A Message from Diane Slezak,
AgeOptions President & CEO
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Diane Slezak |
As our nation deals with the pandemic, AgeOptions leadership is taking appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of our staff and volunteers while remaining committed to meeting the needs of older adults - those most vulnerable. We have taken the following steps:
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Thank You for Your Generous Donations!
We Still Need Your Help to Meet
Older Adults' Unprecedented Needs
A number of individuals and organizations are making donations to AgeOptions in recognition of the increased number of older adults who now need assistance. Their generosity helps us meet the increased expenses associated with these unprecedented needs.
We are also grateful to an anonymous donor who has pledged to match all new or increased donations up to $2,500 per donor for a total of up to $25,000.
Please consider joining the individuals and organizations who have generously contributed to help us ensure older adults in our communities are able to stay safe and well. Your donation will help ensure that we can provide meals and help connect them to vital resources.
Thanks to the anonymous donor, your contribution will have an even greater impact!
Now that older adults, like all of us, are staying in their homes, many have increased needs for services that AgeOptions is working to meet. Some of these new and expanded needs also have increased expenses attached to them. For example, in addition to continuing to provide home-delivered meals to those who are already receiving them, we have ordered thousands of self-stable meals to deliver to individuals who now can't shop for groceries and prepare their own meals.
We've also seen a large increase in calls to Information and Assistance from older adults, people with disabilities and caregivers who have immediate needs. Along with our partner agencies, we're working to connect people with resources, benefits and services to ensure they will be able to care for themselves and their loved ones during this difficult time.
Thank you to all the donors who are helping us meet these unprecedented needs.
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AgeOptions Emergency Preparedness Page Has Important Information and Resources
How do you keep yourself and others safe? Where do you go for the most up-to-date information about conditions, safety and preparedness?
The AgeOptions Emergency Preparedness web page has checklists, a situation summary and sources and materials to keep older adults and caregivers, as well as our partners and funded agencies, informed on alerts, public health recommendations and how to prepare and plan for emergencies.
You'll find links to a wide variety of organizations including the Illinois Department on Aging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois Department of Public Health and many more. There are also links with information in languages other than English.
You'll find the page
here.
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Agencies Serving Older Adults
Are Continuing to Provide
Phone and Email Service
Most agencies serving older adults are now working only by phone or email as a precaution against spreading the COVID-19 corona virus. These include AgeOptions' partner community agencies as well as state and federal agencies. Because all these agencies have their own hours and plans for serving clients, we suggest you call those you usually interact with. You can also call AgeOptions at (708)383-0258 for assistance in reaching our partner agencies.
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Everyone Counts in the 2020 Census
You should now be receiving your invitation to participate in the 2020 Census in the mail. For the first time, you will have the option of responding to the census online. With the evolution of COVID-19 and practicing social distancing, we encourage taking advantage of this opportunity to submit your response online at
www.my2020census.gov or by calling (844)330-2020.
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Scammers Tap Into Virus Fears
Illinois SMP (Senior Medicare Patrol) is warning older adults and people with long-term health conditions that fraudsters are taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to scam them. Offers for tests and vaccines and requests for donations are nothing more than attempts to get your Medicare number and other personal information and steal from you and Medicare.
Take part in free SMP webinars and get up-to-date information
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Urge Lawmakers to Support Emergency Funding And Flexibility for the Aging Network
As shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders roll out across the country, aging champions in Congress are urgently advocating to get emergency funding and new flexibility to the Aging Network agencies on the front lines of responding to the critical needs of older adults and caregivers. The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) points out in an Advocacy Alert that it is working furiously to ensure that emergency funding for the Aging Network is included in bipartisan economic and disaster relief packages.
N4a urges advocates to reach out to their lawmakers immediately to urge them to support emergency flexible funding for vital services like those provided by AgeOptions, including home and community-based services, caregiver supports and nutrition services for older adults affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please click here to read the full alert.
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AgeOptions CEO Diane Slezak was interviewed for local and national stories about the challenges of providing services for older adults during the COVID-19 crisis.
- Newspapers nationwide ran a story by Judith Graham in Kaiser Health News. The story, which was written early in the crisis, is about what agencies serving older adults are doing. A summary is below and you can read the story here.
- Diane was interviewed on March 20 for a story on NBC 5 that aired that evening on the 5 pm news. Diane talked about what AgeOptions is doing to provide services like meals to older adults. The reporter also went to Sharp Community Center in Melrose Park and showed a home-delivered meals driver and Cook County Sheriff deputies delivering meals to older adults. Click here to see the story on the NBC 5 website.
- Here are some points from the Kaiser Health News story:
- AgeOptions, an Area Agency on Aging that serves 172,000 older adults, on Thursday shuttered 36 dining sites, 21 memory cafes for people with dementia and their caregivers, and programs at 30 libraries after the Illinois Department on Aging recommended that all such gatherings be suspended.
- Older adults who depend on a hot breakfast, lunch or dinner "were met at their cars with packaged meals" and sent home instead of having a chance to sit with friends and socialize.
- With Mather, another Illinois organization focused on seniors, AgeOptions plans to expand "Telephone Topics" - a call-in program featuring group discussions, lectures, meditation classes and live performances - for seniors now confined at home and at risk of social isolation.
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