This week, I was interested to see long-term care and independence at home get injected into national politics. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders shared a Washington Post piece on Twitter about the challenges facing Maine’s long-term care system (lots of older people, fewer young people) and naming Vermont as a state facing similar challenges. Check out the piece, and the Senator’s comments, below in our In the News section. The news couldn’t have hit closer to home for me.

I’m 51. My husband is 56. Most of our friends are somewhere between 50 and 60. Twenty years ago, our social gatherings with friends often included keeping one eye on our young kids who were running around. We talked a lot about parenting. These days, it’s not unusual for our social gatherings to include someone’s octogenarian parent - or one of our own. 

I’m nearing my third anniversary as the Executive Director of the VNAs of Vermont. This new role came at a time in my life when home health, hospice and long-term care were about to become central to my personal life, not just my professional one. 

This summer has been a case-in-point. My mother-in-law and my mother each had a fall that resulted in a broken bone and the need for in-home services so they could maintain their independence.