Shownotes
In 1965 the Older Americans Act was passed in Congress to create and strengthen services to older citizens. Amended in 1973, the legislation created the Area Agencies on Aging – a national network of state-based regions to plan and implement needed critical services.
Cindy Farson has led the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging – or as we all like acronyms – COAAA – for 28 years and is turning the page on her career. Guiding this 8 county agency, Cindy has brought vision and growth to our communities. Today we are going to both look back and look forward, tapping into her incredible insight and wisdom on the next steps to “aging gracefully”.
What was happening to seniors in the 1960s and ’70s that moved the Older Americans Act to the forefront?
Now, forty years later, the number of seniors significantly rose, and their needs increased. COAAA serves approximately 30,000 clients with a $10 million budget to cover 8 Ohio counties. We are coming out of a pandemic that dramatically changed the needs of seniors, their safety, and health. Where are we now? What are the top concerns on your list? What is happening to our seniors, their housing, transportation, and health? And how is COAAA addressing those needs?
COAAA has an enormous job in reaching seniors or their family members/caregivers. Without clear communication streams, many seniors would not be able to benefit from all of your programs and services. COAAA has an incredible network to share information. However, what is your greatest fear/frustration with finding those who need you? And how is technology helping/hurting your efforts?
Money is always an issue. Services to seniors can be costly, particularly for personal/health care. Where are we on funding? Do federal and local legislators understand the issues? Do we need to re-think funding models and look for dollars elsewhere (e.g. greater local tax levies)? If so, where?
Housing in Central Ohio continues to create untenable situations for families, and for seniors - rent increases, lack of housing, aging of the housing stock are all situations we face in Central Ohio. Yet, we have a proliferation of new building developments for senior housing. Do you have advice for our listeners on housing trends – what happens if a senior needs housing now and what about 5 years from now?
There are so many other “hot button” issues for seniors – such as transportation. Our community is very lucky to also have some newer services available for seniors to meet those demands, including the “Villages” concept and “Age Friendly” communities which are dependent upon volunteers. Will programs utilizing volunteer teams be the answer to senior needs?
Cindy has been a mentor and role model for so many individuals who have moved into careers serving seniors. It is difficult to convince younger individuals – students and young adults – that a career in senior services can be a fulfilling opportunity. She shares her thoughts on the value and advantages to pursue work in senior services – the types of opportunities (e.g. from administrators to caregivers), industries (e.g. for-profit, nonprofit, governmental), and future needs?
- U. S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved senior housing consultants (Ohio)
- National Association of Agencies on Aging
- Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging - o4a is a nonprofit, statewide network of agencies that provide services for older Ohioans, people with disabilities and their families.
- Central Ohio Network of Villages
- Age-Friendly Columbus | We are Columbus, happy, healthy and strong
- Senior Services Roundtable - The Senior Services Roundtable is a clearinghouse of information and ideas to assist seniors in central Ohio, particularly those striving to remain independent in their later years. Membership is open and includes those organizations, governmental offices, nonprofits and private industries that serve the senior community. For further information contact seniorsvcsrt@gmail.com
- Franklin County Office On Aging - The Franklin County Office on Aging is primarily responsible for planning, coordinating, and providing centralized access to diverse services and programs that assist older adults, dependent adults, and their families in the maintenance of independent living.
- Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging - The Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) plans, funds, and delivers services that help older adults and individuals with disabilities remain safe and independent in their homes. With the assistance of area providers, COAAA arranges and coordinates services to help individuals with daily living such as homemaking, transportation, home-delivered meals, and personal care. COAAA offers education and resources to caregivers, professionals, and the public and advocates for programs and policies that benefit older adults and individuals with disabilities. COAAA manages services for 10,000 people and funds services for another 20,000 older adults in eight counties: Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, and Union. COAAA is operated under the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department.
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Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
Transcripts
We are Looking Forward Our Way from Studio C in the Studios that's in the Brewery
Speaker:District, just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker:This is Brett Carol.
Speaker:And I have a very special guest with us today, Cindy Farson, who's been the
Speaker:Executive Director, and I do say been, the executive director of the Central Ohio
Speaker:Area Agency on Aging for nearly three decades.
Speaker:And today we're celebrating her incredible journey and successes.
Speaker:Brett, it's a great day.
Speaker:We are so excited.
Speaker:Cindy is opening a new chapter in her life, and we welcome her to our studio.
Speaker:Well, thanks for having me on this beautiful spring day.
Speaker:And it's hard to believe that I am now
Speaker:what I've been talking about for 43 years, a retiring 60 plus baby boom.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I am what I created. Yes.
Speaker:Back in 2008, in the middle of the
Speaker:recession, we thought we'd never have those baby boomers retiring.
Speaker:And now we are all in there.
Speaker:Back in 1965, the Older Americans Act was
Speaker:passed in Congress to create and strengthen services to older citizens.
Speaker:At that point in time, probably the only
Speaker:thing that existed was Social Security, but it was amended in 73 legislation
Speaker:created the Area Agencies on Aging, which is a national network of state based
Speaker:regions to plan and implement needed critical services.
Speaker:And I'm saying this to our listeners
Speaker:because most folks don't know about the Area Agencies on Aging.
