Aging in Clark County is about community

When most peo­ple think about aging, they often think about health­care, retire­ment, or long-term care facilities.

But after spend­ing time talk­ing with Susan Jones, Ron Kibbey, and Tim Janes, it became clear that aging in Clark County is some­thing much deeper.

It’s about independence.

It’s about connection.

And per­haps most impor­tant­ly, it is about mak­ing sure peo­ple don’t have to nav­i­gate one of life’s most chal­leng­ing tran­si­tions alone.

The real­i­ty is that most fam­i­lies are unpre­pared when aging sud­den­ly becomes personal.

It might begin with a par­ent for­get­ting an appoint­ment. A spouse strug­gling with dai­ly tasks. A loved one no longer feel­ing com­fort­able dri­ving after dark. What starts as a small con­cern can quick­ly become a series of dif­fi­cult questions.

Where do we go for help?

What ser­vices are available?

How do we pay for them?

Who can help us under­stand our options?

For Susan Jones, Family Services Office Supervisor, Commonwealth of Kentucky Health and Family Services, these are con­ver­sa­tions she has every day.

Susan’s work places her direct­ly along­side old­er adults and their fam­i­lies as they nav­i­gate the often-com­pli­cat­ed world of aging ser­vices and sup­port. She described sit­u­a­tions where fam­i­lies are over­whelmed, try­ing to make impor­tant deci­sions while deal­ing with fear, uncer­tain­ty, and some­times guilt.

Many peo­ple sim­ply don’t know where to begin.

“They don’t know what they don’t know,” is a theme that sur­faced through­out our conversation.

Families are often try­ing to make deci­sions about hous­ing, health­care, care­giv­ing, and finan­cial resources while man­ag­ing the emo­tion­al weight that comes with watch­ing a loved one change. Susan explained that a large part of her role is help­ing peo­ple slow down, under­stand their options, and con­nect with resources before sit­u­a­tions become overwhelming.

Her work is as much about build­ing trust as it is about pro­vid­ing information.

People need some­one who can help them make sense of the system.

And the sys­tem can be dif­fi­cult to navigate.

That chal­lenge was echoed by Ron Kibbey, retired Social Worker and mem­ber of the Aging Taskforce here in Clark County, who has spent years observ­ing both the strengths and short­com­ings of aging ser­vices in our community.

Ron spoke can­did­ly about the gaps that per­sist, not because peo­ple don’t care, but because resources, orga­ni­za­tions, and ser­vices are often dis­con­nect­ed from one another.

One of the issues he sees most often is isolation.

It rarely hap­pens overnight.

A per­son stops driving.

They begin miss­ing com­mu­ni­ty events.

Friends move away or pass away.

Health con­cerns make leav­ing home more difficult.

Gradually, the cir­cle around them becomes small­er and smaller.

Before long, they are dis­con­nect­ed not only from social activ­i­ties, but from infor­ma­tion, ser­vices, and oppor­tu­ni­ties that could help them remain healthy and independent.

Ron believes com­mu­ni­ties must become more proac­tive rather than wait­ing for a cri­sis to occur.

Too often, help arrives after a hos­pi­tal­iza­tion, after a fall, or after a fam­i­ly reach­es a break­ing point. The bet­ter ques­tion, he sug­gest­ed, is how we iden­ti­fy needs before they become emergencies.

That ques­tion led nat­u­ral­ly into a dis­cus­sion about Rosemary C. Brooks Place and the work being done there.

Tim Janes, Executive Director of Rosemary C. Brooks Place, described Brooks Place not as a facil­i­ty, but as a community.

Located in Winchester, Brooks Place serves as an inde­pen­dent and assist­ed liv­ing com­mu­ni­ty for old­er adults who may not require full-time res­i­den­tial care but would ben­e­fit from super­vi­sion, engage­ment, and social connection.

Brooks Place offers two dis­tinct liv­ing options designed to meet seniors where they are on their aging jour­ney. The first includes 67 inde­pen­dent liv­ing cot­tages, pro­vid­ing res­i­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to enjoy home­own­er­ship while ben­e­fit­ing from a main­te­nance-free lifestyle. Residents hold the deed to their home, and Brooks Place man­ages all exte­ri­or main­te­nance, allow­ing them to focus on enjoy­ing retire­ment rather than wor­ry­ing about upkeep.

