Relocation. Most retired islanders came here to stay and contribute. Many do not have family or children nearby or available to help. Selling everything and moving to a nursing home on the mainland or starting over in a new community — frail and in one’s final decade — is a difficult option and impossible for many.

Orcas Senior Center provides two levels of companion services for older adults (Buddy Check-In and Hearts and Hands) as well as social, recreational, health, and educational group activities. People of all ages and abilities engage socially at OSC as both volunteers and recipients.

In-Home Care. Some seniors bathe their partners who have paralysis or dementia, lifting them out of the bathtub and back into bed. COPES, the public in-home health care service provided by Medicaid, is not readily available to low-income seniors and people with disabilities on Orcas. COPES pays workers $20 -$24/hour, whereas private workers earn about $40/hour. Caregivers cannot afford to work for COPES in a resort economy where they can earn $30/hour or more in other jobs.

OSC supports public and private organizations to develop affordable, sustainable long-term care, home care, and home health solutions. To learn more, go to www.orcasseniors.org or contact Edy Hansen at edy@orcasseniors.org or 206-413-6167.

Tom Eversole

Orcas Senior Center