Speaker:Cindy has led Central Ohio Area Agency on
Speaker:Aging, or as we all like our acronyms, Co AAA, for 28 years and is turning the page
Speaker:on her career, guiding this eight county agency.
Speaker:Cindy has brought vision and growth to our communities.
Speaker:Today we are going to both look back and
Speaker:look forward, tapping into her incredible insight and wisdom on the next steps to
Speaker:aging gracefully, which we are all hoping we can do gracefully.
Speaker:First of all, Congratulations on retirement.
Speaker:I know you're ready. We were talking before recording.
Speaker:I think you are. You say you're not, but I think you are.
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:But through those years.
Speaker:You'Re helping out our most vulnerable citizens.
Speaker:Even if you're not older, chances are you've got a family member, a friend or a
Speaker:neighbor who's probably benefited from Cindy's leadership.
Speaker:So let's jump into it.
Speaker:Let's give an overview of what senior services have meant to our communities.
Speaker:Help us set the stage. What was happening seniors in the 60s and
Speaker:70s that moved that Older Americans Act to the forefront?
Speaker:Well, of course, as Carol mentioned, the
Speaker:Social Security Act was in 1935, and that was the big recognition that older people
Speaker:were living in poverty and something had to be done.
Speaker:So that was terrific.
Speaker:But then in the 50s and 60s, people were
Speaker:recognizing the need for health care, that Social Security wasn't enough.
Speaker:Health care and other services were necessary.
Speaker:And they had a first White House conference on aging in 1961.
Speaker:And from that, they identified lots of problems.
Speaker:They created a federal Committee on Aging.
Speaker:And then so in 1965, you saw all the legislation coming out, the Older
Speaker:Americans Act, Medicare, Medicaid, Lyndon Johnson and Great Society.
Speaker:So it just all happened in 1965.
Speaker:So then they had another White House conference on aging in 1971.
Speaker:And then you saw the nutrition programs
Speaker:start to roll out nationally, and area agencies created.
Speaker:And so the Older Americans Act was created
Speaker:as a very community based program with local level organizations.
Speaker:That's what area agencies are, multiple counties generally.
Speaker:But we work with local advisory councils on aging, people leaders in the agency,
Speaker:just people taking services and try and determine what it is people
Speaker:need in their individual local communities.
Speaker:And they separated area agencies from
Speaker:state offices on aging, which is part of the aging network, from the older, because
Speaker:even though they designate area agencies, they're separated.
Speaker:So that area agencies can advocate if the state is doing something that they don't
Speaker:think are good for older adults, they can say, no, no good.
Speaker:So actually, older Americans ask that we be advocates for state local
Speaker:federal policies and how it affects older people in our region.
Speaker:So I think that's one of the great things about the Older Americans Act.
Speaker:It actually requires advocacy where a lot
Speaker:of federal legislation is no, you can't talk about this sort of thing.
Speaker:So then in 81, there was another
Speaker:conference on aging, and then they started to focus on supportive services, the
Speaker:transportation, home care, senior centers, those sorts of things.
Speaker:So it's just incrementally.
Speaker:They would add titles and start to up the services, increase the money a bit.
Speaker:And then in
Speaker:I was the President of the National Association, so I got a very
Speaker:involved view of the White House Conference on Aging that year.
Speaker:And our main goal that year was to get a family caregiver program.
Speaker:And so obviously, the needs of caregivers had really multiplied over the years.
Speaker:And there were some political problems
Speaker:with the act that year, not that particular title.
Speaker:So it took till 2020 to reauthorize the act and bring that forward.
Speaker:So we got a family caregiver program.
Speaker:And as we went around trying to talk local agencies into being our caregiver
Speaker:partners, I said the money is going to just take off with this act.
Speaker:And it did for a couple of years.
Speaker:And then wrong again, it just started Dribbling.
Speaker:Small kind of incremental money that the
Speaker:other titles of the Older Americans Act have.
Speaker:So we've always had to struggle for funding and resources, I think.
Speaker:But the Americans Act has really just followed this whole tide of recognition
Speaker:that, yes, America is going to eventually have this huge number of older adults.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And we've talked about this before when you visited with us.
Speaker:People don't realize what the needs are
Speaker:for an older adult until you have a direct situation in your family, because if
Speaker:you've had either relatives who haven't lived to the need
Speaker:until they were in need of services or their older relatives were fine and dandy
Speaker:and healthy and out and about and took care of themselves.
Speaker:You just don't realize what those issues are.
Speaker:And they are not easy. They aren't.
Speaker:And so the first time people present to us sometimes is when their mother has a
Speaker:stroke or has broken a hip, and they're like, we don't know what to do.
Speaker:No one does.
Speaker:Somebody recommends, well, you better call
Speaker:the area agency and what services are available and that sort of thing.
Speaker:And then they start the process
Speaker:then of trying to figure out what's available and how can we help.
Speaker:And I think listeners need to understand
Speaker:that you're not just taking care of people who are at a poverty level.
Speaker:No, these are services for any older adult, some more than others.
Speaker:But there are services out there that can be utilized.
Speaker:And so you just have to start asking a lot of questions.
Speaker:I always used to chuckle when I took care
Speaker:of my dad said with little kids, you can hurt them where you want them to go.
Speaker:You cannot hurt older adults. You cannot.
