VIDEO: IW Features Releases Documentary on "Aging at Home. Living With Dignity." Initiative

Earlier this year, AMAC and Independent Women (IW) launched “Aging at Home. Living With Dignity,” a joint initiative focused on ensuring that seniors have access to affordable, flexible care options that allow them to remain in their own homes for as long as possible - one of the most pressing challenges facing America’s aging population.

Through personal stories, original reporting, and policy research, the initiative is highlighting the experiences of seniors and caregivers while examining how existing laws and regulations can make simple forms of in-home assistance and companionship more difficult or expensive to obtain.

Now, a new documentary from IW Features puts a face on that challenge through the story of Ken Friend, a senior living alone in rural Pennsylvania. Watch it here, courtesy of IW Features:

You can also read IW's press release on the documentary HERE.

Friend was once a successful businessman who employed over 200 people and carefully saved $300,000 for retirement. But his life changed dramatically in 2012 when he was struck by a car in a Lowe’s parking lot, leaving him with narcolepsy, memory loss, and other disabilities.

Eventually, Friend was forced to sell his businesses and turn to Medicaid, a process he says required him to exhaust much of the retirement savings he had spent decades building.

Today, however, Friend’s greatest needs are often surprisingly simple.

“What I actually probably need more than anything—this might sound kind of crazy—but somebody just to stop in and see how you’re doing,” Friend says in the documentary. “I live alone, and I live out in the country, and I just need someone to make sure I’m still alive.”

Friend does not necessarily need round-the-clock medical care. He needs companionship, help getting to appointments, assistance with occasional tasks, and someone who can simply check on him. Yet finding affordable help that matches those needs can be difficult.

His experience illustrates the problem at the heart of the Aging at Home initiative. Senior care is not one-size-fits-all. Some older Americans require intensive medical assistance, while others may need only a few hours of help, transportation, companionship, or support with everyday activities.

Ken Friend’s story is hardly unique. Across the country, seniors and their families are confronting similar gaps between the help they need and the options available to them. Through “Aging at Home. Living With Dignity,” AMAC and Independent Women are continuing to highlight those experiences and examine reforms to laws and regulations intended to expand access to flexible, affordable forms of in-home care.

We hope you'll continue to follow along and support this important endeavor. You can read more curated senior caregiver stories here:

Read Joni Stevens' story.

Read Linda Fisher's story.

Read Barb Jestic's story.

Read Becky Massingale's story.