Area Agency on Aging and Disability Services Plan Administration

• S&DS staff provided active support to LCOG’s Senior Services and Disability Services Advisory Councils. Both Councils met 11 times during the year. In addition, support was provided to the Councils’ six standing committees, as well as one ad hoc committee.
• Eight new members were recruited, screened, and appointed to the Councils
• The Senior Meals Program Advisory Committee was launched in summer 2001. It met regularly throughout the year to review and advise on plans for implementing recommendations contained in the Program’s Strategic Plan.

• Lane Community College's Retired and Senior Voluteer Program partnered with LCOG to operate the Lane County Family Caregiver Support Services Program.

  The 2002-03 Update to LCOG’s 1999-2003 Area Plan on Aging and Disability Services for Lane County was developed and approved. It provides for the delivery of a range of services to 18,000 seniors and persons with disabilities, and contributes approximately $12 million to the agency’s 2002-03 budget.
• A joint SSAC/DSAC ad hoc committee—the Resource Development Committee—met monthly to identify new sources of stable private funding for senior and disability services. The committee received assistance from a consultant with years of fund-raising experience and developed recommendations regarding strategies to pursue new philanthropic dollars, audiences to target, and relevant administrative and organizational matters. The work of this committee helped to promote efforts to revitalize the Southern Willamette Services Corporation (SWSC), a private non-profit organization launched with LCOG’s help in 1996. SWSC is now working actively to implement many of the ad hoc committee’s recommendations.
• In response to an increase in the number of traffic accidents, including fatalities, involving pedestrians with disabilities and motor vehicles in Eugene and Springfield, the Disability Services Advisory Council, with S&DS staff support, developed the Pedestrian Safety Plan. The plan calls for preventive measures, especially education for drivers and pedestrians with disabilities; engineering improvements; and expanded enforcement of existing traffic laws. To date, plan implementation has focused on a heavily congested four-block area around S&DS’ office in downtown Eugene.
• To prepare for the initiation of new federal Older Americans Act-funded Family Caregiver Support services, S&DS completed a targeted assessment of the need for services for unpaid caregivers, including people 60+ who are caring for a related child under 18 years of age, and caregivers of any age who are caring for an individual 60 years of age or above. Based on the findings of this assessment, a plan for these new services was developed and approved.

Coordination Activities

• To promote inter-agency coordination on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities, staff represented S&DS on a number of committees, councils, groups, and agencies within Lane County, including the:
  • Latino Medical Access Coalition;
  • LifeSpan Respite Care Advisory Council;
  • Lane County Multi-Disciplinary Team;
  • West Lane Anti-Violence Coalition;
  • Lane Human Services Network;
  • LaneCare’s Executive, Quality Assurance, and Service Delivery Committees;
  • LTD’s Special Transportation Advisory Council;
  • City of Florence Transit Advisory Committee; and
  • Florence Area Coordinating Council.
    
• Staff participated in numerous meetings called by the State’s Department of Human Services to foster communications and enhance coordination among human services providers in Lane County.

• Under contract to the Lane County Housing Authority and Community Services Agency (HACSA), S&DS provided home care and case management services to residents of Lindeborg, a public housing facility in Junction City. Between February and June 2002, eight clients received 137 hours of home care. An earlier contract allowed S&DS to continue to provide case management, home care, and noon meal services to residents of McKenzie Village in west Springfield throughout the year.
• Using a program model from Columbus, Ohio, S&DS assisted the Oregon Medication Education Program, a private non-profit agency based in Portland, implement a similar program for older people in Lane County. By June 30, 2002, the local program provided medication education and counseling services to 106 individuals.
• S&DS, in collaboration with LCOG’s Metro Television program, the Oregon Department of Human Services and the West Lane Anti-Violence Coalition, developed and produced an educational video aimed at preventing abuse of older and disabled people by paid and unpaid caregivers.

