MONTGOMERY COUNTY A COMMUNITY FOR A LIFETIME

Transcription

1 MONTGOMERY COUNTY A COMMUNITY FOR A LIFETIME SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS FY2008-FY2015 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND

2 Trasportatio Maitaied Free ad Reduced Ride O ad Metrobus Fares for Seiors Maitaied free fares (M-F 9:30 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.) ad reduced fares (all other times) for seiors ad people with disabilities who obtai a $2.00 Seior SmarTrip card, e.g., at the library. Cotiued Motgomery Couty s bus stop improvemet program, which is regarded as a atioal model; curretly, 90% of bus stops are ADA compliat. Additioally, 100% of Ride O buses are ADA compliat. Tripled Number of People Usig Coect-A-Ride; Added Support to Help Trasitio from Drivig The umber of people who use this service has tripled from 1,012 i FY07 to 3,124 i FY15. Coect-A-Ride helps callers who are age 50+ ad/or disabled lear about a wide rage of public, private ad voluteer trasportatio optios. The service also helps callers fill out forms for trasportatio programs, liks callers with trasportatio providers; ad, provides travel traiig sessios to teach older residets how to avigate the public trasportatio system. I FY15, trasitioig from drivig became a added Coect-A-Ride service. Cotiued Call--Ride, Subsidized Taxi Service for Low-Icome Seiors Call--Ride curretly serves over 5,000 people; 70% are seiors. The program also serves persos with disabilities. I April 2013, Call--Ride was trasitioed to a automated debit card system. By reivestig savigs from the techology upgrade, the program was able to expad icome eligibility i FY15, eablig greater participatio. Itroduced Escorted Trasportatio Service Escorted Trasportatio is available o a slidig scale basis to low- ad moderate-icome older adults ad people with disabilities who require a escort. The program bega as a pilot i FY13. By ed of FY15, 187 residets with a average icome of $14,337 had erolled i the program. Although cliets ca access the program for ay purpose, i FY15, 87% of the trips were for medical or detal purposes. Improved ad Expaded Trasportatio to Local Seior Ceters Service improvemets bega Jauary Shuttles take participats to Damascus, Holiday Park, Log Brach, Margaret Schweihaut ad White Oak seior ceters. These buses traveled 25,596 miles ad provided 8,615 rides i the first six moths of operatio. 1

3 Improved Pedestria Safety ad Accessibility Improved Pedestria Crossigs: The Couty is two-thirds fiished retimig all the traffic sigals to exted pedestria crossig times to the latest atioal stadards, which accommodate slower walkig speeds. Additioally, some traffic sigals have bee upgraded to iclude accessible/coutdow pedestria sigals. For improved visibility, street ame sigs have bee icreased to five iches for better legibility. Meawhile, stop sigs have bee upgraded to 30-ich size (from 24 ich.) Pedestria Safety Iitiative: Sice 2010, the most severe pedestria collisios have bee reduced by 28%. Additioally, there have bee sigificat reductios i collisios ad speed i areas where we have istalled traffic calmig measures. Costructed ad repaired sidewalks to improve walkability. I the past five years, 175 miles of sidewalk have bee costructed. Ad, sice 2007, aother 35 miles of sidewalks ad ramps have bee recostructed to meet ADA stadards. Fially, 6,000 ew ramps have bee istalled i the past five years. Improvig Pedestria Safety i Parkig Lots was iitiated i This educatio campaig addresses avoidig collisios i parkig lots, where oe i four pedestria collisios occur. Mobility Maagemet I December 2013, the Couty hired a Mobility Maager to promote, improve ad expad trasportatio optios available to seiors ad persos with disabilities. Jewish Coucil for the Agig, HHS ad DOT developed the federally fuded Gettig all Aroud the Couty trasportatio project. This project improves uderstadig of trasportatio ad mobility eeds of seiors ad idividuals with disabilities, further icludes such populatios i the plaig process, ad promotes available trasportatio ad mobility services. Accessible Trasportatio I July 2015, the Couty eacted legislatio to icrease the umber of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs ad set a goal that the Couty s fleet will become 100% accessible by The ew Trasportatio Services Improvemet Fud, collected as surcharges from trasportatio etwork compaies, is dedicated specifically to this purpose. Icreased Seior Ceter Hours ad Accessibility Health ad Welless Icreased operatig hours, programs ad services at three Seior Ceters (i.e., Schweihaut, Damascus, ad Holiday Park) that offer social opportuities, health ad welless programs, lifelog learig ad educatioal programs, exercise classes, dace classes, lectures, cultural programs, vegetable gardes, ad a variety of couty services. Curb-to-curb trasportatio services were expaded via a cotract with JCA to provide M-F services at all five couty seior ceters. 2

