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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Groups explore greatest needs for area seniors

Life for North Idaho’s oldest generation – a rapidly growing population – could improve if health-care providers share patient records through computers and senior centers plan events that draw people of all ages, a group studying senior life in the Panhandle has found.

“How do older adults feel about sharing data?” said Bob Salsbury, coordinator of the North Idaho Linkages project. “We’re trying to find a way health care and social service people can share information. We feel it’s a real need.”

North Idaho Linkages is one of 11 programs nationwide working under a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to redefine senior living. Nearly 500 cities asked for the opportunity. The foundation has stressed that its only goal is to improve life for the country’s oldest adults.

Communities chosen to participate must come up with a four-year plan by this fall. If the foundation sees potential in the plan, it’ll offer $750,000 to put it to work. Grant winners will have to match that amount with cash, goods and services.

A variety of people in social services for seniors – nurses, care-givers, aid workers and more – volunteered to create a plan for North Idaho’s oldest residents based on their working knowledge. Their work goes to groups of seniors – the plan’s users – who decide how necessary, relevant and desired the plan’s elements are.

A survey earlier this year of nearly 900 people older than 60 narrowed the project’s focus to health care and social services, Salsbury said. The volunteer groups studied those areas this spring and generated 21 ideas regarding which services are needed, how seniors could find those services and how to improve the working atmosphere for people employed in those services.

“The groups were pretty creative finding ideas,” Salsbury said.

They decided seniors need their medical records, complete with all medications they take, available via computer to all medical providers and pharmacists. Salsbury said doctors sometimes prescribe medication for seniors without certainty of what they’re already taking. Seniors often spend too much money on unnecessary prescriptions or use medications that don’t mix with other drugs they’re taking, he said. Access to medical records could eliminate such problems, he said.

The groups also suggested adding access to records to social service agencies and creating a uniform record form. Uniform records would present the same information and reduce confusion, Salsbury said. They would also save seniors from filling out forms everywhere they go and save agencies from duplicating services and wasting seniors’ time.

Other needs identified include a way for case managers in the Panhandle to work together without traveling. The groups suggested interactive video and the Internet. Interactive video also could save seniors from traveling from, for example, Bonners Ferry to Coeur d’Alene to hear a diagnosis or the results of a test.

The final need identified was for more social interaction. The groups suggested local schools encourage students to help and visit seniors through volunteer programs or public service credit. Senior centers, churches and schools could offer more activities for all generations.

To make such services available to seniors, communities would need to update computer programs, the groups suggested. Kootenai Medical Center has switched to medical records on computer. That secure system could expand to include pharmacies and social services, Salsbury said.

The volunteer groups also suggested information kiosks, similar to automated teller machines, in central locations could help seniors find local resources, and the 211 resource phone line could include more senior information. Public service announcements could offer more information about senior health care and support services, and colleges, hospitals and other educational services could offer short courses for seniors in malls or storefronts.

The groups’ toughest issue was improving compensation for caregivers so they stick with their jobs. Seniors want caregivers, such as certified nurse’s aides, whom they know, like and trust, but caregivers are underappreciated and underpaid, Salsbury said.

“We talked about changing the culture of the care center,” he said.

The groups decided better care comes with more satisfied caregivers. Groups suggested starting Web-based classes, a standardized curriculum and a Web site where caregivers could exchange ideas and training opportunities. Another suggestion was caregiver guilds and support organizations that help with health care, child care and transportation.

Seniors have until June 6 to choose three priorities in each category – services, access and care. Several groups will study the suggestions, but Salsbury said he hopes to hear from the 60-plus crowd in the general public, too. After the votes are tallied, the Linkages groups will create a four-year plan to put the top choices to work.