One unique aspect of the pro­gram is that when a res­i­dent choos­es to move or pass­es away, the home is sold back to Brooks Place at a pro­rat­ed val­ue based on the length of time they lived there. These sin­gle-lev­el homes are pri­mar­i­ly two-bed­room, two-bath­room res­i­dences thought­ful­ly designed for acces­si­bil­i­ty, com­fort, and convenience.

The sec­ond option con­sists of 44 assist­ed liv­ing apart­ments for seniors who may need a lit­tle extra sup­port with dai­ly activ­i­ties while still main­tain­ing a high lev­el of inde­pen­dence. Although Brooks Place does not pro­vide med­ical or skilled nurs­ing care, res­i­dents can receive assis­tance with ser­vices such as med­ica­tion reminders, per­son­al groom­ing, and oth­er day-to-day needs. This mod­el allows seniors to remain active and engaged in a sup­port­ive com­mu­ni­ty envi­ron­ment while receiv­ing the assis­tance nec­es­sary to con­tin­ue liv­ing inde­pen­dent­ly and with dignity.

For many fam­i­lies, Brooks Place pro­vides some­thing invalu­able: peace of mind.

A son or daugh­ter who is bal­anc­ing work and care­giv­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties knows their loved one is safe. A spouse who has become a full-time care­giv­er has time to attend appoint­ments, run errands, or sim­ply rest.

At the same time, par­tic­i­pants are not sit­ting alone at home.

They are interacting.

Laughing.

Sharing sto­ries.

Building friend­ships.

Maintaining rou­tines.

Tim empha­sized that this kind of con­nec­tion is often just as impor­tant as the care itself.

What hap­pens at Brooks Place demon­strates a larg­er truth about aging that all three con­ver­sa­tions revealed: peo­ple thrive when they remain con­nect­ed to others.

As our dis­cus­sions con­tin­ued, sev­er­al com­mon themes emerged.

The first was that aging is deeply personal.

No two peo­ple expe­ri­ence it the same way. Every fam­i­ly enters the jour­ney with dif­fer­ent resources, dif­fer­ent rela­tion­ships, and dif­fer­ent challenges.

The sec­ond was that nav­i­gat­ing avail­able ser­vices can feel over­whelm­ing. Resources exist through­out Clark County, but many peo­ple are unaware of them until they find them­selves in crisis.

The third, and per­haps most sig­nif­i­cant, was the impor­tance of connection.

Whether it was Susan talk­ing about help­ing fam­i­lies under­stand their options, Ron dis­cussing the dan­gers of iso­la­tion, or Tim describ­ing the dai­ly inter­ac­tions at Brooks Place, each con­ver­sa­tion ulti­mate­ly came back to the same idea.

People need people.

Aging suc­cess­ful­ly is not sim­ply about liv­ing longer.

It is about main­tain­ing pur­pose, rela­tion­ships, dig­ni­ty, and a sense of belonging.

Clark County is for­tu­nate to have ded­i­cat­ed indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions work­ing every day to sup­port old­er adults and their fam­i­lies. Yet these con­ver­sa­tions also remind us that there is still work to do. Transportation chal­lenges remain. Caregivers need greater sup­port. Awareness of avail­able resources can be improved. Opportunities for social con­nec­tion must con­tin­ue to expand.

The good news is that our com­mu­ni­ty is not start­ing from scratch.

We have peo­ple who care.

We have pro­grams mak­ing a difference.

And we have lead­ers will­ing to have hon­est con­ver­sa­tions about what is work­ing and what still needs attention.

As our pop­u­la­tion con­tin­ues to age, these con­ver­sa­tions will become increas­ing­ly important.

Because aging is not some­one else’s issue.

It is a com­mu­ni­ty issue.

It is a fam­i­ly issue.

And if we are for­tu­nate, it is a jour­ney that every one of us will some­day expe­ri­ence ourselves.

My sin­cere thanks to Susan Jones, Ron Kibbey, and Tim Janes for shar­ing their time, exper­tise, and pas­sion for serv­ing old­er adults in Clark County. Their insights remind us that aging is not sim­ply about grow­ing old­er; it is about ensur­ing that every per­son has the oppor­tu­ni­ty to do so with dig­ni­ty, sup­port, and connection.

And ulti­mate­ly, that respon­si­bil­i­ty belongs to all of us.

Local resources on aging

Kentucky River Foothills: https://foothillscap.org/programs/aging,services

The Janes B. Allen Jr. Generations Center: https://seniorcenter.us/sc/the_Janes_b_allen_jr_generations_center_winchester_ky

Aging and Disability Resource Center: https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dail/Pages/adrc.aspx