Institute on Aging Offers Variety of Senior Resources
The greater Bay area has many excellent resources for seniors and their caregivers. One organization that is worth checking out is the San Francisco-based Institute on Aging. (It also has branch offices in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.)
If you’re not already familiar with the Institute on Aging, I would suggest you go the organization’s website and familiarize yourself with its mission and services. The not-for-profit organization serves thousands of older adults throughout the San Francisco, Marin and Peninsula areas. Services range from senior day programs to training and technical assistance. However, I wanted to highlight three special activities sponsored by the Institute, one of which may be a training opportunity for some of our readers.
Training Opportunity
Beginning with that option, the Institute is sponsoring its annual Aging & Tech conference next Wednesday, May 27 in San Francisco. “Big Ideas, Good Work: How Elders, Caregivers & Senior Services Are Influencing & Inventing Thoughtful Technologies” features experts with expertise in technology and/or aging, including seniors, caregivers, and health professionals. The purpose of the conference is to guide participants to consider new ways to support healthy aging and aging in place through technology.
Topics include:
Evolution of the Aging & Tech Revolution
Challenges, Worries, and Solutions (Current & Emerging)
From the Heart: A Panel of Supportive Technologies
DIY (Do It Yourself)! How YOU Can Create The Future
The cost of the workshop is $65 for the full day, and CEs are available to participants. Registration and further information are available at the Eventbrite website.
Friendship Line
The Institute on Aging’s Friendship Line is the only 24-hour toll-free hotline in the country that is dedicated to older and disabled adults. Trained volunteers and staff receive calls from individuals needing crisis intervention, service information, or just a friendly voice. The number is considered both a crisis center and a “warm” line for phone calls that provide support or monitoring. It has been in continuous operation since 1973. By 2012, the number of outgoing calls by staff and volunteers totaled 36,000, with thousands more made by older and disabled callers.
Friendship Line is a program of the Institute’s Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief-Related Services. A nationally acclaimed program, it is accredited by the American Association of Suicidology.
PACE Program
Back in 1971, a new model of senior care was pioneered by On Lok Lifeways. Known as a “Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly” or PACE, the program’s goal was to allow ill or disabled seniors to live in their own homes and communities with ready access to needed services, from medical care to meals.
On Lok, meaning “peaceful, happy abode” in Cantonese, was created by Dr. Willie Gee and Marie-Louise Ansak to serve elderly immigrants from China, the Philippines, and Italy. Today, the Institute on Aging operates two PACE Centers in the San Francisco area. The program serves seniors in San Francisco, San Jose, Frement and other cities in the Bay area.
On Lok Lifeways PACE centers area available to eligible participants up to five days per weeks, and services are provided as a Medi-Cal option. Centers offer meals, exercise programs, medical assistance, and social activities.
If you are located in the greater Bay area, one of these excellent resources may be appropriate for a client or loved one.
