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Community Senior Advocate Groups Help Charlestown Senior James O’Donnell Reclaim Happiness
James O’Donnell, a 64-year-old Charlestown resident and army veteran, likes living alone.
However living alone for O’Donnell over the years came to mean a congested apartment that
was hard to move around in, old and deteriorating furniture, no phone, noise from neighbors
at 2 a.m., and banging from construction on the Tobin Bridge. O’Donnell, who walks with a
cane, also found it hard to get around in his old complex, which had no elevator or ramps.
“It was depressing, loud and just very morbid,” said O’Donnell. “I lived there for 19 years
and I didn’t even know my neighbors.”
On November 2, 2001, during a routine trip to the bank, O’Donnell began having chest pains
and asked a worker in Memorial Hall to call him an ambulance. He spent six days in Mass
General and when the time came for release O’Donnell refused nursing home care, expressing
to his doctor “I want to be independent. I want to live on my own.”
Upon being discharged O’Donnell was connected with Boston Senior Home Care (BSHC), an elder
service agency that provides case management and in home support services to elders in
several Boston communities including Charlestown.
“Hospitalization could have been the best thing for O’Donnell,” said Mindy Morse,
BSHC geriatric specialist. “We went and evaluated his living situation and determined his
needs immediately. We were able to offer him laundry services, meals-on-wheels, an emergency
response device and some intense cleaning for his apartment.” O’Donnell was also connected
with Partners Health Care who offered skilled nursing and a social worker.
Along with offering all these services Boston Senior Home Care paid off O’Donnell’s overdue
telephone bill so that he could use his phone once again. The agency was able to help Mr.
O’Donnell with his phone bill through a special fund the agency has as a result of donations
given by the community.
“Unfortunately many seniors aren’t aware of services like Boston Senior Home Care,” said former BSHC
Executive Director Marta Frank. “Because we are funded by the Commonwealth, we are able to
offer seniors services that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.” With the help of Boston
Senior Home Care O’Donnell only pays $5 each month for services that would cost him nearly
$200 if he sought them out independently.
“I don’t care what anybody says, we all need a little help,” said O’Donnell. “The people at
Boston Senior Home Care are making it possible for me to continue living on my own.”
“It’s funny, I moved back into the neighborhood I grew up in,” said O’Donnell. “This building
I’m living in used to be my elementary school.”
On a recent follow-up visit Morse expressed, “this is the happiest I’ve seen Mr. O’Donnell
in the many times I’ve visited him.”
O’Donnell’s new surroundings include a quiet place with neighbors his own age, friendly
people, a mall down the street, and the opportunity to run into old friends he hasn’t seen
for 50 years. “It’s familiar, since I grew up here,” says O’Donnell. “I even get sentimental
when I hear the church bells at St. Mary’s ring every day at 6 p.m. playing my mother’s favorite
hymn.”
“These are the kinds of stories that make you feel so good about what you do every day,”
said Frank. “O’Donnell is one of the lucky ones though who got into the system at the right
time.”
Home care providers like Boston Senior Home Care, that are funded by the state’s Executive
Office of Elder Affairs, are seeing a growing waiting list for elders like O’Donnell who need
assistance now.
“Because there is a gridlock on our supplemental budget in the state right now
we have seen waiting lists more than double since last month,” said Marta. “In spite of budget
setbacks we will continue to provide as many services as we can to elders needing our help,” said
Frank. “We will also continue to be an advocate for seniors as the state continues to sift
through its budget problems.”
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