Actress Susan Sarandon, InnovAge Come Together for Senior Health

InnovAge and Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon have come together to bring awareness for the “Aging in Place” campaign launched by the senior care provider. InnovAge, a local non-profit organization, offers options for seniors looking to stay home longer. Maureen Hewitt, President and CEO of the innovative company, said, "We developed ‘Aging in Place’ to provide tools, including an online personal assessment, to help identify the best ways for seniors to stay in their homes as long and as safely as possible.” Sarandon understands the struggle of balancing the responsibility of caring for a loved one with all the other pressures of life. She wanted to be a part of InnovAge because she said that she loved the all inclusive nature of their facility where seniors ages 55 plus can receive medical care, caregiving and social structure all on one place. She was inspired by her own need to help her mother age in place with dignity and in accordance with her own wishes, while doing her part to help, even if that means just to make her laugh with irreverent humor on a rough day. Sarandon was 17 years old when she took a job at a county hospital providing care giving assistance, she explained, so she realizes the amount of resources it takes: time, money, and energy, as well as patience - although the role-reversal of parent and child also takes place and sometimes a firm care giver is required. Sarandon is appreciative of her siblings, she said, especially the ones that fulfill the day-to-day care of their mom. At this point in life, Sarandon’s predominate roll in helping her mom, Lenora, is financial. At age 92, Lenora is at a point in life that she would benefit from the services of InnovAge. Sarandon and her siblings have struggled to access services for Lenora, which inspired Sarandon when InnovAge contacted her to be a spokesperson for them, she explained. Sarandon has long been known for taking on humanitarian causes and for understanding each facet of that cause. When approached by InnovAge, she carefully did her due diligence and had the non profit vetted to make sure that it was something for her to attach her name; as the spokesperson. Sarandon stated, “It would be great if this could change the way our seniors are taken care of in the future. It takes a very special person to be sensitive to the needs of older people, to value them. It is the hope that in the future there will be even more people with this goal and a passion for the elderly. For now, we have InnovAge where seniors can stay home, but still have socialization, transportation and medical care. There is even Alzheimer’s and Dementia care provided." These days, most seniors, their children and grandchildren make up part of the “Sandwich Generation," a phrase that was coined because of how common it is for one to be taking care of an adult child as well as an aging parent. It is quite common for people to be offering either emotional or monetary assistance to their adult children while also balancing their own lives and trying to respect the dignity of their parents who still want to remain independent and helping them do it safely. InnovAge is a unique program that offers seniors an opportunity to get everything under one roof while still remaining in their home which has contributed to better outcomes. In their 25 years of providing this service, they have created a way that these seniors can be served with little or no out of pocket cost as the services are covered under Medicare or Medi-Cal. This program, which got its start in Denver when seven community providers came together, provides a wealth of services that gives hope to their participants.