News Release

Awards Announced for Emergency Initiative for Disaster Relief

October 15, 1999

The Institute on Aging is pleased to announce that grants for the previously announced Emergency Initiative for Disaster Relief will be awarded for the following proposals:

1. "Senior Edgecombe Project"

Partners:
Edgecombe Home Care & Hospice, A Division of Edgecombe County Health Dept.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, NC State University.
School of Social Work, UNC-Chapel Hill

Of 577 clients served by the Edgecombe HomeCare & Hospice Agency, 126 had their homes destroyed by the flood. This project will provide mental health screening, emotional support, and linkage of resources through collaboration among service providers for seniors in the community, faculty and students. About 15 students from UNC Social Work, The Duke Leadership in Aging Internship Program, NC Central University, and Warren Wilson College (Black Mountain), will work with the host agency. The project will promote understanding of Eastern North Carolina's continuing needs for support and assistance through active information dissemination activities, as well as allow information to be compiled in a systematic manner that can be used in developing an effective disaster preparedness and response plan for the future.

2. "Senior Citizens Outreach Recovery Effort - S.C.O.P.E."

Partners:
Center on Minority Aging, University of North Carolina
Upper Coastal Plain Area Agency on Aging
Nash Edgecombe Economic Development, Inc.
VOICE Volunteers
Dept. of Health Education at North Carolina Central University
Dept. of Social Work at North Carolina Central University

"Senior Citizens Outreach Recovery Effort" targets those senior citizens who are in greatest need of economic, social, and emotional support in the aftermath of this disastrous flood. Students from North Carolina Central University and UNC-Chapel Hill will be trained as resource people. Older African Americans in Princeville will receive individualized mental health counseling and screening for services not previously utilized prior to the flood. Case management efforts will link older adults with the resources and services needed to address medical assistance, transportation, housing, and public assistance. Mental health counseling will seek to assist older adults cope with the significant losses they have
experienced. Many older adults survived with their lives and the clothing on their backs. Seemingly insignificant items such as eye glasses, dentures, hearing aides, medications, identification cards, check books, need to be recovered or replaced. SCOPE will prevent the premature placement of older adults into long term institutional care and prevent long term depression. SCOPE will aid senior citizens of Princeville regain their independence, regain their orientation, effectively cope with their loss and rebuild their lives.

3. "Retaining Nursing Assistants at Risk of Leaving Employment
in Flood Devastated Long Term Care Facilities"

Partners:
Dept. of Family Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill
Upper Coastal Plain Area Agency on Aging, Rocky Mount, NC
Thoms Rehabilitation Hospital, Asheville, NC

The intent of "Retaining Nursing Assistants at Risk of Leaving Employment in Flood Devastated Long Term Care Facilities" is to develop a support system to help Nursing Assistants cope and develop positive strategies, both personally and professionally, regarding recent flood related experiences. Since the flood, Nursing Assistants worked for days with little rest even though many experienced damage to their own homes. The project will ensure consistent, predictable quality care for long-term care facility residents by positively affecting nursing assistant retention. It will also create a framework and information database to prepare for similar future situations. The project will strive to foster a partnership with the Regional Long-term Care Ombudsman Program for continuing support to Nursing Assistants in flood areas. Additional support may be accessed by connecting Nursing Assistants online with Nursing Assistants from other areas through the National Network of Career Nursing Assistants.

The awards committee, comprised of: Ann Johnson, Chair, Governor's Advisory Council on Aging; Bill Lamb, NC Division of Aging; and Victor Marshall, UNC, Institute on Aging, was impressed with the six applications received.