People | Elder Law

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The Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, known as CARIE for short, devotes itself to improving the quality of life for older people. It is a non-profit group that does not provide services to elderly people but instead uses education, action, and advocacy to improve the rights, well being, and autonomy of elderly people. The center is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but can provide assistance to older people all over the country, helping them receive the care, services, and the dignity they deserve.

CARIE provides community education programs, professional training services, individual counseling and problem solving services, and other various activities and resources for the elderly and caretakers of the elderly. CARIE works with policy-makers, health care workers, and the general public, to create improvement in the way elderly people are treated and cared for. The center is there not only to improve the quality of life and the treatment of older people, but wants to help elderly caretakers provide quality care and services to older people.

The center was founded in 1977 as a project of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. The U.S. Department of Public Health and Human Services funded the group’s activities until CARIE was incorporated in 1979 as a 501(c)(3) organization. At that time it was financially supported as a VISTA volunteer project. CARIE is responsible for the service mediation approach. This process involves having an agency staff member intervene at crisis points to help elderly caregivers understand and pursue the best options that are available for elderly care, and can also help boost the family’s ability to handle and deal with the issues they are encountering.

CARIE’s success is shown in the multiple awards and acknowledgments received, including two Community Health Impact Awards, an IMPACT award, and the Governor’s Silver and Gold Award for Enhancing the Image of Older Persons. In 2004, CARIE was labeled as “Community Champion” for the elderly with a unanimous vote. The American Society on Aging and the Brookdale Center on Aging honored CARIE with a Best Practices Award for their professional training curriculum.

Some Reasons why you Need a Living Will

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Everybody knows that your will is the best thing going for after you die. But unfortunately, sometimes an illness or injury will not kill you. Not unfortunately in the case of “you really should just die,” but unfortunately in the case of “continuing to live can make things awfully complicated.” We all know that in death, every one of a person’s responsibilities ends. Your last breath is your last chance to get anything done, save for what is written in your will. But what would happen if you were in a coma for six months… and then woke right up, and decided to move on with your life? Not enough people actually plan for such a potentially positive situation. And because of this lack of planning, the situation often turns somewhat disastrous for the recovered patient. All of the little things in life can gang up against you, and make your recovery all the worse.

When you are sick or injured, life is already pretty hectic. You most likely have physical pains, accompanied by all sorts of bills that have a lot of zeroes on the ends of them. If you had put a living portion into your will, then your trustee would have been dealing with all of that while you were unavailable. But if you did not have such a portion in your will, everything just stacks up until “someone” takes care of it. In many cases, your family may not even be legally allowed to deal with some of the issues of your life.

But consider that the home you live in could become an unbelievable source of stress. What happens if the lawn is not mowed for a couple of months, and the city assesses you a fine? What happens if you own your house outright, and the city does not receive its property taxes from you because you were unable to pay them? These are more than just hypothetical situations; they are among the two chief reasons why people who awaken from comas often find out that they are recently homeless for admittedly ridiculous reasons.

CARIE – Elderly Rights Advocates

Some Reasons why you Need a Living Will

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