Creating Inclusive Spaces for Individuals with Autism
Fostering equity and accessibility means creating environments where everyone feels welcome. At Comcast, this mission has come to life through the development of a sensory-friendly room—designed to support individuals with autism and sensory sensitivities. Christina Wong, Comcast’s Executive Director and Producer of Experiential Content, joins us in studio to share how this initiative was developed in collaboration with partners like the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), The Arc of Philadelphia, and Southpaw Enterprises. Learn more: Comcast Center Campus Accessibility.
Navigating Senior Living with Confidence
Planning for senior living can feel overwhelming, but it’s a vital step toward a secure and fulfilling future. Brian Kersey, Marketing & Sales Director at Foulkeways at Gwynedd—a premier continuing care retirement community rooted in Quaker values—joins us to discuss the importance of life planning, the benefits of senior living communities, and how to make informed decisions for yourself or your loved ones. Discover more: www.foulkeways.org.
Rethinking Food Insecurity: Hunger in Unexpected Places
When you think of food insecurity, Philadelphia often comes to mind—it’s the big city with the highest poverty rate. But hunger exists in places you might not expect, including communities like Narberth and Lower Merion. In this episode, we revisit an insightful conversation with Ben Hearn, Board President of the Narberth Community Food Bank, to discuss the challenges of food insecurity in suburban areas and how the organization is making a difference.
Learn more: narberthcommunityfoodbank.org
Follow them: Instagram: @narberth_food_bank | Facebook: Narberth Community Food Bank
Fostering equity and accessibility means creating environments where everyone feels welcome. At Comcast, this mission has come to life through the development of a sensory-friendly room—designed to support individuals with autism and sensory sensitivities. Christina Wong, Comcast’s Executive Director and Producer of Experiential Content, joins us in studio to share how this initiative was developed in collaboration with partners like the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), The Arc of Philadelphia, and Southpaw Enterprises. Learn more: Comcast Center Campus Accessibility.
Navigating Senior Living with Confidence
Planning for senior living can feel overwhelming, but it’s a vital step toward a secure and fulfilling future. Brian Kersey, Marketing & Sales Director at Foulkeways at Gwynedd—a premier continuing care retirement community rooted in Quaker values—joins us to discuss the importance of life planning, the benefits of senior living communities, and how to make informed decisions for yourself or your loved ones. Discover more: www.foulkeways.org.
Rethinking Food Insecurity: Hunger in Unexpected Places
When you think of food insecurity, Philadelphia often comes to mind—it’s the big city with the highest poverty rate. But hunger exists in places you might not expect, including communities like Narberth and Lower Merion. In this episode, we revisit an insightful conversation with Ben Hearn, Board President of the Narberth Community Food Bank, to discuss the challenges of food insecurity in suburban areas and how the organization is making a difference.
Learn more: narberthcommunityfoodbank.org
Follow them: Instagram: @narberth_food_bank | Facebook: Narberth Community Food Bank
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. You think you're too young
to create a life plan for taking care of your
living and health needs as you age, well, now is
the time to start. But first, creating safe and inclusive
spaces for individuals with autism is a vital part of
(00:21):
fostering equity and accessibility. At Comcasts, this mission has taken
shape through the development of a Sensory Friendly Room, a
space designed to meet the unique needs of individuals with
autism and sensory sensitivities. Christina Wangcomcast's executive director and producer
of experiential content, is joining us in the studio today
(00:41):
to discuss how this initiative came to life. She's worked
closely with partners such as the International Board of Credentialing
and Continuing Education Standards, the ARC of Philadelphia, and Southpaw
Enterprises to bring this project to fruition. We'll explore the
inspiration behind the Sensory Friendly Room and why creating inclusive
environments is crucial for companies today. Christina, can you tell
(01:05):
us about the vision behind comcast Sensory Friendly Room and
how the idea got started.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, thank you for having me Lorraine. At Comcast Accessibility.
It's infused into everything that we do. It's a huge
part of our culture the Comcast Center campus. We offer
a wide variety of experiences and events to people and
families all year round, and we really saw a need
for this space to create a safe space for individuals
(01:34):
who are not divergent and autistic, and we wanted them
to have a space that felt safe, not just physically,
by psychological safety as well. We have crowds that come
in every day every weekend and this space allows people
to plan their visit ahead of time and to feel
comfortable visiting us.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I mentioned a bunch of partners like Ark of Philadelphia.
Can you tell us what the role was of working
with these organizations to help develop the program.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Absolutely. So it's important to note that our relationship with
the Ark of Philadelphia it's been around for years. So
this is just one additional project to what we work
with to the various projects that we work on with
them all year round. The ARCA of Philadelphia has been
a consult for our entire campus for accessibility and through
(02:21):
our credentialing as being a certified Autism Center, and so
we identified this deed and the Ark of Philadelphia was
a crucial partner in making sure that we truly centered
the voices of the disability community when we create these accommodations.
It's really important that autistic adults or a divergent adults
(02:41):
have been part of making sure that the tools and
the features in the sensory friendly room are helpful.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
We've seen a lot of companies being open to creating
these kinds of safe spaces, like the Egos or Sesame Place.
I wonder if you can describe how the sensory friendly
room works. What is what is it like? What do
people experience when they come into the room.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Absolutely so, our sensory friendly room it's a multisensory room, right,
so it has tools in there that that work for
people that need sensory simulation or people that are looking
for a low sensory environment. There's really fun tools in
their right. We have water features, we have different lighting features.
(03:23):
We have tactile objects that people can hold and use
if they need something to fidget with. We have some
great floor features where you know, if you step on
tiles they kind of change colors and there's no wrong
or right way to use the room. The room is
you know, if they feel that they're becoming dysregulated while
they're visiting us on campus or working on our campus,
(03:44):
this is a space for them to go in and
if they need to do vocal stems or you know,
move their feet, move their arms, or again just sit
in a quiet spot. This is a safe place for
them to do that. And it's a room for people
of all ages and parties of all sizes. Is right.
