Service Priorities. The WIAAA Board of Directors is choosing not to change current service priorities for FY 2004. These priorities are:

Title IIIB Community Focal Point/Family Resource Centers. The WIAAA's first commitment is to the eleven special senior centers throughout the ten-county area called Community Focal Points (CFPs). Each of the 10 counties has one CFP except LaSalle which has two because of its large geographic size. We require each CFP to adhere to special standards and furnish specified levels of Information and Assistance and Outreach services, in exchange for receiving guaranteed, non-competitive funding for these services and their operations. The CFP vision was initiated by the WIAAA office to give seniors and their families local places to turn for help. We are attempting to keep service as close to the consumer as possible, to create one-stop-service shopping for seniors to the extent possible, and to nourish the grassroots vision of the Older Americans Act. We currently award $35,000 grants to each CFP (except the Rock Island Senior Center which receives $50,500 because of its large population base). In keeping with this one-stop concept, we are calling the CFPs Community Focal Point/Family Resource Centers, as they now incorporate the Information/Information and Assistance service for caregivers and grandparents raising grandchildren. Separate Title IIIE funding for the Information service will be allocated.

Title IIIC2 Home Delivered Meals. This nutrition service is vital to the independence of countless seniors in western Illinois. Many seniors require meals for extended lengths of time, while many others need meals for a short period of time while recovering from an illness or other temporary condition. The number of seniors needing meals delivered to their homes compared to the number who are able to go out for a meal has risen dramatically over the past several years, and continues to rise. It is further indication that seniors are "aging in place" and that their needs are increasingly more complex as they do. The demand is expected to continue growing.

Title IIIB Transportation. When seniors are asked to tell us which service is most critical to their independence, transportation always shows up right at the top of the list. Once someone loses the ability to drive, he/she is also losing the ability to get to the doctor, the store, her family and friends. Transportation is vital to a person's independence.

Title IIIB Case Management. Studies often show that seniors aren't taking advantage of services available to them because they either don't know about them or are fearful of the "system". Case managers are vital to getting seniors linked with services. They are trained professionals who assess needs and advocate that seniors get and keep the services necessary to their independence. Western Illinois funds a single organization to do case management across the ten counties.

Title IIIC1 Congregate Meals. The Older Americans Act allocates a great deal of money for community- based meal sites. The congregate meal program gives seniors a nutritionally balanced meal and the opportunity to socialize and stay active. Meal participants also benefit from educational programs about nutrition and other important issues. Congregate meal programs are one of the first steps in a continuum of care. The program is critical from a preventive point of view. Many of the seniors who benefit from the meals also volunteer at the sites, giving them meaningful and rewarding activity.

Title IIIB Legal Assistance. Seniors are vulnerable in many ways. Legal assistance is often the only way to help assure that an older person is not exploited, neglected or abused. This service is important for the legal protection and rights of many seniors in western Illinois.

Title IIIB Gap Filling Services. Funds administered by the Community Focal Points help to meet the individual needs of seniors who lack resources for items that can enable them to stay in their homes. Although funding is extremely limited, providers rate this service highly as a last resort for necessities available to seniors from no other source.

 

Other services funded by the WIAAA not subject to the service priority list. The WIAAA funds additional services under the Older Americans Act which are not subject to the service priority list. Caregiver Respite and Ombudsman are designated under the Older Americans Act for specific purposes. Though we have little flexibility with these services and they are not subject to our funding priorities, we believe that they are also valuable components to the continuum of care offered to seniors in western Illinois.

Title IIIB Respite. The WIAAA funds in-home respite, community adult day care respite and institutional respite throughout our ten counties. There is no question that seniors get most of their help from family, friends and neighbors. Only a handful of people is able to benefit, but all caregivers need to have some time free from their caregiving responsibilities.

Title IIID Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Services. The Older Americans Act includes this title for a variety of services that prevent disease and promote health for older people. The WIAAA has funded a number of the 12 allowable services since the Title's inception several years ago. Last yearBeginning in fiscal 2000, the WIAAA Board selected three services that may be provided only by Community Focal Points. Those services are Medication Management; Health Promotion; and Physical Fitness, Group Exercise, Music and Dance Movement Therapy. In addition, a separate grant will be issued to a single provider to provide medication management throughout all of the ten counties.