Speaker:And we have social workers for that
Speaker:that will sit down and say, now, your daughter is not wrong on this.
Speaker:Goodness gracious.
Speaker:Well, you touched on this just a little bit.
Speaker:So we're 40 years later from the original Older Americans Act, the number of seniors
Speaker:have significantly risen and their needs have significantly increased.
Speaker:Co AA serves about 30,000 clients with a
Speaker:$10 million budget to cover eight counties.
Speaker:I think that's correct when I was going through all of your information.
Speaker:If not, please update those numbers for us.
Speaker:But we're coming out of a pandemic
Speaker:dramatically change the needs of seniors for their safety and their health.
Speaker:Where are we now, Cindy, what are the top concerns on your list?
Speaker:What is happening to our seniors there housing, transportation, health.
Speaker:And how is the COA addressing those needs?
Speaker:Well, the 30,000 clients and the 10 million that's Older Americans Act money
Speaker:and some state money, and that covers these are grants we make to our community
Speaker:partners, like meals and transportation and some of those things.
Speaker:But along the way, we saw the Order Americans Act was not cutting it.
Speaker:And so Ohio's area agencies
Speaker:became very focused on Medicaid, community based waivers.
Speaker:And we started with passport, and then it went statewide.
Speaker:Also property tax levies.
Speaker:And most of those activity happened in the 90s.
Speaker:So our budget actually now is over 125,000,000.
Speaker:And we case manage directly 150 individuals who need a
Speaker:package of services to stay at home in the community.
Speaker:A lot of these, the grants that we make are people that need individuals.
Speaker:Oh, I need transportation or I need deals.
Speaker:But what we do with our case manage
Speaker:clients is put together a package of services and work with them and their
Speaker:caregiver to try and figure out how can I stay home instead of a facility.
Speaker:And so that comes from Passport, My Care,
Speaker:the home care waiver for people with disabilities and our local senior options.
Speaker:Levy also has complex clients that we case
Speaker:manage, but we've made so much progress, so many more resources there.
Speaker:But the challenges, they just seem bigger
Speaker:than ever now, especially after the pandemic.
Speaker:Housing and food have been the two main
Speaker:concerns over the pandemic, of course, and then housing.
Speaker:It's just a crisis now for low income people, and certainly not just in
Speaker:Columbus, but certainly in urban areas where the prices are just
Speaker:pretty much out of control for low income people.
Speaker:So it's a crisis.
Speaker:And we have counselors working with folks all the time searching for housing or
Speaker:preventing evictions, as many agencies are that we work with so many agencies.
Speaker:And of course, the big eviction money is
Speaker:coming through impact, and we work with them, of course.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But a lot of older adults have trouble with these systems.
Speaker:They're mostly online, and that money gets held up
Speaker:sometimes for four or five months with landlords that won't wait.
Speaker:So we try and fill those gaps when we can.
Speaker:That's kind of one of our purposes.
Speaker:But now that people are getting out again,
Speaker:of course, transportation, of course, rises to the top.
Speaker:It's always a problem with older adults.
Speaker:And then health care remains our focus with case managed clients.
Speaker:The High Department of Aging, actually,
Speaker:they're doing a strategic plan this summer.
Speaker:They're turning very much to preventative health along with the health Department.
Speaker:So that's what they're going to be focused on for us.
Speaker:We want to expand things like our care
Speaker:transitions program, and that is when we work with somebody in the hospital that's
Speaker:coming out of the hospital, try and connect them with community services,
Speaker:because as we talked about, people don't know.
Speaker:And even hospitals as busy as they are, they flip over discharge plan, or
Speaker:sometimes they're not referring to community services that are right there.
Speaker:So we're trying to formalize that whenever we can.
Speaker:And we have that sometimes with a managed care agency or whatever.
Speaker:But it's an ongoing thing.
Speaker:When people come home, let's get them to
Speaker:their doctor's appointment, let's get them a meal.
Speaker:Let's make sure that they've got the information they need, that they
Speaker:understood the discharge plan, all those kinds of things to keep them from going
Speaker:back in the hospital and having their health further decline.
Speaker:So connecting community services to healthcare, for many
Speaker:years, people have seen that that has a huge effect on their outcomes.
Speaker:It's not just the healthcare, it's what happens afterwards.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I mean, I can remember reading the
Speaker:discharge information from the hospital for my dad.
Speaker:I couldn't understand it.
Speaker:There was no way he could have done it by himself.
Speaker:No, it's impossible.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Everybody needs a little bit of help with these medical issues, for sure.
Speaker:So social workers can help you with that.
Speaker:A lot of our people are nurses to help you figure out the prescriptions.
Speaker:And no, that's not right.
Speaker:That's not what that means.
Speaker:And some of those things, and that's all
Speaker:important when prescriptions is part of medical care, like a procedure anymore.
Speaker:Right. So connecting community services to health
Speaker:services just remains a challenge all across the country.
Speaker:So I'm hearing three things that
Speaker:are really critical points for Co AA providing for our community.
Speaker:You're filling the gaps.
Speaker:You're providing that information that
Speaker:they need as well as services or resources.
Speaker:You're advocating for each of these individuals.
Speaker:And it's not just the 15,000.