I go in there and it's great for me to
go to a low sensory environment. But I've also I've
(04:06):
brought my kids in there too. I have a two
year old and a four year old, and they've gone
in there and used the room in a completely different
way than what I would have pictured. So it's been
it's been really neat and interesting just to see the
various ways that this room.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Has been used. Wow, that sounds pretty cool now. You know,
as I mentioned before, many companies are starting to be
more aware and providing these sea spaces. Why is it
essential for companies like Comcast to take a proactive approach
and creating inclusive environments for neurodiverse individuals?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Right? So we always strive to have our campus available
to the largest audience possible. Right, when we know better,
we do better.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
When we know that.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
We can be more accommodating, When we know that we
can have more tools and more spaces, the more people
will come and enjoy our campus. And I truly believe
that when when spaces like our campus have a sensory
friendly room, it allows people to plan their day, It
allows them to enjoy their time more knowing that, okay,
(05:05):
we can plan an activity, whether it's again for one
person or for a group, for a family. Often, and
I can say this as a parent, when you go somewhere,
you know that probably when you reach that one hour mark,
you've had it. Right, it's sensory overload. But when people
know that there is this space that they can take
a break, that they can transition, they can assume that
(05:27):
they can probably stay longer.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's just it's one less thing to have to worry
about when you go out, when you know again that
psychological safety is there, that you know this space is
going to be welcoming to you or someone in your group,
and you know offering sensory friendly experiences is not new
to our campus, like I said, our entire campus in
the public spaces, it's a certified autism center. So our
(05:51):
attractions like the Universal Sphere and the Comcast Holiday Spectacular,
which is which is very popular. We offer sensory friendly
shows daily those attractions, and we've been doing that for
the past few years, so we knew that there is
a need. The feedback that we've received from the public,
from employees, even from our security guards, they said, Wow,
(06:11):
this room is being so heavily used every day, like
there really is a need for this. And it's been,
like it said, it's been really great to see the
different ways people have been using it. And it's wonderful
to again just see people kind of like get relief
in a room like this.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And I love the fact that it's diverse in terms
of its availability to everybody, whether you're neurodivertent or if
you're not, and it's an opportunity for all of us
to come together in one safe space that is welcoming
to everybody. For those who don't know exactly where it's located,
give us.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Directions absolutely so our Sensory Friendly Room it's located in
the concourse level, the lower level of the Comcast Center,
and so that's the building at seventeen oh one JF
and it's the lobby where a lot of people usually
watch our Comcast Holiday Spectacular in the big lobby wall.
If you go down those stairs, our Sensory Friendly Room
(07:09):
is at the bottom of the stairs. And what's really
one of the best things about this room is there's
no barrier to entry. If someone needs to use the space,
you simply ask one of our lobby ambassadors if you
can enter, and they let you in. There are no
questions asked. We do not require any reservations, there's no ticketing,
we don't ask your name, any information. There's no barrier
(07:32):
to entry. We know that there is. You know, it's
time sensitive. When someone feels that they're becoming dysregulated, sometimes
it's just a matter of minutes before maybe you hit
melt down MOAD. So we really want people again to
just easily be able to gain access to our room.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Sounds like a great place for me to hang out. Honestly,
sometimes I feel like I'm in sensory overload, and this
sounds like the perfect space for everyone. Yeah, exactly. So
I'm wondering you mentioned a little bit of what the
feedback has been and I wonder if you can talk
more about the feedback that you received from the community
and how this kind of connects with your broader mission
(08:09):
of diversity, equity and inclusion and that's so important these days.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yes, So, like I said, this room is available to
the community and to our employees, right, And our employees
were a huge part of being the focus group for
a lot of our accessibility combinations and in particular the
sensory Friendly room. We have an employee resource group at comcasts.
It's called my Abilities. I'm a former co lead of
(08:33):
the chapter at headquarters, and we made sure again that
we had neurodivergent adults and autistic adults who were part
of consulting on the features in this room. And we're
constantly asking for feedback from the community, from our employees
about how we can do better, about how we can
(08:54):
offer more. It's a continuous learnings that everyone, right, we
all learn about new technology, new tools, new tactics on
how we can better accommodate our employees and the public.
You know, if you know better, you do better. So
we always want the feedback. We're constantly asking for feedback.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, as best practices are always evolving and changing, and
it sounds like you're trying to keep up with all
of that. If people want more information about this sensory
friendly room at Comcast, how do they find out more?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yes, they can get more information at our campus website,
Comcastcentercampus dot com. Through that website you can learn more
about our sensory friendly room and also about the sensory
kits that are available at our front desks upon requests
than our sensory friendly shows that are available at the
Universal Sphere.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Any final words before we close, Thank you so much
for having us.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
We hope to welcome as many of you to campus
as possible. With these accommodations, we hope that more people
can enjoy their time with their friends and their family
at Comcast Center Campus.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Sounds like a lot of fun. Christina Wang, Comcasts executive
director and producer of experiential Content, Thank you so much.
Food and security that is, not knowing where you're going
to get your next meal is something that impacts people
all over, not only in the city of Philadelphia, where
(10:16):
we have some of the highest poverty rates, but also
in enclaves like Laura Marion, like Narbirth you wouldn't expect
that there would be food and security there, but in
fact there is, and that's why the Narbirth Community Food
Bank exists. And we're talking with Ben Hearn, board president
of the Narbirth Community Food Bank. Well, Ben, thank you
(10:37):
so much for joining us here today.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Thank you for having me, thank you for shining a
spotlight on our organization.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, as I implied initially, food and security crosses all boundaries.
Tell us more.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, so it affects forty four million people nationwide, and
in Pennsylvania it affects two million people, which is about
fifteen percent of our population. So if you think one
and seven people in PA have some sort of food
and security, you normally think it would be in the
cities like you mentioned, But in like Montgomery County and
Lower Marin in particular, there's a lot of people so
we help. I think like four hundred households a week
(11:11):
over like a thousand people a month, and that's just
in Lower Marion, where you would never guess where there's
such an issue.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Right exactly. And I think that there's some additional factors
I believe that come into play, and that is over
the course of the last maybe ten fifteen years, there
have been economic recessions. There have been folks who've been
laid off. So even someone who might have typically been
a white collar family with the mother and dad or managers,
(11:39):
or they're making a decent living, but they're laid off
and all of a sudden they're faced with the prospect
of food and security, and certainly with COVID that also
tended to make things a lot more challenging. Now there's
a whole new category, I believe of people who perhaps
never thought in a million years that they would have
(11:59):
to go to a food bed.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, so before it used to just be you would
think homeless people are unemployed people. Now it's like under
employed people. And like you said, since the pandemic, it's
increased I think threefold er request from when we've initially
pre pandemic to post pandemic. And unfortunately, at the same time,
during the pandemic, there was a lot of government assistant programs.
