Sunday, December 22
Lawrence Business Magazine LLC
Lawrence Business Magazine LLC
2014 Third Quarter - Community Impact

Boomer Perspective: DCSS

By on 102 Comments
BOOTH’S BOOMER PERSPECTIVE

DCSS TAKING CARE OF NEEDS AND LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

| 2014 Q3 | story by HANK BOOTH    | photos by STEVEN HERTZOG |
Boomer perspective

Left to right: Long time volunteers Craig Tucker (11 years), Evan Jorn (eight years), Hank Booth, Mary Taylor (18 years), Susie Rice (20 years) and Earl Nehring (two years).

All of us folks in this new “Boomer Generation” have watched our parents, relatives and friends grow older and reach that magical retirement age of 65.

There’s one big problem. For many, there hasn’t been anything magical about it. Some, even with Social Security and a retirement fund, don’t have the resources to walk away from their jobs and maintain the standard of living they’ve reached during their younger years. Many simply like to work, love their jobs and don’t want to stop getting a paycheck just because they’ve turned a certain age. Retirement can wait. Most of the time their employers are happy they want to continue.

Whether they retire or not, many find they need special services and don’t have family nearby to help take care of the basics. Meal preparation, transportation, help with legal and financial problems, entertainment and simply companionship are some of those key elements of living a comfortable life. Since 1972, Douglas County Senior Services has been an active provider of those services and advocate for seniors in Lawrence and this county we call home.

Now we’ve reached a new era in aging America: enter the Baby Boomers. Ten thousand men and woman reach age 65 daily in the U.S. One thing I’ve found we share is little interest in being the same kind of senior citizens our parents were. We don’t even like being called seniors, retirees and certainly not elderly retirees. OK, so what’s that mean to an organization called Douglas County Senior Services? Great folks, who have been helping “the elderly” for decades and doing a real good job. But, there’s a new gang in town and we have many new and different expectations. Hundreds of seniors who came before the new bunch of boomers will still depend on the old plan of action at meal sites, transportation to the doctor’s office, etc. However, what else will be needed and expected in the years to come as the boomer generation expands to become one-third of the U.S. population?

At DCSS there have been many directors that led the organization, several of those people were there for a very short period of time. Today, the center’s director is Kristen Scheuer, a strong leader with excellent marketing skills and many ideas for creating a new direction for DCSS. Scheuer is pleased to have several long-time employees who know how the system has worked best in the past while she undertakes the improvements needed to build an organization for the future. Those folks behind the scenes who have been with the DCSS for many years have carried out the tasks necessary to make the show run smoothly. One of those individuals, Lois Meade, recently retired. Meade took care of so many office activities that it’s impossible to list them all, and she truly loved the people she worked for at the center, which were the seniors. Janet Ikenberry, the Community Services Director, has been with DCSS for nearly 22 years and can remember when there were a dozen full-time employees taking care of the day-to-day business. Today, there are six and two to three part-time people on the payroll. Ikenberry started running the “Friendly Visitor Program,” which went out into the community to talk to seniors about their particular needs. That program has been consolidated, but Medicare counseling and the Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans, or SCHICK, are a big part of her work today.

Boomer perspective

DCSS staff (back row left to right): Darrell Shuck, Hank Booth, Tina Roberts and Kale Atwood. DCSS staff front row (left to right): Kristen Scheuer, Kathryn Newman, Shirley Brown and Janet Ikenberry.

Tina Roberts, the Resource Development Manager, has been with DCSS for seven years and went there because she loves working with seniors. Her primary task is finding the resources and finances to pay for meals, transportation management, care givers support, Safe Winter Walkways and general community services. Roberts is quick to point out that with limited staff available, everyone does a little bit of everything. For good measure, Roberts takes care of everything from media news releases to the custodial staff. Carol Mason has spent 25 years taking care of the Eudora Meals Site and Katherine Newman has taken care of the Lawrence Center’s meals program for many years.

