Sixty-five-year-old Lori Kratzer is a social butterfly – the type of person who could know your whole life story in a five-minute conversation.
She’s wanted to host friends for coffee at her place in Arvada. But an overflowing toilet recently flooded her house.
“We didn't realize how much it really had affected the flooring until we had the carpet pulled up,” she said. “It was like, ‘Okay, I'm not gonna invite anybody over.’”
Kratzer’s been without flooring for three months, and she needs it installed so she can use a walker. But she can’t afford a home project. She barely makes ends meet between all of her medical bills and other expenses. She has a disability where she can only stand for a few minutes. That makes leaving the house challenging.
“I mean, it's lonely, because you can't do anything with anybody,” she said. “I have days I can hardly get out of bed, and I just lay in bed with my dog and we watch Hallmark…I got to the point where I didn't make plans to go do things.”
Colorado’s elderly population is growing, and many, like Kratzer, would like to age at home. But their homes are getting older too, needing repairs that they can’t afford. Kratzer’s tried to connect with some nonprofits, but they’re also struggling.
“They all said, ‘We've got programs, but we don't have any funding right now,’” she said. “So I'm on a list somewhere, and you know how that goes.”
Desperate for help, Kratzer reached out to a Facebook group that pulled her weeds a while back, wondering if they’d help. She thought work would be months down the road, but shortly after, Steven Olguin replied.
“A wait list is just, you're just asking for something bad to happen,” he said. “(We) try to put all of our resources together so that we can make something happen sooner.”
Olguin started the Facebook group with his neighbors three years ago to help seniors out with basic requests. Several jobs and volunteers later, the group turned into Bright Leaf – a statewide organization that helps low-income, disabled seniors get home repairs free of charge.
This work is more than installing ramps or making shower modifications, he said. It’s allowing seniors to stay in a place that means something to them.
“Your home is where you built memories, raised families, spent holidays and countless birthdays,” he said.
Olguin and some contractors showed up early on a November morning and quickly started moving Kratzer’s furniture out of the living room. One by one, they ripped open several boxes of donated flooring, turning Kratzer’s floor into a construction site as they sawed and hammered the floorboards into place.
The contractors, Michael and Savannah Massie, are volunteers from Centennial. They saw Olguin’s post on NextDoor early that morning asking for someone to come and help install flooring. It was their only day off in the last two months, but they showed up.
“Something in me just said, ‘Y'all got to go do this today.’ This is much more satisfying,” Savannah Massie said. “I couldn't imagine my grandma being without flooring.”
Through several partnerships, Bright Leaf has helped more than 600 seniors. Around 60 of those were in Northern Colorado.
There are hundreds more that reach out to Olguin every month. But he isn’t able to help all of them. He wishes Colorado leaders saw the need and is advocating for more resources.
“There's just not enough funding for this, because they don't think that it's an issue right now,” he said.
The state does realize this issue. It released its first-ever plan on aging this July, based on recommendations from a strategic plan commissioned by lawmakers in 2015. This year, they started discussing how to budget for the future.
Colorado receives around $20 million annually from the Older Americans Act. But this money only goes so far. Medicaid costs make up more than a third of the state’s budget, and the state spent even more on Medicaid than expected last year. All of that has advocates questioning if leaders’ efforts to plan for aging are enough.
“We know that with the surging senior population here, it's going to take a lot more…to even put a dent in aging service support here in Colorado,” Olguin said.
From 2014 to 2024, Colorado’s 65+ population increased by nearly 50%. Weld County saw an increase of 66%, and Boulder saw a 52% increase. State Demographer Kate Watkins attributes the growth mainly to a lack of births, less net migration and more people aging in place. Those factors helped make Colorado the third-fastest aging state in the nation during that time.
And this population is still getting older.
“It's a significant increase and a very dramatic rise in the number of people, in particular 85+,” Watkins said. “We’re just on the precipice of that rapid growth.”
Watkins predicts that in the next few decades, Colorado’s 80+ population will increase by more than 180%. In Northern Colorado counties, that increase could be significantly more: In Boulder County, almost 200%, and in Weld County, nearly 300%.
“That will drive a significant increase in certain needs, like for health care, for in-home assistance, shifts in different needs for our transportation system,” she said. “There are currently already wait lists for medical assistance, for assisted living and for other services for our older adult populations.”
A lot of that planning needs to start right where seniors live. AARP’s latest Home and Community Preferences Survey found that most seniors want to age in their own home. Watkins said most seniors in Colorado have followed that trend.
Kratzer feels that way, too. Not only can she not afford to move, but she loves her home. She’s lived in it for 13 years, since her mom passed away, and she wants to do everything she can to stay out of a nursing home.
“You walk in the door and immediately, the smells, the people sitting in their wheelchairs in the middle of the aisle by themselves,” she said. “I don't want to be that person. As long as I can get the help that I need, I want to stay here.”
Thanks to repairs from Bright Leaf, Kratzer feels like she can now. She loves the new flooring in her living room and is eager to host guests. She already extended an invite to her friend.
“I told her at some point after the holidays that she can come over and we can set up another table and…we could just have a sewing day,” she said. “I haven't been able to do it for so long.”
Bright Leaf is waiting on additional donations so they can finish reflooring Kratzer’s entire house, but that won’t likely happen until the new year.
This story is part of a collaboration with Rocky Mountain PBS.