Most of them are dried up SNAP benefits if you're
(12:20):
familiar with SNAP, they've gotten like cut, I think by
one hundred and eighty dollars a month. They've been reduced.
Food prices in general are up so it's a difficult
time right now for people. Like you said, you would
you have an image of who you think is food
and secure, but there's actually a lot more people that
you would never guess are fighting to get the food
that they need.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So tell us about how you guys work. I assume
that there's a lot of volunteers out there who are
doing the good work.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
We yes, so we rely on dozens of volunteers, and
we mostly rely on small dollar donations as well. We
have a couple employees and then we have other people
like helping out in some form of capacity, but mostly
it's volunteers. And what sets Narberthood Bank apart from their
food banks, we actually deliver food to people. So eighty
percent of our guests get their food delivered. So you
(13:05):
think like seniors with mobility issues, families where someone's working
two jobs doesn't have time, you know, to pick up
the food, even especially in our areas, some people might
have like a shame factor, I guess, and like going
to a food bank, you know, yeah, absolutely, So we
have a lot of volunteers that not only pack the food,
bring the food in, but then deliver it to the
food and they establish really good relationships with the people
(13:26):
that they're delivering food to, and we try to give
better food than normal. I guess. So again, if you're
thinking in your head like food out of food pantry,
you probably have an image of canned vegetables, canned food.
We obviously have that, but we try to do fresh produce, dairy, meat, pantry, staples,
cleaning goods, all kinds of things that people need. And
we can cater to people's dietary needs as well, so
(13:49):
gluten free, no pork, low sodium, whatever. We try to
cater as much as possible to give people options of
what they need.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, tell us how we can help. Can we donate
food in addition to making a dollar donation? How do
we help?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Sure? So anybody base in PI got to say that
small dollar donations would be great. We mostly subsist on
twenty five dollars a month small dollar donors and then
food donations. If you go to our website now Withthcommunityfoodbank
dot org, there's like one of the links you can
see has what we need. But generally like stable food items,
stable shelf items are always necessary. Food drives if people
(14:24):
know how to do them, that would be great. But yeah,
donating food would be great, Donating any money that you're
able to would be great, or just even time like volunteers,
because again we're delivering a lot of food and volunteers
have to pack the food and stuff. So there's many
ways people get help. And I guess also we're looking
for corporate sponsors right now too.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Lots of ways to help. That's great, all right, So
let's get up close and personal with Ben Hearn. You
are professionally a realtor and probably have a pretty comfortable life,
I would imagine, relatively speaking, and I wonder if you
could just tell us a little bit about your origin story.
Why did you decide that you wanted to spend some
time to really devote to this issue of foods insecurity.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
As a realtor, we don't really have like a nine
to five schedule, so I had free time during the day,
and I wanted to give back to the community in
a productive way. I like to do like boots on
the ground approach. So the executive director, Gigi, she actually
knows my father so and I'm from narbirth, so we
had that connection. So I went there volunteered, and the
more I was there, the more I saw the need
(15:23):
because again I didn't realize this was an issue growing
up in Narbirth. When I started volunteering there more often,
I realized it was such an issue. There was a
board opening, so I joined the board and then yeah,
just talking about it more and more. I like to
s my type one diabetics, so food's very important to me,
and I like to have certain amount of foods. I
have like a very abnormal diet sometimes, so food's pretty
important to me. And then to realize, like a lot
(15:45):
of people in our community just can't get food, even
just normal food might be harder. And then again, let
alone like healthier food or like food that's better for you.
So I think that's important for people to have because
when I started eating healthy and all that stuff, it
really changed my life for the better. So I think
everyone should have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I wonder if you can share with us any personal
experiences that you've had doing the work that you do
that really makes it feel worthwhile.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So I have mostly been at the food bank doing
the bagging it up. We get deliveries from Whole Foods
like every Tuesday, so bringing those in, but there would
be people at the line, and you know, a couple
of them. Some guy wanted like protein powder or something
which you would think might be hard for someone in
a insecure situation, and we're able to give them protein powder.
So it's funny we connected with that talking about the gym.
(16:30):
And then people send letters and tell us like how
much the volunteers to deliver the food mean to them.
I've done a couple of deliveries myself. There was one
person in Bridmar and they must have been like ninety something,
and I could I didn't realize like how people's living
situations could be like that in our area. Kind of
mobility was a very very big issue for them. So
I realized, like if I wasn't able to deliver food
(16:51):
that dated them, I don't know what they would have
done for food that week. Yeah, so that kind of
impacted me pretty hard seeing that like in person.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, so you actually saw the impact of what this
meant for someone who might have gone hungry if it
wasn't for the Narbirth Food Bank.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah. And then along those lines, we do a summer
meals program. There's a thirteen hundred school aged children and
lower Marine school district that qualify for reduced or free lunches,
which is a lot more than you would think.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Well, we know what the impact of food and security
is for kids. It really impacts their self esteem, It
impacts their ability to focus at school. So and emotionally, certainly,
having the stress of not knowing where your next meal
is coming from is just a burden that kids should
not have to bear.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, I agree. Again as a type of diabetic, I
know sometimes like if I don't get food in a
certain time, my whole SYSM breaks down whatnot. So I
can't imagine being in school going through the whole day
without being able to eat, trying to learn like that
would be just a very difficult task.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Right, So that's one more reason why we should support
the Narbirth Community Food Bank. Tell us what the website
is once again.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
The website is Narbirthcommunityfoodbank dot org. We are located at
two one say Now Avenue in Narbirth, that is Caddy
Corner from the Wah Wah. There you can drop off
food Monday, Tuesday, Thursday eight thirty to four thirty. You
can volunteer during those times as well. You can go
to the website and there's a tab for volunteer information
as well. There's a tab for donations as well. Again,
you have to be pa based for those donations, monetary
(18:17):
donations that is, and you can find all that information.