Speaker:It's literally every older adult in the eight county community for COA and
Speaker:connecting people, getting those resources to them that they need.
Speaker:So, yes, I wish we were doing every one of those things perfectly.
Speaker:But the big thing is that you're trying.
Speaker:We are always trying. So it's more efficient.
Speaker:We have those to put it. We have a very committed group of people.
Speaker:I was just going to say
Speaker:I haven't seen them miss a beat in all of the years I've worked with Co AA.
Speaker:It's amazing.
Speaker:Well, just as we do on the podcast, we try to bring information to our community.
Speaker:Our listeners see how AAA is.
Speaker:They've got an enormous job in reaching
Speaker:seniors or their family members and caregivers.
Speaker:We kind of touched upon it here as well, too.
Speaker:Just that information gap.
Speaker:Without clear communication streams, a lot
Speaker:of seniors would not be able to benefit from all of your programs and services.
Speaker:You guys have an incredible network to share information.
Speaker:However, what is your greatest fear, your
Speaker:frustration with finding those who need you?
Speaker:And how is technology helping or maybe even hurting?
Speaker:That is such a big issue like we're talking about.
Speaker:You know, I can't believe after all these
Speaker:years, so many people don't know what services are out there in their community.
Speaker:It's just as frustrating as it could be.
Speaker:And of course, like all agencies, we try and do PR.
Speaker:We have vaccine booster commercials on right now.
Speaker:In the past couple of years, we've been on TV, social media, radio.
Speaker:But unless you're interested, you kind of tune these things out.
Speaker:And of course, our budgets, we're not
Speaker:going to get on there 18 times a day on a TV spot.
Speaker:So it's just frustrating that way.
Speaker:We've had luck with targeted mail.
Speaker:We have
Speaker:beginner classes for Medicare because that can be complex for a lot of people.
Speaker:And those are very popular.
Speaker:And when we target mail, okay, you're turning 65.
Speaker:That's successful. So we try different things.
Speaker:And of course, we have a large local levy
Speaker:program through the Franklin County Office on Aging.
Speaker:They're trying to do outreach.
Speaker:So if you come in through our door, their
Speaker:door, you're going to get into the network.
Speaker:But it's just the same.
Speaker:It's hard to get to people.
Speaker:And we have got some really complex systems out there.
Speaker:Now, some of the best calls I mean, nicest feedback I get are from people that can't
Speaker:figure out Medicare, and these can be lawyers saying, oh, my gosh, your people
Speaker:figured out how to get this Medicare waiver for assisted living for my mom.
Speaker:I just couldn't figure this out.
Speaker:And
Speaker:we want to help people in these complex systems, but they got to get to us first.
Speaker:So the bright spot is we've just finished doing a community needs survey with age
Speaker:friendly and with the Franco County Office on Aging.
Speaker:And one of the questions that has changed
Speaker:dramatically from the last time we asked it was about technology.
Speaker:What technologies do you use, for what purposes?
Speaker:And it was just a tremendous increase.
Speaker:I mean, I was kind of stunned with the
Speaker:percentages of people that answered, yes, we were using all these things.
Speaker:So to me, that's a bright light there
Speaker:because so much trying to get out on social media,
Speaker:but so much is online, whether it's researching what's there or
Speaker:applying for things or all the healthcare technologies coming out right now.
Speaker:Of course, over the pandemic, telehealth became big.
Speaker:You've probably all used it. I loved it.
Speaker:Yeah. Let's just call in.
Speaker:If you're not good on technology, you can't take advantage of those things.
Speaker:I think as the boomers, they've had technology first.
Speaker:So as our population ages and younger
Speaker:people coming into those cohorts, we're going to see that right there.
Speaker:And that's going to be helpful, I think, in getting information to people.
Speaker:I hate to think that there was any silver lining in the pandemic, but the one thing
Speaker:it really did push us to do, it did is to use technology.
Speaker:If you wanted to talk to your grandchildren, you got to get on Zoom.
Speaker:So it pushed a lot of people that way.
Speaker:And I think that's going to be useful.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:Our million dollar question literally is money is an issue.
Speaker:Services to seniors are incredibly costly, particularly for personal and health care.
Speaker:Where are we on the funding?
Speaker:You've talked a little bit about that.
Speaker:Do federal and local legislators even
Speaker:understand these issues and why the money is so important, or do we need to actually
Speaker:rethink funding models and look at other ways to gain money for these services?
Speaker:Well, Carol, that is the multi million dollar question she did.
Speaker:Too bad I don't have an answer for you, right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You got an answer for every one of these questions.
Speaker:But the biggest problem that we're all facing right now is the workforce problem.
Speaker:Homecare agencies are not able to fill the orders that we are sending them.
Speaker:So we've got people waiting
Speaker:for services that we could easily get them in the past.
Speaker:And they've been traditionally low paying jobs.
Speaker:But the opportunities that have been out there over the pandemic for jumping to
Speaker:better paying jobs, better situations has really had people leaving the field and
Speaker:also people have been quarantined and they couldn't work.
Speaker:And so all these things have really joined
Speaker:together to bring this home care kind of crisis right now at a time when we're
Speaker:always trying to get more people to use it.
Speaker:So I don't see that problem coming to an end with the pandemic either, because the
Speaker:salaries are going to have to be bumped up considerably.