4 Expaded 55+ Recreatio, Health Promotio & Exercise Optios; Maitaied Other Services 55+ Active Adults Recreatio Programs were expaded to pre-2009 hours at thirtee of the Couty Recreatio Ceters where boomers ad older persos gather for educatioal programs, friedship, etertaimet ad sports. (The Couty also cotiued exercise classes for people age18+ at a doze additioal locatios.) Today, Motgomery Couty offers 60% more health, exercise ad welless classes, compared with 2009 icludig additioal Boe Builders ad Zumba classes. For a $50 aual fee, thousads of Couty residets age 55+ work out usig the weights ad exercise facilities icludig Fitess Cliics at the 17 Couty Recreatio Ceters, M-F util 3 p.m. Thousads of older adults swim at Couty Aquatic facilities each year. Hudreds more ejoy mii-trips offered quarterly to destiatios ad evets i the metro Baltimore/DC areas. Over 2,000 active adults take Seior Outdoor Advetures i Recreatio (SOAR) day trips. More tha 800 seiors competed i 2,500 evets at the 2015 Marylad Seior Olympics, hosted by Motgomery Couty. Through Couty parterships with local hospitals, the umber ad variety of programs ad services offered to seiors i Recreatio Departmet facilities have icreased substatially. Examples iclude the Seior Fit exercise program offered by Holy Cross Hospital ad, the Seior Shape, exercise program ad Heartwell urse programs offered by Suburba Hospital. The Boe Builders exercise program, a joit HHS, Agig & Disabilities ad Recreatio Departmet evidece-based program, expaded from te classes i 2012 to 18 classes i Home- ad Commuity-Based Services Expaded Seior Nutritio Program (SNP) Cogregate Services Served 225,555 meals to 4,407 seiors at 42 cogregate meal sites i F15, i.e., 20% more cliets served tha FY13. Expaded such cogregate meals services to four Adult Day Ceters, two Cogregate Housig Service Programs ad six ethic cotractors servig residets with limited Eglish skills. Recetly opeed ew luch programs at White Oak ad Mid-Couty Recreatio Ceters. Improved choice by offerig either hot or cold meals optio. Doubled SNP Home Delivered Meals for Frail ad Vulerable Homeboud Residets age 60+ Served 1,977 homeboud seiors with meals delivered to their homes i FY15, i.e., served twice as may cliets compared with FY13, after expadig the umber of buildigs served to iclude 900 seiors residig i 18 low-icome housig sites. Iitiated crimial backgroud checks for all voluteers. 3

