Funding Services that Promote the Health and Well-being of Older Adults and Caregiving Families
The Aging Services Foundation helps fund programs and services that promote aging well. With your generous support, these programs and services will continue to help build a livable community in which we all age well.
Project HOPE
Project HOPE helps keep frail, low-income elders in their homes through a combination of rental assistance, care coordination, and basic supportive services.
Project HOPE’s mission is to support elders who choose to grow old at home. Research suggests that the services most required to help older people remain in their homes are transportation, help with household chores, home-delivered meals, and assistance with personal care rather than the high-tech medical services. Aging Services Foundation raises funds to purchase just such supportive services for Project HOPE participants.
The care coordination and supportive services added to the housing vouchers ensure that some of Boulder County’s most vulnerable older people can safely remain in their homes.
“Project HOPE has been a blessing to me. It has eased my worries.”
- Participant
Rainbow Elders & Project Visibility
Fear of rejection keeps many older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from seeking potentially useful services. In fact, LGBT elders are five times less likely to use senior services than the population at large. Rainbow Elders, a support and social group provides a safe place older LGBTs to gather for educational and social activities.
Project Visibility is a cultural competency raising training program about LGBT elders, including a locally produced video. Training sessions have been held for residential facilities, home health agencies and many other service providers in Boulder County. It has also been shared at national conferences and across the state. Generous funding from Theodore and Chandos Rice Foundation to Aging Services Foundation made both the video and the ongoing training program possible.
"Excellent video. Training was very interactive and well done. Really appreciated having ready-to-use tools in the 'tool kit'."
- Service Provider
Caregiver Initiative
The Caregiver Initiative provides information, education, and support to family caregivers. Services include:
- Care Connections newsletter
A bi-monthly newsletter providing inspiration and information for family caregivers. - An extensive lending library of resources for caregivers
- Events for and about family caregivers
“We have subscribed to your excellent publication and have found courage, renewal and strength in its pages. … Thank you deeply for the good information you have provided us.”
- Caregiver
Caregiver Wellness Days provide resource information, encouraging talks, a relaxing luncheon, and wellness activities such as massage and reflexology for family caregivers.
"My sincere thanks -- my outlook on caregiving has grown more positive because of it [Caregiver Wellness Day].”
- Caregiver
Wellness Programs
Aging Services Foundation supports wellness and nutrition services for older adults and caregivers, including health and wellness education, programs that promote safe medication use, walking and exercise groups, nutrition consultation and education, and diabetes education and support groups.
“The support group has been very helpful keeping me updated with the latest in diabetes and also helping me stay on track with my meal plan.”
– Diabetes support group member
Respite Services
The Respite Care Volunteer Program matches volunteers with older adults who live with family caregivers or who live alone. The program is designed to provide needed respite breaks for family caregivers and increase socialization opportunities for the older adults.
Volunteers visit older adults two hours a week providing friendship, safety, and companion-level assistance with activities and outings.
Respite assistance funds are also available for families who need short-term or overnight respite service in their homes, in a residential facility, or an adult day program.
“Your volunteer was marvelous! Friends are wonderful, but when you have long-term illness, they don’t come around so much; that’s what made the visits so special. Your program … it saved my sanity.”
Medicare Ombudsmen
Medicare Ombudsmen help Medicare beneficiaries and their families with a wide variety of Medicare issues and problems.
Medicare Ombudsmen provide information about Medicare benefits, HMOs, supplemental insurance plans, and prescription drug plans. They provide one-to-one counseling, telephone assistance, and assistance with appeals process. Frequent educational seminars and outreach about their services are provided throughout Boulder County.
The Medicare Ombudsmen have been extremely busy assisting beneficiaries since the advent of Medicare Part D. This effort of assisting beneficiaries in getting signed up for a prescription drug plan and in selecting the best plan has led to adding staff time and recruiting volunteers to help.
“It's amazing how many choices there are and you don't know what to choose. You laid it out there without making it complicated.”