Speaker:And since many agencies, they rely on public
Speaker:programs, which are the huge funder of Medicaid, they are stuck.
Speaker:It's not like they can raise their prices
Speaker:because the government says this is how much we're giving you.
Speaker:Right. And so some of them just drop out.
Speaker:They're like, well, we can't do it for
Speaker:that, and they drop out lose agencies or they just don't take your cases, which is
Speaker:also tragic for us, trying to relay more on private pay.
Speaker:So is there a willingness to acknowledge this among local legislators?
Speaker:We have quarterly hellos with legislators and things.
Speaker:I mean, they know the problem, the workforce problem is out there everywhere.
Speaker:So they don't see this as a singular item.
Speaker:But it's one thing you can't get can't get enough Amazon workers.
Speaker:It's another when you can't get these
Speaker:programs funded or you can't get the workforce in for home care.
Speaker:And then that switches people to nursing home, which is the whole point is for the
Speaker:state not to pay this much money and have people in a cheaper option.
Speaker:So it's shoving people into a more
Speaker:expensive place if they can't find anything else.
Speaker:And of course, people after the pandemic,
Speaker:nursing homes is not where they want to be.
Speaker:So a lot of people, they're just kind of hoping that they can get somebody.
Speaker:They're filling in with family, neighbors when they can.
Speaker:So all the area agencies are just kind of having a fit about it.
Speaker:But something's got to happen with the
Speaker:recognition of the importance of that home care worker.
Speaker:It's proven that a home care worker is
Speaker:going to be better and yet cheaper than somebody going either into an institution
Speaker:or becoming very, very critically ill and ending up in the hospital.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I hope that that recognition is there with legislature.
Speaker:It's a matter of priorities.
Speaker:You know, they've got all these people coming to them.
Speaker:Can you push your priority right there? Right.
Speaker:It's always been that.
Speaker:Yeah, you'd mentioned the conferences. Is there a conference, an Older Americans
Speaker:conference coming up in Washington sometime soon?
Speaker:They kind of fell out a favor, I have to say.
Speaker:Clinton, I think. Was he the last one that had one in 95?
Speaker:Yeah, maybe not.
Speaker:There might have been kind of a scaled back one with President Bush,
Speaker:the older Bush, but they've kind of just not kept on schedule.
Speaker:I hope they bring him back because I think
Speaker:it would be a good thing to try and focus on the poster boys in there right now.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Well, if anybody brought it back, he might.
Speaker:Right. I mean, he needs it.
Speaker:He's of age.
Speaker:He's probably going to need the programs here pretty soon.
Speaker:You never know.
Speaker:We don't want to talk about that.
Speaker:The office may drive him there.
Speaker:What I'm meaning is that just this office is not good on your health.
Speaker:He's going to need it when he's done. True.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a tough job.
Speaker:He could be one of those super agers, though.
Speaker:He could be 600 year olds that hang in there forever.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:When you're talking about funding, there's also this cliff coming.
Speaker:We have been getting lots of pandemic resources, right.
Speaker:For example, life care,
Speaker:their demand went up 60%, and we were pumping lots of money into there.
Speaker:The people were putting money through the
Speaker:Older Americans Act, the art money, the cares money.
Speaker:And so they build up these resources, but
Speaker:now they're like, Oops not going to be there.
Speaker:So you build up this demand that you
Speaker:can't, funding wise, can't fulfill in the future.
Speaker:I think there are a lot of provider agencies that are worried about that.
Speaker:So we have to just keep advocating and
Speaker:keep it in front of people's, keep it on their radar.
Speaker:One of the things that happens when you're
Speaker:looking at school levies and school funding is they look at the projections
Speaker:for how many kids are actually going to be in school.
Speaker:Well, the boomers are
Speaker:aging and we'll eventually be gone, and the next generations are smaller in size.
Speaker:But I think the difference here is that
Speaker:the types of services needed are going to get harder and bigger.
Speaker:Even if the population numbers come down,
Speaker:it's not going to be needing less services.
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:Because housing is going to continue to be a problem.
Speaker:Transportation is definitely going to continue to be a problem.
Speaker:Food, stability.
Speaker:We spend the majority of our money for long term care goes into personal care.
Speaker:Right. Which is why this home care crisis.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Maybe you can find a ride, maybe you can Cook for yourself.
Speaker:I don't know. But it's hard for families sometimes to
Speaker:deal with the personal care needs of a loved one and some of these things.
Speaker:So there's a huge demand for that.
Speaker:So we hope we'll be able to keep up with that.
Speaker:I do want to say that we talked about other forms and levees.
Speaker:Ohio did go the levee route.
Speaker:Most of our counties have levees to different degrees.
Speaker:Franklin county has the biggest one in the
Speaker:state right now, and it has been a godsend during this pandemic, they have funded
Speaker:meals for people that just called in and said, I need a meal.
Speaker:I'm not going out or people that said I don't have a ride to get a vaccine.
Speaker:And to have that resource in your county
Speaker:where you just know you can call and get a ride for somebody has just been huge.
Speaker:So that's the local levy here and I think it's going to be up in the fall again.
Speaker:So I hope people continue to support those
Speaker:local levy programs, because the good thing about those are
Speaker:you can do what you want to do, what needs to be done in your community.