5 Promoted Expasio ad Growth of Villages; local orgaizatios that help older adults to age i place From 2009 to 2015, the umber of villages i Motgomery Couty grew from 4 active villages to 14 active villages (with ie more villages i developmet.) Motgomery Couty has bee promotig villages through its Regioal Service Ceters. Sice Ja. 2014, a Village Coordiator has bee helpig to expad the umber ad capacity of Villages across the Couty. Active villages are located i Bethesda, Cabi Joh, Chevy Chase, Garrett Park, Sady Sprigs, Silver Sprig, Takoma Park, Oley ad Potomac. Nie villages i developmet are located i areas such as East Couty, Kesigto, Ketlad ad Rockville. Couty support icludes olie resources to iitiate a Village, i.e., Village Blueprit, bylaws, commuity survey, flyers ad a olie map of Villages. The Couty also provides outreach across diverse commuities, techical assistace to address sustaiability, ad pilot programs such as VillageRides to build Village capacity to recruit, trai ad schedule voluteer drivers. Cotiued Commuity-Based Health ad Social Support Services, e.g., Cotiued Commuity-Based Health ad Social Support Services, e.g., Cotiued i-home urse moitorig for more tha 2,000 seior ad disabled cliets (FY15) through Commuity First Choice Program, a Medicaid waiver. Also icreased State Seior Care Gateway Grat to expad seior care service capacity ad avoid istitutioalizatio. Cotiued i-home persoal care ad chore services (slidig fee scale), assistig more tha 300 vulerable seiors i remaiig safe ad cared for i the commuity, while prevetig uecessary istitutioalizatio; 76 are o the waitlist. Medical Assistace Persoal Care received 410 ew applicats over a recet six-moth timeframe. Cotiued public guardiaship program recetly expaded spa of program as the caseload icreased by almost 25% i oe year, from 77 idividuals to 101 idividuals. Icreased Adult Foster Care reimbursemet rate for 122 cliets i seior assisted livig homes (icreased from $1,350/moth i 2012 to $1,550/moth.) Also cotiued Group Homes Subsidy. Cotiued Medicatio Maagemet program that distributes File of Life medical cards throughout the commuity ad 4x/day, 7 days/week pill boxes to HHS cliets who eed them. Cotiued Support for Family Caregivers Cotiued to offer respite service, o a short-term basis, to family caregivers who support frail elders. Curretly, 453 caregivers are beig served; 20% are seiors. Icreased subsidies for Adult Day programs to help 30 idividuals access the program two days per week, startig i Such programs provide cliets socializatio ad medical supervisio while providig respite for family caregivers. To provide better support to caregivers, recetly approved a Seior Fellow positio, alog with operatig fuds, to coordiate outreach regardig available services. 4

6 Cotiued to Assist Residets With Serious ad O-Goig Medical Challeges Cotiued to support ad promote Chroic Disease Self-Maagemet Course offered by Holy Cross Health. This evidece-based, six-week program is for adults with chroic medical coditios, family members, frieds ad caregivers. HHS serves as lead agecy of the Motgomery Couty Coalitio for Care at the Ed of Life to ecourage advace care plaig, especially discussio ad preparatio of advace directives. Cotiued coveiet collectio of refuse ad recyclig for frail residets who are uable to brig cotaiers to the curb, due to physical limitatios. Curretly 1,149 residets use this exemptio. Housig Protected Availability of Affordable Retal Housig Existig Uits: The Couty has created parterships to acquire or preserve thousads of existig uits of affordable housig. These iclude: Victory Forest (136 uits) Silver Sprig; Maria Assisted Livig (9 uits) Oley; Tow Ceter Apartmets (110 uits) Rockville; Bauer Park Apartmets (142 uits) Rockville; Charter House (212 uits) Silver Sprig; Washigto- McLaughli Apartmets (9 uits) Takoma Park; Lakeview Apartmets (152 uits) Bethesda; Victory Court (86 uits) Rockville; ad Iterfaith Group Home (9 uits) Rockville. The Couty has partered with private ad o-profit developers to build ew affordable housig for seiors. The followig are either i the plaig stage or uder costructio. Aspe Hill (110 uits); Churchill II (133 uits) Germatow; The Boifat (149 uits) Silver Sprig; White Oak (105 uits); Silver Sprig (75 uits); Glemot (110 uits); East Couty (151 uits); ad White Flit (150 uits). Cotiued parterig with the Housig Opportuities Commissio (HOC) ad Departmet of Health ad Huma Services to provide retal assistace to low-icome seiors. Expaded Property Tax Credits for Homeowers with Modest Assets Maitaied the property tax credit for homeowers with limited assets, alog with a additioal such credit for seiors. This credit applies to those who fill out the applicatio ad qualify based o modest fiacial resources. I FY2015, over 2,900 seiors with limited assets received a estimated average of $720 i Homeowers ad Seior s property tax credits. Begiig i July 2015, Motgomery Couty doubled the rate of the Seior Tax Credit ad expaded eligibility to iclude homeowers who are 65 to 70 years old (the credit, util this year, was limited to homeowers 70 years ad over.) Next year, homeowers age 65-plus with limited savigs ca apply to receive a estimated average of $870 per year i property tax credits. I total, such property tax credit support for older homeowers who have modest savigs are estimated to grow from about $2 millio per year to approximately $3 millio per year. For residets age 70-plus, retroactive applicatios for this credit may be made for the prior three years. 5

