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LEADERSHIP AGENDA

OPERATIONAL SCAN

DEPARTMENT PERFORMANCE

Aging

John McCalley, Director

Mission Statement:
The mission of the Iowa Department on Aging is to provide advocacy, educational and prevention services to elder Iowans so they can find Iowa a healthy, safe, productive and enjoyable place to live and work.

Measures:
Senior Living Trust assists older Iowans to live in their own homes
Average Length of Time Independent Status is Maintained
Providing assistance to family caregivers
Home delivered meals improve nutrition
Referrals for Elder Abuse Intervention

•  Performance Plan - How we measure our progress


•  Strategic Plan - How we plan for progress


•  Performance Report- How we report our progress


• Department Home Page - Learn more about this department

Why this is important:
The Senior Living Trust assists low and moderate income older Iowans by providing quality support services that allow them to continue living in their own homes and defer or eliminate the need for nursing home care. This effort is an important piece of Iowa's effort to "re-balance" the long term care system to provide greater resources and emphasis on home and community based services rather than nursing homes and other institutional settings. Under this program the average annual cost is approximately $600 per client versus a typical monthly cost of over $3,000 in a nursing home setting. The program is funded exclusively with funds appropriated from the Senior Living Trust.


What we're doing about this:
Using funds from the Senior Living Trust, the Department on Aging works through the thirteen Iowa Area Agencies on Aging and their community partners to provide over two dozen different home and community based services such as home delivered meals, adult day care service, respite care, case management and transportation to support continued independent living by elder Iowans in their homes.

Why this is important:
The CMPFE program provides individualized support services which help frail elderly Iowans meet their preference to remain in their own homes, while delaying or deferring nursing home and other institutional care, which are normally much more costly in terms of taxpayer costs.


What we're doing about this:

Why this is important:
Family caregivers provide the vast majority of the assistance that enables older people to live independently in their homes and communities. Family caregivers are an important component of the home and community-based care system which in turn can delay or defer more costly institutional care for the older adult family member.


What we're doing about this:
Department on Aging is building support for family caregivers to ensure services that sustain a caregiver's role and maintain their emotional and physical health.

Why this is important:
The nutrition program was developed to improve the nutritional health of older Iowans. Increasing this percentage shows that participants with multiple risks are maintaining or improving nutritional health with receipt of home delivered meals, congregate meals and nutrition counseling. By helping older Iowans stay healthy in their own homes, it helps delay nursing home placement.


What we're doing about this:
Healthy aging objectives will be completed by continuing efforts of the Department on Aging in administering the Older American Act nutrition program. The Department provides technical assistance to the Area Agencies on Aging regarding funding, compliance with state and federal guidelines, increasing efficiencies or service delivery, communication of best practices, identifying collaborative opportunities, and communicating the preventative and health benefits of the nutrition program.

Why this is important:
Elder Abuse is a grossly under recognized and reported social problem as supported by the Fall 2003 Journal of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys which states 84% of elder abuse cases go unreported. Using this data to make a projection for Iowa, this would mean that for the 3,280 clients assisted in the 30 EAI counties in FY09, there are an estimated 17,220 older Iowans whose probable abuse did not get reported and therefore assistance was not received. The Elder Abuse Initiative is the only state program that addresses the issue of elder abuse.


What we're doing about this:
The Elder Abuse Initiative program has expanded into 30 counties since FY01. It is a service delivery system created through partnerships with local entities including the Area Agencies on Aging, law enforcement and DHS. The program focuses on the prevention, intervention, detection and reporting of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation by presenting older Iowans with community support service options available in their local area. Through public education, professional training, an resource coordination, potential abuse has been identified and appropriate assistance provided.

During FY08, the department identified an error in the manner some data was being collected at the local level. The issue has been corrected resulting in significantly better results.

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