to seniors and some of the challenges.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Again, I think we were specifically talking about communicating with your loved ones or friends who might be of the aging population and just not sure how to work all the technology.

And I think for some of us it might be frustrating that when we call on FaceTime or whatever video call that our loved one doesn't know how to answer it.

And I think it's really important for us to essentially meet them where they are.

If they're more comfortable using their landline, let's call their landline, right?

I think we try to force what we want and what modality and method we want on them.

And I think it's very different.

We have some aging people who want to learn the technology, but I think when we were talking, I gave you the example of my dad who absolutely does not want to learn the technology.

He was an electrical engineer and developed communication devices for spaceships but will not learn how to work his cell phone.

And so that was a bit of a struggle for us.

And then when I realized he just does not have that interest, let me accommodate what is comfortable to me to serve what he wants.

If that means I get to communicate with him, I would much rather communicate with him on his platform rather than force mine, which he won't use.

Or it could actually really create some frustrations and anxieties and it might remind them of the limitations that they do have.

So instead of creating that stress, I think it's important for us to meet them where they are.

Use the platforms that they would like if they're functional platforms.

- I love that.

Kathleen, you have mentioned that there is a newly formed senior coalition.

Tell us about that.

What can we expect from that?

What are y'all working on?

- Yes.

We have at Senior Life Midland received some funding from United Way and we just started this year and invite anybody who's served seniors in Midland, and or Odessa to join us.

And we're kind of doing a little bit of what we're doing tonight, just discussing what issues are out there and what gaps are there and we're gonna get some guest speakers together and, you know, just wanna see what we need to do to better serve aging population.

I love to use that term in our community.

And I'm just gonna go back to what your point was earlier.

And I hate the portal when you go to the doctor's office, I wanna get a phone call and many times our seniors, they just wanna talk to somebody.

I mean they are lonely and, you know, they can dial, they can press one and then five and all the numbers, but they just wanna talk to somebody.

So I love that you brought that point up.

I think a lot of them are just lonely.

But back to the senior coalition, we'd love for people to join us.

So call Senior Life Midland if you are an organization that would like to join.

- And Saul, I was remiss a few minutes ago and I didn't ask you how folks could volunteer with RSVP.

So will you talk a little bit about that?

- Sure.

They can just call us over at Senior Life Midland at 4326896693.

And I wanted to add something about that technology because email is something that used to be a tough word for seniors.

They didn't wanna go into email.

But about three years ago we started an email blast.

We have about 500 volunteers that serve through RSVP and about 260, 70 provided us with our emails.

So we send out an email blast once or twice a month to collect their volunteer hours, share about upcoming events, volunteer needs.

And the response has been great.

- I love hearing that.

Kristi, we've talked a lot about how some folks don't have transportation and you had mentioned to me that Centers can offer counseling without folks coming in.

- Yes, that's correct.

Actually with Senior Life, Kathleen and I, well I think Kathleen wrote the grant, but we were able to set up, especially during Covid that we could just call and talk to the home bound seniors that might wanna talk.

We also have telehealth platforms now that we can reach anywhere that we need to go.

So that has effectively taken that barrier down.

So it's a phone call, it is telehealth, insurance companies are still reimbursing at high rates, so anybody that needs it can reach out.

- And cost is also not a barrier.

- Cost is not a barrier.

There are places like Centers that we provide free or affordable mental health care.

Seniors who are on Medicare, we charge a nominal fee 'cause we don't have anybody that takes Medicare.

So if you need mental healthcare, you can get it.

- You can get it.

We have all struggled with what to call aging folks.

But I wanna talk finally tonight about what the American Psychological Association calls one of the last socially acceptable prejudices.

They say from anti-aging face creams to wise cracking birthday cards about getting older to okay boomer memes, the message is clear.

Being old is something to avoid.

Nevermind that if we have the good fortune to live a long life, inaccurate stereotypes about aging will harm all of us.

Stephanie, do you have some thoughts on ageism as a problem?

- I agree with that statement with through the APA and I believe it.

I see it in some of the people that I have worked with clinically.

People are fearing getting old and what that means as opposed to embracing it.

I mean, if you spend just 10 minutes talking to our aging population, you see the wisdom that they come with.

And so I believe that if we tweak our mindset just a little bit and really be grateful for our lives as we age and what it has come with the lessons that we've learned and what we can pass on in values and in richness to our families, I think we'll start to feel differently about aging.

- [Becky] Craig, you're nodding your head.

- Well, I started my career in nonprofits, feeding kids, food to kids was what I stumbled upon to and made a career out of.

And something I learned throughout the years is, is the kids are all right.

There's a lot of progress for kids.

There's this and that.

But the seniors are those who are forgotten.

They're the ones that now being home bound, you don't see, they're retreating from society.

So hearing these things in these programs to revolve them, reengage them, this resiliency, I love hearing that and really do believe that they're a treasure and we need to respect them and take care of them.

- Kathleen, your thoughts?

- Growing old is a privilege not everybody earns.

And again, we need to respect those who are elderly.

It's our responsibility to take care of them.

- Kristi, you're nodding too.

- I happen to have a few sassy senior citizens in my life who their answer to everything now is, if you are lucky, you will get to be as old as I am.

- So I like that.

- I think I like that too.

- I like that.

That's gonna have to be our last word.

Thank you Saul and Kathleen, and Kristi and Craig, Isaac and Stephanie for giving viewers a better understanding of the issues related to seniors in West Texas.

We are grateful to Diamondback Energy for generously sponsoring tonight's program.

We also wanna thank the Basin PBS board and staff, along with the Elizabeth Reed Yager family and the Anwar family for their generous support of Basin PBS.

And of course, we thank you, our members and all of our viewers for your support.

If you are not a member and you would like to become one, please visit our website at basinpbs.org.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Becky Ferguson.

Goodnight.

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