Senior centers face reduced services

GLENDALE — The Glendale senior program gave Mary Taylor a reason to keep going, said her daughter, Nancy Benzo.

Taylor, now 87, suffered a stroke several years ago. Being able to go to the program, located in the Glendale Depot, gave her a chance to socialize with others. It helped her regain her speech and movement.

Her daughter says it also gave her something else: “The will to live,” Benzo said.

But seniors at the cozy site located in a former train depot say recent cuts due to the looming loss of safety net funding have reduced services that Taylor, and other seniors, counted on.

Vic Nunenkamp, director of Douglas County Senior & Disabilities Services Division, said the center is not the only one that experienced cuts. And the county would love to do more for Glendale’s seniors, but the money is just not there.

The biggest change was slashing Glendale dining site coordinator Nicky Abercrombie’s hours from 32 hours down to eight hours a week. The center was open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Now it’s open from about 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the same days, just enough time to serve seniors meals provided by Douglas County.

Before the cuts, seniors played bingo, watched movies, heard from guest speakers, and, sometimes, “drank imitation Mai Tais on the porch” during the extra hours the center was open, Abercrombie said.

Senior Bill Or’oke said he misses the chance to “kick back and have fun.”

Other seniors say they miss other ways Abercrombie helped seniors when she had more hours.

Rose Shepherd said Abercrombie used to do home checks on seniors. She made sure they were OK, found out if they needed a ride to the doctor or dog food delivered, and so on.

Nunenkamp said that in preparation for the possible loss of safety net funding, a coordinator in Riddle instead was put in charge of checking on Glendale seniors. She said other centers have had to make do with similar arrangements at times.

But Glendale seniors are not wild about the idea. “He does not know the area, he does not know the people,” Shepherd said. They feel he’s not as available, partly because Riddle is about 30 minutes away, and partly because he has so many other seniors for whom to look out.

Having the center open more hours provided other benefits. In the winter, the center provided a warm place for those who couldn’t afford to heat their homes, said Lu Agan, a volunteer with the Glendale program.

TRIMMING SERVICES

The cuts at the Glendale center are just a few adjustments the county Senior Services has made as the county braces for the federal timber payments to go away, Nunenkamp said.

The changes reflect the smaller slice of the county budget pie Senior & Disabilities Services has received from the county general fund since fiscal year 2006-07.

That year, the division received $680,000. By 2007-08, that dropped to $534,000. This fiscal year, the county commissioners beefed up that total to $599,000.

“The commissioners are very supportive of the seniors, especially the senior meal program,” Nunenkamp added. The program provides 117,000 meals a year, either at dining sites or through Meals on Wheels.

The county started adjusting its services in spring 2007. Senior Services put a cap on how many meals may be served to seniors at its dining sites at seven senior centers. They are in Glendale, Glide, Reedsport, Riddle, Sutherlin, Winston and Yoncalla.

Around the same time, Nunenkamp had to start trimming staff who serve seniors. Since then, 2.5 full-time equivalent positions have been cut. Coordinators’ hours were cut in several sites — in Yoncalla and Glide, as well as in Glendale. These centers were chosen because they are some of the smallest and serve the fewest seniors, Nunenkamp said.

To help make ends meet, Senior Services went to the dining sites and asked how the centers might be able to help. The sites offered to provide coffee, condiments and paper products, such as paper towels.

On a day-to-day basis, seniors claim the quality of food has dropped at dining sites. Nunenkamp said she’s heard that, but Senior Services is doing the best it can on a tighter budget. Although seniors may be seeing more casseroles than in the past, she stressed, the meals still meet mandated nutritional requirements.

As part of the cuts, Senior Services started spending less on its respite program, which gives a break to those who care for seniors.

Additionally, administrators cut a position that coordinated volunteer programs such as the Retired & Senior Volunteer, Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs.

But for all the adjustments made, Nunenkamp emphasizes how hard Senior Services has worked to continue to serve seniors within its tighter budget.

She said the program’s priority is ensuring seniors can continue to live independently “with dignity and quality of life.” As such, the division focuses on providing meals, either at sites or at homes through Meals on Wheels.

“The good thing in all this is we were able to keep all the dining sites open,” Nunenkamp said.

“(Glendale staff and volunteers are) frustrated at how do they pay the utilities, and I understand that,” she added. “They’re frustrated they cannot afford the heat and I understand that.

“We had to pick and choose services. We have to provide meals. It’s not that we don’t want to do more. We do what we can on a very limited budget.”

She also said the centers need to work with their communities to provide seniors with recreation and other services beyond meals.

SUTHERLIN FINDS A WAY

Sutherlin Senior Center, which serves the most meals of all sites, has taken many steps in that direction, said Glenn Tate, president of the center’s board.

The center owns its building, but started offering bingo once a week to help pay utilities. The center’s seniors donate clothing to an on-site boutique to help pay for recreational programs.

In response to the county’s request the center provide its own coffee and condiments, the center started doing a monthly 50/50 raffle. The winner gets half the pot; the rest pays for the supplies.

Glendale senior program staff and volunteers say they are working to find ways to provide extra services to their seniors.

A big hurdle the center faces is not owning its building. The county rents the space to provide meals. Abercrombie, as well as volunteers and sisters Lu Agan and Pat Agan, say they’ve approached the city for help. The city agreed to pay sewer and water for the center.

The three want to work with the center’s board. They want to encourage the board to better market rental opportunities at the center. They want to find more ways to raise money to keep the center open more hours.

They also want to form a senior advisory council, an effective tool at other sites.

What lies ahead for Senior Services in Douglas County should safety net funding permanently go away is unknown, Nunenkamp said. “If that goes away, I have a problem,” she said.

On the other hand, “we don’t want the seniors to panic”. She is hopeful the county Board of Commissioners will try to soften the blow.

“Our commissioners have been very good to senior services,” she says. “They support senior services in Douglas County.”

• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.