ARC, AHA Partner to Improve Access to Services for Older Residents; HUD Grant to Fund Pilot Project
(ATLANTA - February 28, 2007) Over the next several months, three Atlanta Housing Authority high-rises will become pilot sites, testing new ways to deliver aging services. The project is designed to increase the likelihood that the seniors can continue to live in the community and remain engaged and connected.
The initiative is being led by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Area Agency on Aging which has been awarded $375,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Region IV Director Robert Young will present the check to the ARC board today at its regularly scheduled board meeting.
The three-year project brings together ARC and the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) to improve access to services for residents in the three communities. The grant comes through HUD’s Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) program which provides funds to link elderly and disabled residents to critical services that can help them continue to live independently.
ARC and AHA plan to implement NORC-style projects in three different high-rises – Piedmont Road, Marian and Cheshire Bridge. NORCs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities) are local partnerships of public, private and nonprofit providers who commit themselves to meeting the needs of a group of residents who are aging in place.
NORCs use the economy of scale created by a large concentration of older adults to deliver services more efficiently and effectively.
“The NORC model has proved very successful in the Atlanta region and across the country,” said Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, “With the number of older adults in the region expected to double between now and 2015, and more and more older adults living longer and living in the community, ARC and its partners must develop new models to meet the needs of the changing and growing senior population.”
The model empowers older people in their community and moves them from being simply recipients of services to active participants in shaping their community as “good places to age in place.” The model also assumes different approaches to providing services and collaboration among healthcare providers, case managers, social service agencies and area businesses. The result will be a more efficient and cost-effective system of services – one that provides neither more nor fewer services than residents need. Furthermore, these successes can easily be replicated in other parts of the region.
Cathie Berger, chief of ARC’s Aging Services Division, commented, “These challenges are faced by older and disabled persons of all income levels. People don’t want to move as they age or become more disabled. By partnering with providers and area businesses, we can make services available that help them remain in the home they may have lived in for years.”
In addition to the Atlanta Housing Authority, Visiting Nurse Health System is also a project partner with responsibility for the coordination of services.
# # #
|
