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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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The Public Services
Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, April 8, 2002, at 6:00 p.m.
at the Administration Building's Conference Room East. Chairman Sue Leifheit
called the meeting to order. Members
present were Dr. Conway, Eileen Dubin, Michael Haines, Jeff Metzger and Robert
Pritchard. Marlene Allen and Edward
Brown were absent. Others present
were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Karen Grush, Marshall Hayes, William Wilkinson,
Dave Ruggles, John Kross, Tom Zucker and Ellen Rogers.
Moved
by Dr. Conway, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to
approve the minutes from the March 2002 meeting.
Chairman Leifheit mentioned that the Public Defender’s Monthly Report was on the table this evening along with a correspondence from Court Services. She also mentioned that she had received correspondence from the Sheriff stating that the State’s Attorney had allocated one additional deputy for electronic home monitoring program and that person is going to be Deputy Ray Nelson and he will be joining Deputy Norm Berth. They are working two separate shifts and they will be able to include about 35 people into the program now.
Moved by Ms. Dubin, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.
SENIOR SERVICES TAX LEVY HEARINGS:
Ms. Mary Olson, Community Services Director, stated
that before starting the hearings that she wanted the committee to know that she
did go and visit each of the applicants this year and observed their operations.
DeKalb County Health Department. Ms. Karen Grush, Director of the DeKalb County Public Health
Department briefly reviewed her request for the committee.
She stated that they are asking for $25,000.00 to provide these services.
The primary purpose is for the Home Care Program for individuals that do
not have insurance or a source of payment.
A physician orders their visits and the people are considered homebound.
Their home care program includes registered nurses, physical therapists,
social workers, speech therapists, medical technicians and home health aides
that go into the home and provide these services.
Last year they provided 15,470 home health visits to 861 individuals.
In the year 2002 the costs per visit are estimated at $95 for skilled
nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, $45 for home
health aide, and $150 for medical social services. The Home Care Program is
requesting funding to subsidize all or part of the cost of an estimated 350 home
visits to 35 medically indigent patients.
Ms. Grush then spoke about funding for Hypertension
Screening and Monitoring Program. They
help measure a patient’s blood pressure and hopefully prevent heart disease
and strokes. The program cost is
$10,000 annually for staff salaries and miscellaneous supplies.
It is estimated in FY2002 the Health Department will screen 500
individuals for hypertension and monitor blood pressures on 250 diagnosed
hypertensives.
The DeKalb County Health Department is requesting
$25,000 to help subsidize Home Care for the medically indigent and the
hypertension screening and monitoring of county individuals 55 years of age and
over. Allocation of funding between
the two programs will be based on utilization of services.
Elder Care Services. Mr. Marshall Hayes, Executive Director of Elder Care Services
of DeKalb County, reviewed his request for the committee.
He stated that he has requested $10,000 for each of the programs at his
agency, which are Case Management and Money Management.
He said that the services they offer are geared towards low income
seniors and some of the money that they use is from their contract with the
Illinois Department of on Aging. Currently the Department on Aging funds them
about .63 cents for every dollar that they spend to provide these services and
they are hoping to see if the county’s tax levy can help fill some of that
gap. The gap is getting wider due to the recent downturn of the
state’s economy. Governor Ryan
has informed them that he will cut or has already cut some of their funds and
that there is no chance of getting the funds back in the budget.
They will be working at a 12% loss before they even get started next
year.
Case Management and Money Management are services
provided to low-income seniors and only to people who want them.
Money Management benefits are for those seniors at risk financially who
will have someone intervene on their behalf before the situation escalates to
the point of institutionalization. Fifty
percent come from professional referrals. Fifty-five
people are using the Money Management this year.
Chairman Leifheit asked Mr. Hayes said that last year you asked for
$15,000 for 60 clients and this year you are asking for $10,000 for 60 clients?
Mr. Hayes said that he was just being realistic and that you do not have
a lot of money and we are doing the best we can to fill that gap.
With regards to Case Management in year 2001 they
served 1247 different seniors and provided 7350 units of service.
The benefit of this program is that our frail, low-income elderly will
have someone to plan, coordinate and monitor the services they rely on to remain
independent, said Mr. Hayes. Chairman
Leifheit asked that the additional staff that you are looking for under Case
Management, do you have a waiting list? In
the past they never really talked about waiting lists but he wanted to make them
aware that for every person that becomes a case management client, they probably
turn away 2 and 3 people because they don’t meet the criteria.
Many of those people are just on the edge of meeting the criteria, but
they don’t qualify, and they really do need help. We would like to help those people but they are not talking
about them in this request, he further stated.
Family Service Agency of DeKalb County, Inc. Ms. Betsy Steele and Mr. Bill Wilkinson addressed the
committee this evening about their request.
Their request is for funds for the provision of in-home home management
and personal care services for elderly and frail elderly residents of DeKalb
County through our Assisted Living program.
