Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Centers to aid elderly, disabled

The plan combines systems to aid older people and mentally disabled people with a wide range of services.

By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Published February 10, 2005

Thanks to new state and federal programs, older people and mentally disabled people in Pinellas and Pasco counties may soon find it easier to connect with the public services they need.

The Florida Department of Elder Affairs announced Wednesday that the Pinellas/Pasco region will be one of three areas of the state to experiment with "aging resource centers," designed to streamline how people get help with caregiving, transportation, nursing homes and many other needs.

An $800,000 federal grant also will allow mentally ill adults of all ages to use the resource centers.

The resource centers are due to open July 1.

Right now, dozens of organizations and agencies provide services like adult day care, respite care and home health care, each with their own telephone numbers, funding sources and eligibility requirements. People who want to call these programs directly may still do so.

But the resource center will offer "one-stop shopping," said Sally Gronda, director of the Area Agency on Aging, which will run the centers.

Take Medicaid for nursing homes. Right now, the Florida Department of Children and Families determines financial eligibility. The Department of Elder Affairs determines whether people are impaired enough to qualify. And the Agency for Health Care Administration regulates nursing homes and informs the public about them.

Those agencies will retain their roles, but eligibility specialists all will work in the aging resource centers, so people can make just one stop. Right now, delays of several weeks are common because people don't bring in the proper paperwork to various agencies, said Susan Tucker, Elder Affairs interim director.

At the resource center, she said, "we will immediately know if we don't have the information we need. We think that problem can be substantially reduced."

St. Petersburg will have its main resource center at 9887 Fourth St. N, Gronda said. The Pasco center is tentatively set for the Hudson Senior Center. Other centers in both counties will have computers connected to the resource centers and trained assistants who can help people navigate the bureaucracy. Orlando and Fort Lauderdale will also get resource centers. If the pilot programs succeed, legislators have said they will extend it statewide.

[Last modified February 10, 2005, 00:25:06]