7 Shorteed Timeframe for Homeowers Seekig Approval for Accessory Housig I 2013, the Couty bega offerig homeowers a swifter approval process for accessory apartmets, i.e., oe way to expad affordable housig for seiors. Curretly, 60 accessory apartmets have bee licesed ad early four doze are i the pipelie. Itroduced Icetives for Home Owers ad Builders to Istall Accessible Housig Features Desig for Life, maaged by Departmet of Permittig Services, provides partial tax credits to property owers or homebuilders who istall measures that improve accessibility, visit-ability ad/or live-ability of residetial homes. This model program was iitiated i Motgomery Couty to improve the ability of all residets to maage more successfully i homes, to improve people s ability to age i place ad to make homes more accessible to visitors of all ages. The Desig for Life program took effect July Improved Voluteer Resources Civic ad Social Egagemet The Motgomery Couty Voluteer Ceter lauched a user-friedly website i 2011 that made it easier for idividuals to fid ways to egage ad help others. Over the last three years, 33,000 voluteers of all ages have accessed this system to fid voluteer opportuities. I a recet year (Sprig 2014-Sprig 2015), early 500 Retired Seior Voluteer Program voluteers helped 33 oprofits/agecies, servig 68,554 hours, which icluded helpig 3,000 couty residets fill out tax forms ad access $4.3M i refuds. It also icludes more tha 250 seiors who tutor ad metor childre through Iterages ad three doze Gradreaders who read to childre weekly at six libraries durig the summer. Expaded Vital Livig Resources Cotiued outreach via The Networker, a olie compilatio of opportuities for egagemet, accessible at Icreased the umber of courses offered through Motgomery College Lifelog Learig Istitute while expadig class locatios, icludig MCPL (which hosted 23 such evets, egagig 328 seiors). Cotiued to Support Traiig ad Employmet Resources Cotiued to fud ad publicize the aual 50+ Employmet Expo, sposored by JCA, which beefits thousads of Couty residets by offerig resume ad job hutig advice ad coectig them to employers. I 2015, Couty Executive Isiah Leggett preseted the secod aual Experiece Couts Best Practices Awards at the 50+ Employmet Expo to Social ad Scietific Systems, Ic., Dyaxis LLC ad the Beaco Newspaper, Ic. 6