Title IIIE Caregiver Respite. Respite services, both to relieve the caregiver and to allow the caregiver to attend support/counseling sessions, will be provided on the same basis as our Title IIIB Respite service. This service is also available to grandparents who are raising grandchildren.

Title IIIE Caregiver Information and Assistance. These two services, provided by our Community Focal Points and/or Case Coordination Unitother providers at both the local and long-distance levels, will enable caregivers to find services to fit their needs.

Title IIIE Caregiver Training and Counseling. Both group and one-on-one training is provided on topics such as coping with stress, coping with behavioral problems, and personal care techniques. Individual counseling is available, as well as referrals to mental health professionals for those needing therapeutic counseling. Funding will be available for start-up and/or operating expenses of existing support groups for caregivers and grandparent relative caregivers.

Title IIIE Caregiver Supplemental Services. To allow for flexibility in meeting the unique needs of individual caregivers, funds will be available for such things as minor home modifications, legal assistance, medical transportation or one-time housecleaning.

Ombudsman. The WIAAA also funds the area's case coordination unit to help people living in nursing homes by advocating for them when they have concerns or complaints, and by providing important information to residents about their rights. About 5% to 6% of the senior population lives in a nursing facility at any one point in time. (Approximately 6,600 licensed beds in our area.) There are 82 nursing facilities in our ten counties. The ombudsman program operates primarily with volunteers.

Circuit Breaker/Pharmaceutical Outreach Program. The State of Illinois makes it possible for WIAAA and the Community Focal Points to identify and assist seniors eligible for this enhanced program with the application process.

SeniorCare. The State of Illinois has a Medicaid waiver pharmaceutical program that WIAAA and the Community Focal Points will raise awareness of and assist seniors who are eligible to access the program.

Other WIAAA activities that benefit seniors: The WIAAA is involved with a number of additional activities beyond funding for and oversight of the services mentioned above. These additional programs are equally important to fulfilling our mission under the Older Americans Act to be a central, coordinating and planning organization for the seniors of western Illinois.

Employment Assistance. The WIAAA helps people age 55 and over under Title V of the Older Americans Act with employment needs. The program matches eligible seniors with host agencies that serve as job training sites. The host agencies benefit from having an additional short-term employee funded by an outside source, and the senior benefits from on-the-job training. The goal is to move seniors into the workforce once training is complete, and often the host agencies end up hiring the worker. Lack of suitable employment for seniors continues to be a concern everywhere. Age discrimination in job sites is real, though often undetectable. This program, like the other parts of the Older Americans Act, is meant to help seniors continue to live independently and with dignity.

Community Mentor and Job Coach Program. An employment program of WIAAA, it is funded by a grant from the regional Workforce Investment Board (WIB) of Rock Island, Henry and Mercer counties, Illinois, and provides support services to the SUCCESS NETWORK – Partners in Job Training and Placement.

Holiday Meals on Wheels. Every year the staff at WIAAA is able to raise enough money to grant the meal provider in Rock Island County the funds it needs to offer home delivered meals on many holidays. Many recipients would otherwise spend holidays alone with no special meal.

Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). WIAAA sponsors the RSVP that serves in both Illinois and Iowa. This program allows seniors to share their wisdom, expertise and time with Quad City social service agencies, schools, etc. throughout their communities on both sides of the river.

Systems Development Grant. The Department on Aging funds the WIAAA to help with some of the administration of the Community Care Program's purchase of service processes and administrative oversight. Though this is mostly an administrative function, our assistance helps the CCP run more smoothly and efficiently which in turn means a higher quality of service for seniors.

Advocacy. We are always involved with a number of political advocacy issues at the local, state and federal level. We are mandated under the Older Americans Act to stay informed of issues that may affect the seniors in our area and respond appropriately. There is no doubt that advocacy which makes a difference is advocacy organized and put forth by seniors themselves. Our role is to help seniors stay informed and to evaluate the potential consequences of particular legislation to see how it will affect the seniors in our area. Many of the benefits and services now available to seniors would not exist if it were not for the efforts of senior advocates. This service is imperative to the continued well being of the seniors in western Illinois and to the preservation of critical services.

