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Saturday, May 9, 2009 Food, fun and companionship offered to seniorsRight now, roughly 10 percent of the people living in Valencia County are more than 60 years old. In the coming years, that number is expected to grow to 15 percent. So Joseph Campos, the director of the Valencia County Older Americans Program, is using this time to prepare the county's programs and services for the growth. "Our own population is aging," he said. "People are moving here to retire. We are at a crossroads. The bottom line is we need to have more services for more people on less money." The overarching goal of the Older Americans Program is to allow seniors to remain living in their homes with dignity for as long as possible, Campos says.
When she was more active, Trujillo served meals at the Belen Senior Center and "did anything I could to help." When her son suggested she might be better off in a nursing home, Trujillo dug in her heels and called in the cavalry. "I did not want to go. The meals help me stay home," she said. "Joseph comes to visit couple of times a week. He's my only vato." Trujillo called the programs offered through the Older Americans Program "wonderful" and encouraged other seniors to utilize them. "They are helping a lot of people if they take advantage of them. Some people don't; they are too proud of themselves," she said. "You can visit with people your own age with your own problems." One area of the local Older American's Program that is burgeoning is the meal service. Campos explains that the county program has a vendor agreement with the State Area Agency on Aging for a certain number of meals it will serve both in a congregate setting at the senior centers and the home delivered meals. This year, the county program contracted for 29,000 congregate meals to be served at the Bosque Farms, Los Lunas, Belen, Del Rio and Meadow Lake centers. Campos says numbers indicate that number will be exceeded by close to 2,000 meals. On the home delivery side, the county is contracted to provide 66,259 meals; they are closing in on 78,000 meals delivered for the year. "We are going to do close to 12,000 more home delivered meals than we contracted for," Campos said. In 2006-07, the program served 25,566 congregate meals and delivered 58,649; those numbers increased the next year to 29,464 meals at the centers and 67,172 delivered to homebound seniors. This year, the Valencia County Older Americans Program has served 31,000 meals and delivered 77,400. The Older Americans Program is funded by a combination of federal, state and county dollars. Approximately $125,000 comes from the U.S. government, $265,000 from the state and this year the county put in $309,847, an increase of $31,000 from last year. "The county has really come a long way in services for their seniors," Campos said. "This program is literally an act of Congress. It was passed in 1965." So when people start talking about taking funds from the program for other expenses, Campos gets a little upset. "It's federal dollars for a federal program," he says with a laugh. "You can't just spend that how you want to; no one would ever think of taking money away from programs for kids, but when it's something for seniors, it's somehow OK?" Delivering nearly 300 hot lunches a day, five days a week, the volunteer drivers become the eyes and ears for Campos and his staff. "Sometimes the guys making the deliveries are the only people these seniors see during a day," Campos said. "They have gone to homes to deliver meals and found people on the floor. Sometimes we're all they've got." And sometimes that $1.50 meal is the only food some seniors will see that day. Diana Artiaga, the client services representative for the county program said during her visits she has seen some seniors put away half of the meal for later. "I know for some, it's simply too much food," she said. "But for others, that's it for the day." Both she and Campos stressed that the $1.50 was just a suggested donation. "If they can give that much, fine. If they can't, we aren't going to refuse them a meal," Campos said. "It really is just a suggestion." Those donations plus others to the program help with costs, he said. Recently, someone donated $500 for activities, and the Moose Lodge will be collecting money until the end of the year to support the program. In this year's budget, Campos projected $71,905 for donations for programs but is expecting to end the year with about $5,000 over that projection. To qualify for home-delivered meals, an individual needs to be over 60, homebound and unable to prepare their own meals. Spouses and disabled dependent children living with a senior can also qualify for meals. The Older Americans Program also offers medical transportation five days a week. This system mostly assists people with getting to appointments in Albuquerque and beyond, Artiaga said. "But we will do whatever we need to do to get people to their medical appointments," she said. "They just need to call and we'll get them the assistance they need." Usually, the Los Lunas Transportation program or the Belen transit office answers those local transportation needs. The senior medical transportation program can be reached by calling 864-2663. Los Lunas Transportation can be reached at 352-3595 and Belen at 864-8630. Part of preparing for the future of senior care is ensuring there is enough room for them at the centers throughout the county. An expansion of nearly 1,200 square feet at the Los Lunas Center is nearly complete, and work on the kitchen at Belen is getting under way. "When the kitchen at Belen is done, we're going to call it Gil's Diner in honor of (Senator) Michael Sanchez's father," Campos said. "He was a pioneer for the program. People have told me that, when he had his bakery, he would provide a lot of food for the meal program." Getting the word out that the programs are available and there to help is also important, Artiaga and Campos said. "We've got a generation between the World War II and the Baby Boomers - the silent generation," Campos said. "They were taught to never ask for help, to do things themselves. So they aren't coming in and asking for these services." He related a story of an elderly man coming to the Belen center one day, saying his wife was hungry. "We told him to bring her in and they could have lunch," Campos said. "He just started crying; she was at home and she didn't have any food. It was so hard for him to come ask for help. But that's why we're here."
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