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Services
for Seniors
The Older Americans Act (OAA) created the primary vehicle for
organizing, coordinating and providing community-based services
and opportunities for older Americans and their families. All
individuals 60 years of age and older are eligible for services
under the OAA, although priority attention is given to those who
are in greatest need. The Senior Community Service Employment
program offers part-or full-time employment to low-income persons
who are 55 years of age or older.
The OAA established a network, headed by the U.S. Administration
on Aging, comprised of State Units on Aging, Area Agencies on
Aging, tribal organizations, local service providers, and volunteers.
For over 35 years, the aging network has worked cooperatively
to implement a variety of programs aimed at meeting the needs
of older Americans in the communities they serve.
The following provides an overview of the range of supporting
services available to older residents in their communities through
the OAA and other federal, state, and local programs. For further
information on the services listed contact your local Area Agency
on Aging utilizing the Eldercare
Locator. Useful links for additional information are provided
where applicable.
Access Services help assure that elderly Americans
are linked with appropriate services in the community as needed.
- Transportation. Transportation is one of
the most common needs expressed by older people. Senior transportation
programs make it possible for individuals who do not drive or
whose physical condition prohibits them from using public transportation
to obtain rides for essential trips, such as medical appointments,
business errands, shopping and senior activities. Door-to-door
transportation is available in many places.
Resource Links:
- Outreach. Outreach, through door-to-door
canvassing, extensive public announcements or other means, is
an effort to familiarize people to services and benefits available
to them. Outreach also identifies homebound or isolated people
in need of services. Once they are identified they are assisted
in receiving appropriate services.
- Information and Referral. Information and
referral/assistance programs assist older persons, their families
and community agencies who need information
but don't know where to turn. Many State Agencies on Aging have
toll free statewide 800 numbers that assist with linking older
persons with appropriate services. Anyone, regardless of age,
may telephone the Area Agency on Aging for information on services
and resources available in the community to individuals 60 and
over.
- Escort. Escort service provides support for
older people with limited mobility to obtain needed services.
Escort service is often provided by volunteers. It might mean
picking up an individual at their home, accompanying them to
a doctor's appointment or spending the afternoon together running
errands.
- Case Management. Case management services
are aimed at providing a single access point in the community
to reduce the distance an individual must go to initiate entry
into the service system. Drawing upon a variety of resources,
the case manager meets with the individual, assesses his or
her needs, and develops a service plan to meet those needs.
Once services are initiated, a case manager can provide follow-up
to assure that needed services are being provided.
Resource Links:
- In-Home Services encompass a wide range of
supporting services offered to individuals who are homebound
due to illness, functional limitations in activities of daily
living, or disability. Their availability often is credited
for allowing people to remain in the community.
- Home Health. Home health care is recognized
as an increasingly important alternative to hospitalization
or care in a nursing home for patients who do not need 24-hour
day professional supervision. Many people find it possible
to remain at home for the entire duration of their illness or
at least to shorten their hospital stay. In many cases readmission
to the hospital can be prevented or delayed. A variety of health
services are provided in a home health care program in the patient's
home, under the direction of a physician.
Resource Links:
- Homemaker. Homemaker service is extended
to individuals who are unable to perform day-to-day household
duties and have no one available to assist them. Services include
light housekeeping, laundry, limited personal care, grocery
shopping, meal preparation, and shopping assistance.
- Chore Service. Chore service is available
to persons who are physically unable to perform tasks, such
as heavy cleaning, minor repair or yard work, and unable to
secure assistance from family or friends nor have the means
to
pay privately.
- Home Delivered Meals. A hot, nutritionally
balanced meal is delivered five days a week to individuals who
are physically unable to prepare their own meals and do not
have anyone else to prepare meals for them.
Resource Links:
- Friendly Visitors and Telephone Reassurance.
These programs, which have different titles in different communities,
provide regular personal or telephone contact for older persons
who are homebound or live alone. Usually a volunteer provides
the service. Besides developing friendships, perhaps a more
important aspect of these programs is the volunteer's ability
to identify needs of the individual as they occur and notify
those who can help.
