Agenda - 03-18-2025; 7-c - Master Aging Plan Balance Discussion

Browse Search

4 Community Outreach—Department materials are updated and translated into Mandarin, Spanish,Burmese and Karen languages. Work also began on our website to embed documents into the website framework, so when Google translation tools are used, information will easily translate to other languages. Upgraded our Inclusive Lobby project at both Centers to provide easier access for non-English speakers.With the addition of a part-time outreach worker extra effort has been made to be represented at Latino events,refugee community events and any events serving our communities of color. To date we have tabled at 25 events and have reached 600 persons. Our outreach worker is working to connect with the refugee community, our Karen and Burmese speaking older adults and our faith communities. We completed a survey to the faith communities to identify any needs by their older adult attendees. We have been invited to present at church events and are currently scheduling individual meetings with faith leaders focusing on our underserved communities first. Fall is the busy season for community events and we anticipate attending another 10-15 before the end of the year. A part-time wellness program assistant was also hired to develop health and wellness programming in our communities of color and to increase diversity in wellness programming at the Centers. He has been instrumental in increasing our fitness room participants of color by 25%. We have also increased diversity in our class instructors, including 3 new African American instructors and 2 Latinx instructors. We offered a health fair at each of the senior centers that had 400+participants. We launched the Aging Well Together Radio Show/podcast with Dr. Heather Altman as the show host. We have completed 52 shows and anticipate continuing weekly shows. This has been a tremendous outreach tool to our community, and we have others tuning in from around the state and US. Durable Medical Equipment Loan program-This program has continued to grow since the pandemic. With the support of the CW gift we added a part-time Occupational Therapy assistant to assist our full-time Occupational Therapist in managing the program and making home deliveries. To date this year,we have served 183 clients with 302 pieces of durable medical equipment. 71 of these clients received an in-home visit and DME was installed by our team. We are on track to well exceed the number of clients we served last year. In an effort to measure the impact of this program we had clients served complete a survey with the following results: Using equipment from the DME program increases my feeling of physical safety at home- 96%agree Using equipment from the DME program decreased my concern about falling at home- 88%agree Using equipment from the DME program supports my ability to age in my home- - 84%agree Using equipment from the DME program decreased my feelings of worry about safety at home - 88%agree This program has provided a critical service to help older adults age in community and in their homes. R Place—Developed a new weekly community caregiver respite program modeled after a national program called"Respite for All."This volunteer driven respite care program has served 54 families. Our hope is to replicate this program in faith communities across Orange County. We have already had several visits from local congregations here and in surrounding counties. With the growing population of persons with cognitive impairment we feel this is a great solution to provide an affordable option to meeting the need while also providing meaningful engagement for both the volunteers and the participants and much needed respite for family caregivers. With remaining funds this year, along with a significant amount of American Rescue Plan Funding,we are installing a Fit Lot at the front entrance of the Seymour Center,which will fulfill a MAP goal. Similar in size to a playground each FitLot is a shaded, safety surfaced area and features 11 pieces of equipment. With open floor space and 32 attachment points for resistance bands,participants of all abilities will be able to perform dozens of exercises for cardio,balance, flexibility and strength training. Participants will have access on their own or will have the opportunity to participate in a group lead fitness class. We are using this both as an outreach tool to bring new persons to the Center,but also as a fun wellness focused activity. Our goal has always been to help keep our older adults active and engaged in community and this tool will help in reaching our mission.