Speaker:There's not federal regulations or state regulations.
Speaker:You can say on a dime, pandemic, okay,
Speaker:we're opening this up for vaccine transportation.
Speaker:And so these local levies are just, I think, really critical in Ohio and puts
Speaker:Ohio in a much better category than a lot of other States for community based care.
Speaker:And every Penny that Franklin County
Speaker:residents put into that levee stays in Franklin County.
Speaker:It's not going anywhere.
Speaker:Yeah, they do a great job with it.
Speaker:Of course, we've been partners all through this.
Speaker:And I want to put in a plug for the nonprofit sector, too.
Speaker:There's so much going on private sector, from managed care to meals information.
Speaker:In fact, somebody sent me a memo saying that AAA, the Automobile Association,
Speaker:wanted to get into information for older adults.
Speaker:I said, well, everybody's in the pool. But you know what I mean?
Speaker:There's just lots of people going in that direction.
Speaker:And, of course, for innovation and expanded services.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:But I tell you, when the funding is there, everybody is in the pool.
Speaker:But when it goes away or dribbles down,
Speaker:the people that are left are the nonprofits that are committed to providing
Speaker:services, the Life Cares, the Catholic Social Services.
Speaker:The Meals on Wheels programs.
Speaker:All Clintonville Resource Center.
Speaker:These are the people that we call on sometimes to say, well, you go above and
Speaker:beyond, will you do this thing that might not be funded?
Speaker:And so I'm a big supporter of the nonprofits and keeping them healthy.
Speaker:And too,
Speaker:we talked a little bit earlier about many times about housing,
Speaker:the rent increases, the lack of housing, the aging of the housing stock.
Speaker:And in fact, right now, inflation is
Speaker:hurting that low income as well that they all of a sudden they're seeing their rents
Speaker:increase and they're getting hit the hardest.
Speaker:But we have a ton of new building developments for senior housing, but they
Speaker:may be out of reach because it's just too expensive.
Speaker:Do you have any advice for listeners on housing trends?
Speaker:What's happening if a senior needs housing and now and maybe five years from now?
Speaker:I know your Crystal may be a little fuzzy, but it's like but you have a pulse on it
Speaker:more than we do in regards to kind of what to look for.
Speaker:I tell you, I wish I had a Crystal ball.
Speaker:That is a tough, tough problem right now.
Speaker:And you do see housing going up in large numbers, and it's crazy.
Speaker:And thank goodness Columbus is laser
Speaker:focused on affordable housing and trying to up with all that.
Speaker:But affordable housing, that's $50,000
Speaker:income is what they claim affordable housing is.
Speaker:And what we need, the people that are
Speaker:coming through our agency that are just but are on Social Security income.
Speaker:And it's pretty tough to find that in case you can't find that.
Speaker:So what you have to have is subsidized housing.
Speaker:And HUD has just stopped doing much of that building the 202 program years ago,
Speaker:although that did come up in the last budget, I think did start to rise.
Speaker:And it's kind of ironic in the late 50s, I think they recognized this problem and
Speaker:they started funding these low income nonprofit rental programs.
Speaker:It's like, oh, voucher programs.
Speaker:Well, voucher programs are tough.
Speaker:They're very tough for older adults.
Speaker:You close the housing facility and you say, oh, here's a voucher.
Speaker:Well, when you're 88 and you've lived
Speaker:there and thought you were going to live there till the end of your life, okay,
Speaker:let's go find some more housing and somebody will take a voucher.
Speaker:So these are tough.
Speaker:And what we really need is we need more subsidized housing building.
Speaker:But certainly there are agencies in town that will help you find housing.
Speaker:They'll try or they'll tell you
Speaker:who might have an opening or how long the waitlist is.
Speaker:And we've got people calling and checking all the time what's available.
Speaker:I see emails flashing around, somebody's got space here, space there.
Speaker:So call around some of these agencies and
Speaker:they all work together and see if you can get some help.
Speaker:But I tell you, if you anticipate I'm not
Speaker:going to live in this house for much longer.
Speaker:It's too hard to live here.
Speaker:It's getting too expensive.
Speaker:Start looking, get your name on some wait
Speaker:list because it could take a couple of years sometimes, right.
Speaker:If you can anticipate it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I want to give a shout out to homeport who
Speaker:has done a phenomenal job of working with local communities and
Speaker:building senior housing in those places are beautiful.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean, Yay.
Speaker:All the people that are really focused on this problem because it is huge, right?
Speaker:Well, we got another hot button issue here.
Speaker:And that's transportation.
Speaker:We've already been talking about that.
Speaker:Our community is lucky that we've got a
Speaker:few newer services available to seniors to meet some of those transportation needs,
Speaker:like the villages and age friendly communities.
Speaker:Will there be programs utilizing volunteer teams?
Speaker:Is that really the answer to senior needs?
Speaker:Well, you know, I love the villages and
Speaker:we've been seed funders of the villages and supporters of age friendly and
Speaker:that concept of old fashioned concept of neighbors helping neighbors.
Speaker:But in our modern society, it's really hard to ask for help.
Speaker:So when you're a member of a village, it's not hard to ask for help.
Speaker:You just call because you're a member and
Speaker:up comes a neighbor or somebody to help you.