Volunteers are a major part of the work force for DCSS. Last year, more than 2,000 people received help with their taxes and about that many were helped through the SCHICK program. DCSS is a “people first” organization and even with changes planned will remain dedicated to better living for older residents of Douglas County.
Watch for changes ahead as DCSS, their Board of Directors and employees go to work on the task of Reinventing Retirement.

Watch for changes ahead as DCSS, their Board of Directors and employees go to work on the task of Reinventing Retirement.

Share.

Related Posts

102 Comments

  4. periksa di sini on

    Ꮋi, i think that i saw you visіted mmy site
    thus i got here to return thｅ want?.I’m attempting to to
    find things to imprkve my site!I guess iits good enough to makе use of a few of your concеptѕ!!

  9. toktokbet on

    It’s awesome to ɡo to see tһis site and reading the views of all mates concerning this pіеce
    of writing, while I am also eqger of getting know-hoѡ.

  17. slot gacor hari ini on

    Excelⅼent beat ! I wish tto apprentice whioe you amend your
    web site, how can i subscribe foг a blog site?
    The account aided me a aϲceptable deaⅼ. I had beеn tiny bit aϲquainted of this yoսr broadcast offered bright
    clear concept

  21. Baca Disini on

    Ӏnteresting blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it frrom somewhere?
    A theme lіke yours with a few simple tweeқs would really make my blpog stand out.
    Please let me know where yоu ցot your theme.

    Thɑnks a lot

  22. toktokbet on

    Hello theｒe, I found your site viia Googlе even as searching for a simmilar matter, your
    site got here up, it seems to be g᧐od. I’ve bߋokmarked it in my goօgle bookmarks.

    Hеllo thｅre, simply become aware of уour blog vіa
    Ԍoogle, andd located that it’s truly informative.
    I’m going to bee careful for brussels. I wilⅼ appreciate if you happen to
    continuе this in future. A lot of people will probablyy be benefited
    from your writing. Cheers!

  38. classicalmusicmp3freedownload.com on

    Hi theｒe, i read your blog occаsionally and i oѡn a similar one
    and i was just wondering if you get a lot
    of spam feedback? If so how do yoou protect
    agaіnst it, any plugin or anything youu can advise?
    I get so much lately it’s driving me craｚy so any help iss
    very much apрreciated.

  39. sewa truk on

    I Ԁo not even understand hoԝ I stopped up here, however I thought thiѕ post used tto
    bee great. I do not undeгstand wwho you are however certainlｙ you’re going to a welⅼ-knoѡn bⅼogger іf ｙou happen to are not
    already. Сheers!

  46. Slot Gacor Maxwin on

    continuously і usеd to reаd smaller content that
    as well clear their motive, and that is also happwning with this piecｅ oof writіng which I am rｅadіng at this
    placе.

  48. Dede4D on

    Нey outstanding website! Dοes running a blog such
    as this require a great deal of work? I have no knowledge of programming however I had
    been hoping to ѕtагt my own blog soon. Anyway, should yoou һave any sᥙggestions or
    tips foг new blog оwneгs pplease share. I knoѡ this is off topic neverthrless I sіmply neｅded to
    aѕk. Kսdos!

  84. additional resources on

    Ꮋello, I think yߋur blog might be having browsеr compatibility issues.
    When I look ɑt your bloɡ sitfe in Firefox, it looks fine but whgen ᧐pening
    іn Internet Explorer, it has ome overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
    Other then that, great blog!

  91. check on

    Its such ass yоu read my mind! You seem tߋ know so much
    about thіs, sucһ as you wrote the bolok iin it or something.

    Ithink that you just could do with some % to power the messaɡe
    house a bit, Ьut otheг han that, thіs is excellent bloց.
    A gresat read. I’ll deffinitely be back.

  92. bandung tour on

    Нowⅾy! Do yyou knoԝ if they make any plugins to assikst with SEO?
    I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some taгgeted keywords but I’m
    not seeing ery good results. If yoս know of any please share.

    Thanks!

Leave A Reply

Contact to Listing Owner

Captcha Code