The Members’ Perspective

March 2006

 

                           

 

Getting Things Done:

This month one of our members and one of our host sites are being recognized for their contributions to Team Tennessee.  These are unsolicited submissions from their coworkers or supervisors and they deserve a shout out for their hard work. 

 

Dawn Morris, SCHAS, LaFollette, TN

 

I thought that I would share a great story of service for this issue with everyone about how important our AmeriCorps service to others really is.  Tim Howell CFO of SCHAS called to tell me that one of TCAC AmeriCorps members saved the life of a senior.  Dawn Morris has a client that she has been visiting twice a week for five months.  On her regular visit she called ahead and he did not answer the phone so she decided to go anyway.  When she got to the clients home he did not answer the door.  She called Tim to ask what she should do.  Tim instructed her to get the maintenance man and get him to unlock the door to the apartment complex.  When Dawn stepped inside she found her client unconscious on the floor.  She called 911.  The doctor told her had she not have been there he would no doubt have died from a diabetic coma.  The client has no other family to help him.  I talked with Dawn and was happy to learn the man is now out of the hospital and able to return to living independently at home.  Hats off to everyone with TEAM TCAC you truly are “getting things done” across Tennessee.

-Community Cares News by Evonne Bennett

 

 

New HUD grant to help Senior Options Services grow

Partnership with ETSU key to success of program that helps seniors, disabled

 

Caregivers who are committed to the residents they serve – and expert help from partners at East Tennessee State University’s College of Nursing – seem to create a winning combination for the Housing Authority’s program that helps senior and disabled residents.

 

As JCHA finished up a three-year, $100,000 HUD grant aimed at helping residents live in their homes independently and avoid nursing home placement, HUD announced a follow-up grant worth $350,000. Now, a successful program will expand and improve thanks to the HUD funding, and, more importantly, the dedication of the people who work with our residents every day.

 

Whether it is help with a bath, housecleaning, grocery shopping, or a hot meal, handicapped-accessible transportation or just a friendly visit to show that someone cares, the Senior Options Services (SOS) program has helped dozens of residents since 2001.

 

And the program’s growth comes just in time, as a local agency that helps low-income seniors is suffering funding cutbacks and SOS is becoming the only option for some residents.

 

“In an era of uncertainty about health care funding, both state and federal, and with an aging population, the SOS program provides a great benefit to some of our most vulnerable elderly and disabled residents,” JCHA Executive Director Ed Zimbicki said.

 

SOS has certainly been a lifeline for Pauline Parker, a disabled resident who lives in the Keystone development. Ms. Parker receives an evening meal each weekday, companionship and housecleaning visits a couple of times each week, and help with shopping and medications.

 

Ms. Parker has lived in the Housing Authority since 1999 and said that before the SOS program, she had a hard time getting her basic needs met since she has no family members who can help her.

 

“I had to pay people to do things I couldn’t do myself,” Parker said. “If I’d get somebody to go to Food Lion I’d have to give them three or four dollars just to go over there.”

 

Even worse, Ms. Parker – who has multiple medical problems, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, a fractured spine and emphysema – had problems with people stealing her medications when they would pick them up for her.

 

“It’s 100 percent better,” Parker said of the services that have come her way since late 2002. “God sent you all to me, that’s the only way I can put it. When I call and need something, I get it.”

 

The new grant will allow Sheila Whitaker, a nurse who serves a couple of dozen residents as a “Quality Living Assistant,” to keep doing what she is doing, and also let the Housing Authority add a second QLA.

 

The help provided through ETSU’s nursing school will also increase. Two geriatric nurse practitioners will work one day a week each, providing case management services to 48 residents. This should provide a large number of frail residents with a much greater safety net, and help them stay independent and in their own homes.

 

Dr. Patricia Hayes of the nursing school, the grant’s program coordinator, said studies during the last grant showed that the SOS program’s case management helped catch problems residents were having much earlier.

 

“That kept them out of the emergency room and the hospital, and our findings show that,” Dr. Hayes said. “We have found evolving and even undiagnosed health conditions that could have led to very expensive hospital stays, so we believe this program is a money-saver.”

 

Zimbicki said that while research can quantify the SOS program’s benefits, there are other advantages as well.

 

“There are intangible benefits, such as the peace of mind and dignity of being able to remain in a place that’s familiar and comfortable, and close to neighbors and friends,” Zimbicki said. “Not feeling lonely and alone means a great deal to many of our residents.”

 

ETSU is also expanding the role its nursing students play in the Housing Authority. Students are continuing to gain clinical experience with residents by conducting seminars in JCHA developments.

 

The grant also includes partnerships with Johnson City Transit, the Area Agency on Aging and Disability, and Grace Fellowship Church.

 

-Jeff Keeling, Resident Services Director, JCHA

 

Through this grant, Jeff has added to our Community cares program in Johnson City and is making it possible for Team Tennessee members to better serve our clients.  We are so blessed to have a supervisor like him.

 

Happy Birthday!

 

 

March: Betty Long, 3/3; or as Evonne calls her, “B-Boppin Betty the BOMB” serving at

Maryville Housing Authority.  She is a TCAC alumnus in her second year of

Service.

 

 

 

April: Denise Springer 4/11, Paris Public Housing

           Crystal Watson 4/14, SCHAS in Sweetwater

 

 

 

Member Thoughts

 

Help for the Helpless

  by Benjamin Schlechter NHA Community Cares

 

Dedicated to those that I serve in Newport.

 

People are all around us

But there are obvious differences

There are the haves and the have nots

Signs are evident of a major class warfare that exists

in our communities, state, and nation.

 

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Letter from the editor and disclaimer:

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated in the newsletter.  I will try to always include whatever you send me.  Hot topics such as politics and religion are not allowed.  If I have overlooked any submissions or not included everyone in the Welcome list, please send me the additional information and I will correct it next month.  Submission deadline for March newsletter is the 15th and release date is the 20th.  Hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.  Have a great month!

Elly Farrey, Editor