This year the WIAAA will be garnering community and legislative support for Medicare reform and prescription drug coverage use of tobacco settlement funds to benefit seniors, and a host of other issues.

Coordination and Community Involvement. The WIAAA staff attend human service council meetings, participate in initiatives to bridge generations, offer numerous and varied training opportunities to service providers and the public, help seniors and providers with specific requests for information as the requests occur, and many other similar activities. Our work on behalf of the seniors of western Illinois goes well beyond the administration of the Older Americans Act funds.

Information Sharing. The WIAAA hosts a library, called the Elderly Learning and Living Facility (ELLF), full of current gerontology material that is used by students, providers, seniors, caregivers, researchers and staff. We are linked electronically with our regional library system which significantly increases our potential for circulation. We continue promotion of this valuable center as a resource for research and information.

Two newsletters are issued on a regular basis: A bi-monthly newsletter …Baseline… and a weekly update to providers, legislators, board and advisory council members, What's the Word, to share information on legislative issues and aging trends as well as training opportunities and agency happenings.

We have also established a web site for the WIAAA. The site has recently been completely revised. Additions are planned in the near future to provide information concerning the services available to seniors in our area. Changes and additions have been made to the site in an effort to assure current information is available to seniors and their families. Residents of our ten-county area are urged to check it periodically for news, advocacy, events and more. The site's address is: http://www.wiaaa.org

The Elderly Learning and Living Facility (ELLF) has established a computer center, staffed by volunteers, to teach seniors to use computers and be able to access the vast amount of information available on the internet. The ELLF also issues a bi-monthly newsletter.

Four initiatives are prioritized as follows in included in the 2002 – 2004 our current three-year Area Plan:. No changes have been indicated by the Board nor at the Community Input Meetings.

1. Quality of Older American Act Services - WIAAA will continue to work to improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery in the Planning and Service Area (PSA). WIAAA will focus on ways to strengthen the service network's ability to manage and furnish senior services.
   
2. Information Dissemination by WIAAA - This is an age of information. Access to information or the lack of such access can make a significant difference in the way services are provided to the elderly. WIAAA will work to increase the level and type of information disseminated by WIAAA to providers, seniors and the general public.
   
3. Increasing Access to Services - The elderly population continues to grow and age, thus increasing their need for services to remain in their own homes. Despite insufficient resources, WIAAA will work to increase access to Older Americans Act Services and other senior programs.
   
4. National Family Caregiver Support Program - Statewide Initiative - Due to the 2000 amendments to the Older Americans Act, the aging network will develop support services that will address the needs of family caregivers and grandparents raising grandchildren.
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The WIAAA will also focus on a number of additional activities to further its mission to coordinate, plan and develop a continuum of appropriate care for the seniors of western Illinois. These activities include:

• Continue with existing advocacy efforts to increase funding for critical community-based services and enhance our ability to expand services into rural and remote areas. Evaluate and expand the WIAAA staff's efforts to coordinate activities with community groups and organizations in the planning and service area.
• Provide continued computer expertise and technical assistance to the field as we work together to make maximum use of the reporting system. The objective is to make reporting easier, more efficient and more useful as a management tool.
• Work to continue to increase our expertise and knowledge about senior concerns and services available across the ten counties. Use this expertise to full advantage in meeting the needs of the seniors of western Illinois.
• Work to expand the quality and quantity of information distributed by the area agency to senior service providers and seniors themselves with a view to increasing the awareness of the entire community to the problems and issues facing the aging network.

The WIAAA board works diligently and conscientiously to make fair and equitable choices. It decided several years ago that across-the-board cuts were no longer an appropriate option since many services were operating at maintenance levels. Therefore, the Board established a service priority list, and to the extent that it can, it bases funding change decisions on that list.