• LCOG contracted with other agencies and organizations for the delivery of the following services to senior citizens and people with disabilities:
  • In-home, senior legal, senior mental health counseling, and special transportation;
  • Food services for the Senior Meals program;
  • Meals on Wheels delivery in Eugene;
  • Long-term care ombudsman recruitment and screening services;
  • Medication education;
  • Bill paying/money management services; and
  • A range of family caregiver support services, including information and assistance, counseling, caregiver training and respite.
• Under the active leadership of the Senior Services Advisory Council’s Procurement and Monitoring Committee, contractors’ performances were monitored throughout the year.
• LCOG and its partners in the Food Service Procurement Consortium successfully identified the food service contractor for the Senior Meals program for the next five years. While the successful proposer—Bateman Senior Meals—is the current provider, the competitive process resulted in price reductions for both hot and frozen meals for fiscal year 2002-03. Advisory council members, staff, and policy boards from the three agencies worked together in the selection process.
• S&DS’ plan for the provision of Family Caregiver Support services called for purchasing most services from others agencies. Caregiver Counseling and Support Group services were added to PeaceHealth’s existing Senior Counseling contract. A competitive process allowed for procurement of other caregiver services. With the assistance of the Procurement and Monitoring Committee of the Senior Services Advisory Council, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Lane Community College was selected as the provider of these services, effective January 15, 2002.

• Legislative Candidate Forums were held to learn candidates' views on issues important to seniors and people with disabilities.

  Under the leadership of the Advocacy Committee of the Senior and Disability Services Advisory Councils, Lane County’s legislative delegation met in September to de-brief the 2001 Legislative Session. While praising Lane County’s senior and disabled advocates, legislators urged them to expand their focus to include all budget and revenue issues, rather than simply funding for human services.
• In preparation for the 2003 legislative session, S&DS and its advocates worked to generate support for two bills: the guardianship and conservatorship study bill and the visitable housing bill. Regarding the former, staff worked with the Attorney General’s Elder Law Task Force to move this bill on to the AG’s 2003 legislative agenda. Concerning the latter, Advocacy Committee members promoted this bill to the Lane County Housing Policy Board. As a result, an ad hoc work group involving disability and housing advocates, developers of low-cost housing, local architects, and Representative Vicki Walker, who sponsored the 2001 visitability bill, was formed to prepare an improved bill for consideration by the 2003 Legislature.
• S&DS and its advocates also encouraged the Legislature, over the course of three special sessions, to retain funds for senior and disability services during the balance of the 2001-03 biennium. On June 30, 2002, these services remained fully funded; however, future funding was very uncertain, given the continuing problems in Oregon’s economy.
• At the local level, members of the Disability Services Advisory Council spearheaded a campaign to improve the accessibility of LTD’s new Breeze buses. As designed and delivered to LTD by the manufacturer, these vehicles were inaccessible to many people with disabilities due to the design of the entry ramp and the interior layout of the bus. After working closely with LTD for several weeks, the Council concluded that the manufacturer needed to be involved in the problem-resolution process. To this end, the Council sent a letter of concern to the company’s CEO. He proved very responsive; he and a team of engineers and technicians traveled from Tennessee to Oregon to work with LTD. Two very positive results came about from this activity:
  • The company agreed to re-design and retrofit new, accessible lifts for LTD’s Breeze buses; and
  • LTD invited people with disabilities to serve as advisors on the design of its new Bus Rapid Transit service.

• During 2001-02, S&DS staff mastered the new client assessment tool (CA/PS) in Oregon ACCESS.
• Existing LCOG-developed computer applications for S&DS staff, such as the Client Tracking System, Medical Transportation Scheduling, Client-Employed Provider (CEP) Registry, and the Adult Protective Services Referral Log, were maintained and upgraded during the year. In addition, a new Pre-Nursing Home Admission Screening application was designed, developed, and launched, and several new management reports to support internal operations and external communications were created.

• Program year 2001-02 witnessed the retirement of five long-term S&DS employees. In response to the departure of these and other staff, S&DS developed and implemented numerous transition plans to assure the continuing availability of services to division customers.
• With the assistance of LCOG’s Human Resources staff, 19 positions within S&DS were filled during the year.

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