By Alexandra Newman
If you’ve read the last few Generations Columns in The Herald-Palladium, you might have noticed a theme: our MI Choice Waiver program.
Lynn Kellogg wrote about the history of home-based care options; I wrote about some feedback we received from Waiver clients last year; and Sara Duris confronted a frequently asked question we get: Is there really any way that someone can “age in place?”
If you didn’t read that last one, the answer is yes. And they can do it through the Waiver program or through a variety of other home and community-based services we offer through Area Agency on Aging.
For example, someone enrolled in our MI Choice Waiver program can also take advantage of in-home primary care thanks to our Integrated Care at Home program. We have a nurse practitioner on staff that can see home-bound clients in their own home.
MI Choice Waiver, which helps provide nursing home level of care to adults 18+, also helps with finding a paid caregiver or allows for a family member or friend to be paid as the caregiver. And for those family caregivers – Area Agency on Aging offers a plethora of resources for them, too.
Our Senior Companion and Friendly Caller volunteer programs are available for clients who might need a little extra friendship or connection. A Companion or Friendly Helper volunteer might be able to help a client with picking up groceries or shoveling the snow off their front steps.
Waiver clients with diabetes, chronic pain or dementia have taken advantage of our free classes and support groups over the years. We even offer virtual and phone classes for those who may have trouble getting to our site or a partner site out in the community.
But many Waiver clients are able to get out into the community for a variety of activities, like having lunch at a congregant meal site.
One young adult with disabilities used transportation services to complete college classes and earn their degree a few years ago. Another, a woman with a vision impairment, gets transportation to a gym to help meet her health goals. She’s lost over 40 pounds and is happier and healthier.
That client, as well as others, have not only been able to receive services, but help provide them to others. She became a Friendly Caller volunteer herself after experiencing how beneficial they were herself.
Others have used our Information & Assistance and Michigan Medicare Assistance Program (MMAP) teams to help get answers to complex Medicare and Medicaid questions.
When we say we’re the Easy Button for aging-related questions in Southwest Michigan, it’s because we are able to connect all the dots so that someone is able to live as independently as possible as they age. We do this through our programs and by working with over 100 community partners.
Whether a person is in nursing home and wants to move out, or if they are a family navigating a new dementia diagnosis but don’t know where to turn to for support – We’re here to make sure Southwest Michigan receives the best quality aging care and support.
The MI Choice Waiver program is a powerful tool in our toolbox, but we also like to think outside the box with new programs, partnerships and innovations.
Our vision is through choice and range of service, every aging adult lives a quality life.
To push that aging Easy Button, give us a call at 800-654-2810, reach the Campus for Creative Aging at 269-983-0177, live chat with us on our website at www.AreaAgencyonAging.org, email us at info@areaagencyonaging.org, or make an appointment to come see us at 2900 Lakeview Ave. in St. Joseph.
The Generations Column appears each week in The Herald-Palladium.