Return to St. Philip's Latest News page

 

A VISIT TO PIMA COUNCIL ON AGING (PCOA)

Monday, 18 March 2009

 

Random notes, impressions and reflections by John Kitagawa

 

Present:    Jim Murphy, CEO of PCOA; Patricia Dorgan, PCOA Director of Services; Doug Spurlin, St Philip’s Vestry

 

PCOA is an Area Agency on Aging – a designation which gives them umbrella responsibility for many aspects of care for the aging in Pima County.  As such they receive funding from governmental and private sources to sustain a long and impressive list of programs and services. website – www.pcoa.org . 

Surprisingly to me, I learned that PCOA considers its core constituency to be people 40 years old and above.  This is due to all the family issues and concerns they assist with.  PCOA can assist families in finding similar AAAs and related services in communities where parents or relatives live.

 

See the Pima Council on Aging flyer (English one side, Spanish the other side) for the list of Direct and Community Services offered.  It’s impressive.  Some are “means tested”, some free to all.

 

PCOA publishes a newsletter, Never Too Late.  Subscription appears to be free.

 

PCOA offers a number of programs that would be of direct benefit to St. Philippians.  See for example both sides of the Caring About Yourself Flyer. 

 

In our discussions, I offered the possibility that PCOA might schedule some its training programs at St. Philip’s.  I would want to do this at little or no charge as we work to establish a working partnership with the organization to the benefit of our parishioners.  I would want these to be help oriented offerings, as practical as possible.

 

See also flyer about the Neighbors Care Alliance, which PCOA is working to develop.  This May be relevant to the work being done through the After School Music and Homework Program; and, to the PCIC Neighborhood Walk Project. 

 

During our visit, I learned a great deal related to the topic of “Adult Day Care”.  This is relevant to the discussion concerning a possible multi-purpose facility.  There is are two basic categories:

 

o           Adult Day Health Care programs are highly regulated, must be licensed and require nurses, etc.  This would be for seniors with memory or other physical challenges and issues.  These are very difficult to get going and to sustain.  These are expensive programs.  There are few models to observe in Tucson area.

o           Activity Centers are not regulated, and are intended to for active seniors.  Typically, lunch is provided, and there are varieties of activities offered, including day excursions.  Socialization, fellowship and activities are the focus.  In our case, this could be both something for senior parishioners and an outreach to area seniors.  These tend not to be very expensive, and rely on some small fees.   I would like to see a visit to some models in Tucson. 

o           The Activity Center model could well be a part of our mission thrust and therefore part of the Multi-Use facility consideration.

 

HOW TO BE A RESILIENT CAREGIVER:

Ideas, Information and Resources for Healthy Caregiving

 

   This is an amazing spiral bound resource funded by the United Way, and distributed through the Caregiver Consortium, Family Caregiver Outreach Program, and Jewish Family & Children’s Service.

 

 

 

A QUICK REVIEW OF RELEVANT

PCOA PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

 

Advocacy and Support: 

 

Assisted Living and Nursing Homes

·             PCOA’s List of Nursing Homes

·             PCOA’s List of Retirement Apartments & Assisted Living Communities

·             Selecting Nursing Home Care for Older Adults

·             Medicare’s Nursing Homes Compare

·             Arizona Department of Health Services Facilities Reports

 

Caregivers and Families:

 

Older Adult Programs and Services:  (See Website for numerous programs & services, some mentioned above).  Perhaps of particular interest:

 

Volunteering: 

Many of the programs above depend heavily on volunteers.

 

 

REFLECTIONS

 

   This is clearly a much more complex area of ministry than I had previously thought.  A quick read of the “How to be a Resilient Caregiver” Table of Contents and the lists of PCOA Programs and Services reveals the plethora of issues and concerns individuals and families must cope with.  I suspect St Philippians are dealing with these concerns more often and struggling more deeply than we are aware; and, that very often they are trying to cope alone, or are feeling isolated.   

 

Without a doubt, PCOA offers a great deal to the community.  With greater publicity, St. Philippians could well benefit from PCOA’s programs and services.  There is also, I believe, the potential for developing a beneficial relationship with PCOA in several ways.  First, would be to make our facilities available for some of the programs, such as the Arizona Living Well classes.  Secondly, I think there is openness on PCOA’s part to provide some training or expertise should St. P develop critical mass, such as getting a Caregiver Support Group started (parishioners, friends, and members of the wider community).

 

MOVING FORWARD

 

   Since the time I became Rector, we have envisioned a continuum of care and ministry with parishioners of all ages and generations.  We have worked very hard with families with children and youth, and much remains to be developed in this area.  The next logical and significant step is to recognize the importance of working with and ministering issues and concerns about aging family members, whether they live hear or some distance away; or, whether families live some distance from our senior St. Philippians. 

 

   That PCOA considers their constituency to be people ages 40 and above crystallized my thinking.  Because many of our seniors live some geographic distance from their biological families, there are significant concerns about healthy independent living, and about long-term support and care-giving.  We will need to discern what we should appropriately take on as a parish, what is left best to the ongoing PCOA programs and services; and, what St P can reasonably offer to support family caregivers who are geographically distant. 

 

   I think the first step would be to identify some people who would be energetic and passionate about developing ministry in this area.  This is about finding leadership, and hopefully some managers who can get things done.  Second, structurally, to what group should we attach this ministry?  CYFM is one possibility.  Adult Formation would be another.  Pastoral Care would be a third.   Clarity about purpose and goals would be key elements in deciding where the ministry is based. 

 

   At the very practical level, we need to identify a number—four to six—Ambassadors, who can become resource people to consult.  I would not want them to be passive and only responsive.  I would like them to have a table in the Perry Garden on a regular basis with information about services and programs.

 

   Another possible next step would be to bring together two groups of people.  One would be seniors themselves.  The purpose would be to talk about their concerns and to educate about PCOA programs and services.  Another would be caregivers who are dealing with aging family members.  The approach might be to bill it as a six session support group—a commitment to a 90 minute session every two weeks.  My sense is we would know more about the kinds of things St Philip’s might want to offer. 

 

   Another possible next step would be to visit one or more Activity Centers to get a better sense of this kind of programming and the requirements for running a similar and successful ministry.

 

   I envision initial discussions of this “paper” to take place in three groups: Program Staff, Vestry Executive Committee, and the Mission Discernment Group on the Multi-use facility.