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Rising demand for services for seniors is taking a toll on state and local governments, as communities nationwide seek to accommodate a growing senior population while still tending to schools, roads, parks and other needs.
Meanwhile, local nonprofits are scrambling to keep up with mounting demands for senior services and fill the gaps from $12.5 million in cuts to the state’s Aging Services Division since 2016.
For charities and government agencies who share a common goal, collaboration is becoming even more essential.
It’s a well-worn path for Oklahoma City-based Sunbeam Family Services, which puts partnering at the core of its mission.
“We partner with so many other agencies,” said Patrick O’Kane, director of Senior Services at Sunbeam. “We look at collaboration as a core value. That sometimes will throw other agencies off a little. We just want to make sure we have a strong (safety net).”
A model for partnership
A shining example of such partnership is Sunbeam’s Emergency Senior Shelter.
In 2000, older adults who were victims of abuse or neglect or made homeless by catastrophic medical problems had nowhere to go. The Department of Human Services’ Adult Protective Services division and others reached out to Sunbeam and collaborated to open the nation’s first emergency shelter for
older adults.
“Adult Protective Services workers had no place to take people when they were removed from a threatening situation,” O’Kane said. “We started the shelter 2000 and partnered with Adult Protective Services who were finding vulnerable adults in all kinds of neglect, exploitation, selfneglect or abusive situations.”
Today, about 50 percent of the shelter’s clients are referred from Adult Protective Services.
Protection from harm
Cindy I. Opheim, a programs field representative for Adult Protective Services recalled one recent client at the shelter had been physically abused by unwanted squatters in his home.
“We had an elderly victim who was hospitalized for medical needs,” Opheim said “During his hospitalization, some people just moved in. When he got home, they threatened him and physically abused him. It was a situation where we needed to get him to a safe place.
“They had an extensive violent history with lots of convictions, but he still had to get help from legal aide to go through eviction process. Sunbeam kept him safe until he could return home,” she said.
The 11 bed-facility offers housing to adults and older who are able to care for themselves without assistance. Each person is assigned a case manager to help the client return to permanent housing.
“Our goal is to find permanent housing for that individual within 30 days,” O’Kane said. “The goal is not to have there here, but to help them get where they want to be.”
In addition to finding housing, O’Kane said the organization follows the client for six months to ensure their safety.
And the success of this firstof-its-kind shelter has earned nationwide attention.
“We’ve developed a good model,” he said. “We get calls nationally all the time to learn about what we’re doing here … from Salt Lake, New York, Wisconsin. I’m glad my home state had the first one.”
Communication is key
Of the 24,000 calls Adult Protective Services receives each year, half are for maltreatment by others. Since the agency has no housing or treatment facilities of its own, communication and collaboration with other service providers is vital, APS Director Gail Wettstein said.
“APS does not have any services of its own. We don’t have apartments. We don’t have counselors. We don’t have case managers. All of our work connects with existing services in the community,” Wettstein said. “I think it’s fair to say that as we’re looking at a political climate where some of the safety nets that we’ve taken for granted for the last decades, are becoming weaker and the response will have to be more robust. It’s exciting to work with this level of communication. We know we can do it with others because we do it with Sunbeam.”
In addition to the emergency shelter, Sunbeam’s services to older adults include, its Senior Companion, Foster Grandparent and Caregiver Fundamentals Programs.
Its wider mission encompasses early childhood services, foster care and counseling.