People can reach out to me directly. You can look
at our social media. I think it's just Narbyth' Community
Food Bank.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
This is great. I'm glad you came in to tell
us about this issue because again, I think a lot
of folks don't realize that hunger crosses all boundaries, including
Narbirth and the greater Lower Marion area. There are a
lot of folks out there who are really in need
of food and not knowing where their next meal is
going to come from, and the Narbirth Community Food Bank
(18:45):
is there to address that. Ben Hearn, Board, President of
the Narbirth Community Food Bank, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Planning for senior living can be daunting, but it's a
crucial step towards insuring a secure and fulfilling future. Today
I'm joined by Brian Kersey, Marketing and Sales director at
folk Ways at Gwinnett, a premier continuing care retirement community
inspired by Quaker values. Brian will share insights into the
importance of creating a life plan. The benefits of communities
(19:17):
like folk Ways, and how to make informed decisions for
yourself or your loved ones. So let's begin first. First
of all, thank you for joining us today. This is
a very important issue, and I'm going to ask you
to start by telling us about folk Ways at gwinned
and its mission.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Folk Ways at Gwinnett we're now in our fifty eighth year.
Our goal is to provide comprehensive services for our residents,
driven by our Quaker values, in order to promote independence,
quality of life, respect, inclusion, security, and just choice for
the prospects that we will eventually come to live here
(19:54):
at folk Ways.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Why is it important for individuals and families to start
planning for senior living early? And when would you suggest
people start thinking about it?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Yesterday? Yeah, we find you know, as people continue to
live longer and life expectancy continues to climb because of
all of the wonderful medicine that we have these days,
you really need to plan for your future. If that
means staying at home, if that means you really need
(20:27):
to go to a community like ours, a continuing care
retirement community. It's important because most of these communities, even
the communities such as ours, they have wait lists that
begin and started eight years, so it's not something that
you can just show up and regardless of whether you
have finances or not. So if you're looking for subsidies
(20:50):
or assistance, those wait lists can be twenty years long,
and so you really need to have plan for what's
going to be next.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Retirements that people should consider when creating a life plan
for their senior years.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
One of the most important is where do you want
to be Do you want to be close to your children?
Is that going to be important to you? What types
of people do you want to be around when those
last time years of your life. There are numerous amounts
of communities in Pennsylvania, and so what type of community
do you want it to be a faith based community?
(21:24):
Do you want it to be a community that provides
services for other people? Do you want to be active
or do you want to be provided care? And when
would you like to go in. Are you looking to
wait until you need assisted living where you need to
help with dressing, bathing and so forth, or do you
want to be independent when you go into a community.
So there's tons of communities with various variables that you
(21:48):
need to think about. Mainly, you want to think about
what you need and what you're going to want and
expect in those last years of your life.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Brian, I wonder if you can talk about the different
tiers of care. Certainly there's independent living where you're pretty
much on your own. You've got a place that's going
to be a comfort and allows for that independence. And
then if there's some medical issues that start to crop up,
then there are different levels of support. I wonder if
you can kind of lay those out for us.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
You're right lerin so independent living is going to be
just like you living at home, So you're going to
come in and be able to live the way you were.
But when you start to think about those next level
of cares, assisted living where you may need help with dressing, bathing, medication, administration.
Some folks, you might have severe arthritis and need somebody
(22:39):
to assist you with your buttons or bending over. You
may have issues with walking, so that will be one
of the levels. Then you may think of you're hearing
a lot of days about Alzheimer's and memory impairment, so
that would be another level of care you'd be looking
at in terms of, hey, do you need just memory assistant.
(23:01):
Is your loved one or yourself starting to wander? Are
you a part of the unfortunate group of younger folks
now getting diagnosed early. So you're planning to move into
a community knowing that, hey, I have this Alzheimer's disease,
and I know that it's going to progress. You know
the drugs will help slow it down. But setting yourself
(23:22):
up so that you're in a place where you can
be taken care of when you no longer can remember
to the level what you can now. And then one
of the toughest places to be placed is the nursing home.
That's sort of the third level of care where residents
will go in needing to be one hundred percent bound
(23:45):
taken care of. Usually that could you know that just
has sprung upon some folks in terms of maybe they
have a stroke or maybe they have some debilitating disease
that needs them to go into that level of care.
But those are three major levels of care, independent living,
assisted living, memory impairment and then nursing home and then
(24:08):
hospice care is always something that people think about as well,
but that can be done in your own home or
whatever level of care you are in So.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You had mentioned earlier how there can be waiting lists
between five and twenty years. So, as a family is
considering this kind of life plan, how do they what
kinds of factors should they consider in terms of finances
and being able to finance living in a senior living situation?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
You want to think about now, you know, I'm in
my forties and so a lot of times, you know,
a lot of the conversation I have in my household
is hey, what ways can we plan it? As we
think about what's going on? How do you think about
what type of care you're going to want? But then
you want to think about how will you finance that?
(24:59):
But there's many ways that you can finance, and you
can use long term care policies that you can still purchase.
