Don Kramer, One Senior Place – Special to FLORIDA TODAY

This is a new Q&A feature provided by One Senior Place, a marketplace for resources and a provider of information, advice, care and on-site services for seniors and their families, located in Viera.

 

They are fairly common but extremely important questions:

• How do I tell my wife that I can’t care for her by myself anymore?

• What should I do about my Dad, who refuses to stop driving even after a fairly serious accident?

• Can I make a Medicare change after open enrollment?

• Should I wear a mask when a crew arrives to clean my carpets?

• How do I make sure my dogs are taken care of after I’m gone?

When my wife Beth and I began One Senior Place in 2006, we did it because of the various experiences we had in the years prior, searching for help for our aging parents.

Even though Beth was a Registered Nurse, we found that many senior services could only provide one small piece of the puzzle.

After countless hours of research, phone calls and emails, we realized there was a genuine need for an organization that could bring everything together under one roof.  And so, One Senior Place was born.

We set out to learn everything we could about the senior space in Brevard County.

Today, we know the agencies and their directors, we know the service providers, we have amassed a physical and virtual library of resources — and we’re intensely focused on education and information.

Each year, One Senior Place presents hundreds of free programs, each designed to connect seniors with the help they need for successful aging.

The questions at the top of this column are just some of the thousands of queries we receive each year. And now, our professional staff will answer your questions each week in this column, providing guidance for seniors and their families with an objective, third party perspective.

We’ll explain how to initiate difficult but important conversations, point you to local and national resources and generally provide help navigating the maze of senior services and agencies in Central Florida.

Additionally, we pledge that the words and advice in this column will be original content written by One Senior Place credentialed professionals, informed by their years of experience in nursing, social work, care management and in-home care.

We’ll turn to our network of service providers for help with any questions we can’t tackle.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll provide information on such topics as: Food, memory, medications, pets, senior scams, Medicare, caregivers, low income resources, transportation, senior living options, support groups, volunteerism, Covid-19, seasonal flu, hurricane and disaster prep and quarantine coping strategies.

There’s really just too much to list. But you’ll find these and many more topics addressed here, when you Ask One Senior Place. And it all starts next week.

If you have a question you’d like to see answered, send it to AskOSP@OneSeniorPlace.com.

Because knowledge is power. And aging is not for wimps.

Don Kramer is the CEO and Founder of One Senior Place, Viera and Greater Orlando.

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Ask OSP, The Experts in Aging! One of the best resources we have at One Senior Place is the wealth of knowledge in our professional staff. They stand ready to provide sound advice for successful aging, backed by years of training and experience in nursing, social work, care management and in-home care. Call or click today for immediate assistance, or to schedule a FREE 30-minute consultation (by phone or in-person) with an Aging Services Expert. And if you have a question you’d like to see answered in print, send it along to AskOSP@OneSeniorPlace.com.