| Agency Activities |
Use this link to view Other Staff Activities below.
Area Plan Initiatives
A portion of our staff’s efforts will address initiatives we have identified for the southernmost thirteen counties of Illinois. These activities include the following initiatives.
The Maturing of Illinois: Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population. This statewide initiative is proposed in order to help local communities plan and prepare for an increasing number of older people with differing needs expected within the next several decades as the "baby boomer" generation matures. Our activities include the following:
1. Select three communities willing to work with us to coordinate and plan for the future.
2. Determine what older residents will need from communities in the future by helping each community assess such areas as health care, human services, land use, housing and housing alternatives, transportation, public safety, workforce and economic development, recreation, education, civic engagement, and emergency preparedness.
3. Work with the communities to develop work plans to improve each community’s ability to meet the needs of their older residents.
4. Provide communities with information on elderly-friendly communities.
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of these activities.
Improving Customer Services. We are striving to improve the public’s knowledge of programs and services for senior adults, their caregivers, and grandparents raising grandchildren. Our goal is to provide greater awareness and access to aging programs. Our activities include the following:
1. Increase public awareness through the media and special events.
- Write monthly articles on aging topics for regional and community newspapers.
- Maintain and update a website which contains information about aging services.
- Distribute information at health fairs about services for senior adults.
- Publish our toll-free telephone line and website.
2. Develop and update tools needed to assist older people and their caregivers.
- Update, publish, and distribute annually a resource and caregivers guide on aging services.
- Provide regional resource data for inclusion on a statewide database.
- Provide training for social service workers about aging-related services.
- Write newsletters for family caregivers and grandparents raising grandchildren.
- Train social service workers and case managers about prescription drug assistance programs and online enrollment tools.
- Help senior adults and their families understand programs which assist with the purchase of prescription drugs.
3. Increase visibility of aging-related programs to special populations.
- Work with our service providers to assure that special emphasis is placed on reaching out to low-income and minority senior adults.
- Provide information about aging programs to community sources.
- Provide information about aging programs to agencies which work with persons with disabilities.
Increasing the Availability of Mental Health Services for Senior Adults. The following are our activities to help senior adults and their families to understand mental health issues, and to enhance the availability and accessibility of a range of mental health information and services to senior adults.
1. Work with local mental health agencies to enhance their understanding of the aging network of services and the issues that are faced by senior adults.
2. Enhance the understanding of the aging service providers concerning mental health issues and the senior adult, and help to increase the coordination between aging and mental health agencies.
3. Work cooperatively with other agencies to reach out to senior adults and their families with education and information on mental health issues.
4. Pursue the development and coordination activities at the state, regional, and local level to improve the delivery of appropriate mental health services to senior adults.
Changing the Culture of Care in Nursing Homes. As we use our Home Again Enhanced Transition Program to return appropriate residents of nursing homes back to the community, we recognize that nursing homes serve a large vulnerable, frail population that needs assistance. However, nursing homes are often operated on an antiquated institutional model. Developing a change of care in nursing homes attempts to change "institutional-like" nursing facilities into homes that feels more like a person’s own home where one can make his or her own decisions and have the comforts of home like pets, plants, variable menus, etc.
1. Work with the Regional Ombudsman, Southern Illinois Pioneering Coalition, and nursing homes in our area.
- Develop a "How to" toolkit for owners, administrators, and facility program staff.
- Recruit one or more nursing homes to be a model facility in our area.
- Use the media and our website to publicize the benefits of culture change.
- Help with public education efforts so that communities, families, and senior adults know about culture change and pioneering concepts.
2. Reinforce the efforts of volunteers who are in facilities.
- Introduce the concept of culture change to owners, administrators, and facility staff.
- Provide training, manuals, information, technical assistance, and follow-up on culture change.
c. Provide backup manpower as needed and available.
We often receive funds not related to the Older Americans Act, such as state funds, private sector funding, United Way, and foundation grants. We will administer the following services in Southern Illinois with these funds –
Senior Employment Specialist Program, supported with State funds – we refer people aged 55 and older to state Job Service offices, employment opportunities, and job training. We refer older individuals to employers, and make contacts with social service agencies and employers to determine their employment needs.
Systems Development Grant, supported with designated funds – we review applications for the Community Care Program (i.e., homemaker, adult day services, etc.), provide technical assistance to the service provider agencies, assist with billing rejects, develop coordination activities among service provider agencies and the Case Coordination Unit, and assist with several demonstration projects in our area.
Elder Abuse Program, supported with State funds – we provide technical assistance, review billings, and monitor service provision. We award all of the funds designated for services to an area-wide service provider agency to investigate alleged cases of abuse of senior adults and retain only those funds designated as administrative funding.
Senior Health Assistance Program, supported with State funds – we provide funding to our local service provider agencies who provide senior adults with information about pharmaceutical assistance, such as Medicare Part D, Illinois Cares Rx, Illinois Rx Buying Club, etc., and to assist senior adults with the application process. We retain a small percentage of these funds for monitoring, public education, training, and assisting individuals who request our help.
Customer Service, supported with OAA funds that our agency already retains for its use – we help individuals who call or visit our office with information, assistance, and referrals to other agencies.
Holiday Meals-on-Wheels, supported with United Way and local donations – we contract with local entities to deliver meals to homebound senior adults on major holidays in all thirteen of our counties.
Home Again Enhanced Transition Project, supported with State funds – we award funds to the case management agency which helps senior adults in nursing homes transition back to the community into a safe home environment. We provide them with technical assistance and monitoring, and use the service funds to help the clients pay their bills when they transition back into the community.
Alzheimer’s Disease Education, supported with funds from the Department of Public Health - we work with a consortium of agencies in rural areas to provide information in a variety of ways, including talks with groups and at health fairs, about Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. We will discuss the need for a proper evaluation and refer appropriate individuals to memory and aging clinics in the area.
Senior Medicare Fraud Patrol, supported with federal funds through AgeOptions AAA, we receive reports of fraud and abuse of Medicare, and refer these reports to the appropriate agencies. We also provide information through newspaper articles, talks with groups, and at health fairs.
Illinois Remembering When, an initiative for local fire departments first initiated by the Pope County Rural Fire Department, and has expanded into other counties in our area. Although not funded to participate in this program, we will encourage and assist additional fire departments to start this program in their communities.
Flexible Senior Services, Assistive Technology, Home Modification, and Emergency Home Response Systems, are services funded by the State which are available for older people who are eligible for the Community Care Program. These services help older people fill in the gaps in services, or purchase goods they need in order to remain in their own home, and which are not available under any other programs.
Resource Guide on Aging - we update and publish a Resource Guide on Aging and Family Caregiver Help Guide which help family caregivers and social workers find agencies which assist with certain problems.
Informational Booths - We regularly attend health and information fairs to distribute information about services for senior adults.
Training, Seminars, & Workshops - We provide training to social service workers, and sponsor seminars and workshops for family caregivers of senior adults and grandparents raising grandchildren.
Use this link to view various demonstration projects in which we participate.
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