Funding Increases. Should the amount of federal or state funds increase at any time during the year, the amount will be considered by the WIAAA Board at the time of the increase. All specified Title increases will go to that Title. (Title IIIB increases will go to Title IIIB; Title IIIC1 to C1; C2 to C2, and so forth). The Board will take into consideration:

• the current service priorities,
• 2004 allocations
• any additional needs-based information we may have received, and
• any other pertinent data to make an informed decision at the time of the increase.
  
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Funding Decreases. Should the amount of federal or state funds decrease during the year the WIAAA Board will consider, but will not be bound by, the current service priority list in making its decisions. All specified Title decreases will come from that Title. (Title IIIB decreases will come from Title IIIB; Title IIIC1 from C1; C2 from C2, and so forth.) The Board will then consider what its other options are and make decisions accordingly. (Note: If funds are increased during the year, then later reduced, the WIAAA Board reserves the right to first take funds away from the places it put the increases before reducing services on the priority list.)

Other scenarios and funding possibilities

Census Decline

Census 2000 figures have been released and indicate that our area’s eligible population decreased by about 3000 persons. This resulted in a decrease in funds for FY 2003, and a similar level of funding is expected for FY 2004.
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Community Based Services

WIAAA is assuming the status quo in General Revenue Funds for community-based services. The demand for service continues to exceed the resources available. Low wages, staff turnover, high utility and fuel costs have reduced the network’s ability to meet the needs of those we serve. As an example, the demand for transportation services in our planning and service area includes greater coverage of remote rural areas and medical transportation to out-of-county locations. There is a need for additional/replacement vehicles, drivers, and fuel costs in order to meet the ever-increasing need. Legal assistance services are in great demand and homemaker service might be reinstated if additional funding were available. Across-the board adjustments to meet the increasing costs of doing business and infrastructure costs are of greatest importance.
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Home Delivered Meals Funds

Any additional home delivered meal funding will be used for the expansion of the home-delivered meal program. Our Board of Directors will evaluate current service availability and make a decision about whether the funding should be allocated according to the established funding formula or targeted to currently under-served or unserved areas. The Program Committee of the Board of Directors conducted a study of home-delivered meals during fiscal 2000 and used the results of the study to aid staff in the development of the full Request for Proposal for fiscal 2003 - 2005.
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Family Caregiver Support Program

The Family Caregiver Support Program came into existence with the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. The President’s proposed budget contains a slight increase for this program. Experience has shown that more funds can be used for counseling, respite and supplemental services.
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Circuit Breaker/Pharmaceutical Outreach Program

These funds were used to provide additional outreach in the planning and service area during fiscal 2001, 2002 and 2003 to aid in locating individuals eligible for the circuit breaker/pharmaceutical outreach program. WIAAA hopes that a grant will again be available to continue the identification of eligible seniors and to assist them with applications. It is essential to have a strong system of information and assistance to help older persons gain access to affordable prescription drugs under this program and the new SeniorCare program encompassed under the new Senior Health Assistance Program (SHAP).
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.Tobacco Settlement

We will advocate that a portion of the tobacco settlement again be given to the Illinois Department on Aging in 2004 for distribution to the area agencies. A portion of these funds were used in fiscal 2001, 2002 and 2003 to increase access to the revised circuit breaker/pharmaceutical outreach program throughout the planning and service area. The loss of these funds will result in loss of this service, crucial to the well being of our elderly population. Older adults have been disproportionately adversely affected by the use of tobacco products. These funds have enabled our network to locate these individuals and helped to provide them with necessary services and health care.
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The Vision of the Western Illinois Area Agency on Aging
for Planning and Services in the 21st Century

The vision of the WIAAA staff through the year 2004 is:

The area agency will be seen by its customers and peers:

• As a leader in the accumulation and dissemination of information
• As a developer of creative solutions for an aging population, and
• As continually embracing and adapting to change.

Our customers will know us as friends.

The area agency staff will develop a work environment adaptive to change that fosters a flow of relevant information and meaningful solutions for an aging society.

