Loretta Talas Aging In Place

Loretta Talas proudly points out a photo hanging in her living room. It’s a picture of a visiting Albert Einstein and his wife in front of the Hopi House on the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park in 1931.  Members of Loretta’s family were some of the artists employed at that time to demonstrate their crafts to tourists. She says her family moved from Grand Canyon when she was about a month old, and settled in Mishongnovi Village, where her father built the original part of the home out of locally quarried rock. Loretta lived there with her parents and three sisters for many years and eventually added onto the home with her monies. She lives alone in the house today at age 84.

Like many Hopi and Navajo people in America’s Southwest, Loretta is faced with an aging structure and lack of funds to fix it up. Last winter, with numerous leaks in her roof, the ceiling in her bedroom literally collapsed, and just missed her as she walked through the hallway on her way to the kitchen. Luckily, Loretta’s granddaughter knew about Red Feather, an organization that trains tribal community members to maintain and repair their homes, and for the most vulnerable people, helps gather resources, including funds and volunteers, to complete reconstruction work.    

Through Red Feathers low income home weatherization program  workers repaired Loretta’s ceiling so that she can sleep in her bedroom again. However, her home falls into this staggeringly high statistic: 40% of homes on American Indian Reservations are substandard, compared to only 6% in the rest of United States. To be a truly safe and healthy living space, Loretta’s home needs a handrail and a ramp to get her from her bedroom to the kitchen. There is a mold problem in her bathroom that needs immediate attention. And, she needs a heating system. She is currently using portable propane and electric heaters, which are not only expensive to operate, but are also dangerous.

Red Feather is currently working on raising funds to cover the expenses of the improvements Loretta needs.

For more information, contact Terry Lee Smith at [email redacted]

 





Red Feather is a 25-year old 501(c)(3) non-profit that partners with American Indian nations to develop and implement sustainable solutions to the housing needs in their communities.