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Housing
Information
The Cathedral Square Difference
Featured Community
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Whitney Hill Homestead Whitney Hill Homestead is designed in the style of an extended farmhouse with long porches and courtyards. It provides a warm and gracious setting for those 55 and older who wish to combine independent living with reduced maintenance. With its pastoral setting, Whitney Hill offers a relaxed environm... More Information.
News Around the Square
National Honor Goes to Cathedral Square
Cathedral Square’s executive director, Nancy Eldridge, recently received the highest honor awarded by LeadingAge for her dedication to coordinating housing and health care services for Vermont’s elderly population. LeadingAge, a national association of 5,600 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to expanding the world of possibilities for aging, selected Eldridge from a highly accomplished list of nominees to receive the Award of Honor at its 50th Anniversary Celebration in Washington D. C. Eldridge was honored for exemplifying the creativity, compassion and leadership which results in a better world for seniors.
Eldridge was chosen for her tireless work to bring housing and service providers together to provide a more robust and focused approach to care coordination. Eldridge is the visionary behind the Support and Services at Home (SASH) program, which creates customized, at-home healthy aging plans and support coordination. SASH is a collaboration with myriad partners – from health care and housing providers to social service agencies. Working with the Blueprint for Health to reduce costs while improving the health and quality of life for Medicare beneficiaries of all ages in Vermont, Eldridge pioneered a system that will bring new support services to 112 nonprofit housing communities state-wide.
“We know that problems such as avoidable falls and nursing home stays, unmanaged chronic health conditions, excessive use of emergency room services and medication misuse can be approached in a better way. SASH tackles these issues head on,” says Eldridge. “We have great partners in this work, including the Visiting Nurse Association, PACE, Vermont Health Foundation, Fletcher Allen Health Care, the University of Vermont, Champlain Valley Agency on Aging, HowardCenter, and many others. It is a program that has something to offer everyone, from preventive services to support of complex conditions.”
The demographics of Vermont’s aging population show a rapid growth rate in the number of people 65 years and older. Projections for 2030 show the senior population increasing 149% in the decades between 2000 and 2030. Cathedral Square is acutely aware of Vermont’s elderly population and the need to plan for and provide housing services to this growing segment of the population. Under Eldridge’s leadership, most of Vermont’s nonprofit housing providers have committed to providing the care coordination and services that will help keep seniors healthy and safe at home.
Eldridge has been the executive director of Cathedral Square Corporation for the past twelve years and has been active in LeadingAge policy work at a national level, as well as in her state and region. She chaired its Affordable Housing Finance Cabinet, served on the House of Delegates, served as an active member of the Northern New England Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, and is the current president of LeadingAge Vermont. A leader in many statewide and regional initiatives related to aging and affordable housing, she also serves on the board of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.
Did You Know?
Housing Seniors in Rural America
June 5 - 6, 2012
Join policy makers, advocates and peers for a two-day intensive workshop. The agenda will feature discussions on aging in place, home repair and modification, preservation of senior rental housing, issues in HUD Section 202 program, political and funding outlook for senior housing programs, strategies for advocacy and examples of successful practices.
Click here to register for the conference to be held on June 5 - 6, 2012 at the Hilton Burlington Hotel in Burlington, Vermont.
Conference Brochure for Housing Seniors in Rural America
For more information about the Rural Senior Housing Initiative, go to www.ruralhome.org.
Support and Services at Home (SASH)
To learn more about SASH, click here.
Meet Richard Lang
Richard has taken what is essentially a one-room efficiency in the “tower wing of the building” and compartmentalized it into living quarters, a high-tech office, and an amateur radio and macro photography studio, using Japanese Shoji screens as partitions. The living quarters are spartan, except for an imposing high-definition TV and home theater system, which reflect Richard’s interest in film and TV miniseries. “I use to have about 200 DVD’s and 400 CD’s -- I gave them all away.” But not before he digitized and stored them on a one-terabyte server about the size of a Kleenex box. “I prefer bits to atoms,” he jokes.
Now, when he wants to catch a movie, he either streams it from the internet via NetFlix or channels it from his server to his HDTV via a router from his computer. Richard’s always been an avid reader, and, in Jericho his walls were lined with crammed bookcases. No longer. Now a library card is his ticket to literature. Borrowing, like streaming, keeps the footprint small.
Richard is a serious ham radio operator, licensed as an Amateur Extra, the level (there are three) with the greatest knowledge and skill. His “call sign,” used to uniquely identify an operator worldwide, is W1ELL -- selected by Richard to honor his grandfather, Edward Lewis Leigh, who nurtured his interest in electronics. Richard’s training also qualifies him to be part of the SKYWARN network, which provides severe weather information to the National Weather Service.
Although he has joined the ranks of digital photography aficionados, Richard still uses film, typically Kodak Ektar 100, which is derived from cinematography stock, when he wants ultra fine-grain images. He gravitates toward macro nature photography.
Of all the Cathedral Square communities, why did Richard choose Ruggles House as his home? “I drove passed and was transfixed by the architecture. At one point in the past, I had owned a Victorian house. It was in a small town in Massachusetts called Clinton, and all the economic growth of towns nearby had somehow bypassed Clinton. I did a lot of research on the house and invested a lot of money in it. Turns out it was the first house in the whole town to have electricity.”
When it was first built by a Revolutionary War captain named Jessie Hollister, the home that is now the east wing of Ruggles House stood alone on what was then called Williston Street. Today, it’s still the grand old lady of the neighborhood, entrenched on a grassy bluff overlooking houses all around it on much smaller parcels of land. In another life, Richard might have coveted ownership of the place, but now he’s more than content to share occupancy with 14 other residents in a close-knit community.
Even though he lives in senior housing, Richard, at 62, shuns the term “senior.” “Given life expectancy nowadays, senior is 80, maybe even 90. We have three people here at Ruggles who are over 90, and they’re bright, sharp, and involved. I had a grandmother who lived to be 104,” he says with the anticipation of having plenty of time and energy left to explore and enjoy his reinvention. “Burlington is a stunningly beautiful city, and it’s just the right size.” Even though he places high value on the shared sense of community at Ruggles House, its proximity to UVM and Burlington’s thriving downtown, propels him outward to concerts and other cultural events. His musical tastes run to classical and jazz, and there’s no shortage of either within a few blocks of home. And when he wants to be serenaded at home, he taps into the internet once again. “There’s this public radio station in Wisconsin that features my favorite classical music progamming.” For jazz, he accesses a Swiss radio station that spins vinyl and even lacquer recordings. “Sometimes at night, I’ll tune in to BBC4. They broadcast something you can no longer find on American radio -- full-length plays, ranging from Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to Milton’s Paradise Lost.”
In addition to his many varied interests, Richard has been involved with organizing and recording Ruggles House historical documents. He has also been in contact with the University of Vermont who will restore and be the repository of the collection.
Richard is a great role model for all of us – with his varied interests, excitement about being an active part of the community and his desire to exert a minimal footprint on the land!