We see trends in Medicare changes and healthcare reform, including managed care. The Olmstead Act will bring about additional changes. Seniors need assistance in understanding these changes. Choices for Care means we can expect more frail elderly to need opt more often for in-home and community-based services to replace the institutional care of the past. If government benefits and funding decrease or remain static, there will be an increased need for church, family, volunteers and public/private partnerships to bridge the gap. All indications are that there will be an increased need for affordable housing options. There will be ongoing rapid technological change of all types. As we continue into the twenty-first century, we can expect the service delivery methods of the past will no longer meet the needs of the baby boomer generation.

Technologies that affect the WIAAA and its providers include NAPIS reporting to IDOA and electronic transmission of monthly provider reports to WIAAA. The Internet gives WIAAA and some of the providers instant access to legislation, aging resources and network organizations.

The Area Agency on Aging has purchased the Elderly Services Program (ESP) software which is an interactive information and assistance resource directory. This will be made available to our Community Focal Points in the very near future. Computer usage by seniors needs to be encouraged and training and access offered wherever possible.

Potential resources include the existence at the WIAAA of an adequate computer network and electronic transmission system to accomplish the tasks listed above. Our staff has computer expertise available to our providers. The Elderly Learning and Living Facility (ELLF) is operating a computer center staffed by volunteers to train seniors in using computers. The additional home-delivered-meal funding made available in the last several years was a tremendous resource allowing our providers to reach more seniors in areas previously not served, and to work toward eliminating waiting lists. The Choices for Care program has resulted in an increased need for home delivered meals. The additional home-delivered-meal funding allows us to continue to meet the need and help older people remain at home.

Emerging issues within the PSA include:

• Transportation in remote rural areas and medical transportation, often out of county;
• Determining what will bring younger seniors into senior centers and to congregate meals;
• Determining how services will need to change and expand as the baby boomers become seniors;
• Seeking and/or creating additional funding sources for services;
• Increasing awareness of availability of services;
• Methods of attracting volunteers to deliver home delivered meals, assist at meal sites and provide out-of-county medical transportation.

These issues will be considered in our planning process and will continue to be addressed by future needs assessments, provider best practice sessions at meetings, and technical assistance. WIAAA staff will strive to increase awareness of services through increased community involvement. The need for volunteers will be addressed by continued coordination with Directors of Volunteers in Agencies (DOVIA) and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP).
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A brief look at the amount and sources of funds the WIAAA uses. The table above shows the amount and proportion of administrative and administratively related direct service funds the Western Illinois Area Agency on Aging proposes using for FY 2004. These funds are taken only from Title III and Illinois General Revenue Funds (GRF). They do not include several other small sources of funding administered by our agency such as Title V (a senior employment training program), SESP (a small contract we get to help administer our senior employment program), the Systems Development Contract we use to help administer the Illinois Community Care Program, and the funds we use to administer the Elder Abuse Prevention Program. These additional funding sources are shown in the table below.

The following table shows the total WIAAA FY 2004 operating budget including all of the sources of funds mentioned in the paragraph above.

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What WIAAA uses its administrative and administratively direct service money for. The Older Americans Act restricts Area Agency administrative costs to 10.0% of the Title III allocation and also allows the provision of the "administratively related" direct services of advocacy, coordination and program development. We are allowed to spend up to 20% of the Title III base funding for Administration and Administratively Related Direct Services. We will continue to assure that we do not exceed this level.

Funds devoted to administration and administratively related direct services are used to support the operations and obligations of WIAAA to be a planning, coordinating and advocating agency for the seniors in western Illinois as described under the Older Americans Act. The following is a list of some of those activities

Program Development: Our activities under this administratively related direct service include:

