Dr. Jill Bjerke, CEO of Silver Spaces, joins Suzanne for this month's Specialist Spotlight on Aging in Place. People don't ask these questions enough. We get emotionally attached to a locale, and while our health and lifestyle changes, our home stays the same. Tasks that seem so simple can become complicated when we age.

Dr. Jill says, "Aging in place is different than people think. It's not, "I'm gonna live in my home forever." There are a lot of decisions that have to be made. The biggest ones are things like finance, transportation, health, socialization, all of those things you need to think about either at retirement, before retirement. What am I gonna do about my finances? I'm still gonna have maintenance on my house.  I'm still gonna have to pay someone to shovel my snow. How's my health? Is it good enough for me to stay home or will it deteriorate in the future? What if I can't drive? How am I gonna get places? How am I gonna get church, get my hair cut, whatever. What options are there? Are there senior services in your town? And then obviously socialization, that's the biggest barrier to aging in place is becoming isolated. So how can you avoid that? Is your church close enough where you can walk? Do you play bingo? Do you play cards? Can you get there? Can someone pick you up? Meeting with other people is absolutely vital to longevity.”

When should you start this planning? “It really should start when you're thinking ahead about retirement, because that's the time to think about. When you get to your seventies or eighties, all of a sudden it becomes, 'Can I stay here?'”

Learn more at silverspaces.com. Hear more podcasts with Dr. Jill Bjerke at https://answersforelders.com/silver-spaces/doctor-jill-bjerke/.

Answers for Elders is part of the Senior Resource Network at https://www.seniorresource.com/. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/.

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