Meals on Wheels Diablo Region Presentation on Hoarding

Do you know someone who hoards “stuff”? Hoarding can be a major health and safety issue for many seniors and often becomes a major concern of adult children of aging parents.

Meals on Wheels Diablo Region is hosting a free Zoom event called Hoarding: How to Help Your Loved One, on Thursday, June 17th from 6:00-7:00 PM. This presentation will feature Abraham Aviles-Scott, LMFT, Older Adult Mental Health Specialist with Contra Costa Health Services, Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer & Coach and host of the Hoardganize Podcast, and Renee Williams, Code Enforcement Officer, City of Concord. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a hoarder is different from a collector. People who collect stamps or coins, study what distinguishes the items they collect and display their collections, while individuals who hoard have difficulty discarding a large number of random possessions because of a perceived need to save them. This results in excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value. Hoarding disorder can cause a variety of complications like risk of falls, family conflicts, loneliness and social isolation, health risks, fire hazards, and legal issues, such as eviction.

“Meals on Wheels Diablo Region works to keep seniors safe,” says Caitlin Sly, Executive Director. “Our Fall Prevention Program identifies risk factors in the home that can result in a fall, and our Care Management Program helps deal with the social issues seniors face, including hoarding.”

MOW Diablo Region often receives calls from adult children who don’t know what to do to help their parents who are hoarding. Working with adult children of older parents is something that event sponsor Ana Salinas from Boomers Insurance Services understands, “I see adult children who should be planning for their own retirement spending all their time navigating issues around their parents who are hoarding. That’s why I think this presentation is so important.” This virtual event will help adult children, friends, and neighbors understand the complicated issues surrounding hoarding and will provide helpful resources.

Hoarding: How to Help Your Loved One is sponsored in part by Fremont Bank. “Meals on Wheels provides invaluable services to our country’s seniors. On a local level, we’re pleased to support MOW Diablo Region’s hoarding webinar that will focus on all aspects of this important, and often misunderstood, topic,” said Kimbrely Gruidl, Fremont Bank Wealth Management Private Banker. “Adult children are frequently the ones left to manage their parents’ belongings and papers, and this educational workshop will help answer key questions related to hoarding behaviors. Fremont Bank supports our communities’ seniors always.”

To Register in advance for this presentation go to:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsdOGhpzMiE9H_yWQL-pHntNA8yWl-XqDr