Introduction

     The focal system of this paper will be the typical older family living in Davis County, Utah, as a *holon. While much of the paper will deal with the fulfillment of their needs, it must be recognized that they also make important contributions to the community and to their neighbors, friends, and their extended families. While many of their contributions may have occurred in earlier, healthier years, the elderly still have an impact on society if for no other reason than their long term examples and the children that they may have raised.

     Having worked with the Weber County and Salt Lake County Area Agencies on Aging, this author knows first hand of the many ways older adults help other seniors and other age groups. However, this paper will deal with the needs of the older adults rather than the service and help that they provide to others.

    In this paper, the older family will be defined as any one over the age of 60 whether they live alone, with a spouse, are the recipient of family caregiving, or are a part of an extended family arrangement. The boundaries of frail elderly families must be open to transfers of energy from other sources, including extended families and others. Thus:

           The family is best defined from the viewpoint of the [older] person

            within it. The definition should include those relationships that are a

          “family” to that person: those with whom the person interacts and performs

 * “The human family, then, is a system, a holon, and it has simultaneous existence as part and whole. Its form organizes the energies of the family members, and it must engage in transactions with its supra systems (Anderson, 2004, p.50).”