These services are vital in preventing the unnecessary
institutionalization of elderly residents and helping them to remain in their
own homes as independently as possible with dignity.
The target population of their services is low-income seniors.
They currently serve 176 DeKalb County seniors.
Approximately 90% of these clients are at or below poverty level, live on
fixed incomes and struggle to make ends meet.
They are requesting $132,942 to continue and expand their services for
the elderly.
Chairman Leifheit asked them about their retention,
is it better? Ms. Steele said that
the starting salary is $7.00 an hour and that their retention is on an upward
trend in the last six months. They
have 21 joint service providers now and the maximum is 25. They are currently serving the following people as of today:
69 in DeKalb, 33 in Sycamore, 3 in Genoa, 4 in Kirkland, 28 in Sandwich,
1 Cortland, 9 in Hinckley and 4 in Waterman.
Mr. Haines said that last year there was disproportionate services in
Genoa and Kirkland – and yet you still don’t serve a lot in Genoa and
Kingston. Mr. Steele said that they
are not receiving any referrals that they have not responded to.
They have published their first newsletter and included ads for their
services and they have sent to them to many people throughout the county.
Referrals come for Elder Care, family members and medical professionals.
Opportunity House, Inc. Mr. John Kross, Executive Director of Opportunity
House, Inc., briefly reviewed his request for funds.
They are asking for an annual maximum amount of $8,060.00 for 400 hours
of direct service to senior clients with developmental disabilities.
They presently serve 9 individuals age 60 or older.
Some live in their group homes, and others live with family members or in
their own apartments. Next year,
another 6 individuals in their program will reach age 60, giving them a total of
15 seniors. In addition, they serve
14 individuals with Down’s Syndrome, a condition that causes a person to age
faster than their chronological age. All
of the individuals live in the DeKalb and Sycamore area. He continued by saying that a staff person will develop
lesson plans, plan and implement senior training and activities.
Staff hours of direct service to elderly clients will be the outcome
measure. The amount that they are
requesting in on an annual basis, or $20.15 per direct service staff hour.
The cost per service unit is just 3% higher than last year, but we would
like to provide more hours of service this coming year (400 instead of 328).
Voluntary Action Center and Meals On Wheels. Mr. Tom Zucker, Director of VAC and Ms. Ellen Rogers Director
of Meals on Wheels, reviewed their individual requests for the committee.
Mr. Zucker said that Trans Vac provides door-to-door demand response
paratransit services to and from a wide variety of community facilities and
resources including health care facilities and for essential shopping.
MedVAC provides services to and from out of town medical appointments.
In FY2001, Vac provided 158,213 rides to DeKalb County residents through
its transportation programs. 44,537
rides were provided to senior citizens. The
Senior Levy funded 9,000 rides for 240 individuals. In FY2002, the Senior Levy
will fund 8,148 rides to medical appointments and for essential shopping. So far in FY 2002, nearly 200 people have received more than
4,074 rides (July 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001). In FY 2003, VAC proposes to provide 10,000 rides to medical
appointments and for essential shopping.
Ms. Ellen Rogers, Director of Meals On Wheels, stated
that her program provides meals to older adults and others in need who are
homebound because of illness, physical or mental impairment, or who are
otherwise isolated. She said that
in FY 2001 the levy provided 10,078 additional hot meals served to 79 persons.
A total of 3,358 frozen meals and sack suppers were served to 32 persons
within that time. In addition, 12 persons received 1,275 dietary supplements.
Meals On Wheels has experienced an 8% increase in service as compared to
the previous fiscal year. During
FY2002, they will provide 11,826 meals through the DeKalb County Senior Levy.
The propose to provide 12,000 meals at a rate of $6.00 per meal during
FY2003. The possibility of a
waiting list for hot meal service will remain.
The committee asked Mr. Zucker how people pay for
their transit services? He said
that the clients of the levy do not pay, but that some other grants with local
match help pay. Otherwise, the
other people who are not clients of the levy pay about .50 cents per mile or pay
through donations. They have found
that most people do try to make the donation.
The committee thanked all the agencies for coming
this evening and making their presentations. Chairman Leifheit then turned the
meeting over to discussion to the committee on the disbursement of funds.
After a brief discussion the committee decided to disburse the funds as
follows: DeKalb County Health
Department to receive $25,000.00; Elderly Care Services of DeKalb County to
receive $10,000 for Case Management only; Family Services Agency of DeKalb
County – Home Care Program to receive $125,000; Fox Valley Older Adult
Services Day Care Program to receive $30,000; Opportunity House Day Services to
receive $8,000; Voluntary Action Center of DeKalb County – Trans VAC Program
to receive $60,000 and Meals On Wheels to receive $72,000 for a total amount of
disbursement of $330,000.00.
Moved by Dr. Conway, seconded by
Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully
submitted,
_______________________________
Sue Leifheit, Chairman
___________________________
Mary Supple, Secretary
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