BOTH TIM BROWN (above, right) and Jimmy Partin (above, left) live in white houses in Nacogdoches, but their houses and lifestyles are different. Buckner ElderCare serves both men, meeting their individual needs. (Photos by Scott Collins)

Buckner ElderCare opens doors of hope
___By Russ Dilday
___Buckner News Service
___NACOGDOCHES--Two men live in two white houses in this East Texas town. Their houses and their lives are different, but they share at least one thing in common. Both are served by Buckner ElderCare.
___Tim Brown lives in one of the white houses, an 8-by-12-foot whitewashed shed attached to Maureen Rusk's garage. It is a basic box constructed of plywood and two-by-fours, sparsely furnished with a bed, chest of drawers, single chair and iron stove.
___Across town, Jimmy Partin lives in the other--a large, historic, antebellum-style home with white columns. Because the house is so large and age has slowed his ability to climb

TIM BROWN, 92, relies on ElderCare volunteers from First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches to bring him lunch each weekday and firewood in the winter. (Photo by Scott Collins)

stairs, he has closed off much of the second story and lives on the ground floor with his cats, Minnie Pearl and Inky, and his three-legged beagle, Tripod.
___Brown, 92, relies on ElderCare volunteers working out of the Nacogdoches First Baptist Church Senior Center to bring him a meal at lunch each weekday. During the winter, an ElderCare volunteer brings him firewood for his potbelly stove.
___The ElderCare volunteers show him that "I've really got the help of the Lord," Brown said. "God says, 'I will make a way for you' if you put your trust in him. They're good people."
___Partin, 90, used ElderCare to find caregiver Marilyn Moore through its caregiver registry service. Moore provides Partin with light housecleaning, meal preparation and companionship during weekdays.
___"She's wonderful," Partin said of Moore. "She's become just like family. It would be rough without her. I would have to fix all my meals, make my bed, vacuum the floors."
___Moore also provides companionship for Partin, a widower for two years. "I still miss her (his wife) every day," he whispers through emotion. "They couldn't have sent anybody I loved or thought more of than Marilyn."
___Both Brown and Partin illustrate ElderCare's two programs in Nacogdoches, said geriatric care manager Sandra Johnson.
___"The volunteer program serves seniors without a fee to the client by utilizing a variety of volunteers from the community," Johnson explained. "The caregiver registry provides personal care, housekeepers and sitter services for a fee to the senior who needs more extensive, ongoing assistance than our volunteer program can provide."
___While ElderCare volunteers bring meals to Brown, others provide transportation, grocery shopping, telephone and personal visits and meal delivery to senior residents.
___Jessie Johnson, 83, had a new porch railing built onto her Nacogdoches home by ElderCare volunteers from Stephen F. Austin University coordinated by Johnson.

BUCKNER ELDERCARE services provide a "continuum of care" through volunteers and a referral registry of fee-based services.

___"I decided Sandra was the best friend I had in the flesh, because I have my Maker," said Jessie, who is not related to Sandra. "She's had students clean, rake and go to the store, and she's always getting transportation for me to the doctor. She's almost like Jesus Christ."
___As in Nacogdoches, Buckner ElderCare Services of Longview also relies on volunteers to accomplish much of its work, according to geriatric care manager Sharon Reynolds.
___For example, one of her ElderCare clients desperately needed prescription medicine recently, she said. "He is disabled and on Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid pays for three prescriptions and Medicare pays for his oxygen, but he has 17 more prescriptions to get. He and his wife buy two or three pills at a time just to make it."
___Reynolds contacted a small rural school district near Longview, which responded with a food drive and collected $300 for the medication.
___"This is the first time the man will be able to purchase all his medications," Reynolds noted. "When I delivered the check to the drug store, the girl at the counter cried over the kindness of the school."
___Mary Stephens, vice president for Buckner Retirement Services, noted that ElderCare rounds out the "portfolio of services" Buckner offers to senior adults. "When you look at caring for senior adults, you recognize that their needs vary from simple advice on caregivers or repairs all the way up to taking care of every single thing they need. We talk about the continuum of care offered on our campuses, but this is true continuum of care."
___Initiated by former retirement administrators Sandy Abernathy and Danny Wright, Buckner opened its first ElderCare offices in 1996 in Longview, said Stephens, who added that six ElderCare offices now offer a ministry of "information and referral" to Texans.
___One of ElderCare's chief contributions to the quality of life among seniors is freedom, she said. "The thing that touches my heart is there are many senior adults such as Tim who could be in a nursing home, but he does not want to do that. He wants to live independently. Our services give seniors choice because, with just a little help, they can maintain independence and control."
___Kathy Key, care coordinator for ElderCare in Dallas, agreed, emphasizing that in sharing information with clients, ElderCare staff can help clients make independent decisions about their care needs.
___"ElderCare can offer a lot of education to the consumer," Key said. "There are tons of people out there--children to seniors--who don't understand how to grow old. They either don't know services or how to take advantage of services."
___Besides information, referral is another basic ElderCare service, Key said. "If a client or potential client calls and I cannot provide a service, I know who they can call. I never want them to hang up or walk out the door without knowing a direction to go."
___A third component is the chaplaincy program offered by most of the ElderCare services, she said.
___Jerry Gibson, whose wife, Gail, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, said the sight of Buckner ElderCare Services chaplain Jody Robert of Austin on his doorstep for the first time was like seeing God.
___The Gibsons had been active in their church in Houston, but he had not been able to find another church that "would have any kind of program for us," he recalled. "She was absolutely delighted to see Jody. It was almost like God had come to see us. He's been through the Alzheimer's training and understands where we are, which most people don't."
___Gibson had recently moved to Austin with his wife to be near family, but soon found his wife's care needs taking a toll on his health.
___Recognizing her father needed relief, Gibson's daughter contacted the Austin Alzheimer's Association, who referred Gibson to Buckner. Buckner ElderCare program coordinator Laura McManus soon evaluated their needs and moved to help through short- and long-term planning.
___ElderCare also provides services to residents of Buckner facilities in independent and assisted living.
___Buckner ElderCare Services of Houston provided Georgia Brenner, a resident of Buckner Parkway Place, caregiver registry options that led her to caregiver Janet Campbell when she moved from independent to assisted living.
___Brenner, 89, said Campbell "is the perfect person to be around. I like that she's here. I just need somebody with me, and she makes me feel comfortable."
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