Speaker:So to me, the more villages that are out
Speaker:there take stress off the transportation systems.
Speaker:And it's a great way to age that there are
Speaker:people around that are willing to help you.
Speaker:So I'm a great fan of that.
Speaker:The Villages, the Network of Villages did
Speaker:a Lift demonstration for us and really showing that it can fill those gaps.
Speaker:You can't find a volunteer somebody needs to go to.
Speaker:We'll call a lift, and this will work out
Speaker:and teaching people how to use Lyft again, a technology issue.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But I don't know that volunteers can be the solution to workforce
Speaker:crisis because there are things like, I'll be happy to take people to when I retire,
Speaker:be happy to drive people places, but I'm not going to go in and give them a bath.
Speaker:You're not going to do some personal care or you're probably not going to volunteer
Speaker:to clean up their house, some of these things.
Speaker:So that remains.
Speaker:And I think one of the things that
Speaker:we're all going to have to focus on is just because of the demographics, we're
Speaker:going to have to focus more on paying family members and neighbors.
Speaker:And we already have programs to do that, but they're hard to access.
Speaker:It could take right now, of course, I complain all the time.
Speaker:The powers to be it could take five, six months to get them certified.
Speaker:Well, it can't be that complicated because a lot of times those people are
Speaker:like, well, I was interested five or six months ago, but I got a job now.
Speaker:I'm not doing it right.
Speaker:So we have to figure out ways to really
Speaker:utilize people that are out there, not employed.
Speaker:People are like family members.
Speaker:They should be doing it anyway.
Speaker:Well, you can't do it anyway if you don't have any income.
Speaker:And what does that mean?
Speaker:Somebody got to pay for all that gas.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:And people are like, well, it'll just replace what they're doing with.
Speaker:But when we ran a pilot of this, this was a long time ago.
Speaker:The Choices pilot where we started doing
Speaker:consumer directed care scripts did the study
Speaker:did not show that people were replacing what they were doing with paid time.
Speaker:It showed that they were just putting more care into a family member.
Speaker:So instead of spending 4 hours with them,
Speaker:they were spending eight that paid time and what they would do anyway.
Speaker:So there's no way around it.
Speaker:You've got this aging population and then a smaller number of people to serve them.
Speaker:And it's going to be something, something America has to figure out.
Speaker:The robots I see these people, the robots I'm like,
Speaker:well, robots going to maybe bring me a Diet Coke.
Speaker:So I'm going to have to look a little further into them before I buy one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We need the cars that drive themselves that I'm about driving, Miss Daisy.
Speaker:Yeah. Not giving up my keys.
Speaker:So I'm going to have to have a self driving car.
Speaker:There you go. Yeah.
Speaker:You mentioned just a little bit ago about
Speaker:bringing people in or taking advantage of the interest.
Speaker:You've been a mentor and a role model for
Speaker:so many individuals who have moved into careers serving seniors.
Speaker:As you mentioned, it's difficult to convince young people, students and young
Speaker:adults that a career in senior services can be a fulfilling opportunity.
Speaker:Can you share your thoughts on your years of doing this, as well as the future and
Speaker:people around you on the value and the advantages to pursue work in senior
Speaker:services and the opportunities, whether it's administration or nonprofits?
Speaker:The whole gamut.
Speaker:Wow, we try and do this all the time.
Speaker:Students in social work, in the medical field.
Speaker:They are all very attracted to children
Speaker:and families when they come through our office.
Speaker:I'm like why older adults are great to work with.
Speaker:Why? So we bring in a lot of interns.
Speaker:We have a great social work school at Ohio State University.
Speaker:So we get them from other places, too, but a lot from Ohio State.
Speaker:And when they come and work and they just see how satisfying it is to be able to
Speaker:help people, families and individuals stay in their home that they just love.
Speaker:Because
Speaker:I walked in a client's house one time years ago, I said, take me to see a client
Speaker:that will scare me that we're keeping at home.
Speaker:Am I going to be scared when I go in there
Speaker:and say, wow, this person shouldn't be at home?
Speaker:So they took me in and
Speaker:people were making a lot of deals with her about, okay, if you do this, if you never
Speaker:smoke again or you never, you know, oh my gosh, and you can stay home.
Speaker:And I walked in there and the first thing
Speaker:she said to me was, you're not here to try and put me in a nursing home.
Speaker:People feel strongly about these things.
Speaker:And so when you can put together that package and you can make that person feel
Speaker:like, oh my gosh, I can stay here, it's a very satisfying thing.
Speaker:And we have some very committed and people that just love what they do.
Speaker:And so we try and show interns that, and
Speaker:we keep a lot of them that they've done this and they stick with us.
Speaker:So, yeah, we try and convince people all the time.
Speaker:And of course, in the medical field, they all want to work with kids and
Speaker:family, but you know who they all end up working with?
Speaker:What's the percentage that they're in the hospital?
Speaker:They're older adults. So let's just get those Gerontology
Speaker:programs in there as part of their curriculum more heavily and all of that.
Speaker:So yes, we're big advocates of that as far as the future.
Speaker:When I came to Cook, we had 100 employees. We have 400 now.
Speaker:And it's growing all the time because
Speaker:there's no shortage of older adults, that's for sure.
Speaker:And there's lots of opportunity out there.
