Services for seniors aim to keep pace
By BRIAN SLUPSKI - bslupski@nwherald.com
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| Joyce Clark of Cary dances to the music during a weekly line dancing class at the McHenry Township Senior Center in McHenry. (Travis Haughton — thaughton@nwherald.com) |
Illinois’ growing senior population will present many challenges to caregivers in the coming years.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Illinois’ senior population will increase from its 2005 level of about 1.5 million to more than 2.2 million in 2025.
Valley Hi Nursing Home administrator Robert Yearian said the rising population likely would not result in more residents at Valley Hi, but residents with more intensive needs.
“This trend is developing as we speak,” Yearian said. “Our challenge will be adapting to the needs of the clientele who will be coming to us.”
A tiered system of care is continuing to evolve, Yearian said.
For example, many of the functions that nursing homes now perform once were the realm of hospitals. In coming years, people with lower levels of care will be served by assisted living and supportive living facilities, rather than by nursing homes.
Also playing a vital role will be home care and support services, which will seek to help seniors remain independent and in their homes.
“More seniors are going to be living at home as long as possible with the help of community-based services,” said Bette Schoenholtz, executive director of Senior Services Associates. “It’s cheaper than a nursing home, and most people want to live at home.”
Senior Services is a nonprofit organization that helps people in McHenry, Kane and Kendall counties. The organization has a variety of programs to assess a senior’s living situation and provide appropriate assistance. It also provides education and activities, and it contracts with the state to investigate allegations of elder abuse.
Schoenholtz said that such services will be vital for families caring for an elderly loved one.
“It can be very challenging because you are taking care of an adult who is an individual and can make their own decisions,” Schoenholtz said. “But maybe not make the best decisions.”
Programs such as adult day care offered by the Woodstock-based Family Alliance likely would become increasingly important.
“Most families want to take care of a loved one,” said Carol Louise, the founder and executive director of Family Alliance. “But they struggle. Most families work. The sandwich generation has elderly parents and children to take care of. It can be really hard for families to know what to do.”
Family Alliance provides transportation to activities, specialized programming for individuals, and therapy. Its programs are for those 55 and older.
“For most people, they would love to stay in their homes as long as possible,” Louise said. “It’s also a more cost-effective way to care for older adults.”
Funding for senior services increasingly will become an issue along with the increased demands of an aging population. Senior Services, for example, receives some funding from the state for its programs. Although demands on Senior Services and other organizations are on the rise, state budget cuts could hit the organization hard.
Senior Services receives about $125,000 from the state to investigate elder abuse and about $355,000 for its community care programs – the programs meant to help keep seniors living in their homes with a high quality of life.
“If that happens, it will devastate those programs,” Schoenholtz said of budget cuts.
Schoenholtz said that McHenry County has done its part to provide services. In April 2003, county residents approved a referendum for the Senior Services Grant Fund. When it was approved, the referendum added about $15 to the property tax bill of the owner of a $200,000 home taking the homestead exemption.
The money can be used to keep aging seniors from being institutionalized, to pay for senior centers, or to provide transportation services. The annual tax revenue is allocated to various agencies serving seniors.
“I think McHenry County should be a model for the rest of the state [on this issue],” Schoenholtz said.
Services for seniors
Family Alliance in Woodstock can be reached at 815-338-3590.
Senior Services can be reached in Crystal Lake at 815-356-7457 and in McHenry at 815-344-3555.
