1997 S Aging - Approval of Funding Applications for In-Home Volunteer Assistance to the Elderly Project

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• Funding Proposal for Community Connections In-home Volunteer Assistance Project ZP Community Need According to estimates based on the 1990 Census, Orange County in 1995 had 12,461 adult residents over the age of 60, or roughly 13 percent of the total county population. This cohort is expected to increase in size for the next thirty years. Recent national magazine recognition of the Triangle as one of the top retirement communities in the United States will likely influence this trend. In 1995, over three-quarters (79 percent) of the county's 60-plus population were either well or slightly disabled, needing only minor assistance with household chores or related tasks, such as errands, minor chores or companionship, to prevent increased dependence. This kind of minor assistance often serves as the "preventative medicine" that delays the need for more intrusive and expensive assistance. For example, if a disabled older adult is unable to get to the pharmacy for her medications her medical condition may be exacerbated, necessitating medical attention and possibly rest home or nursing home care. Institutional care is costly to everyone because government programs must inevitably be tapped to pay for it. In the same vein, if an older adult has sight limitations, she may have difficulty reading her mail and may consequently miss utility bills, resulting in their nonpayment and her heat or water being turned off. In addition, she may not be able to read even personal correspondence, which leaves her without an important connection to the outside world. As the population of older adults grows, so too will the number of persons-requiring this kind of help to remain in the community, a strong preference of older adults. However, even given this preference there is currently no coordinated support available. Many older persons in Orange County, though not poor, live on minimal fixed incomes which prevent them from being, able to pay privately for in-home assistance. Many are reluctant to request help of family and friends out of fear of appearing too demanding or needy. Some do not have anyone to ask for help. Public funds in Orange County, as elsewhere, generally restrict in-home assistance to the very poor or those with personal care needs, such as bathing and dressing. Orange County's Department of Social Services (DSS) restricts eligibility for its in-home assistance program to only those needing personal care; income is weighed with a number of other factors to determine total need. A similar service of the Orange County Department on Aging (DOA) evaluates income in the same way. The DOA has tried to'help those with non-personal care needs, but doing this has resulted in the agency having to restrict the amount of assistance available to all clients. Using trained aides to provide non- personal care assistance, in which expertise is not required of the caregiver, is expensive to the county; the hourly rate the county has been paying agencies for non-personal care assistance is $10.00. If volunteers were used to meet the needs of individuals requiring non-personal care assistance, public dollars could be saved, and available funding could be targeted to those with greater needs. Currently, no coordinated system of volunteers exists for this purpose in the county. A University of North Carolina student group, Youth for Elderly Services (YES), intermittently provides student volunteers, but student schedules reduce volunteer availability. Churches in the county provide assistance but generally only to their own congregations. When individuals have contacted the DOA wishing to volunteer their time to help older adults in their homes, the department has not had any coordinated means by which to assign duties to them. Proposed Project The proposed project would establish a volunteer corps to provide in-home and related assistance to older adults who have non-personal care needs that do not require expertise of the provider, thus saving public dollars and making help available to those older persons who cannot