Facebook LIVE Lemonade on the Porch — Pathlights: Enriched by Experience, Empowered in Life

Hello, my lovies! Welcome to summer, frizzy hair, and Lemonade on the Porch with Kerlin Walsh Law.

Today I am going to talk about the jewel in the crown of our senior services here in Palos Heights, Pathlights, formerly known as PLOWS Council on Aging. PLOWS for many years has been a reliable, dependable, trusted resource for senior services for Palos Heights and the surrounding community. Ken Grunke, the Executive Director, came on Channel 4 this week with me on Where The Road Rises, to talk about the change slightly in the mission, name, logo, tagline, and to give us an idea of what that means, what has changed and what has stayed the same.

PLOWS actually was an acronym for geographical area that was no longer the area that the organization served, and it was called the Council on Aging. As we know now, we try not to say “aging”. We try not to use that term, which can sound a little condescending or derogatory. We like to say, “adults across the later decades”. So PLOWS has been rebranded as Pathlights. They believe it more accurately represents the relationship between the organization and the seniors they partner with, the seniors they walk beside and provide a light to, so that the seniors can be empowered by that experience that they have spent all those years accumulating and by life.

It’s a beautiful new name for a wonderful organization. I want to remind you what it is that Pathlights, formerly PLOWS, provides for the community. They have an absolute wealth of resources for our seniors and our caregivers. I’m just going to run through a couple of them to remind you what’s available. This is an organization funded by the federal and state governments, lots of organizations like United Way, so they do have resources for those who have limited resources themselves. Not all of their services are income-based; many of them are.

To give you an example of what they do…

Basic Chores and Advocacy: they will help with some basic chores for those of our seniors who are struggling to do them by themselves. And this is absolutely amazing: they will advocate and assist in applying for benefits and services. Many of you will have had to help a family member with the Medicaid application for nursing homes, and you know it is a beast. So to know that there’s an organization locally where an experienced administrator will help you navigate that difficult Medicaid application, is absolutely wonderful. It’s a lifesaver.

Care Coordination: They will coordinate care with various services, in-home services, and Meals on Wheels. Many of our seniors rely on Meals on Wheels. This brings me to one of the most amazing resources of Pathlights, and that’s their volunteers. They have scores of volunteers who give their time, many of them seniors themselves, to help deliver the meals, as well as many other resources. I know that is something that has been extremely valuable to the organization.

Vaccination: Last year the organization, like everyone else, was left reeling by the pandemic. How could Pathlights keep going, keep their workers and volunteers safe, and how were they going to continue to service their community? They were able to do so and they are still involved in the vaccination process. If perchance you’re a senior, or in fact, anyone in the community, who wants to get vaccinated, have not been able to do so, or haven’t been able to leave your home, they will still help with that. You can call Jenn Patterson [at Pathlights] at 312-730-8723 (full contact information below).

Home-Delivered Meals, Case Workers & Respite Services: They do home-delivered meals, home sharing, and case workers are available. They have respite services, for you caregivers who know how difficult that is. Sometimes you’re caring for an elderly parent, maybe still your own children, maybe you have a spouse with health issues, you’re trying to take care of yourself in there, it can be really, really hard. Pathlights will help so you can get a little bit of a rest.

Caregiver Support Programs and Adult Protective Services: It’s difficult to acknowledge this, but there is occasionally financial abuse and elder abuse. So if you suspect that that is going on with a senior in your life, Pathlights will provide advocacy and help get those adult protective services in place.

So if you think of Pathlights not just as providing services, but a partner to bring in the resources that you’re going to need in so many different areas of your senior care.

Information and Assistance: They provide information and assistance for a myriad of things, such as grief and loss support. Those of us who deal in the elder care world understand that it is part of our world to lose clients, to lose seniors, and to lose those who are ill, so the grief and loss support is available from Pathlights, also.

Technical Help: Pathlights was able to step in once again in the pandemic world, and show our seniors how to get online and how to Zoom with their children and grandchildren.

Pathlights is a wonderful organization. If you’re looking for PLOWS and haven’t been able to find it, know that Pathlights is there with everything they offered before, as well as some wonderful new resources and partners.

I’m going to leave you, as always, with a quote about our seniors, from Helen Irving:

You can savor sights and sounds more deeply as you age.

It may be the last time you see a sunset, a tree, the snow, a flower.

The sea, a lake, they all become as in childhood, magical.

Then, seen for the first time. Now, perhaps the last.

Thank you for watching, and I will see you next week for Lemonade on the Porch with Kerlin Walsh Law.