L'Don Sawyer Publishes Op Ed in Arizona Daily Star

Pima County’s St. Luke’s Home Offers Viable Assisted-Living Model For All

By L’Don Sawyer Special to the Arizona Daily Star, November 22,2016L'Don Sawyer

Researchers in the United States are taking a hard look at the medical link between loneliness and decreased mobility, depression and early death for Elders. Among the key findings: loneliness is a greater predictor of early death than obesity.

According to Dr. Carla M. Perissinotto, geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, “The profound effects of loneliness on health and independence are a critical public health problem. It is no longer medically or ethically acceptable to ignore older adults who feel lonely and marginalized.”

While loneliness has long been studied sociologically and psychologically, researchers are just now beginning to examine medical impacts. They have found strong links between loneliness and increased stress hormones and blood pressure, and also in the diminished production of the white blood cells that are central to our immune system.

Identifying solutions for this mounting public health issue has become even more critical due to the sheer number of aging baby boomers. Just this month, the number of baby boomers

Identifying solutions for this mounting public health issue has become even more critical due to the sheer number of aging baby boomers. Just this month, the number of baby boomers nationwide passed the 50 million mark. According to AARP, approximately 10,000 Americans will turn 65 every day for the next 14 years. In Pima County, today’s 12 percent of citizens aged 65 and up will swell to nearly 25 percent by 2030, higher than the expected 21 percent average nationwide.

In Pima County, economic realities intensify the need for solutions. Among the 8 percent of elders earning $100,000 or more a year, there are a wide range of assisted-living options. But those options narrow dramatically for the 46 percent of Pima County residents who earn less than $30,000.

The good news is that there is an assisted living model ““ the Eden Model ““ that is designed to ease Elder loneliness, and Pima County boasts the only non-profit Eden option in Arizona: St. Luke’s Home. Moreover, the locally owned and operated St. Luke’s is the only academic Eden Model assisted-living facility in the United States based on its partnership with the University of Arizona.

The Eden model, developed by Geriatrician Dr. William Thomas, is structured specifically to combat the three plagues of aging: loneliness, helplessness and boredom. As a registered Eden Model community, St. Luke’s provides research-based antidotes to these plagues that include natural beauty inside and out, live plants and animals, and a range of programs and partnerships that provide daily interactions between young and old.

St. Luke’s academic partnership with the UA is a special point of pride for the region as a model that has been presented at both national and global conferences. The partnership brings UA students from the nursing, pharmacy, public health and medical colleges to St. Luke’s regularly to conduct clinics and present educational programming aimed at better understanding Elder health and wellness.

St Luke’s offers a living, breathing model of health and well-being for low-income Elders that could be expanded and replicated nationwide. Pima County has in St. Luke’s a successful solution for the public health issues that loneliness poses for Elders of our nation. We need to join forces to expand the solution to stay ahead of the wave of Baby Boomers and assure that aging is no longer defined by solitary pain, but remains, instead, a time of growth and learning for all.

L’Don Sawyer, a social gerontologist, is CEO of St. Luke’s Home in Tucson. Contact her at lsawyer@stlukeshometucson.org