Chronogram article
Reprinted with permission from the July, 2007 issue of   Chronogram

Aging in Place: A town—s trail blazes for seniors

By ABBY LUBY

Chronogram article
Reprinted with permission from the July, 2007 issue of “Chronogram”

Aging in Place: A town’s trail blazes for seniors
By ABBY LUBY


When 66 year old Josephine Halsteed was stricken with a type of cancer that impaired her ability to walk, she needed someone who could get her to the doctor in a day’s notice. Halsteed, a 40 year resident of Maybrook in the town of Montgomery, was able to make a single call and enlist the help of Joseph Cardonne, a local retiree who volunteers his time to help others. For the last three months Halsteed has felt fortunate to have Cardonne’s assistance as well as his company. This is good news for the Town of Montgomery whose ground breaking “Seniors Independence Project” was the program that initially put connected Cardonne with Halsteed.

“This project is a life saver,” said Halsteed. “It lets me stay here - I wouldn’t want to give up my home.”

Aging in place, the national movement among the elderly, fueled the town’s move to create the project. Growing numbers of elders are indicating that, health permitting, institutional housing or nursing homes are less desirable as places to age and prefer grow old in their own homes. With the aging baby boomers becoming senior citizens, municipalities will need to plan for resources needed by elders. Statistics tell us that the Town of Montgomery is in Orange County is one of the fastest growing counties in New York State with 70% of Montgomery’s population living in their own homes. The growing elder population in Orange County has reached beyond the 2000 US Census count of 62,721 for those 55 and over.

“Very soon there will be different types of needs that will likely reach a crisis level,” said Susan Cockburn, Town of Montgomery Supervisor. “We need to be prepared.”

For most seniors needing a ride to the store, the doctor or help changing a light bulb, means they have to cherry pick through the smorgasbord or volunteer organizations until they find a good fit in terms of need and scheduling.

Cockburn, together with community members, professionals, and local non profits set out to create the Seniors Independence Project is a ‘one-stop- shopping’ where they can call one town phone number for their day-to-day needs. The project is becoming a blue print for local and state governments nation wide.

The goal, Cockburn said, is to develop a program that coordinates volunteers and vendors who provide services to the elderly. The town acts as an umbrella overseeing essentials such as background checks of volunteers and liability issues.

Since it’s inception in October, 2006, and implementation in January, 2007, the getting the program off the ground has faced many challenges. But, said Cockburn, it has also garnered an overwhelming response from not only seniors, friends and parents of seniors, but also from seasoned professionals working in the field. When Cockburn put the word out about the proposed town service, knocking on her door was Doris Rubinsky program director with Faith in Action of Greater Middletown, a program that helps home bound people.
“The Town of Montgomery is breaking ground,” said Rubinsky about the Seniors Independent Project. “There are no other municipalities doing this.”

Faith in Action (FIA) has joined with Montgomery by offering to run background checks on volunteers and give them training before they actively join the project.
“We provide two sessions where they learn the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of the program,” said Rubinsky. “Some of what they learn is listening skills, what to do in emergencies, what it’s like being with a frail person and how to deal with the visually impaired.”
FAI, who refers to volunteers as “neighbors” also checks out homes where the help is needed.
“We need to make sure that our neighbors will be in a safe situation,” said Rubinsky.

Also involved with the project is the Orange County Office for the Aging (OCOA) who runs the Retired and senior Volunteer Program, (RSVP) program.
“Our role in the Seniors Independence Project is to offer support and benefits for volunteers,” said Mary Stewart of the OCOA, whose RSVP program is federally funded. “We are a clearing house for volunteers,” Stewart explained. “We give insurance coverage, including liability to volunteers working with the non profit sector in case they suffer any kind of personal injury.”

Stewart said the Town of Montgomery approached RSVP specifically to get insurance coverage for volunteers. “We are a small part of their program and the volunteers in RSVP do get those benefits.”

Volunteering his legal expertise to the town is attorney Sandy Altman of Jacobowitz & Gubits in Walden. Altman, who practices Elder Law, Estate Planning and Probate, said he and his firm were inspired to offer their services to the Town’s senior project. Altman is also chairman of the project.
“There is a strong desire on the part of seniors to spend their later years at home rather than in a nursing home or in even in assisted living,” said Altman. “There are many reasons aging in place is good for not only seniors but for the county as well.”

Altman was referring to the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 which cut back available Medicaid funds by tightening the eligibility requirements based on an elder’s financial status.
“Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal, state and county governments which means that part of federal, state and county taxes go towards nursing homes costs,” said Altman.
“In our area nursing homes cost $10,000 to $12,000 a month.” Altman explained that the incentive for the Seniors Independence Project was to help seniors stay at home which would cut down governmental expenses spent on nursing homes.