Services in the Community enable many hundreds
of thousands of older persons maintain dignity and independence
within their homes and communities. Community resources available
for the elderly include:
- Adult Day Care. Adult day care programs offer
a lower cost alternative to institutionalization for newly or
chronically disabled adults who cannot stay alone during the
day, but who do not need 24-hour inpatient care. Designed to
promote maximum independence, participants usually attend on
a scheduled basis. Services may include nursing, counseling
, social services, restorative services, medical and health
care monitoring, exercise sessions, field trips, recreational
activities, physical, occupational and speech therapy, medication
administration, well-balanced meals, and transportation to and
from the facility. Adult day care can provide the respite family
members require to sustain healthy relationships while caring
for their elderly loved one at home.
Resource Links:
- Senior Centers. Literally thousands of senior
centers are operating in the United States. A vital link in
the service delivery network which older persons may avail themselves
of, senior centers are functioning as meal sites, screening
clinics, recreational centers, social service agency branch
offices, mental health counseling clinics, older worker employment
agencies, volunteer coordinating centers, and community meeting
halls. The significance of senior centers cannot be underestimated
for they provide a sense of belonging, offer the opportunity
to meet old acquaintances and make new friends, and encourage
individuals to pursue activities of personal interest and involvement
in the community.
- Legal Assistance. Legal services help older
persons experiencing problems in civil matters to obtain advice,
counseling, information or representation. Services are provided
either by a licensed attorney or trained paralegal. Types of
matters for which help is typically sought include health care,
income, public benefits (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
SSI, food stamps), employment, consumer complaints, nursing
home resident rights, utilities, guardianship/conservatorship,
wills and estates.
Resource Links:
- State Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance
Programs. Known as SHIP, this program is comprised
of 53 state programs and nearly 15,000 trained volunteers who
offer unbiased, one on one counseling to assist Medicare beneficiaries
understand their health insurance benefits and options.
Resource Links:
- Housing. Housing services are aimed at providing
older persons with a wide variety of assistance related to financing,
building, maintaining and locating housing. Services include
housing counseling, information and referral, landlord-tenant
dispute resolution, tenant group supports, home equity conversion,
carpentry, minor electrical and plumbing repairs, low cost weatherization
material. In some areas short term shelter is provided to elders
who are in need of emergency housing due to fire, theft, physical
or mental abuse or other similar situations beyond their immediate
control.
Resource Links:
- Energy Assistance. State energy assistance
programs foster, encourage, support and enhance community initiatives
leading to energy self-sufficiency, energy conservation and
the expanded use of renewable resources. These programs can
provide low-income elderly homeowners and renters with funds
to help pay home utility and heating costs. Eligibility requirements
may vary from state to state.
Resource Links:
- Self-Help/Support Groups. Mutual support
groups lend peer support and help for those who have encountered
life threatening illness or chronic disability, either personally
or as a family member.
- Respite Care. The provision of short-term
relief (respite) to families caring for their frail elders offers
tremendous potential for maintaining dependent persons in the
least restrictive environment. Respite services encompass traditional
home-based care, as well as adult day health, skilled nursing,
home health aide and short term institutional care. Respite
can vary in time from part of a day to several weeks.
Resource Links:
- Protective Services. Adult protective services
are designed to meet the needs of individuals who are severely
or functionally incapacitated to the point where they can no
longer manage their personal and financial affairs and who have
no relative or friend to provide the necessary assistance. Services
include investigations and intervention of elder abuse, including
physical and emotional abuse and neglect by a caretaker. Protective
service workers provide crisis intervention, counseling, information
and referral to clients and liaison with the court system.
Resource Links:
- Residential Repair and Renovation. These
programs help older people keep the condition of their housing
in good repair before problems become major. Volunteers might
come to an individual's home and patch a leaky roof, for instance,
repair faulty plumbing or insulate drafty walls. These programs
could help seniors who are temporarily in a long term care facility
and who expect to return home to secure their home environment
while they are away.
Resource Links:
- Employment. Employment services are designed
to increase older workers' employment opportunities in the general
labor market as well as in community service. Income eligible
persons 55 and over are recruited, trained and referred to job
openings with local employers. The ultimate goal is to place
the older worker in non-subsidized employment.
Resource Links:
- Crime Prevention/Victim Assistance. Many
communities have active crime prevention programs to reduce
elders' vulnerability to crime. In some areas police refer senior
crime victims to the local Area Agency on Aging for counseling,
help in obtaining lost identification or emergency financial
assistance.