8 Motgomery College cotiued to provide Seior Tuitio Waivers for Marylad residets, age 60-plus, to eroll i classes after the regular registratio period has passed by payig oly fees. Motgomery Couty Public Libraries (MCPL) cotiued to offer residets aggregated olie access to a wide rage of career, erichmet ad study support resources. Expaded Library Hours ad Services MCPL operatig hours icreased by 11% ad bega a cycle of major refresh projects to eable library collectios, space ad services to meet the eeds of a wide rage of commuities, icludig Boomers ad older persos. MCPL expaded techology traiig with more classes i usig computers ad devices, dowloadig e-books ad music, sharig via Facebook ad usig ad also cotiued to offer classes i fiace, health, cosumer issues, Eglish laguage learig, etc. Safety Ivested i Fire & Rescue Facilities, Operatios ad Persoel; Reduced Respose Times Sice 2009, Motgomery Couty built 5 fire-rescue statios to address emergig ad cotiuig eeds, i.e., ew Fire Statio 22 - Germatow/Kigsview (2009), ew Fire Statio 34 - Germatow/Milestoe (2010), rebuilt Fire Statio 2 - Takoma Park (2010), ew Fire Statio 32-Travilah (2014) ad rebuilt Wheato Rescue Squad (2014) at a ew site. This compares with 2 ew fire statios built or reovated over previous 12 years, i.e., Fire Statio 1 i Silver Sprig (2006) ad Fire Statio 35 i Clarksburg (iterim statio opeed 2005) I the last decade, Motgomery Couty Fire ad Rescue Service (MCFRS) bega assigig firefighter paramedics to Egies ad Aerial Uits, eablig MCFRS to quickly deliver 4 welltraied persoel, icludig a paramedic, to the scee of fires ad critical emergecy medical calls. Today, there are 28 Paramedic Egies ad oe Paramedic Aerial Tower i service. Reduced respose times: I the cotext of this improved ivestmet i facilities, operatios ad persoel, respose times for advaced life support (ALS) have improved throughout the Couty. Quicker respose times traslate ito lives protected ad saved. Lookig at average respose times to ALS icidets, betwee FY09 ad FY15, such respose times improved by: 1% i urba areas 8% i suburba areas 25% i rural areas Excellece i defiitive itervetio for heart attack victims: Also i the cotext of these ivestmets i persoel, operatios ad facilities, ad i cooperatio with hospital parters, MCFRS is meetig or exceedig atioal stadards i Stroke ad Heart Attack care. For example, i October 2015, from the time of the 911 call, MCFRS was able to trasport stroke ad heart attack patiets to the emergecy departmet door i a average of 33 miutes. 7

9 The America Heart Associatio has idetified a ambitious goal of 90 miutes from time of 911 call to defiitive itervetio for Heart Attack victims: MCFRS excels i this category, which traslates ito lives saved. Promoted Fire Safety Amog Seiors While the overall fire death rate i Motgomery Couty is oe of the lowest i the coutry, seior citizes have bee disproportioately represeted. I 2008, the Couty Executive coveed the Seior Citize Fire Safety Task Force, which was charged with developig a aggressive approach to address ad reverse the tred of fire risk amog seiors. Sice the, fire fatalities amog seiors have falle from a average of five per year from to a average of two per year from The Task Force idetified 37 recommedatios. Oe of the most successful ad high profile recommedatios implemeted has bee the fire departmet s home safety program: Fire departmet represetatives visit the homes of seior citizes ad persos with disabilities to check smoke alarms, idetify ad correct ay potetial safety risks ad esure that the residet has a home fire escape pla. Usig a appoitmet-based schedulig system, the departmet has visited more tha 1,000 seior homes i the first te moths of the program. Additioally, Fire ad Rescue persoel parter with commuities, eighborhood orgaizatios ad residetial buildig maagers to develop fire evacuatio ad escape plas. Ad, MCFRS provides Fire safety awareess traiig to ay group that may iteract with At Risk seiors i their home alertig them to check smoke alarms, space heaters ad cookig practices to help prevet fires. Expaded Crime Prevetio Services; Locatig At-Risk Seiors I 2009, MCPD lauched Keepig Seiors Safe crime prevetio outreach program. Keepig Seiors Safe addresses fiacial ad other frauds ad scams; idetity theft; shoppig safety; ad emergecy preparedess. With presetatios from Commuity Outreach Officers ad commad staff, ad brochures distributed widely, the program reaches thousads of seiors each year. MCPD Officers cotiued to coduct home security surveys i seiors homes. MCPD Officers also maage Project Lifesaver to help locate seiors with Alzheimer s disease. Formed the Motgomery Couty Elder ad Vulerable Adult Abuse Task Force Added Uit o Crimes Agaist Seiors ad Vulerable Adults Abuse I Jue 2014, added the Crimes Agaist Seiors ad Vulerable Adults Abuse Uit to the Motgomery Couty Elder ad Vulerable Adult Abuse Task Force. Represetatives from Motgomery Couty Police Departmet, the State s Attorey s Office, Adult Protective Services, Couty Attorey s Office, Ombudsma ad Licesure ad Regulatory Services parter with the Departmet of Health ad Huma Services to prevet elder abuse, raise public awareess, support legislative efforts to establish stroger ad better laws ad, aggressively ivestigate ad prosecute those who commit elder abuse. 8

