(ARA) – Meeting the needs of the elderly and disabled has reached crisis levels in rural America. As young people leave in larger numbers, rural counties are left with an elderly population, and a shrinking tax base. The elderly and disabled that remain in these communities are facing increasing difficulty finding the care and support they need.
A generation ago 70 was considered old, but now the fastest growing age group is 85 years and older. The health and human service systems have tried to adapt to the needs of a population living longer by placing a greater emphasis on community-based services and consumer-directed care.
The financial support for most services for the elderly is from a multitude of federal and state programs with little or no coordination. One consequence of this dependence on public dollars is a system that is stretched to the limit and is yearly reducing program dollars per capita. Another consequence is a public that has not accepted its responsibility for financing services.
The informal caregiver also plays an important role in the care of the elderly and disabled. Without compensation and with little support from formal providers, the informal caregiver keeps an individual in the most comforting environment while saving the system millions of dollars that would otherwise be necessary for institutional care.
A proposed project — a Community Retirement Cooperative — provides a model for one way to address the crisis in rural America. The organization seeks to discover and exchange community assets — people, programs and dollars — to meet the human, health and spiritual needs of community members.
Called the Circle of Care, this cooperative in rural Cass County, North Dakota, will establish a community-directed organization that will ensure access to consumer-directed services that meet the needs of seniors and the disabled. Unlike many programs that focus only on health services, this project will take a holistic approach and will address an individuals basic needs for nutrition, security, social interaction, spiritual care and other activities essential to living the fullest possible life. Cooperative members will have significant autonomy and the ability to direct their own care.
The mission of the project is to assure that older persons and others in need in a rural county will have access to health, human and spiritual services essential to the maintenance of their well being within a community of faith. The core values include:
* Focus on personalized services to meet the health, human and spiritual needs of older persons, the disabled and their families.
* Establish a community of care that enlists every resident of the area and every provider of health, human and spiritual services serving the area.
* Be grounded in a community planning process that recognizes the interdependence of individuals, community organizations and institutional providers of service to address any community need.
* Be consumer directed, maximizing choice in the purchase of services and providers.
* Enable the elderly and disabled to remain in the living environment of their choice as long as possible, ever mindful of the safety, dignity and autonomy of each care recipient.
* Establish trust and respect for the project by building relationships and keeping stakeholders involved and informed.
* Recognize the importance and value of the informal caregiver.
* Build and strengthen the tradition of a rural community having the capacity to care and to manage change.
An advisory board of governmental officials, consumers and public and private providers in the area will guide local activity and will make major project decisions for the cooperative. Although community involvement and direction is to be the foundation for the project, the Good Samaritan Society has made a corporate commitment to lend the expertise of its central office staff to support this project in its infancy. If this pilot project is successful, the Society plans to consider implementing it in its 14 other long-term care facilities in North Dakota, as well as in rural areas in the other 24 states in the Good Samaritan system.
Circle of Care will focus on meeting the needs of the elderly and disabled in the community as well as the needs of their families. It will also provide opportunities for service and educational and economic benefits for the whole community. For more information, e-mail gwilcox@good-sam.com.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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