Seeking feedback

ADRC looks for input on local outreach

The programs are most likely familiar: Meals-on-Wheels, Alzheimer’s support groups, transportation assistance, moving services, senior referral services, and social activities for seniors.

Now, the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Broward County wants to know how the clients and caregivers it serves feel about what is being provided through the agency’s federal and state funded programs.

Such programs are typically offered through local centers including the Northeast Focal Point Center in Deerfield Beach.

Interested parties are invited to a hearing on Aug. 7 at the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Broward, 5300 Hiatus Road in Sunrise.

ADRC Executive Director Edith Lederberg said she expects a crowd, if it is any reflection of the demand for services.

“Maybe they think the county needs more day care,” Lederberg explained, “or more Alzheimer’s care. At any time, there probably is 200 to 300 people on the waiting list for meals.”

That’s because in 1977, when Lederberg joined the agency, there were about 100,000 people age 60 and older in Broward County. “Today, there probably are 400,000 year-round senior residents and the total budget, with state funding? That probably is $22 million,” she said.

What seems like a lot isn’t, when spread among Meals on Wheels, all four Focal Point senior centers as well as the Coast to Coast Legal Aid Senior Services Law Project.

“But when you are funding things with the Older Americans Act, you are using federal dollars and you cannot deny people coming to a senior center,” Lederberg explained. “So at any time, there are between 200 and 300 people on list for meals, a far cry from the agency Lederberg remembers.”

“There was a time,” she said, “when we didn’t have a waiting list.”

The public hearing will take place at 2 p.m.