Profile of Emma Tramble
Profile: Emma Tramble (pictured below, with mother Helen)
Emma Tramble knows first-hand what it’s like to care for an aging relative. For the last 10 years, Emma has been the primary caretaker of her mother; Helen and Aunt Marion, 77.
Helen, now 93 years old, is a strong and independent woman, who did not want to move from her Philadelphia home, despite being diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. To honor her mother’s wishes, Emma began taking her mother to doctor’s appointments, assisting with grocery shopping, overseeing household repairs and managing her finances. In 2003, however, Helen’s condition worsened and after a year of Emma’s convincing, she agreed to move into an assisted living facility.
Emma also cares for her mother’s sister, Marion and her son, who struggles with mental health issues. Marion, although much younger in age, has many physical limitations. Knowing that caretaking for three individuals would be a certainly difficult task, Emma researched supports and services available in her community.
After college, Emma began her career at a non-profit literacy organization where she trained tutors to teach adults how to read. After an 11-year stint in corporate America, Emma worked as an independent consultant, and began to work with small businesses and corporations to improve their productivity by changing business operations and processes. Both professional positions prepared Emma for her role as a family caregiver.
Today, Emma is a Certified Senior Advisor©. This education helped Emma forge a relationship with aging service providers and understand how to work within the system to access the support and care that her mother, Aunt and cousin need.
As a volunteer for the Philadelphia State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) hotline, Emma regularly fields calls from elders struggling to make ends meet. In Philadelphia, Emma often takes calls from elders who live just above the federal poverty level, making them ineligible for the Medicare Low-Income Subsidy and other income support programs.
As Emma continues her caregiving journey, she hopes to improve the system in terms of service delivery before she reaches retirement age. Emma thinks it should be easier for elders and their relatives to apply for specific Medicare programs and to communicate with hospitals and doctors. “None of these entities know how to work together, which makes it difficult for caregivers to get the help they need,” Tramble said.
Emma’s story illustrates how complicated it can be for family caregivers to navigate the service delivery system. Emma was fortunate to have training and knowledge that allowed her to maximize access to services for her family. And, as Emma witnesses through her volunteer work, navigating the system is all the more challenging for those with limited resources. According to the Pennsylvania Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index), a single elder renter in Philadelphia County needs $20,588 a year to make ends meet. Limited incomes, particularly those just above the federal poverty level, $10,400 per year in 2008 for a single elder, make it all the more difficult to access income supports that can be critical to allowing an elder to age in place. Without adequate supports, elders rely more on family members, like Emma, to age with dignity in their communities.
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