• We do a complete needs assessment at least once every three years and more intensive, focused needs assessments in some interim years.
• We develop recommendations for service priorities and provide our board and advisory council with the information they need to make informed decisions about those priorities.
• We develop and issue a general Request for Proposal every three years and process applications for extensions in the interim years.
• We develop and issue other Requests for Proposal as required and/or necessary such as Title III respite, case management, one-time only funding, IIID funds, etc.
• We process applications for all requests for proposal including scoring, providing information to the board of directors, notifying successful applicants, assisting successful applicants with making necessary corrections to their budgets and plans and issuing Notifications of Grants Awarded and/or Contracts for Service.
• We monitor all funded providers through on-site visits, correspondence and telephone contact for compliance with all rules and regulations pertaining to Older Americans Act funds and general revenue funds.
• We assist providers in coming into compliance with rules and regulations in areas where they are experiencing difficulties or are weak.
• We administer programs such as Title IIID that do not allow for use of dollars for administrative/program development purposes.
• We develop a complete area plan once every three years and provide extensive interim year addenda to that area plan.
• We conduct public hearings on the area plan every year.
• We recognize older people each year who give extensively of their time and talents to help others in their communities.
• We process financial and service statistical data and complete all reports required by the Illinois Department on Aging.
• We comment and testify in writing or orally to various levels of government in response to rule making efforts and other issues of importance to seniors.
• We fulfill requirements of grants/contracts management in-house including audits, reporting, etc.
• We provide information to funded providers and others about the needs of older people.
• We work with providers and others to target older people most in need of service by providing information about the location of such populations and methods of reaching them.
• We maintain a targeting spreadsheet on which we can track the targeting actually taking place in comparison to the potential area population statistics.
• We provide technical assistance to the ombudsman and elder abuse prevention programs.
• We provide and maintain a board/advisory council orientation manual and work with various board and council committees to recruit new members, set agendas, and so forth.
• We normally conduct a one-day orientation and planning meeting for board and advisory council members once a yearperiodically.
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Coordination: Our activities under this administratively related direct service include:

• We developed and maintain a web page which provides information about available services in our ten county area, covers a number of important advocacy concerns, lists board and advisory council members, etc. The site’s address is http://www.wiaaa.org
• We publish an agency newsletter every two months …Baseline… as a management tool for providers and a vehicle for information to the network we serve.
• We work closely with Senior Resources, Inc. to maintain the Elderly Learning and Living Facility (ELLF), a library devoted to gerontology and the needs of older people, as well as a computer learning center for seniors.
• We update and disseminate resource directories and county fact sheets for all ten of our counties.
• We provide desktop publishing services to funded providers and furnish them with copies of various brochures developed at their request, such as the Community Focal Point brochure.
• We maintain an active role in the communities we serve by attending local community service group meetings and working with nonfunded providers of service
• We nominate people for special awards at the request of the Department and the Governor's office.
• We attend meetings as required or necessary on a variety of topics ranging from elder abuse, to training, to department/association meetings, to disaster assistance meetings, etc.
• We are involved with other special community projects, such as the holiday meals on wheels, RSVP, Senior Olympics, and nominations for special awards.
• Our agency and staff are used as an internship site for Gerontology students and others in related fields.
• We are involved with special projects such as disaster coordination for seniors with local communities and other agencies.
• We disseminate a weekly informational update (What's the Word) to board, advisory council, providers, etc.
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Advocacy: Our activities under this administratively related direct service include:

• We advocate in behalf of older people by reading and responding to proposed legislation, taxing initiatives, health care reform, etc. at the federal, state and local level by contacting federal, state and local elected officials.
• We coordinate special advocacy campaigns with our Advisory Council, Board, and other professionals in the field.
• We provide advocacy training for our Advisory Council and Board
• We are actively involved with state associations and coalitions.
• We develop and disseminate material to providers, seniors and other interested people about particular issues.

• We developed and maintain a web page that details advocacy issues.
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This is a brief but incomplete list of the administrative and administratively related direct service activities of WIAAA. We continue to be a coordinating presence in the broad senior network. The area agency expects to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of service delivery through these activities. We also continue our obligation to be a focal point for advocacy activities through review of and response to local, state and federal policies and legislation that may have an impact on seniors in this area. The agency serves as a point of contact and reference for organized advocacy activities. The area agency's expected long-range outcome is an adequate service support network with broad social and political support.

Last, development of programs has been and continues to be a high administrative priority for WIAAA. The agency consistently works to strengthen management and delivery capabilities at the service provider level with the ultimate goal of an efficiently operating and responsive service delivery system for the seniors of western Illinois.
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