They can be costly over time, so it's more of
the higher end thing if you would want to think
about that. If you're looking for affordable housing options for
your future and down the road, you want to say, hey,
(25:19):
I heard that it's a twenty year wait list, and
so you want to research places where you can get
affordable senior living and get on the wait list. Now
I'm forty five years old, twenty years from now, you'll
be sixty five. You are now eligible then to go
in and that's when they'll start calling you twenty years
from now. So it's planning for those levels because your
(25:41):
finances change as you get older, and so you want
to think about ways in which you can manipulate your
finances to work for you. A lot of folks now
also use a long life insurance policies. Depending on the
type of life insurance policy that you have, some of
those policies can be converted to cover your future long
(26:04):
term care costs. So depending if you have a term
life or a whole life policy, they can be converted
to cover those future long term care needs that you
might have as well.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
So I understand that folk Ways is informed by Quaker values,
and I wonder if you can explain to us what
that means and how that impacts the kind of care
that's received at folk Ways.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
We talk about this idea of Quaker values, and I
would just say they're good, old fashioned values that everyone
that is a good person would have. It's the idea
of respect respecting not only yourself, but respecting the people
that are going to be taking care of you, Respecting
the people that you're going to be living with and
(26:50):
in the same area as you, having dignity, that the
staff provide dignity of care for the residents that live there,
that you have dignite, and how you take care of
your home and how things are provided to you. This
idea of inclusion and equity, that everyone has the ability
(27:11):
to have the same level of care regardless of your finances,
that you're able to be provided to that same level
of choice and option.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Any final words before we close, One.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Thing I would I would say to keep in mind
is to remember that this is something we all are
going to get older, and as we get older, we
are going to need a plan, and so take the
time now to create that plan, like we do for
everything else in our lives. Is plan for this part,
(27:44):
this next stage in your life that will come if
you're blessed enough to live long enough.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That's good advice for us and certainly something we need
to think about. If people want more information about folk
Ways and and some guidance into creating a life plan,
where do they go?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Oh, you would just go to ww dot folk ways
dot org, or you can give us a call. It
two one five, two eight three seven zero zero dot great.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Thank you so much for joining us. Brian Cursey, Marketing
and Sales director for folk Ways and Gwynedd, Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Thank you, Loreen.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You can listen to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing in Keyword Community. You
can also listen on the iHeartRadio app Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm
Lorraine Ballard Morrow and I stand for service to our
community and media that empowers. What will you stand for?
(28:41):
You've been listening to what's going on and thank you?
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Are or uncom
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. You think you're too young
to create a life plan for taking care of your
living and health needs as you age, well, now is
the time to start. But first, creating safe and inclusive
spaces for individuals with autism is a vital part of
(00:21):
fostering equity and accessibility. At Comcasts, this mission has taken
shape through the development of a Sensory Friendly Room, a
space designed to meet the unique needs of individuals with
autism and sensory sensitivities. Christina Wangcomcast's executive director and producer
of experiential content, is joining us in the studio today
(00:41):
to discuss how this initiative came to life. She's worked
closely with partners such as the International Board of Credentialing
and Continuing Education Standards, the ARC of Philadelphia, and Southpaw
Enterprises to bring this project to fruition. We'll explore the
inspiration behind the Sensory Friendly Room and why creating inclusive
environments is crucial for companies today. Christina, can you tell
(01:05):
us about the vision behind comcast Sensory Friendly Room and
how the idea got started.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, thank you for having me Lorraine. At Comcast Accessibility.
It's infused into everything that we do. It's a huge
part of our culture the Comcast Center campus. We offer
a wide variety of experiences and events to people and
families all year round, and we really saw a need
for this space to create a safe space for individuals
(01:34):
who are not divergent and autistic, and we wanted them
to have a space that felt safe, not just physically,
by psychological safety as well. We have crowds that come
in every day every weekend and this space allows people
to plan their visit ahead of time and to feel
comfortable visiting us.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I mentioned a bunch of partners like Ark of Philadelphia.
Can you tell us what the role was of working
with these organizations to help develop the program.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Absolutely. So it's important to note that our relationship with
the Ark of Philadelphia it's been around for years. So
this is just one additional project to what we work
with to the various projects that we work on with
them all year round. The ARCA of Philadelphia has been
a consult for our entire campus for accessibility and through
(02:21):
our credentialing as being a certified Autism Center, and so
we identified this deed and the Ark of Philadelphia was
a crucial partner in making sure that we truly centered
the voices of the disability community when we create these accommodations.
It's really important that autistic adults or a divergent adults
(02:41):
have been part of making sure that the tools and
the features in the sensory friendly room are helpful.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
We've seen a lot of companies being open to creating
these kinds of safe spaces, like the Egos or Sesame Place.
I wonder if you can describe how the sensory friendly
room works. What is what is it like? What do
people experience when they come into the room.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Absolutely so, our sensory friendly room it's a multisensory room, right,
so it has tools in there that that work for
people that need sensory simulation or people that are looking
for a low sensory environment. There's really fun tools in
their right. We have water features, we have different lighting features.
(03:23):
We have tactile objects that people can hold and use
if they need something to fidget with. We have some
great floor features where you know, if you step on
tiles they kind of change colors and there's no wrong
or right way to use the room. The room is
you know, if they feel that they're becoming dysregulated while
they're visiting us on campus or working on our campus,
(03:44):
this is a space for them to go in and
if they need to do vocal stems or you know,
move their feet, move their arms, or again just sit
in a quiet spot. This is a safe place for
them to do that. And it's a room for people
of all ages and parties of all sizes. Is right.
I go in there and it's great for me to
go to a low sensory environment. But I've also I've
(04:06):
brought my kids in there too. I have a two
year old and a four year old, and they've gone
in there and used the room in a completely different
way than what I would have pictured. So it's been
it's been really neat and interesting just to see the
various ways that this room.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Has been used. Wow, that sounds pretty cool now. You know,
as I mentioned before, many companies are starting to be
more aware and providing these sea spaces. Why is it
essential for companies like Comcast to take a proactive approach
and creating inclusive environments for neurodiverse individuals?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Right? So we always strive to have our campus available
to the largest audience possible. Right, when we know better,
we do better.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
When we know that.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
We can be more accommodating, When we know that we
can have more tools and more spaces, the more people
will come and enjoy our campus. And I truly believe
that when when spaces like our campus have a sensory
friendly room, it allows people to plan their day, It
allows them to enjoy their time more knowing that, okay,
(05:05):
we can plan an activity, whether it's again for one
person or for a group, for a family. Often, and
I can say this as a parent, when you go somewhere,
you know that probably when you reach that one hour mark,
you've had it. Right, it's sensory overload. But when people
know that there is this space that they can take
a break, that they can transition, they can assume that
(05:27):
they can probably stay longer.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's just it's one less thing to have to worry
about when you go out, when you know again that
psychological safety is there, that you know this space is
going to be welcoming to you or someone in your group,
and you know offering sensory friendly experiences is not new
to our campus, like I said, our entire campus in
the public spaces, it's a certified autism center. So our
(05:51):
attractions like the Universal Sphere and the Comcast Holiday Spectacular,
which is which is very popular. We offer sensory friendly
shows daily those attractions, and we've been doing that for
the past few years, so we knew that there is
a need. The feedback that we've received from the public,
from employees, even from our security guards, they said, Wow,
(06:11):
this room is being so heavily used every day, like
there really is a need for this. And it's been,
like it said, it's been really great to see the
different ways people have been using it. And it's wonderful
to again just see people kind of like get relief
in a room like this.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And I love the fact that it's diverse in terms
of its availability to everybody, whether you're neurodivertent or if
you're not, and it's an opportunity for all of us
to come together in one safe space that is welcoming
to everybody. For those who don't know exactly where it's located,
give us.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Directions absolutely so our Sensory Friendly Room it's located in
the concourse level, the lower level of the Comcast Center,
and so that's the building at seventeen oh one JF
and it's the lobby where a lot of people usually
watch our Comcast Holiday Spectacular in the big lobby wall.
