Area Plan

Summary/Goals

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Issue Areas and Objectives:

Building Elder Friendly Communities

The Olympic Area Agency on Aging (O3A) is one of many Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) in Washington to use the Elder Friendly framework in its Area Plan development. The Elder Friendly framework was developed by the AdvantAge Initiative , and is based on a comprehensive survey of elders who live at home. Consumer information obtained from the survey is used to ensure planning efforts are responsive to a range of community voices.

The priority areas in the Olympic Area Agency on Aging Area Plan correspond to the four issue areas below from the Elder Friendly framework:

  1. Basic needs
  2. Optimizing health and well-being
  3. Social and civic engagement
  4. Independence for frail older adults and people with disabilities

Each issue area is profiled for the O3A region, and contains a broad goal and measurable objectives. In addition, the State Unit on Aging requires that O3A address specific issues relating to family caregiver support and services, Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs), healthy aging and older native Americans, along with local issues prioritized by O3A. These issue areas are incorporated into the elder friendly framework for this area plan; a state structured administrative policy 7.01 plan is attached specific to older native American goals and objectives.

Strategies O3A will use to operationalize the area plan include:

  • Developing strategic community and technical partnerships with existing local, regional and state agencies and service providers
  • Targeted information dissemination, public education and advocacy efforts
  • Mobilizing additional resources (human, material and financial);
  • Building capacity of local community partners (traditional and non-traditional)
  • Application of evidence-based program and service models that improve quality-of-life and enhance the delivery of health services at the community level; and
  • Outreach with service delivery responsive to minority populations and those with special needs, as well as the general consumer population.