LGBT Senior Services in Denver
The Mile High City is miles ahead of the curve when it comes to finding and offering services and support for LGBT seniors. Whether you’re searching for a welcoming assisted living community, a home health agency, or community resources, the city, local businesses, and nonprofit groups have made it easy to find what you’re looking for.
The Center is the biggest LGBT community group in the Rockies, and together with the Denver Regional Council of Governments, it publishes a comprehensive, 24-page LGBT Elder Resource Guide covering everything from advocacy services to respite care. All of the agencies and businesses included in the guide have voiced their support for LGBT clients, and those that make a point of being welcoming to transgender clients are especially noted. If you’re new to the Denver area or new to navigating the city’s eldercare resources, it’s a good place to start.
Denver senior communities that welcome LGBT residents
Among the Denver assisted living communities that are listed in the guide are Kavod Senior Living in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood. Kavod’s senior living services, rooted in Jewish tradition, are open to all seniors age 62 or who require mobility assistance. Residents are welcome to keep small pets, garden inaccessible planting areas, and take part in the center’s busy social and field trip schedule. Kavod also provides senior-focused programming for congregations and other groups in the Denver area.
Another LGBT-friendly senior living option is Brookdale Denver Tech Center, part of a national chain of care centers that offer a continuum of services in one location, from assisted living to specialized dementia care. Located near the Hampden South and Greenwood Village neighborhoods, Brookdale’s Tech Center campus makes life easier with round-the-clock nurse staff, wellness and exercise programs, transportation for shopping and special events, and outdoor spaces that include a secure garden designed to stimulate the senses of memory-care patients.
More resources for Denver-area LGBT seniors
The Center also operates SAGE of the Rockies, the region’s affiliate of the national group Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders. SAGE of the Rockies operates several programs for the city’s seniors. One of these is Capitol Hill Care Link, which offers aging-in-place services to seniors over 60 in one of the city’s traditional gay neighborhoods. Among the services Capitol Hill Care Link provides are meal and food delivery, home repair help, rides, and help in applying for benefits.
Seniors living in independent and assisted living centers anywhere in the city can benefit from SAGE’s Friendly Visitor Program, which aims to combat social isolation among LGBT seniors through regular social visits by LGBT volunteers.
SAGE and The Center also maintain a full calendar of educational, fundraising, and social events, such as its weekly fitness classes, coffee groups, senior storytelling meetings, and support groups. Other services available to seniors through SAGE are by-appointment consultations with a geriatric pharmacist to review prescription and over the counter medication usage, art studio time, and weekly rain-snow-or-shine walks.
The Center also offers transgender-specific programs, support groups, and resources. Especially useful to transgender seniors are its listings for trans-friendly physicians, housing groups, and counselors.
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Casey Kelly-Barton
Casey Kelly-Barton is an Austin-based freelance writer whose childhood was made awesome by her grandmothers, great-grandmother, great-aunts and -uncles, and their friends.