If you go down those stairs, our Sensory Friendly Room
(07:09):
is at the bottom of the stairs. And what's really
one of the best things about this room is there's
no barrier to entry. If someone needs to use the space,
you simply ask one of our lobby ambassadors if you
can enter, and they let you in. There are no
questions asked. We do not require any reservations, there's no ticketing,
we don't ask your name, any information. There's no barrier
(07:32):
to entry. We know that there is. You know, it's
time sensitive. When someone feels that they're becoming dysregulated, sometimes
it's just a matter of minutes before maybe you hit
melt down MOAD. So we really want people again to
just easily be able to gain access to our room.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Sounds like a great place for me to hang out. Honestly,
sometimes I feel like I'm in sensory overload, and this
sounds like the perfect space for everyone. Yeah, exactly. So
I'm wondering you mentioned a little bit of what the
feedback has been and I wonder if you can talk
more about the feedback that you received from the community
and how this kind of connects with your broader mission
(08:09):
of diversity, equity and inclusion and that's so important these days.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yes, So, like I said, this room is available to
the community and to our employees, right, And our employees
were a huge part of being the focus group for
a lot of our accessibility combinations and in particular the
sensory Friendly room. We have an employee resource group at comcasts.
It's called my Abilities. I'm a former co lead of
(08:33):
the chapter at headquarters, and we made sure again that
we had neurodivergent adults and autistic adults who were part
of consulting on the features in this room. And we're
constantly asking for feedback from the community, from our employees
about how we can do better, about how we can
(08:54):
offer more. It's a continuous learnings that everyone, right, we
all learn about new technology, new tools, new tactics on
how we can better accommodate our employees and the public.
You know, if you know better, you do better. So
we always want the feedback. We're constantly asking for feedback.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, as best practices are always evolving and changing, and
it sounds like you're trying to keep up with all
of that. If people want more information about this sensory
friendly room at Comcast, how do they find out more?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yes, they can get more information at our campus website,
Comcastcentercampus dot com. Through that website you can learn more
about our sensory friendly room and also about the sensory
kits that are available at our front desks upon requests
than our sensory friendly shows that are available at the
Universal Sphere.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Any final words before we close, Thank you so much
for having us.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
We hope to welcome as many of you to campus
as possible. With these accommodations, we hope that more people
can enjoy their time with their friends and their family
at Comcast Center Campus.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Sounds like a lot of fun. Christina Wang, Comcasts executive
director and producer of experiential Content, Thank you so much.
Food and security that is, not knowing where you're going
to get your next meal is something that impacts people
all over, not only in the city of Philadelphia, where
(10:16):
we have some of the highest poverty rates, but also
in enclaves like Laura Marion, like Narbirth you wouldn't expect
that there would be food and security there, but in
fact there is, and that's why the Narbirth Community Food
Bank exists. And we're talking with Ben Hearn, board president
of the Narbirth Community Food Bank. Well, Ben, thank you
(10:37):
so much for joining us here today.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Thank you for having me, thank you for shining a
spotlight on our organization.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, as I implied initially, food and security crosses all boundaries.
Tell us more.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, so it affects forty four million people nationwide, and
in Pennsylvania it affects two million people, which is about
fifteen percent of our population. So if you think one
and seven people in PA have some sort of food
and security, you normally think it would be in the
cities like you mentioned, But in like Montgomery County and
Lower Marin in particular, there's a lot of people so
we help. I think like four hundred households a week
(11:11):
over like a thousand people a month, and that's just
in Lower Marion, where you would never guess where there's
such an issue.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Right exactly. And I think that there's some additional factors
I believe that come into play, and that is over
the course of the last maybe ten fifteen years, there
have been economic recessions. There have been folks who've been
laid off. So even someone who might have typically been
a white collar family with the mother and dad or managers,
(11:39):
or they're making a decent living, but they're laid off
and all of a sudden they're faced with the prospect
of food and security, and certainly with COVID that also
tended to make things a lot more challenging. Now there's
a whole new category, I believe of people who perhaps
never thought in a million years that they would have
(11:59):
to go to a food bed.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, so before it used to just be you would
think homeless people are unemployed people. Now it's like under
employed people. And like you said, since the pandemic, it's
increased I think threefold er request from when we've initially
pre pandemic to post pandemic. And unfortunately, at the same time,
during the pandemic, there was a lot of government assistant programs.
Most of them are dried up SNAP benefits if you're
(12:20):
familiar with SNAP, they've gotten like cut, I think by
one hundred and eighty dollars a month. They've been reduced.
Food prices in general are up so it's a difficult
time right now for people. Like you said, you would
you have an image of who you think is food
and secure, but there's actually a lot more people that
you would never guess are fighting to get the food
that they need.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So tell us about how you guys work. I assume
that there's a lot of volunteers out there who are
doing the good work.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
We yes, so we rely on dozens of volunteers, and
we mostly rely on small dollar donations as well. We
have a couple employees and then we have other people
like helping out in some form of capacity, but mostly
it's volunteers. And what sets Narberthood Bank apart from their
food banks, we actually deliver food to people. So eighty
percent of our guests get their food delivered. So you
(13:05):
think like seniors with mobility issues, families where someone's working
two jobs doesn't have time, you know, to pick up
the food, even especially in our areas, some people might
have like a shame factor, I guess, and like going
to a food bank, you know, yeah, absolutely, So we
have a lot of volunteers that not only pack the food,
bring the food in, but then deliver it to the
food and they establish really good relationships with the people
(13:26):
that they're delivering food to, and we try to give
better food than normal. I guess. So again, if you're
thinking in your head like food out of food pantry,
you probably have an image of canned vegetables, canned food.
