A Personal Perspective by Ira Yellen

Faced with decreasing funding from the Connecticut Legislature and low awareness of the value of community health care centers to the state’s health and economy, the Connecticut Primary Care Association (CPCA) retained our agency to help them develop and execute a strategic public relations campaign to retain funding for the community health centers, as well as HUSKY and SAGA programs for low-income Connecticut families that would otherwise be medically uninsured.

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My father, who died at 42 of a heart attack, was a wise man. He taught me that by loving ourselves and by cherishing our time on earth, we would be rewarded far beyond our financial and professional success. I learned the hard way that being responsible for yourself, and your loved ones begins and ends with having the best healthcare support possible. The reality is that today’s confusing and often frustrating health and home care system requires us to dig deeper, ask questions and expect trustworthy answers.

 

Several events created the “perfect storm” that led to my creating the website “Aging in Place Essential Toolkit” that can help us better understand the health care system and make wise choices for our loved ones’ care. I witnessed a family coming together to sustain a loved one’s life. I lost a best friend to a sudden heart attack. My wife and I have cared for very elderly relatives who need constant attention. I’ve witnessed year after year of natural disasters that put my favorite places, Connecticut, New York and the Jersey Shore, torn apart by nature’s fury with families in a dangerous and unpredictable situation, and put people’s health in jeopardy.

 

When I turned 65, I enrolled for comprehensive Medicare coverage. This act was even more poignant in that I’ve been tending to an irregular heartbeat after having open-heart surgery over 20 years ago. Knowing that unforeseen events can have a profound effect on our quality of life, I felt a sense of urgency to launch a new kind of enterprise. I realized that as much as I enjoyed having a successful marketing and public relations agency, it was not enough.

 

I want families to be able to find the best professional help when they or loved ones need to be cared for at home. In creating Aging in Place Essential Toolkit, I wanted to help family caregivers find information and the supporting products and services easy to use online search and matching system. I encourage you to read through the site and share it with your family and friends. I want the site to be the best it can be for the thousands of stressed families who need assistance to find services that can help their loved ones continue to live quality lives in their homes.

 

Thank you.

Ira Yellen

President and Founder

 

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