Resource Links:
- Volunteer Program. Volunteers have always
played an integral role in the OAA system. This partnership
is built on the dedication of volunteers giving time to serve
in a broad range of capacities such as providing escort services,
delivering home bound meals, serving meals at nutrition sites,
providing I&R and outreach assistance, serving as friendly
visitors, offering telephone reassurance, etc. A resource for
elderly Americans in need of assistance,
volunteer programs also offer meaningful opportunities for older
people to participate more fully in community life through volunteer
service. Among the many volunteer programs established specifically
for the elderly are the
Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparents
and Senior Companion Programs.
Resource Links:
- Nutrition Education. These programs help
older people to identify and understand their nutrition and
health needs. Emphasizing prevention, programs are designed
to improve participants' health through improved food purchasing,
diet, food preparation, etc.
Resource Links:
- Physical Fitness/Exercise. Programs are designed
to assist older people stay physically active and healthy. An
exercise expert, for example, might come to a senior center,
nursing home, hospital or other facility in the community to
lead exercises geared especially to older people. Or transportation
might be provided to the local YMCA/YWCA or other community
venue for older persons to attend special exercise classes.
Resource Links:
Services Provided to Support Caregivers under
the National Family Caregiver Support Program include:
- Information to caregivers about available
services.
- Assistance to caregivers in gaining access
to services.
- Individual counseling, organization of support
groups, and caregiver training to caregivers to assist the caregivers
in making decisions and solving problems relating to their caregiving
roles.
- Respite care to enable caregivers to be temporarily
relieved from their caregiving responsibilities. In-home respite,
adult day services, and institutional respite on an intermittent,
occasional or emergency basis.
- Supplemental services, on a limited basis,
to complement the care provided by caregivers. Services such
as home modifications, assistive technology, Emergency response
systems, equipment/supplies, and transportation.
Resource Links:
Services to Residents of Care Providing Facilities
are designed to protect and improve the quality of life of elderly
persons living in institutions and to support relatives and other
caregivers.
- Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. Long term
care ombudsmen, state and local, work cooperatively with nursing
homes and board and care facilities to improve the quality of
life for residents. They serve as patient's rights advocates,
investigating and negotiating resolutions to concerns voiced
by residents in matters of resident services and care. Many
states have designed statewide toll free hotlines to improve
access to and enhance the quality of state long term care ombudsman
programs. Additionally, they assist assisted living and nursing
home staff to meet the needs and concerns of those who use their
facilities, educate the elderly and the community about assisted
living facilities and nursing homes so there will be a better
understanding and use of the long term care system, identify
gaps in services provided, and advocate for needed improvement
in legislation and/or policies affecting care in these facilities.
Resource Links:
Support for Azheimer's Disease Patients and Their Families.
Alzheimer’s disease affects as many as 4 million Americans.
While most older persons with Alzheimer's disease live at home,
usually with a spouse or adult child as caregiver, it is a major
predictor of institutionalization. Older persons with Alzheimer's
account for as many as one half of all elderly in institutions.
Increasingly, communities, hospitals and long term care institutions
are recognizing the devastating effect caring for Alzheimer's
patients has on the family. Separate day care
programs are being developed to meet the needs of the Alzheimer's
patient while providing respite for the family. Other types of
services being offered include family support groups,
physical therapy to maximize physical functioning, speech therapy,
laboratory services, dietary consultation for patients and their
families, hospital based home care, and public information to
promote a better understanding of the disease.
Resource Links:
Senior Medicare Patrol
Senior Medicare Patrols is an AoA-led effort which uses innovative,
proactive partnerships across the federal, state and community
levels to identify and report health care waste, fraud and abuse.
Senior Medicare Patrol projects teach volunteer retired professionals,
such as doctors, nurses, accountants, investigators, law enforcement
personnel, attorneys and teachers, to help Medicare and Medicaid
beneficiaries to be better health care consumers.
Resource Links:
Pension Counseling
AoA pension counseling projects are designed to reach out, educate,
and promote pension awareness and protection among older individuals
as well as to encourage better financial planning.
Resource Links:
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Dept. of Health & Human Services
