Agenda - 05-04-2006-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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i~ Amy Gorely said that when this conunittee reaches the point of discussing possible solutions, she hopes they will use the University as a resource - in particular the Department of Public Health.. Jerry Passmore said that the County Health Department does do an assessment and maybe this could include senior issues as well and Myra Austin said that the next assessment will be done in 2007. Yoko Cnune said that the corrununity assessment outcome measures are tied to the appropriation issue so these are really important.. B. Moderately Impaired Functional Group: Priority Issues -Kate Barrett She made reference to the attaclunent 2B and said that they are talking about anyone who is dependent in an ADL or IDAL and live in their own home. They separated out those who live in long term centers which is the group that Jill Passmore is working with. On the list of issues prioritized, caregiver relief cazne in as #7, However, they are bowrd through their funders through the federal government and tluough Triangle J to have a community group wonting on cazegiver issues so they can continue to fund their National Family Caregiver program. They have two current caregivers in their group and they will be combining with other caregivers to look at their current cazegiver program and how they want to spend the funding they will receive for next year. Kate Barrett said that the top three issues were very close with a tie for isolation and loneliness with lack of case management services - accessibility across the population for case management for those people who have some Medicaid programs which provide for private case management.. The #1 issue was lank of mental health treatment. They are talking about what the Worlds Health Organization has determined as an enormous problem among the seniors which is depression. The Organization has said that by 2020, the second disabling condition among seniors will be depression which will be the cause of premature deaths. The lack of collaboration with faith communities cone in as #.3, They decided that as the group looks at isolation and loneliness, they will look at the faith community. They are very fortunate to have Bob Seymour on their subcommittee. They will be focusing their efforts on the first 4 issues as listed on #2B. They have divided their comrnittee into three smaller work groups to focus on lack of mental health treatment, isolation and loneliness and care management, Kate Barrett mentioned that dementia was the 4`h issue and is something that fits with the first three issues and something that cannot be ignored. Whenever she goes to a meeting, she hears that Orange County has great services but enough people don't know about them. Money and energy needs to be put into letting people Irnow what services are available in Orange County. Carol Gunther-Mohr talked about the importazice of doing a much better,job of letting people know about what is available in general and within the County, Transportation is another huge issue for the seniors in this County, Jerry Passmore said that he feels the word is getting out about eldercare and some of the other services, However, there are other services people are not aware of which are available. Yolco Crunre made reference to health promotion and said that the whole idea is to funnel federal funding to the agencies for this but that if the President's budget is approved, the funding will be gone. Kate Barrett said that many seniors who have mental health issues overuse the health system so what they need to do as a local community is to work with these doctors who are incredibly overwhelmed and Medicaid is cutting funding there also. flr her office they receive so many calls from physicians, so instead of relying solely on federal money, they need to work with these physicians. Yoko Crume said that prevention is so important and there is no reason for the federal government cutting that portion of the budget. Page 3 of 8