its mission promotes dignity, independence and advocacy for all older adults and people with disabilities and their family caregivers.

>> Its service to our region celebrates a fiftieth anniversary this year.

What began in 1970 as the Northeast Area three Council on Aging has grown to be known as aging and in-home services of northeast Indiana.

And we'll learn more about the work of this multifaceted regional agency on this week's Prime Time.

And good evening.

I'm Bruce Haines with us this evening from Aging and in-home services of northeast Indiana, our Laurie Bones, vice president of Population Health and Abbey Graves Aging and Disability Resource Center director.

>> And we invite you to join our conversation any time.

Just call in your questions or comments by using the number you see on the screen as we widen out.

>> Welcome our guests.

There's Lori, there's Abby.

>> Thank you both for being here.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for having us.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Since the beginning there's always a good place to start.

Let's start back in say 1974.

Give me this is a horrible thing to ask a 90 second version of 50 years what is it in-home services would tell us about the work you do and who you serve aging and in-home Services is our local area agency on aging.

It came down from the older Americans Act.

They divide it up.

Every state has different areas on aging that they're divided up into and so we cover the nine counties in northeastern Indiana and we provide a whole variety of services.

It started off with just home delivered meals and then it developed over time into we have a family caregiver center.

We have a resource center where individuals call in for services.

We have case management that's ongoing so we sort of encompass as many different services as we can and we can share on the screen that breakout of where those nine counties are.

So as you're watching from home you can see whether you are a part of it all and we talk about the state being divided up into different sections and this is obviously our own which is quite appropriate and probably more than enough nine counties calling all of the time who all is on the phone or drops by when you're connecting.

We have something about the clients that you serve.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

So as being part of the aging and disability resource Center as we call it Aitutaki we you know, we handle about 6000 contacts a month so that's caregivers calling in looking for services for their loved ones.

It's individuals calling in saying it's time I need help.

It can be individuals calling in needing assistance with applying for benefits or Medicaid or Medicare assistance programs.

You know, we really do try to assist as many people as possible if we have come a long way since the tried and true Meals on Wheels kind of program I say now we broaden out to nutrition and being able to return to as much independence as possible after after prolonged care and I think about mile markers along the way we will get to more of these in a moment.

But a family caregiver program, an aging disability resource center we will talk about that pace a partnership with Parfume and all of this adding here comes the question.

It seems like it's all development happening concurrently with the rise of older Americans who need care, have questions and are looking for assistance.

You get that sense?

>> Oh, definitely.

I'd say we consider ourselves to be the premier resource for older adults, individuals with disabilities in the community as well as the family caregiver.

The big emphasis is to age at home, age in place where you can be comfortable and safe and so we are continuing to diversify and add additional services that we can to help support individuals to age in place at home.

>> And in fact it's right at the top of the corps programing that you supervise on a regular basis.

>> Let's walk through that notion of what a D our C is.

Yeah, so we're the Aging and Disability Resource Center so we like to call ourselves the no wrong door.

You can come to us and ask us any question.

We're going to try to find the answer if we don't have it off the top of our heads.

So we're going to do research.

We're going to do you know, additional steps.

We're going to follow up.

We're going to make sure that the individuals are able to get access to the services that they need and that they qualify for .

>> And in additio, that may be the best way to assume we're the most expeditious way to try to call a central operator, if you will.

And please connect me to whatever it may be.

>> And yeah, so I mean individuals are welcome to call us.

They can walk into our agency during our business hours a lot of community connections that we have to actually submit referrals directly to us so that our options counselors can call them back to screen them and to kind of help connect them with all of the options and possibilities for those individuals.

>> I saw the statistics on the side here 3000 calls a month, you know, and I would say that's kind of conservative.

>> I would say we're probably closer to four to five.

No kidding.

Absolutely.

Wow.

And among those programs you saw the core services and you see the demand for it.

We have a chart to show you just the difference between the last couple of fiscal years of the number of folks who are contacting aging and in-home services looking for activity or delivery to to help them.

>> It seems like it's a tale of two different years but they are literally consecutive.

>> How do you yes.

I would come to grips with that.

Right.

Are our calls are growing exponentially.

I definitely think the pandemic had an impact on the health and well-being of individuals at home, especially our older adults and those with disabilities.

They were kind of cut off lost some of that social connection which is very important for your health and well-being and so we have definitely seen a significant increase as Evy can attest to with her sort of growing all these calls coming in.

>> We get a lot of referrals through our website as well for individuals reaching out and then for us just to connect them with whatever they're reaching out for .

It might be something as simple as providing a phone number or it might be having them screened for a program we can offer and I assume that past performance in this case is an indication of future return because of the number of Americans 65 and older that's expected to increase.

And as the baby boomer wave comes on to the shore I believe it was a national agency that had posted information from fifty eight million in twenty twenty two to eighty two million by 2050.

>> That's going to take that monthly call count up a little bit.

Absolutely absolutely have to on some more staff to feel my goodness yeah.

>> It's something that I'm sure must be addressed on an ongoing basis the breadth of the needs that are being asked about and also everything from Medicaid waiver Meals on Wheels we spoke of that you're the contact for the state health insurance program.