The fledgling project wants to efficiently administer each volunteer based group that participates in the project. “We hope to have the infrastructure in place soon,” said Cockburn. “That will tell me how well the project is working which makes me more confident in convincing the town to make this a budget line item.”
Cockburn and Altman said local taxes won’t be affected because most of the services are provided by volunteers. The only funding needed is to set up an office and phone line manned by a project representative for seniors to call or visit.
“We have already received small donations,” said Cockburn. “And we will also be writing grants for additional funding.”

The committee for the project was formed in the winter of 2006 and included not only Cockburn and Altman but Town Clerk Molly Miller and Ruth Gardiner, Senior Liaison for the Town. “We started canvassing senior groups to see what services were most needed,” said Altman. “We also set down the foundation for working with volunteer organizations.”

A draft resolution was presented to the Town Council that would formalize the town’s commitment to help meet the needs of seniors through community assistance. After months of review, the council voted unanimously to adopt the resolution in August, 2006. It took another few months to get up and running, said Altman.

Public awareness of the project started to spread. Flyers were distributed and were a mainstay on tables at Montgomery Town Hall – which is just where Josephine Halsteed and Joseph Cardonne found them.
“I had to file some paperwork at town hall and saw the sign-up sheets with information about the project,” said Halsteed. The following day she got a call by Magda Skermo, 37, a stay-at-home mom with four kids who volunteers her time by matching senior requests with available volunteers. Skermo explained to Halsteed that although the project was just starting she was sure she could arrange rides to places Halsteed’s friends or family weren’t unable to provide.

Oddly enough that same batch of flyers also attracted Cardone’s eye and shortly after he put his name down as a volunteer, he was contacted by the town and subsequently signed up for the orientation. “They were very well organized and the orientation was plain and clear,” said Cardone. “You knew exactly what was expected of you. When you get the phone call they always ask ‘can you do this?’

That most seniors needed rides more than anything else was no surprise to Peter Galati, Transportation Program Assistant for the Town. Galati said the town’s transportation services for seniors includes the Dial-a-Bus or Seniors Mini Van and his statistics indicate that more and more seniors are moving into the area.
“Montgomery provides about a total of 11,500 one way trips for seniors every year,” said Galati.
“The 11,500 trips show a five to eight percent increase over the past two years,” he said. “Judging by the 2000 census about 30% of our residents in the Town of Montgomery are seniors.”

But transportation, the service most needed, is just one of the project’s goals in helping seniors; assisting with simple chores is the other. “It could be as mundane as giving them clerical assistance, picking up the mail or putting sheets on the bed,” said Rubinsky. “It’s the little things – like changing a light bulb.”
Cockburn said they were also working to connect volunteers with local vendors who might offer discounted services to seniors.
“It’s a way that could keep local businesses local – which is part of Montgomery’s sustainability program,” she said. “We have a pharmacy that will deliver medications and we are contacting area supermarkets to see if they will deliver groceries.” The effort will benefit both business and seniors, she said.

The program is attracting attention from other state and county organizations who are gauging it’s progress as the word gets out. Anne Coon, program coordinator from the Orange County Office for the Aging said she was intrigued when she first heard about the project. “The idea that a municipality was behind this indicated that we could use as a model to replicate elsewhere in the county. Every county is going to need something like this because the senior baby boomers will not put up with being shut away just because they can’t get around. They want to be active.”
An active senior community is becoming the norm and local governments are finally understanding what that means to the quality of life for their entire constituency.
Rubinsky clearly sees attitudes shifting.
“When I first started [at FIA] it was different. If seniors I knew went into a nursing home I wrote them off because they weren’t coming home,” she said. “But now with people wanting to age in place, my sole job here is to make them as independent as possible with a quality of life that brings in as many services as possible.”

Ultimately the real benefit of this type of project, as any community volunteer will tell you, is befriending an elder so they keep that essential, social contact which diminishes as an unfortunate consequence of aging. If the match between volunteer and the person they help is a good one, sharing an hour or two together a few times a week can make for a nice friendship.

Rubinsky conjectured that “Volunteering is like eating chocolate without the calories. It creates the release of endorphins and gives you that good feeling.”

And that may be the case for Joseph Cardonne when he helps Josephine Halsteed. Just after driving her to the doctor’s office a few weeks ago, Cardonne became a little more familiar with Halsteed and complimented her.
“I see you got a new hair do – it looks great. And look how much better you are walking!”

“Thank you,” said Halsteed, smiling.

Cardonne intimated that volunteering was a two way street. “It’s very satisfying to volunteer this way,” he said. “It gives me a certain warmth and it’s a way of giving back. It’s also really worthwhile because it gives the folks I’m helping a feeling of Independence.” Project, making it the first broad based project for seniors run by a municipality. Although help for seniors is available from various local non profit groups, the newly launched Seniors