We obviously have that, but we try to do fresh produce, dairy, meat, pantry, staples,
cleaning goods, all kinds of things that people need. And
we can cater to people's dietary needs as well, so
(13:49):
gluten free, no pork, low sodium, whatever. We try to
cater as much as possible to give people options of
what they need.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, tell us how we can help. Can we donate
food in addition to making a dollar donation? How do
we help?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Sure? So anybody base in PI got to say that
small dollar donations would be great. We mostly subsist on
twenty five dollars a month small dollar donors and then
food donations. If you go to our website now Withthcommunityfoodbank
dot org, there's like one of the links you can
see has what we need. But generally like stable food items,
stable shelf items are always necessary. Food drives if people
(14:24):
know how to do them, that would be great. But yeah,
donating food would be great, Donating any money that you're
able to would be great, or just even time like volunteers,
because again we're delivering a lot of food and volunteers
have to pack the food and stuff. So there's many
ways people get help. And I guess also we're looking
for corporate sponsors right now too.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Lots of ways to help. That's great, all right, So
let's get up close and personal with Ben Hearn. You
are professionally a realtor and probably have a pretty comfortable life,
I would imagine, relatively speaking, and I wonder if you
could just tell us a little bit about your origin story.
Why did you decide that you wanted to spend some
time to really devote to this issue of foods insecurity.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
As a realtor, we don't really have like a nine
to five schedule, so I had free time during the day,
and I wanted to give back to the community in
a productive way. I like to do like boots on
the ground approach. So the executive director, Gigi, she actually
knows my father so and I'm from narbirth, so we
had that connection. So I went there volunteered, and the
more I was there, the more I saw the need
(15:23):
because again I didn't realize this was an issue growing
up in Narbirth. When I started volunteering there more often,
I realized it was such an issue. There was a
board opening, so I joined the board and then yeah,
just talking about it more and more. I like to
s my type one diabetics, so food's very important to me,
and I like to have certain amount of foods. I
have like a very abnormal diet sometimes, so food's pretty
important to me. And then to realize, like a lot
(15:45):
of people in our community just can't get food, even
just normal food might be harder. And then again, let
alone like healthier food or like food that's better for you.
So I think that's important for people to have because
when I started eating healthy and all that stuff, it
really changed my life for the better. So I think
everyone should have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I wonder if you can share with us any personal
experiences that you've had doing the work that you do
that really makes it feel worthwhile.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So I have mostly been at the food bank doing
the bagging it up. We get deliveries from Whole Foods
like every Tuesday, so bringing those in, but there would
be people at the line, and you know, a couple
of them. Some guy wanted like protein powder or something
which you would think might be hard for someone in
a insecure situation, and we're able to give them protein powder.
So it's funny we connected with that talking about the gym.
(16:30):
And then people send letters and tell us like how
much the volunteers to deliver the food mean to them.
I've done a couple of deliveries myself. There was one
person in Bridmar and they must have been like ninety something,
and I could I didn't realize like how people's living
situations could be like that in our area. Kind of
mobility was a very very big issue for them. So
I realized, like if I wasn't able to deliver food
(16:51):
that dated them, I don't know what they would have
done for food that week. Yeah, so that kind of
impacted me pretty hard seeing that like in person.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, so you actually saw the impact of what this
meant for someone who might have gone hungry if it
wasn't for the Narbirth Food Bank.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah. And then along those lines, we do a summer
meals program. There's a thirteen hundred school aged children and
lower Marine school district that qualify for reduced or free lunches,
which is a lot more than you would think.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Well, we know what the impact of food and security
is for kids. It really impacts their self esteem, It
impacts their ability to focus at school. So and emotionally, certainly,
having the stress of not knowing where your next meal
is coming from is just a burden that kids should
not have to bear.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, I agree. Again as a type of diabetic, I
know sometimes like if I don't get food in a
certain time, my whole SYSM breaks down whatnot. So I
can't imagine being in school going through the whole day
without being able to eat, trying to learn like that
would be just a very difficult task.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Right, So that's one more reason why we should support
the Narbirth Community Food Bank. Tell us what the website
is once again.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
The website is Narbirthcommunityfoodbank dot org. We are located at
two one say Now Avenue in Narbirth, that is Caddy
Corner from the Wah Wah. There you can drop off
food Monday, Tuesday, Thursday eight thirty to four thirty. You
can volunteer during those times as well. You can go
to the website and there's a tab for volunteer information
as well. There's a tab for donations as well. Again,
you have to be pa based for those donations, monetary
(18:17):
donations that is, and you can find all that information.
People can reach out to me directly. You can look
at our social media. I think it's just Narbyth' Community
Food Bank.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
This is great. I'm glad you came in to tell
us about this issue because again, I think a lot
of folks don't realize that hunger crosses all boundaries, including
Narbirth and the greater Lower Marion area. There are a
lot of folks out there who are really in need
of food and not knowing where their next meal is
going to come from, and the Narbirth Community Food Bank
(18:45):
is there to address that. Ben Hearn, Board, President of
the Narbirth Community Food Bank, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Planning for senior living can be daunting, but it's a
crucial step towards insuring a secure and fulfilling future. Today
I'm joined by Brian Kersey, Marketing and Sales director at
folk Ways at Gwinnett, a premier continuing care retirement community
inspired by Quaker values. Brian will share insights into the
importance of creating a life plan. The benefits of communities
(19:17):
like folk Ways, and how to make informed decisions for
yourself or your loved ones. So let's begin first. First
of all, thank you for joining us today. This is
a very important issue, and I'm going to ask you
to start by telling us about folk Ways at gwinned
and its mission.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Folk Ways at Gwinnett we're now in our fifty eighth year.
