Reaching Out to Help County Seniors

There is an old adage that holds that a society can be judged by how it treats its seniors, the elderly.

The Gulf County Senior Citizens Center wants to put that adage to the test, confident this community will earn perfect scores.

With budget cuts at the federal, state and county level that are being felt as "razor sharp reality" at the grassroots level, according to executive director of the Senior Citizens Center Larry Broome, the center is reaching out to the community for assistance.

Not a hand-out, a hand-up at a time when the need has rarely been greater.

"There is a tremendous need for education for the county, for all counties, about the needs of seniors," Broome said. "Most people think of the center and think of Meals on Wheels. But there is so much more than that.

"The programs we have offer a lot of help, with medical supplies, with nutritional supplements, with other needs. But the program money lasts just so long."

For instance, the federal budget, which has been progressively reduced in recent years and is one leg of the Meals on Wheels program, ran out in August of last year, meaning Broome and staff had to find assistance to keep the program rolling for several months until the new fiscal year began.

"If we didn't have a generous base of support in the community who gave, we would not have made it," Broome said.

Additionally, the center also provides folks who will go in and clean the houses of senior unable to get around and will also provide people to spell in-home caretakers.

"That stress level of caring for some of these people (in their homes) will just wear you out," Broome said. "That has a real ‘domino effect' on household dynamics."

Added Russ Scholz, a member of the board of directors for the center, "Our programs are designed to keep people in their houses, in the community, for as long as we can," noting that nursing home care is far more expensive a burden on families that keeping folks in their homes.

On top of program expenses, there is the cost of maintaining buildings, paying utilities and so on.

This at a time when budgets are being slashed and the safety net programs seem to be hit early and hard.

Cutbacks in Tallahassee, 4 percent for all state programs, have been particularly brutal.

The Medicaid Waiver program, which allows those on fixed incomes and little assets access to certain medical care, is currently frozen for new clients, only adding to that waiting list which has some local residents who have been on it for two years.

"Because of the freeze we have people not being served who should be served," Broome said.
The county has reduced what was once was a $65,000 annual contribution to under $30,000.

At the same time, 11.4 percent of the population consists of someone 65 and older who living alone.

The county population 65 and over is 16.20 percent and climbing - those numbers are based on the 2000 census and have certainly climbed, said Russ Scholz, a member of the board of trustees for the Senior Citizens Center, which has locations in Port St. Joe, Wewahitchka and White City.

Of the roughly 2,100 residents of the county 65 and older, Meals on Wheels serves about 160 people daily.

"We don't touch a fraction," Broome said. "We need to have outreach to touch these people. And we need resources to help them if we touch them."

There is an Elder Helpline - 1-800-963-5337 - based out of Tallahassee for which folks older than 60 can dial in, answer some questions as a form of assessment of need which will produce a priority score.

That priority score is the key to access to programs offered for seniors in the state.

"That's a safety net for identifying who needs to be served rather than who wants to be served," Broome said.

One the major misperceptions about the non-profit, Broome said, is that there is an infinite number of programs for any senior, regardless of actual need.

The two major needs for the center at this time are bodies and dollars.

"We need a cadre of volunteers," Scholz said. "The staff of three or four can't do it. We need someone to run a volunteer corps.

"We've got to get some money to feed these people and get the organization on a firm foundation."

A priority is a new van, toward which Coastal Community Bank recently donated $5,000 while issuing a challenge for others to step forward. Another $18,000 or so is needed.

The van would not only assist with the meals program, but more importantly would provide a dependable vehicle so seniors can go on field trips, be taken shopping, enjoy some of life outside the house or center.
All donations to the center are tax deductible.

"You can't just do it with your head, you have to do it with your heart and your head," Broome said. "It is a heart thing and we need to be able to provide.

"My goal is to achieve stability where we are taking care of the client and our employees. The stronger we get at our agency, the more services we can offer the client and we can still take care of our employees."

Scholz put the situation in other words, "We can't cut back any more. You can do more with less only so long."

For more information, to get involved at the center or to make a donation call 229-8466. A friendly and thankful voice is sure to be at the other end.