Laurels & lances: Doing good & doing nothing

Laurel: To a sense of purpose. When you mention “volunteering” and “dementia,” people have an image in mind. It’s about people coming to a nursing home and doing something with the patients. Maybe they read. Maybe they play music or just sit and talk. But it’s about an able person giving their time to someone who has a diagnosis.

Those things happen and the people who do them are doing a service. But when that’s all we imagine, it ignores a simple fact. People who have dementia can still offer a helping hand.

Residents of the Presbyterian SeniorCare’s Woodside Place in Oakmont demonstrate that when they visit the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP). At the East Side campus in Pittsburgh’s Homewood West neighborhood, they make enrichment toys and can spend time with the animals.

“Animals get a benefit and the residents do, too,” Woodside Place recreation therapist Raleigh Mechling said. “A lot of people just enjoy giving back. A lot of the residents were volunteers for other organizations when they were younger, so we like to keep that going if they’re interested.”

Animals are often integrated into programs or facilities for the elderly. Many nursing homes have pets that can help ground or calm residents.

But it is important to recognize the bone-deep desire some people have to help others, including animals, doesn’t have an expiration date.

Lance: To ignoring reality. On Thursday, Westmoreland County commissioners recognized that the county’s property assessments are out of date. What are they going to do about it?

Nothing.

“I am still not in favor of a countywide reassessment. We can’t commit the money it will cost,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “I understand there is a need, but I don’t think it is a foreseeable option.”

The assessments are causing problems in Leechburg Area School District, which straddles the line between Westmoreland and Armstrong counties. District officials brought the issue to commissioners to plead for help. The commissioners turned them away, with the chief assessor saying other problems are at play.

That may be true. It doesn’t mean the county should still be using a assessments last updated in 1973. At that time, the median home price in the U.S. was $32,500. The median sale price in West- moreland County today, according to Realtor.com, is $195,300.

A reassessment will take years and cost an estimated $15 million. It won’t get cheaper or take less time if commissioners wait to make the inevitable process some future board’s problem — as previous boards have apparently done for decades.