>> Yes.

So in the DRC all of our options counselors have been gone through an extensive three day training with the State Department of Insurance in order to be able to assist individuals in selecting their Medicare plans and going over Part D plans Part A, B and C plans as well.

So we can really look at each individual and try to help assist them in a nonbiased fashion.

>> What health insurance plan would be the best for them?

I think to in regard to this you have individuals and you said at the top of the program about those who wish to have care such thatn home.

>> Uh, there is a concern of late about older adults and mental health and those who whether they're looking they have other family members or checking in to see what kind pof condition their family pmember's condition is in or it's about medical delivery or meal delivery.

The state of caregiving in in the country is is significant.

Tell me about the caregiving center that has now become a part of aging and in-home services.

>> Yeah, so our family caregiver center is very essential to our programing.

As you mentioned, caregivers are essential to individuals remaining at home and getting the care that they need.

At our family caregiver center we have a few different programs where we can provide some services for individuals.

>> We can provide them with some in-home respite.

>> Maybe the individual that needs care can go to an adult day service for respite.

We can get some additional supplemental services in there for them.

>> We have support groups that the caregivers can attend but we have something at the library where the individuals with dementia and their caregivers can attend as well and go in and just kind to spend some time and do some crafts and things together we have some phone services so if a caregiver just needs some support through the phone which is often very essential then they can call in and get some phone services that way as well.

>> It seems that we will all follow or fall rather on on this continuum.

I think it was Rosalyn Carter's quote that maybe many are familiar with and you've heard it many times four kinds of people in the world, those who have been caregivers who are currently caregivers, who will be caregivers and who need caregivers and I assume it's not all the time for that.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean that is a lot of our callers that are calling in are the caregivers looking for assistance that we can provide.

>> And one of the upsides of having this conversation which should work any time of year is the month of May has its focus on older Americans.

>> Yes, maybe share a little background on that and this year's theme it seems really ties into this notion of no older Americans should be an island, right?

>> Sure.

It's the themos power of connection.

So really talking about, you know, not letting these individuals stay in their homes by themselves and really helping them get connected, helping them get out into the community but helping them age where they want to be you know, if they want to remain at home with supports and services connecting them in a way to allow them to do so and also provide support for their you know, their loved ones, their caregivers.

Yeah.

So you know, it's really an all inclusive scenario that we want to we want to encourage.

>> And in that work do you find as connecting with other nonprofits to or church groups or others that you have a social dimension to it or what have you?

>> Yes, I think on many diferent levels we try to connect with others in the community as much as we can just as I know other nonprofits and other organizations the community reach out to us to however we can all collaborate to keep individuals safe at home.

I can say you had mentioned mental health as a concern for our older adults.

We are working on a grant right now so we have some services that we have in place for our older adults with mental health concerns and with that we are working a lot with our community mental health centers so we are connecting with those centers, getting our individuals that need some assistance connected with those centers and then just on the resourcing side we connect with a lot of other organizations like Neighbor Link.

If someone needs some kind of a home project done anything in the community that we think could benefit the callers that are calling in, we'll try to connect with them.

>> Yeah, I understand there is an offshoot of this called frequent mental distres which gets involved with hampering a person's ability to eat, maintain a household work, sustain relationships.

This is more than just having someone to chat with.

So the idea as you mentioned of powered by connection is the theme for the month.

>> This this is an overarching concern and we definitely see that in multiple multiple spots within our agency we have a Kongregate meal program as well that individuals actually can attend a meal together it took to form that community to form that connection to break that isolation.

It really allows them that that togetherness as well as our space center, you know, powering that connection, allowing individuals to commingle developer friendships all in a safe environment.

>> Um, a number of other programs are offered at aging and in-home services and we'll talk of those.

But if you would like to talk about a particular topic on your mind, you can call our number and join our program as we have guests this evening from Aging and In-Home Services Population Health this is even in your title whether you would like to tell us about the work you do and how that connects to core programing the agency.

>> Yes, definitely so our population health department consists of several different programs underneath the umbrella of population health and essentially what we're doing is we are working with a lot of referrals from different health insurance plans.

They refer members to us who might have some sort of need based off their social determinants of health.

>> So it might be a need for housing, it might be a need for food, might be a resource to help them pay for their utilities.

>> All of these things are essential to your own physical health and well-being.

>> And so we get referrals, we do assessments with members.

We provide a lot of resourcing for them to help connect them with anything that they might need to help them stay at home safely as well.

It's much more of a short term service just like some of our callers to the DRC but we can, you know, hopefully keep them home safely, keep them out of the hospital by connecting them with all those different resources in their communities to meet their basic needs.

>> So we mentioned peace and when we talk in acronyms it's always good to break that down heavy.

>> Tell me a little bit about this partnership with Parkview.

Yeah, so it's the programs all inclusive care for the elderly.

It's a great program.

Individuals are able to get a significant amount of their medical attention in one spot so they're not having to go to multiple offices to get their medical attention and if they do have to leave the center for anything the space center does provide transportation for those programs.

