KEEPING SENIORS HEALTHY AND SAFE AT HOME

WHAT MATTERS: CONNECTION TO CARE

• In a recent survey, 89 percent of seniors aged 55 and older reported that remaining in their own homes as long as possible is important to them.
  
  
• In the four county region served by United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 134,000 seniors live alone, and 150,000 find it difficult or impossible to perform at least one routine activity of daily living.
  
  
• The percentage of seniors in the region is growing, but the availability of services to keep seniors safe and healthy at home is already insufficient to meet the need.
  
  

UNITED WAY IN ACTION

United Way and its partners are working to:

• Establish supportive services districts in neighborhoods with a high percentage of older residents, known as “NORCs”, to coordinate and more effectively provide social services to seniors right where they live.
  
  
• Improve the quality and availability of in-home health and homemaking services for seniors.
  
  
• Increase the number of seniors whose homes are safe places for them to live, including by recruiting and mobilizing skilled volunteers trained in home repair and modification.
  
  
• Bring senior centers up to national standards of excellence, to better provide seniors with opportunities to socialize, exercise, learn, and connect to community resources. United Way has assisted more than 80 percent of the centers in the state that meet these high standards to achieve this level of quality.