10 Betwee 2010 ad 2040, the Motgomery Couty seior populatio is projected to grow from 120,000 to 255,000, a growth of 113%. I recogitio of that chagig demographic, i 2014, the State s Attorey s Office created the Crimes Agaist Seiors ad Vulerable Adults Uit to aggressively prosecute crimes agaist seiors, icludig physical abuse, fiacial exploitatio ad eglect. This uit icludes two specialized Assistat State Attoreys ad a Program Maager to track all icidets of elder abuse i Motgomery Couty. Established a ivestigative Elder Abuse Sectio i MCPD, as part of the Couty s ew Elder ad Vulerable Adult Abuse Task Force, to educate the commuity ad aggressively ivestigate reports of fraud. Added fuds (FY15) for a Social Worker i Adult Protective Services to address growig ivestigatios of fiacial exploitatio resultig from ew madatory bak reportig requiremets. I FY14, there were 776 Adult Protective Services ivestigatios. Promoted Emergecy Plaig: Office of Emergecy Maagemet ad Homelad Security cotiues to deliver preparedess messages throughout the Couty, educatig seiors about becomig better prepared for a emergecy. Commuicatios Created New Iformatio Products for Boomers ad Older Couty Residets Developed, distributed ad publicized recogizable, uderstadable, timely ad accessible series of iformatioal flyers, i.e., Trasportatio Optios, Seior Vital Livig, Caregivig, ad Older Driver Safety; Livig ad Thrivig i Motgomery Couty, The Seior Ageda, Trasportatio Network Directory for People with Disabilities ad Seiors ad, Seior Resource Iformatio Guide. These braded products o key issues are dissemiated olie ad via seior ceters, libraries, seior housig, commuity ceters/groups, tax bill ad targeted mailigs, the Couty fair, the Beaco ewspaper ad more. Created New Chaels of Commuicatio; Stregtheed Existig Chaels New olie resources: The ew seiors website, itroduced i 2009, is a cetral portal offerig timely iformatio to seiors ad caregivers about couty services ad programs. Iformatio is orgaized i ie sectios, i.e., cosumer issues, employmet ad voluteerig, health, recreatio ad libraries, safety, seior housig, social support, trasportatio ad tax ad fiace. I each sectio, eligibility requiremets are specified (e.g., o cost, fee-based, icomerelated) alog with cotact iformatio. 9

11 New telephoe resources: Motgomery Couty govermet s o-emergecy umber re: govermet programs ad services, 311, was iitiated i 2010 ad is staffed from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Callers ca lear iformatio ad track service requests o a wide rage of topics, icludig seior issues. Additioally, the Agig & Disability Seior Resource Lie ( ) is a phoe resource for more detailed questios regardig program services ad eligibility. Cotiued e-ewsletters: 1) Paperless Airplae, a olie publicatio set twice-mothly to 140,000 subscribers provides Couty ews ad iformatio, icludig items of iterest to boomers ad older persos; ad, 2) Health ad Huma Services Agig ad Disability Services seds mothly e-ewsletter to icrease awareess of seior services ad evets i the Couty. Cotiued providig commuicatios addressig seior issues via Couty Cable TV (e.g, Seiors Today ad Make a Differece Motgomery al Dia ), mailigs, bus ads, public forums, Couty Fair, ad posters at libraries, recreatio facilities, health cliics ad seior ceters. Also worked with Motgomery Couty Media to provide iformatio to seiors via the iteret, social media ad prit material. Fially, the Office of Ladlord Teat Affairs cotiued to coduct semiars for owers, ladlords ad residets of multi-housig uits to build awareess of services ad programs available to older Couty residets. 10