Office for the Aging Grant Provides End of Life Care

ALBANY, NY (07/23/2009)(readMedia)-- Michael J. Burgess, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), today announced the release of funding to provide end of life care to individuals. The grants will be used by community organizations to help persons 60 and older who are functionally impaired and diagnosed with a serious illness that has reached a terminal or end-stage point.

Four programs will each receive $37,500. The programs will be administered by offices for the aging in New York City, Broome, Suffolk and Chautauqua counties. The programs are:

• New York City - Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services
• Broome County - Action for Older Persons, Inc.
• Suffolk County - Federation Employment & Guidance Service, Inc.
• Chautauqua County - Chautauqua County Hospice

Known as the "End of Life Care - Community Support Demonstration Program," the NYSOFA funded programs will provide free, non-medical services to terminally ill persons, regardless of life expectancy or treatment options. Social service and/or healthcare organizations will work together to carry out the formal care aspects of the program, with the support of strong formal or informal partnerships between all local parties involved.

Director Michael Burgess said, "The mission of the End of Life Care - Community Support Demonstration Program is to enhance the quality of life, autonomy, and dignity of frail elders. These programs will provide frail elders and their caregivers with support and compassion early in the disease process. Listening to and being present for a person or a caregiver coping with a life threatening illness or nearing the end of life, provides the gift of presence at a time when most people need help. The assistance provided by the program will help people faced with life threatening serious illness to improve the quality of their lives. I am confident that these programs will ensure the dignity of those in the program and will help them to live fully with more support until the end of life."

The goals of the program are simple: help people stay in their homes; support the individual and their families at the end of life; help people to recognize that healing can take place even in the face of life threatening illness; and improve the quality of the life for individuals even though they may be at the end of life.

For more information about the program in your area, contact the county office for the aging, or in New York City, the NY City Department for the Aging. Contact information about county offices for the aging is available on the NYSOFA web site: http://www.aging.ny.gov/NYSOFA/LocalOffices.cfm

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