Two new senior-care facilities are scheduled for construction in the Wood River Valley over the next two years, but only a very small portion of our population will ever live in them.
Kim Coonis would like to keep it that way.
“We do everything we can to keep people in their homes and connected to the community,” said Coonis, the executive director of the Senior Connection in Hailey.
“On average, only 5-6 percent of people ever go into nursing homes at all,” she said.
Coonis said her staff at the senior center helps take care of five people over the age of 100, including 108-year-old Chrystal Harper, who still lives in her home on Main Street in Bellevue. Coonis oversees a staff of 26 that provides services for up to 200 people every day, from Craters of the Moon to the south to Smiley Creek in northern Blaine County.
With a budget of about $1.1 million, the Senior Connection provides services that include “meals on wheels,” memory classes, dining, games and entertainment at the social center and offices on Third Ave. South in Hailey. The Senior Connection also provides counseling for seniors facing lifestyle changes and their family members.
“When I began this work, I wanted to take care of the whole world. I found out that I can’t do that, but I can give people choices,” said Coonis.
Coonis studied elementary school education in Boise before working in a village in the Philippines among the Negritos tribes people, teaching reading and arithmetic to children, some of whom who had never used eating utensils.
“It was heaven. It was National Geographic every day,” she said.
Coonis then traveled to Singapore and Japan before settling in Germany for five years, working in the travel industry. In 1993, she returned to Idaho to help take care of her aging grandparents.
“My grandparents made too much money from their social security and assets to qualify for Medicaid, and they didn’t want the government involved in their care, anyway. So my mother took care of them for 15 years, working 24 hours a day.”
In 2003, Coonis was hit by a truck and suffered a back injury and underwent lung surgery as a result. The next job she took was delivering “meals on wheels” for the Senior Connection.
“That is when my own journey began,” she said.
Ten years later, Coonis oversees the Senior Connection, writing grants and fundraising for about 90 percent of her budget. She developed the outreach program, which today provides 35,000-40,000 hours of in-home care per year, from shopping trips to walks, to bathing and help with dressing.
“These are simple things our caregivers provide, but they are also life-saving. People don’t do as well when they are alone and isolated,” she said.
Coonis said that Safe Haven Healthcare in Bellevue and The Cottages in Hailey, expected to bring about 100 care “beds” for seniors in the valley, would provide more options with services ranging from assisted living to skilled nursing. She said these new facilities would allow locals to bring aging relatives to town from across the country.
But Coonis said the term “skilled nursing” can be misleading.
“People in skilled-nursing facilities only receive on average about a half-hour per day with a nurse.”
Coonis said she would like to see some “universal and barrier-free” buildings in the Wood River Valley, buildings with no steps, wide hallways and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. She said these apartments are designed for people to spend the rest of their lives in.
“You see them in other cities. They are always downtown, within walking distance to everything, and close to public transportation,” she said.
Coonis sees no separation between the elderly and the rest of us.
“We are all people and everyone ages differently. If you are cranky at 85, then you were probably cranky when you were 40. Most people who are healthy in their 80s were healthy in their 50s. Maintaining independence and dignity is the most important thing for everybody,” she said.
Today, Coonis lives in Hailey with her mother, husband and two sons, one of whom is disabled.
“We are part of the sandwich generation, which is coming back due to economic reasons.”
“It is fabulous for us. Mom helps with my son when I am at work. Having a family together is better than the alternative,” she said.
