Oregon’s Progressive Long Term Care 3.0 Initiative and the New Adult Disability Resource Commission (ADRC) Program

October 4, 2012 Oregon Senior News

We know the senior population is growing larger by the day.  With Baby Boomers making-up more and more of the total American population, as post WW-II babies become senior citizens, we must ask some questions: will senior’s needs be met adequately?  Will America have enough nursing homes and private senior facilities?  Will advances in technology help to allow seniors and disabled individuals in their own homes longer?

Long term care is defined as advanced personal care of an individual in a facility where seniors or the disabled obtain help with their daily living routines such as bathing, toileting, eating and basic hygienic concerns.

Oregon’s Nationally Recognized Senior and Disabled Services Program

For several decades, Oregon has been recognized at a national level for its innovative and success long-term services that provide a comprehensive and far-ranging support system for older adults and people with physical disabilities in the state.  The state is very progressive in this arena and has a significant budget allocated towards its senior and disabled population.  Oregonians have a large number of choices as there is an extensive network of private and institutional faculties stemming from the Long Term Care 2.0 initiative from the 1980s.

Public Meetings – Time to Improve the Program

Although in the last couple of decades things have grown a bit stagnant in further development and growth.  The Long Term Care 3.0 initiative is the logical progression and evolution of the existing Oregon Long Term Care 2.0 program.  With new technological changes and unknown public expectations for the future of senior and disability care in Oregon, the state’s DHS Aging and People with Disabilities Department will be hosting a series of meetings to obtain public input into the desired future of senior and disabled services in Oregon.

Meetings will be held throughout the state in order to obtain public input on the direction for Oregon to take in improving services for the growing number of seniors.  Check out the following state website for places, dates and meeting times. http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/news/2012news/2012-0920-long-term-care.pdf‘

Adult Disability Resource Commission

A new senior and disability resource is being formed-up in the state of Oregon called the Adult Disability Resource Commission (ADRC).  Thanks to a federal grant, these ADRC’s are to become a statewide network of resource centers for seniors and disabled individuals.  This program will enable a one-stop-shop model where individuals can make a single call and get all of their questions answered about long term care and essentially any other issue a senior or disabled individual may have.

Staying in Their Own Home for a Longer Period

One of the purposes of ADRC’s and the state’s Long Term Care 3.0 initiative is to find ways for senior and disabled individuals to design a far-sighted delivery system to prevent individuals from needing long-term care in the first place.  This may be done by equipping the individual’s current home with high-tech devices, monitoring, safety equipment and outside community assistance.  Developing connections with outside caregivers, food delivery services, installing ramps in place of stairs, installing special shower safety equipment and other devices that make life easier will help to maintain the individual in their own home for a longer length of time.

Private Senior and Disabled Homes Help to Maintain an Individual’s Resources

Another area where these state organizations are interested in helping is the maintaining of a senior or disabled person’s savings for a longer length of time.  If a person decides to receive their long-term care services in a nursing facility, their assets will be depleted at a faster pace than in a private community home care facility.  One of the objectives of the Long Term Care 3.0 initiative and the ADRC’s is to inform seniors and their loved ones of the less-expensive and many-times more homey and comfortable options of a private senior home facility.

Preventing Monetary Abuse and Exploitation

Many seniors become vulnerable when their partner of many decades, who previously maintained and managed all of the couple’s resources, savings and investments, dies and leaves their partner with an entirely unfamiliar and complicated set of new responsibilities.  This sets the unsuspecting spouse to be susceptible to a wide range of exploitation and abuses by those in the community who may take advantage of the senior.  The ADRC group is also planning to designate a group for money management service for seniors who are in such positions of having lost a spouse who handled all of the finances.

The state of Oregon continues to forge the way in implementing progressive and far-sighted senior and disabled services programs.  Stay tuned as Senior Home Locators keeps a watchful eye on these programs.