The following are financial and programmatic issues which we considered in the development of our Area Plan.

The Increase in Minimum Wage

The state minimum wage was increased in 2003 from the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour to $5.50. The state minimum wage was raised again in 2005 to $6.50. On July 1, 2007 the state minimum wage will increase again to $7.50 per hour. On July 1^st for the next three years the state minimum wage will increase by an additional $0.25 per hour, topping out at $8.25 per hour in 2010.

For individuals who receive the minimum wage, these wage increases are sorely needed. Unfortunately, many workers in the Aging network are paid at or near the minimum wage. We applaud the state for helping our workers receive a better working wage. However, the increases in the state minimum wage places a financial burden on our resources. Without an influx of additional funding, the minimum wage increase plus the usual inflation factors will cause the services we provide to frail older people to be cut back.

Beginning in January, 2007, the utility company which serves the majority of residential and business customers in our area raised their electrical rates from between 35 to 55 percent. In addition, the decades old discount rate for customers which were "all electrical" utility users was discontinued. This increased rates by another 30 to 35 percent for many residential and business customers. Most of the senior adult centers in our area are customers of this utility company. The increase in utility costs will cause many difficult decisions to be made about the amount of services which can be provided to older people.

Gasoline prices have soared over the last several years, from under $2.00 per gallon to nearly $3.00. This is important to the aging network since we are a very rural area, and we have many miles to cover in order to deliver services. Those services include: home delivered meals which are delivered by vans or cars, and outreach and case management services which allows workers go to the homes of senior adults to inform them of services available in the area and assess their need for community-based services.

The cost of raw food has increased mainly as a result of the increase in gasoline costs. Food distributors have passed along the increase in cost to deliver raw food to their customers. This has caused the cost of meals at senior centers and those delivered to homebound senior adults to increase.

Funding under the Older Americans Act is distributed to and within states by using the U.S. Census data. The number of "senior adults" aged 60 and older, including their demographic factors, is used in formulas to determine each region’s percentage share of the funding for use in providing home and community-based senior services. Although the number of senior adults in the U.S. and Illinois has increased since 1980, the number of senior adults in Southern Illinois has decreased from 61,254 in 1980 to 59,199 in 2000, a decrease of 3.4%.

After researching the cause for the decline of the number of senior adults in our area, we concluded that the main reason is related to the number of young adults who moved out of our region (out-migration) from 1920 to 1950. The decline in the number of individuals between ages 10 and 39 as shown in the Census data from 1920 to 1950 coincided with a loss of good paying jobs in coal mining, farming, and light industry in Southern Illinois during that time-period, according to researchers and demographers consulted for this study. This left behind fewer adults who matured into their senior adult years in the last two decades of the 20^th century.

This information is important because funding for senior services is dependent on the Census data. Since there has been a decrease in the number of senior adults living in the southernmost thirteen counties in Illinois since 1980, there has been a decrease in the percentage of funding this region receives.

Since its inception in 1965, the Older Americans Act has evolved to meet changing needs and expectations of one of our most valuable resources, our older adults. Consequently, the scope of the Older Americans Act has expanded to better address and support the needs of senior adults and their caregivers. As the vast majority of "baby-boomer" generation begins to retire, the mission of the aging network must expand further to help meet their unique and increasing needs.

As the baby-boomer generation grows older and requires services from the aging network, we must be prepared to provide our services through non-traditional means. The next generation may not accept our services in the "one-size fits all" manner we currently provide. Additionally, the next generation will be more technologically savvy, and require our service information and assistance through the Internet or other more electronically advanced means.

The Community Care Program is required by the federal government to accept all willing and qualified homemaker service providers in all counties. This new policy may cause small Homemaker providers in our area to lose clients which greatly affects their ability to remain financially solvent. This change may have an impact on clients, as well as many of our senior centers also provide Homemaker services.

People often think of nursing homes when long-term care is mentioned. Community-based services for older people are also used for long-term care. The Older Adults Services Act (OAS, P.A. 93-1031) was enacted to help reshape the funding of long-term care services for older adults in Illinois. The OAS Act outlines recommendations to the Illinois Department on Aging on matters related to the delivery of services to older adults through the community, as well as through licensed facilities. An OAS Advisory Committee has been established to help guide this process.

We have made a concerted effort during the last several years to improve our ability to divert older people from institutional care, such as nursing homes. In addition, we have taken part in the Home Again Enhanced Transition Project which helps the residents of nursing homes move back home.

There are times when senior adults move into a nursing home in order to address an illness or other medical need. Often when their medical needs have been addressed in the nursing home, the senior adult is medically able to return home. Unfortunately many become trapped into continuing to live at the nursing home because of financial and other barriers. The Home Again Enhanced Transition Project has helped to overcome many of the barriers which prevented these residents from returning home.

However, there are other older people who can not transition home safely, and require a long stay in a nursing home. Nursing homes, therefore, serve a large vulnerable, frail population that needs assistance. Traditional nursing homes have been "institutional" in their approach to resident care. This "non-personal" approach has caused many older people in need of nursing care to avoid, and dread placement in these facilities.

The next logical step is to help nursing homes change their culture of institutional care to a form of care which nurtures personal choice and mimics home-like conditions. Residents need to have a role in the planning and delivery of their care. Developing a culture change in nursing home care attempts to change "institutional-like" nursing facilities to 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, varied menus, etc.

Dementia is little understood and widely feared. 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 discuss the need for a proper evaluation and refer appropriate individuals to memory and aging clinics in the area.

The Medicare Trust Fund will remain solvent until the year 2019. At that time there will only be sufficient funding for 79 percent of the expected Medicare claims. A part of this problem is fraud and misuse of Medicare dollars. We receive reports of fraud and abuse of Medicare, and refer these reports to the appropriate agencies. We also provide information about fraud through the media and at health fairs.

Prevention of fire and falls is very important for older adults. The Illinois Remembering When fire and falls prevention program is an initiative for local fire departments. This program was 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.

Areas Not Served by the Home Delivered Meals Program

We keep waiting lists in all areas, and there are remote rural areas where providing home delivered meals is difficult and costly and where meals are not delivered.  Use this link to view this information.

###

Return to the Area Plan