G
%Begin Happiness is Growing Older at Home: Baltimore, Maryland Retirement
visibility
854 views
thumb_up
18 likes
O
ON THIS PALM SUNDAY morning, Alethea Booze looks a little tired. She's got good reason.
thumb_up
1 likes
A
She was up at 2 a.m. to stuff the turkey and shove it into the oven, start one pot of with smoked turkey and another of sauerkraut. Now, at 10 a.m., chicken is frying and potatoes await mashing as Booze and her next-door neighbor, Robin Floyd, lay out large enamelware pots and old aluminum pans full of food on the kitchen table.
thumb_up
42 likes
A
This is a weekly event that started decades ago. Booze, 72, has continued it since her mother, Elizabeth, died in 2004. What started as a post-church meal for her family grew into a neighborhood ritual that can feed two dozen.
thumb_up
40 likes
D
Online Community:
Population: 620,000
Median age: 34.6 years
Median home price: $116,811
Few health clinics or are located nearby. The closest pharmacy is a CVS that was firebombed and looted last year during the wave of protests and unrest following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray; it was closed for almost a year. Sandtown residents have some of the highest rates of diabetes, mental illness, injuries and poisonings in the city, and they're more likely to be hospitalized with serious illnesses than residents in any other part of the city.
Staying Put
Town: Baltimore, MarylandPopulation: 620,000
Median age: 34.6 years
Median home price: $116,811
Few health clinics or are located nearby. The closest pharmacy is a CVS that was firebombed and looted last year during the wave of protests and unrest following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray; it was closed for almost a year. Sandtown residents have some of the highest rates of diabetes, mental illness, injuries and poisonings in the city, and they're more likely to be hospitalized with serious illnesses than residents in any other part of the city.
thumb_up
35 likes
S
Hospital readmission rates in the city are at their highest in the two West Baltimore hospitals that serve them.
She knows how to get things done
But to Booze, who lives on and the pension she earned by staying at her job for 40 years, this embattled neighborhood is the only home she's ever known.
thumb_up
38 likes
J
She grew up in one of four houses her parents purchased around World War II, moving from one of them to another across the street, where she lives now. A breast cancer survivor, Booze suffered a stroke a decade ago while playing the slots at an Atlantic City casino, which left her with a pronounced limp and made driving impossible.
thumb_up
17 likes
M
To monitor her and arthritis, she'll ask a relative to drive her several miles to see doctors. Once in a while, she'll arrange to take a state-run "mobility bus," which delivers people who are older and those with handicaps to medical offices. Some of her neighbors walk several blocks to a subway station to get to downtown hospitals and medical offices.
thumb_up
3 likes
C
Dave Lauridsen Baltimore’s Sandtown neighborhood. is another challenge.
thumb_up
17 likes
B
Two Sandtown groceries within walking distance of Booze's house have closed within the last decade. To get the fresh food she needs for herself and the many people she feeds during the week, she asks relatives to drive her to a supermarket two miles away.
thumb_up
4 likes
H
The city health department provides 250,000 meals to impoverished older residents each year, and it has also worked with several nonprofits to open pop-up markets—"virtual supermarkets" that make deliveries to older people—and a program geared to improve the offerings in Baltimore's many corner grocery stores, which seem to sell mostly junk food, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
I m happy right where I am
From her front door, Booze sees it all. She was among the eyewitnesses to the arrest of Freddie Gray in April 2015.
thumb_up
8 likes
S
She shouted at police to take Gray to the hospital instead of putting him in a police van. "She'll yell at the kids in the neighborhood when they're doing wrong, and she'll yell at the police too," says Luther Booze, 55, her oldest son who is a superintendent of highways. "She's very tough." When her mother was ill, Booze cared for her as she lay on a hospital bed in the dining room.
thumb_up
9 likes
K
When Booze had her stroke, the bed reappeared as family and her neighbors all made sure she had what she needed. "Nobody in my family ends up in a nursing home," Booze says firmly.
thumb_up
28 likes
I
Gregg Segal Alethea Booze, right, makes dinner for neighbor Patrick Scott in Baltimore’s Sandtown neighborhood. To her family, Booze's caregiving mirrors the cycle-of-help philosophy she has instilled into the family, and her neighborhood.
thumb_up
15 likes
S
"I don't want to live beyond my needs. I don't need that stress," she says. "I tell my family, 'I'm happy right where I am.' My father worked so we could have these houses.
thumb_up
44 likes
K
And there's too much here I'd miss."
Next
Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits.
thumb_up
11 likes
J
Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age.
thumb_up
20 likes
I
You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in.
thumb_up
18 likes
L
Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site.
thumb_up
25 likes
V
Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.
thumb_up
19 likes
Similar Discussions
-
DWTS 2022 Season 31 5 things you didn t know about Joseph Baena
-
Motu Patlu Badminton APK Download for Android
-
Mondiaux de paracyclisme 2022 Alexandre L aut et Marie Patouillet rapportent deux nouvelles m dailles la France Cyclisme
-
Janet et Paris Jackson ultra look es Paris ce rarissime clich des deux femmes r unies People Janet Jackson
-
Weed vs Greed How America Botched Legalizing Pot Humboldt County Jason Gellman
-
Este spot de Islas Canarias invita al turismo de la generaci n silver
-
Elden Ring All Seedbed Curse Locations The Nerd Stash
-
How to Overcome Adversity as a Business Owner
-
Repair Roundup Week of October 2 iFixit News
-
Understanding the SQL Decimal data type
-
10 Best Weight Gain Exercises According to Experts amp Research
-
Cablemod Extensions
-
Lybalvi side effects Mild to serious and how to manage them
-
Hepatobiliary Gallbladder Scan Cedars Sinai
-
A 3 Year Old s Life After Brain Surgery Cedars Sinai
-
She will fit perfectly The Voice Season 22 fans cheer Camila Cabello for adding Grace Bello to her team
-
The Rock helped John Cena with his confidence as an actor outside of WWE
-
Who won FBoy Island Season 2 Finale twist prize money and more details explored
-
Fortnite Zombie animals are coming in Season 4 leaks show
-
New Xbox Series X S update adds party chat noise suppression feature today VGC
-
Looks like Back 4 Blood hits Xbox Game Pass day one
-
xCloud is joining Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on 15th September
-
Is Apple about to launch its very own search engine TechRadar
-
Best Call Of Duty Vanguard Shotgun Rock Paper Shotgun
-
Moneygram mı western union mu
-
Barcelona real madrid canlı yayın
-
Kuveyt türk mersin şubeleri
-
Tavuk yumurta üretimi nasıl yapılır
-
Toptan mallar
-
Progressive Insurance 2022 car home and life Bankrate