Individuals do remain in the home and they have access to space transportation to and from the center in order to ensure that they can safely get there.

The space center they have medical staff they can assist with showering warm meals, bathing.

>> There's a variety of different things that that space program does does provide and it is again partnered with Parkview for that medical component.

>> And so as that program has multiple facets and aging and in-home services as you're hearing it does as well you sometimes think how does all this tie together into the daily weekly life of a nonprofit?

We have a video that we'll share with you indeed just how all those different aspects of life for older American care is conquered in northeast Indiana through HHS.

>> We're going to look at that life from just within the last year or so.

>> Take a look from the past year to looking ahead to the coming months of 2024.

>> We want to spend a little bit of time on something you may well have seen were done or should have.

It's called Indiana Pathways for Aging.

>> It is a new way for servicing Medicaid in Indiana.

>> It's coming in July.

The July is ten minutes from from now.

So around Lori Abby, walk me through what's what is all of this?

>> So Pathways for Aging is a very large changes transition for the state of Indiana.

It is the shift from sort of a fee for service Medicaid so paying for services as you receive them to a managed long term services supports program which essentially means that three different insurance companies in the state are going to be overseeing and managing the health services, the in-home services for these members that are sixty and above those three health insurance companies are Anthem Humana and United Health Care.

>> That's who the state has partnered with to get those services going and so all of the individual sixteen above on Medicaid should have received some notices in the mail and hopefully they have responded to those notices, paid attention to them because it gives them really good clear instructions on what they need to do.

There's also a website I n dot gov backslash pathway's that has all of the forms documents a lot of fake news on there about what's coming and what's going to be changing with that shift in July.

>> What do you feel is a big emphasis behind this because I can hear little voices saying why are we changing and I don't like change and this has been just fine and what are they doing?

>> Change is very hard.

Uncertainty is very hard for individuals and that's kind of what this is something new that the states embracing Indiana unfortunately has not always ranked the highest with our care of older adults and so the state viewed this as an opportunity to try to provide more encompassing care to help improve the care of the older adults and I've been seeing again to your point and Abby as well that the research contributing to this seventy five percent or more of older adults want to age at home and in their communities this this is a sea change as they say it seems from the idea of I'll go to a nursing home, I go to a senior care facility.

Those are fun.

>> Absolutely.

But nevertheless there is now this option that I guess as perhaps been always there but maybe not as possible until until now.p>> Yeah, no, absolut.

Yeah.

Individuals, you know, want to remain in their communities.

They want to remain within their supports and aging and in-home services really allows individuals to do that through the different support networks that have been established, the partnerships that we've had and the community that we've been able to establish absolutely.

>> There are letters as Laurie mentioned here's one and it actually suggests if you are happy with your signed Medicaid health plan you do not have to do anything which is my favorite thing to do doesn't happen very often.

>> You may continue to use your existing Medicaid card during the transition and so it seems that also these individual companies are now going to be doing their own communications.

Yes.

To be sure that everyone understands what's really necessary and if a shift if I have to take action on my own yes.

>> That's the plan.

The letters like I said, I think they are very good and descriptive of what you needed o do or if you didn't no do anything you could just be auto enrolled into a plan which you could switch later if you wanted to.

>> But then the different health insurance companies will be following up with all of their members providing them with all of the documentation information that they need, the resources of who they can contact and how to proceed with their new plan.

>> Good.

And if you have a question you can call Ebbie because just call us just call to see where things go related to this.

>> There is a clear transition program.

Yes.

We have a little time to talk of this but it seems that it's to help get somebody back in the home they want to be.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

So if an individual is at a nursing facility they can give us a call if they believe that they're ready to go home, you know, when they feel like they're able to safely go home, they can give us a call and we can help assist with getting services into the home so that they can transition back to the community as safely as possible.

There's several different options.

There's a transition funds that can help individuals if they've been in a nursing home for a very, very long time come back into the community, you know, get some of those staples back into the household for them as well as other, you know, Meals on Wheels.

Maybe if an individual needs a personal emergency response system so that if there are forests risk, you know, we can help, you know, ensure that they're connected to a resource they're so absolutely and in all cases all programs, all that you've heard tonight no cost Kirp for I mean this is the correct me if I'm wrong but I do we do have some private pay services if you could choose to maybe if you didn't meet qualifications for something you could privately pay for them if you wish but otherwise the services are generaly covered through your insurance like your Medicaid or through your qualifications based income.

>> The Older Americans Act as well.

Right.

OK, so there's no reason not to be in touch with aging and in-home services and here is how you can get in touch.

>> You can of course go to your favorite search engine and you see aging IHS dog or seven four or five twelve hundred.

And if you hear a voice that sounds familiar it's because if she's not answering it'll look no.

>> We want to thank you both very much.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having us.

The older Americans Act this month.

This is a great thing to celebrate and say we are very committed to this community and all the services we can provide.

So it's just call us just cost and happy anniversary to the services of northeast Indiana where Lori Bonce is vice president of Population Health Abbey Graves Aging and Disability Resource Director.

>> I'm responsible for all of us with prime time.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next week.

Thank