Our goal is to provide comprehensive services for our residents,
driven by our Quaker values, in order to promote independence,
quality of life, respect, inclusion, security, and just choice for
the prospects that we will eventually come to live here
(19:54):
at folk Ways.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Why is it important for individuals and families to start
planning for senior living early? And when would you suggest
people start thinking about it?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Yesterday? Yeah, we find you know, as people continue to
live longer and life expectancy continues to climb because of
all of the wonderful medicine that we have these days,
you really need to plan for your future. If that
means staying at home, if that means you really need
(20:27):
to go to a community like ours, a continuing care
retirement community. It's important because most of these communities, even
the communities such as ours, they have wait lists that
begin and started eight years, so it's not something that
you can just show up and regardless of whether you
have finances or not. So if you're looking for subsidies
(20:50):
or assistance, those wait lists can be twenty years long,
and so you really need to have plan for what's
going to be next.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Retirements that people should consider when creating a life plan
for their senior years.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
One of the most important is where do you want
to be Do you want to be close to your children?
Is that going to be important to you? What types
of people do you want to be around when those
last time years of your life. There are numerous amounts
of communities in Pennsylvania, and so what type of community
do you want it to be a faith based community?
(21:24):
Do you want it to be a community that provides
services for other people? Do you want to be active
or do you want to be provided care? And when
would you like to go in. Are you looking to
wait until you need assisted living where you need to
help with dressing, bathing and so forth, or do you
want to be independent when you go into a community.
So there's tons of communities with various variables that you
(21:48):
need to think about. Mainly, you want to think about
what you need and what you're going to want and
expect in those last years of your life.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Brian, I wonder if you can talk about the different
tiers of care. Certainly there's independent living where you're pretty
much on your own. You've got a place that's going
to be a comfort and allows for that independence. And
then if there's some medical issues that start to crop up,
then there are different levels of support. I wonder if
you can kind of lay those out for us.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
You're right lerin so independent living is going to be
just like you living at home, So you're going to
come in and be able to live the way you were.
But when you start to think about those next level
of cares, assisted living where you may need help with dressing, bathing, medication, administration.
Some folks, you might have severe arthritis and need somebody
(22:39):
to assist you with your buttons or bending over. You
may have issues with walking, so that will be one
of the levels. Then you may think of you're hearing
a lot of days about Alzheimer's and memory impairment, so
that would be another level of care you'd be looking
at in terms of, hey, do you need just memory assistant.
(23:01):
Is your loved one or yourself starting to wander? Are
you a part of the unfortunate group of younger folks
now getting diagnosed early. So you're planning to move into
a community knowing that, hey, I have this Alzheimer's disease,
and I know that it's going to progress. You know
the drugs will help slow it down. But setting yourself
(23:22):
up so that you're in a place where you can
be taken care of when you no longer can remember
to the level what you can now. And then one
of the toughest places to be placed is the nursing home.
That's sort of the third level of care where residents
will go in needing to be one hundred percent bound
(23:45):
taken care of. Usually that could you know that just
has sprung upon some folks in terms of maybe they
have a stroke or maybe they have some debilitating disease
that needs them to go into that level of care.
But those are three major levels of care, independent living,
assisted living, memory impairment and then nursing home and then
(24:08):
hospice care is always something that people think about as well,
but that can be done in your own home or
whatever level of care you are in So.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You had mentioned earlier how there can be waiting lists
between five and twenty years. So, as a family is
considering this kind of life plan, how do they what
kinds of factors should they consider in terms of finances
and being able to finance living in a senior living situation?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
You want to think about now, you know, I'm in
my forties and so a lot of times, you know,
a lot of the conversation I have in my household
is hey, what ways can we plan it? As we
think about what's going on? How do you think about
what type of care you're going to want? But then
you want to think about how will you finance that?
(24:59):
But there's many ways that you can finance, and you
can use long term care policies that you can still purchase.
They can be costly over time, so it's more of
the higher end thing if you would want to think
about that. If you're looking for affordable housing options for
your future and down the road, you want to say, hey,
(25:19):
I heard that it's a twenty year wait list, and
so you want to research places where you can get
affordable senior living and get on the wait list. Now
I'm forty five years old, twenty years from now, you'll
be sixty five. You are now eligible then to go
in and that's when they'll start calling you twenty years
from now. So it's planning for those levels because your
(25:41):
finances change as you get older, and so you want
to think about ways in which you can manipulate your
finances to work for you. A lot of folks now
also use a long life insurance policies. Depending on the
type of life insurance policy that you have, some of
those policies can be converted to cover your future long
(26:04):
term care costs. So depending if you have a term
life or a whole life policy, they can be converted
to cover those future long term care needs that you
might have as well.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
So I understand that folk Ways is informed by Quaker values,
and I wonder if you can explain to us what
that means and how that impacts the kind of care
that's received at folk Ways.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
We talk about this idea of Quaker values, and I
would just say they're good, old fashioned values that everyone
that is a good person would have. It's the idea
of respect respecting not only yourself, but respecting the people
that are going to be taking care of you, Respecting
the people that you're going to be living with and
(26:50):
in the same area as you, having dignity, that the
staff provide dignity of care for the residents that live there,
that you have dignite, and how you take care of
your home and how things are provided to you. This
idea of inclusion and equity, that everyone has the ability
(27:11):
to have the same level of care regardless of your finances,
that you're able to be provided to that same level
of choice and option.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Any final words before we close, One.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Thing I would I would say to keep in mind
is to remember that this is something we all are
going to get older, and as we get older, we
are going to need a plan, and so take the
time now to create that plan, like we do for
everything else in our lives. Is plan for this part,
(27:44):
this next stage in your life that will come if
you're blessed enough to live long enough.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That's good advice for us and certainly something we need
to think about. If people want more information about folk
Ways and and some guidance into creating a life plan,
where do they go?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Oh, you would just go to ww dot folk ways
dot org, or you can give us a call. It
two one five, two eight three seven zero zero dot great.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Thank you so much for joining us. Brian Cursey, Marketing
and Sales director for folk Ways and Gwynedd, Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Thank you, Loreen.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You can listen to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing in Keyword Community. You
can also listen on the iHeartRadio app Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm
Lorraine Ballard Morrow and I stand for service to our
community and media that empowers. What will you stand for?
(28:41):
You've been listening to what's going on and thank you?
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Are or uncom
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