TO THOSE AGED 60 AND OVER or those caring for an aging loved one, there’s an agency that stands ready to assist. It’s experienced—it’s taking care of more people now than ever, with a staff larger than ever.
And it’s proactive—not just waiting for a call from someone in need, but diving in to help a neighborhood that its research shows has the lowest longevity of any other place in the region. In an unusual twist, this neighborhood is four miles from the one its research shows has the longest life expectancy.
It’s the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, which Justin Moor says helps those 60 and older live better and longer and helps their family caregivers, which sometimes canbeoverwhelmedwiththedemands of tending to a loved one with issues brought on by aging.
Moor is President and CEO of the agency, which covers 10 counties from its Toledo base. While its service area hasn’t changed, the number of people it helps has. “The population we serve now is larger than it’s ever been,” Moor said of the more than 40,000 individuals it helps annually. “While that population has been growing, we’re growing to meet their needs. We’ve added staff, and now we’re larger than we’ve ever been.”
Moor said the Area Office on Aging has a staff of 191, including social workers and nurses, who directly provide help. Then there are 190 under contract to provide services at little to no cost, “everything from home-meal deliveries daily to home healthcare agencies to those providing transportation to and from doctor appointments to those doing minor home repairs to cutting grass—a wide variety.”
A facet of the agency’s care that has increased since the pandemic is socialization. Moor said there always had been a need for the elderly to be in contact with others, “but it was enhanced by the isolation component” of the pandemic.
That’s why the Area Office on Aging’s daily hot-meal-delivery program is important. Referring to those who deliver the meals, Moor said, “Sometimes they’re the only humans [the elderly] see during the day.” He said he sees the meal deliveries as a critical “safety check.”
A relatively recent related program is having trained volunteers in pairs visit the elderly weekly. Moor said those visits let those the Area Office on Aging helps know “there are those who care and that someone’s thinking of their well-being, and that they’re not alone.”
The Area Office on Aging is funded through federal, state, and local sources and grants. There is an issue on the November ballot in Lucas County for a levy of 1 mill—.75 is a renewal, .25 is new—to help provide meals, home care, Alzheimer’s adult day care, and senior services and facilities.
A project the Area Office on Aging has undertaken to reach out to its community is called A Tale of Two Cities within One City: Closing the Longevity Gap. It came about by the agency collecting data to gauge where the greatest need for its services is. The result was surprising.
“We’re across 10 counties and about 150 miles,” Moor said, “and the highest and lowest in longevity were in Toledo and less than four miles apart.” He said figures showed that in the Deveaux neighborhood people lived to an average age of 84. In close-by Vistula, the average age was 62. “We’re losing a generation traveling less than four miles,” Moor said. “That’s a tale of two cities within one city. We’re trying to change that reality.”
Moor said in the past several months, the Office on Aging has surveyed Vistula residents to learn what they think is needed in their community to increase longevity. What the agency found, and how it’s addressing the issues, according to Moor:
• A need for meals and fresh produce. The agency is partnering with Mobile Meals of Toledo to bring hot food to a central dining site, and with Grace Community Center to provide bags of fresh produce to seniors.
• A need for home health care.
The agency is partnering with ABC Health Care, Inc., in Maumee to provide their statetested nursing assistants to visit Vistula, and to train eligible people in the neighborhood to provide home care.
• A need for transportation.
The agency is partnering with TARTA to provide bus passes so residents can get to doctors’ appointments or grocery stores, for example. “This is just the first chapter,” Moor said of the effort to close the longevity gap so, as the agency’s mission is stated, “everybody can live better and longer.”
“We feel compelled that we should do something about the gap,” he said. “Our approach is not to put on a cape and swoop in like a superhero and save the day, but work alongside those in the neighborhood to see what we can do to close that gap.”
Moor said as far as he knows, no other agency on aging has collected data to show areas of long or short longevity, so the northwestern Ohio agency could be considered a model of what other agencies for aging can do. He said, “I’d like to see this replicated in every community across the nation.”
For more information, visit areaofficeonaging. com or call 419-382-0624.
Dennis Bova is a freelance writer and editor. ✲