Speaker:The managed care organizations, medical
Speaker:practices are competing for those that understand community aging because they
Speaker:know that's a part of successful health outcomes.
Speaker:There are a lot of people out there that
Speaker:want to see people that have that kind of experience.
Speaker:And
Speaker:when I started in aging, 1978 or whatever, my friends are like aging really well.
Speaker:They don't say that for a lot of years, as
Speaker:they call and say, what am I going to do with my mom?
Speaker:Or now should I be planning for assisted?
Speaker:So nobody wonders now why that was a good move.
Speaker:And right now it's a huge business and innovation opportunity for people, too.
Speaker:People are creating things all the time, robots or whatever, but for older adults.
Speaker:So there's certainly money in the business and innovation end of it, too.
Speaker:Well, I'm always amazed when I talk to the
Speaker:folks at the Senior Services Roundtable, which is one of our incredible
Speaker:opportunities in central Ohio right there to talk about if you need help or
Speaker:information that the Senior Services Roundtable will do it.
Speaker:But in looking at the membership of people in that organization, I'm thinking there
Speaker:are at one point in time there were 1000 people in 600 organizations.
Speaker:You're looking at every company that has
Speaker:medical devices, every company that's making widgets that seniors purchase.
Speaker:It's not just downsizing companies. Exactly.
Speaker:People just start coming up with these
Speaker:things that people need and making a business out of it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But it's not just the medical people, not just the social workers.
Speaker:If you are an accountant and you are
Speaker:looking at maybe changing up your career a little bit as opposed to going to another
Speaker:accounting company, look at what is open in the senior services industries.
Speaker:There are incredible organizations that
Speaker:help seniors, and everybody needs an accountant, that's for sure.
Speaker:That round table.
Speaker:You can really see the business interest in aging, certainly, yes.
Speaker:Well, Cindy, we always give our guests an opportunity to provide those last words of
Speaker:wisdom, and I think we all need it. Those of us who are aging gracefully still at
Speaker:home suggestions or advice for our listeners today?
Speaker:Well, I would just say that if you want to live in communities where you can age and
Speaker:know that what you want is going to be there services, a variety of housing,
Speaker:transportation, all those things, then be an advocate.
Speaker:Get out there.
Speaker:No matter what age you are, whether it's
Speaker:for your parents or for you, you want your community to have those services so that
Speaker:people can thrive in our cities that we love and let your
Speaker:leaders know that you care about these things.
Speaker:They have a long priority list of things.
Speaker:And as you probably know, we don't have a highly paid lobby budget.
Speaker:Right. Like so many people do.
Speaker:And so where we have one is on grassroots
Speaker:people that say, I need you to pay attention to these issues.
Speaker:And I've got this in my family.
Speaker:So when I started in this, 92% of people
Speaker:got their long term care in a nursing home that was the statistic 9% versus 8%.
Speaker:Now it's more like 40, 40 or 5% in a nursing home with the
Speaker:majority now getting home care for their long term care services.
Speaker:So
Speaker:all these community based services, the push for community based services that
Speaker:came from local advocates that came developing services and just people that
Speaker:work with us to get to their legislature and say we want this in our community.
Speaker:So be an advocate.
Speaker:That's my advice, certainly.
Speaker:And you may need them someday. Exactly.
Speaker:I've been talking aging for 43 years, and I never thought I'd be here retiring.
Speaker:But just like that, I now have a personal interest in community service.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:For listeners, if you don't have it today, you will eventually have it.
Speaker:You will. Or somebody that you love.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Be a citizen advocate, you know.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:Well, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker:Congratulations on retirement. Good luck with her.
Speaker:And we'll bring her back in a year and see how retirement goes.
Speaker:Obviously, she says she's going to be driving people.
Speaker:We want to hear how that went after I take all these trips that I have planned.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Now that'll be an episode talking about doing trips in retirement.
Speaker:I'm trying to plan something a month. So I
Speaker:don't say, oh, my gosh, did I do the right thing?
Speaker:Okay, I love it. Let's go.
Speaker:I'm ready.
Speaker:I'll do road trips with you.
Speaker:When Cindy and I first started talking about her visiting today, I was talking
Speaker:about what's your next plan and what's the encore career?
Speaker:And she goes, Well, I don't know.
Speaker:I said, Carol, I know you're all about encore careers.
Speaker:I said, don't be asking me about that
Speaker:because I have not planned a second career in a year.
Speaker:You never know. Well, that's the thing.
Speaker:I've had friends that retired early in
Speaker:their 50s, and then they got in their mid 60s.
Speaker:And I don't know whether they're at the Y or they're teaching GED classes.
Speaker:Some of them come back. Absolutely.
Speaker:Or you're sought out for the Gray matter that you got the knowledge you have and
Speaker:you're worth something to somebody or some organization.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And Carol, just in case, I got my resume already before I leave.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:We've got all the information we talked
Speaker:about in the episode in the show notes and then on the websites and website.
Speaker:We don't have websites.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And loads of information and resources.
Speaker:So we look forward to talking to you.
Speaker:You again very soon.
Speaker:We will follow up and thank you for listening to this episode.
Speaker:Thanks, Cindy.
Speaker:Everything buddy always says to me, you and Brad have way too much fun on this.
