NORCS: Making home a place you can retire

Adele Youngblood has lived in the same St. Louis Park home for 43 years, and she plans to keep it that way.

"Until my kids carry me out," she said.

Youngblood, 76, is one example of a growing suburban senior community that hopes to age in place, and in doing so form a "naturally occurring retirement community," or NORC.

Since 2003, the Minnetonka-based non-profit group Jewish Family and Children's Service of Minneapolis has received $930,000 in federal grants and $250,000 in Minnesota state grants to test strategies for helping seniors age well in their homes.

Annette Sandler, the NORC project coordinator for JFCS, said that many of today's NORCs began as new communities in the years following World War II and evolved as people remained in the homes where they raised their families.

"They are retirement communities, but they don't have the services they need to be a real retirement community," said Sandler. "In order for people to stay there, there needs to be some organization to bring people together and to provide services for people in their homes."

These NORC organizations have been set up across the country using federal grants to help people stay in their homes while finding the senior services they need. The government figures it can save money on elder care by helping the elderly stay healthier longer in their own homes.

The JFCS's version of the NORC project initially was focused on St. Louis Park, but more recently was expanded into Hopkins and areas of North Minneapolis. Much of what the program does involves making seniors aware of services and programs that already exist.

"Our community has tons of services, but nobody knows about them," said Mari Forbush, who handles funding for the Twin Cities area NORC projects.

Helping seniors find help

One product of the group's work is a resource directory for seniors -- an 85-page booklet filled with information about everything from financial assistance to health-care management. The St. Louis Park directory came out in 2005, and the group is in the final stages of developing an additional guide for Hopkins.

Another NORC project has been an ongoing series of health lectures at various locations within the community. The lectures are aired on local television and made available free of charge to area seniors on DVD.

The group also distributes a senior newsletter through local newspapers, and it has sponsored home inspections and funded necessary repairs for some area seniors.

And the NORC project recently helped area churches launch congregational or parish nurse programs. Forbush said the group's research has found that 85 percent of people in Hennepin County belong to a faith community. So the group decided that congregational nursing was a promising method to reach seniors.

The nurses in the program don't provide medical care for the seniors. Sandler describes them as "more of a health advocate that helps people with their medical issues." The nurses -- some paid, some volunteer -- work with clients to make sure they are getting the health care they need.

The program is only open to registered nurses, and all nurses must undergo 40 hours of certified training. Forbush said the idea for congregational or parish nurses started out in the Lutheran tradition, but the NORC project has created a multi-faith training curriculum. This has allowed the nursing program to expand into other Christian denominations as well as synagogues and a North Minneapolis mosque.

The program has funded several congregational nurses for one year at 10 hours per week. At the end of this period, the group hopes that the congregations will continue funding the program on their own.

June Sand is a congregational nurse for two churches in St. Louis Park: Union Congregational and Aldersgate United Methodist. She left her job as a clinical nurse last June and has worked as a congregational nurse as a means of easing into retirement.

"Religion and nursing have always gone hand in hand for me," said Sand. "The same principles apply across denominational or religious lines."

One of the people Sand visits is Youngblood, who spoke highly of Sand's medical expertise and caring attitude.

"We're an older congregation," said Youngblood, a member of Aldersgate. "She makes it easier for me to live the way I want to live."

Lobbying on seniors' behalf

Another aspect of the NORC project is to influence local political leaders to consider seniors when making laws and public policy.

"We try to get them to have conversations, before they set policy for their community, about how it will affect the lives of older adults," said Sandler. "And we talk about the needs of seniors, but we also talk about the contributions that seniors can bring into the community."

The group is completely funded by the government. It also has used funding to pay for staff members of the Shalom Home and the St. Louis Park Senior Program.

Jake Parsley is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.