THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511190142
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Proposed changes to a federal program that provides meals and other services to older Americans could mean more flexibility for local agencies to meet residents' most pressing needs. But it could also mean less money for those needs.
Virginia now receives $17.5 million in Older Americans Act funds, which pay for such programs as home-delivered and neighborhood meals, transportation, health education, employment programs and legal services for those 60 and older.
The OAA, created 30 years ago to establish a national policy to meet the needs of older people, has always specified how much money must be spent on each program. But under proposed legislation that will go to a congressional committee next month, states and local agencies on aging would decide what services to fund.
``It would reduce our constraints, the requirement to spend dollars only on certain things,'' said John Skirven, executive director of the Southeastern Virginia Area-Wide Model Program, the agency on aging in Hampton Roads.
SEVAMP receives $2.2 million - about half its annual budget - in OAA funds and contracts with other local agencies to provide most services.
It can expect less money, however, under current proposals, Skirven said. That means choices will have to be made.
``Overall, if you have less money, you'll be forced to choose between providing an hour of home care or providing an hour of group exercise,'' Skirven said. ``What's more important?''
In Hampton Roads, SEVAMP studies show that home care and other services for the frail elderly are most needed.
Bill Massey, executive director of the Peninsula Area Agency on Aging, said his organization has the same priorities for his region's elderly. He also praised the bill's flexibility.
But that very flexibility worries some groups that receive OAA money through agencies like SEVAMP.
Barbara Quale Lifland, executive director of the Norfolk Senior Center, is concerned that the programs the center pays for with OAA funds, such as exercise classes and health screenings, could lose out to the more-pressing needs Skirven cited.
``Traditionally what happens is, as the older adult population is surveyed as to its needs, they identify needs that are not currently being met,'' she said.
``I'm concerned that if there are no guidelines, then less will be spent on current services that people depend on.''
That's already happening. Budget bills in the House would eliminate money for three popular programs under the existing Older Americans Act: health promotion and education; elder abuse prevention; and the nursing home and long-term care ombudsman program, which investigates complaints on behalf of residents in long-term care facilities.
In Hampton Roads, this means that beginning Dec. 1, dozens of older Suffolk residents may not have their twice-weekly aerobics class. SEVAMP, which has funded the program with $10,000 in OAA funds, will run out of money for it on Nov. 30.
``This is a great program and it would be very sad to see it end,'' said Jan Thomas, Suffolk recreation supervisor. ``The health benefits to our senior citizens can't be underestimated.''
The same may happen in Chesapeake, where $4,000 in OAA money supports ``Seniors in Motion'' classes attended by about 70 people each week.
Claire Askew, Chesapeake's director of parks, recreation and building maintenance, said she will ask the city to pick up the funding but doesn't know if it will.
At the Norfolk Senior Center, $10,000 in OAA funds last year paid for expanded fitness and health education classes. ``I intend to continue encouraging people to express their concerns and see if we can't get that money turned around and put back into the OAA,'' Lifland said. Otherwise, she fears, programs will have to be cut.
Changes to the act would not eliminate those programs but would make them optional, depending on localities' preferences, Skirven explained.
Virginia Ombudsman Mark Miller said he is concerned about the future of the program if funding is left up to the state.
``It's a politically correct way to diminish a program without having to go through the political pressures'' of eliminating it, he said.
``We don't want to give the impression that the Virginia ombudsman program would cease,'' said Thelma Bland, commissioner of the Virginia Department for the Aging, ``because we do have some state funding and a large number of volunteers.'' But, she said, the ombudsman program would be affected if federal funds aren't available.
Other changes in the OAA are greeted more positively by advocates for the aging.
For instance, the pending legislation allows agencies to charge for their services.
Currently, all OAA-funded programs are free to anyone 60 and older, regardless of income. Under the new provisions, only those who meet federal poverty guidelines would receive free services.
The cost-sharing will enable agencies to increase the number of people they serve, SEVAMP's Skirven said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Richard L. Dunston, The Virginian-Pilot
Karen Carey teaches a seniors aerobics class at Deep Creek Community
Center in Chesapeake. Classes could be cut if health promotion and
education programs for the elderly are eliminated.
Photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON, The Virginian-Pilot
Walter Broadnax, 71, participates in a ``Seniors in Motion'' class
at Deep Creek Community Center in Chesapeake. The exercise classes
may be eliminated if federal funding is cut.
KEYWORDS: SENIOR CITIZEN by CNB