Aging/Older Adults

Review presentations from the Chicago National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) Conference held in August 2006. Presentation titles include: The Maturing of America: Getting America's Communities on Track for the Aging of the Population, On Belonging and Belongings: Older Adults, Katrina and Lessons Learned, Enlightened Leadership: Getting to the Heart of Change.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) Conference was held in August 2006 in Chicago. A one day session focused on Aging and Disability Resource Centers. The day was broken into three sections: an AoA/CMS Overview, State Profiles from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois and an audience consultation session. Review the overview slides and the state summaries which explore Single Point of Entry and navigating the long-term care systems maze.

ServiceLink, the New Hampshire ADRC grantee, along with New Hampshire Public Television and Easter Seals NH/Seniors Count have developed a year-long community outreach project. The partnership resulted in six feature stories on a nightly newsmagazine and community forums in four locations across the state bringing seniors and caregivers together with local leaders to begin planning the kind of communities they want as they age. View this 6 minute video clip that provides a project overview.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) conducted an end-of-grant de-briefing for its stakeholders. The purpose was to give the grant’s pilot participants (Heart of Texas Council of Governments; Central Texas Council of Governments; Texoma Council of Governments) an opportunity to discuss their 3-year projects and articulate lessons learned. The intent of the system navigator grant was to help all persons in their community navigate the maze of long-term services.

This is a comprehensive report detailing the results of Maryland's 2004 and 2005 Participant Experience Survey (PES) results. The PES is a tool, developed by Medstat that measures the experiences of participants of 1915c waivers. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene used funds from a 2001 Real Choice Systems Change Grant to survey two Maryland waivers, the Living at Home Waiver and the Older Adults Waiver.

This guide describes Medicaid services that are designed to help individuals who are at risk of institutionalization remain in their homes. It describes the range of home and community-based services available through Medicaid and can help consumers, families, and health care professionals make informed decisions about long-term care services. This brochure was developed as part of their Real Choice grant in 2005 where over 7.500 copies were distributed. Review their latest 2006 version.

The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) has developed a new online resource. The toolkit is a practical resource targeted to practitioners and program administrators interested in integrating caregiver assessment into their work with caregiving families, older people and adults with disabilities. A compilation of materials and techniques are provided which incorporate fundamental principles and practice guidelines. Review the definitions and assessment tools.

In many ways, consumers are the best experts on their disabling conditions, including their own needs for support and the effectiveness and quality of programs. As a result, obtaining consumer participation and input at all stages of program design, implementation, evaluation and quality assurance is important. Effectively and efficiently involving consumers and obtaining their input, however, requires creative and innovative methods. This checklist will help to enhance full participation.

This report assesses the appeal of the Cash and Counseling demonstration by: (1) estimating the proportions of eligible beneficiaries that participated and comparing the characteristics of participants and nonparticipants; (2) describing beneficiaries’ most common reasons for agreeing or declining to participate; and (3) examining whether the demonstration affected the number of beneficiaries accessing personal care services or home and community-based services over time.

Assessing the well-being of workers hired under consumer direction and addressing their concerns is critical, because the model is sustainable only if workers are satisfied. While care recipients who manage their own care appear to be much more satisfied than others, the primary reason given for dropping out is difficulty finding or keeping a worker. Moreover, tapping consumers’ family members and friends as additional sources of labor could help solve the serious worker shortage.