According to LongTermCare.gov, 70% of people turning age 65 can expect to use some form of long-term care during their lives. Often that care is provided by paid in-home care professionals. To find an in-home caregiver, you can contact one of the home care businesses in the Gorge. Or you can hire your own caregiver which can be a complex and time consuming process.

But now there is Homecare Choice – a new in-home services program offered by the Oregon Home Care Commission for people using their own funds to pay for help at home. If you are enrolled in the program, you have a choice of who you would like to interview and hire as a caregiver (using the Oregon Home Care Commission’s Registry); when and how those services are provided; and the services you would like to purchase such as assistance with personal care, household tasks, companionship, transportation, medication reminding, running errands, and pet care.

Often forgotten or ignored is that if you hire someone, for as little as four hours a week, you could qualify as an employer with all the associated responsibilities. But the Homecare Choice program can help by paying the caregiver on your behalf, paying the withholding and reporting payroll taxes.

I will explain more about the Homecare Choice Program and how to enroll at the next 11:00 Tuesday Lecture on October 11th. If you think you might ever need a paid caregiver, you will find this presentation helpful.

My apologies for this late announcement about the Oregon Alzheimer’s Association’s Living with Alzheimer’s Late Stage class that will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) from 10:00 – 12:30 at the Center. This class is for caregiver’s who are caring for someone in the late stage of Alzheimer’s disease, when caregiving typically involves new ways of connecting and interacting with the person with the disease.

For each of the last three years, over 300 folks have enjoyed a delicious finger-licking Baby Back Rib dinner. Now you have a chance to join the fun this Friday, October 7th from 4:30 till 7:00. Because of the generous sponsorship by The Springs at Mill Creek, every penny of your $15 ticket will go to providing healthy nutritious meals and classes and other activities that support older adults. You can purchase tickets at the Center, Klindt’s Booksellers or at the door.

The Center quilters meet every Monday from 10:00 – 3:00 downstairs at the Center where they stitch and sew the large beautiful quilts hanging in the Center’s lobby. But did you know they also make unique smaller quilts that are ideal as gifts? At the Center, you can purchase a small quilt as well as raffle tickets for one of the larger quilts. And if $200 worth of raffle tickets are sold by the end of the Baby Back Rib Dinner, we will draw the winning ticket and someone will be going home draped in a beautiful quilt.

Martin and Friends will be playing at the Center on Tuesday, October 11th. Doors open at 6:00, music starts at 7:00, and donations are appreciated. Last spring while attending the annual Gerontology conference at OSU, I picked up a bookmark that identified “40 Great Things about Growing Older”. Email me one of the great things you think makes growing older great, and each week I will mention one. The first one on the list of 40 is “Senior discounts are great” – which includes my favorite, the “young man” (a euphemism for “this old guy”) discount at Subway.

Am I the only one who remembers Donovan, the 60’s British singer and songwriter who was often described as a Bob Dylan clone? Oh, well.

But for this week’s “Remember When” question, I’ll try something a little more familiar – an American Western television series. What was the name of the TV show that aired from 1950–1956; starred the title character and his English mangling sidekick Pancho who traveled the west fighting injustice; and by 1955 was the most popular non-animated television series among American children? Email your answer to www.mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or drop your answer off at the Center with a copy of the O. Henry’s short story “The Caballero’s Way”.

Well, it’s been another week, keeping a hand on the banister. Until we meet again, don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good.

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra