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Dec 01

Center for At-Risk Elders (CARE)

By Feature, Programming

Center for At-Risk Elders (CARE)
H. Kennard “Ken” Bennett, executive director, senior counsel
120 E. Market St.
Suite 1190
Indianapolis, IN 46204
www.indianacare.org

When Ken Bennett started practicing elder law 33 years ago, it wasn’t with the intention of running a nonprofit. His practice focused on health-care advocacy.

During the course of his private practice and through personal experiences, he realized there was no surrogate decision-maker to help remedy issues of neglect, abuse and exploitation of elders. Prosecutors administer Indiana’s adult protective services.

Bennett said the state’s adult protective services don’t go far enough.

“They focus on criminal prosecutions. That isn’t to say that they won’t step in to provide remedies, it’s just that they don’t have internally the ability to do much about it,” said Bennett.

In 2008, the Adult Guardianship State Task Force was convened to determine the need and support development of adult guardianship services across the state.

As a result of that work and a grant from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), there are now 10 volunteer guardianship programs around the state, a state office and Volunteer Advocates for Seniors and Incapacitated Adults (VASIA) statutes passed in Indiana.

In 2010, Robin Bandy and Dr. Lisa Harris began Wishard’s Volunteer Advocates Program (WVAP) as the hospital struggled to find guardians to make health-care decisions for patients who did not have a family member available. The idea was to provide temporary, emergency guardianships up to 90 days and then turn them over permanent guardianship to other agencies with guardianship programs and services. Bennett worked as a volunteer on several cases.

“There was nobody that the law recognized with health-care decision-making authority, and this posed a significant problem for the hospital because you cannot very well treat someone except in emergency situations without consent,” said Bennett.

In 2013, the Center for At-Risk Elders (CARE) and began operations as a nonprofit. Since then CARE has assumed guardianship for 205 adults, 118 of which are over the age of 65.

Beyond legal guardianship, these services can include getting the individual an immediate medical assessment, liquidating assets, filing an application for benefits, including Medicaid, finding appropriate housing and checking in regularly with the person.

“As we were working together, Wishard got to know CARE, and it dawned on me, and it dawned on them, ‘Well, CARE’s the best nonprofit to take over our program.’ They were coming to the end of a funding cycle, through Retirement Research Foundation,” Bennett said.

Volunteers come from all walks of life, but have one thing in common — they are willing to go the long haul.

“We have about 65 trained volunteers, and we do a one-on-one match. These folks will live for years. So you may be matched with somebody, if you’re willing to go that long, for many, many years.”

Volunteers at CARE are medical students, law students, social workers, retired nurses and retired palliative care nurses. Part of CARE’s funding comes from three area hospitals and state funds that were split evenly between the volunteer groups in the state.

“It’s really a remarkable volunteer group, but all come from the same commitment of wanting to help. I think there’s a lot to learn on everybody’s part on how best to recruit and train. I think it’s also fair to assume that we will never have enough volunteers for the demand,” said Bennett.

Right now, callers who are not part of CARE’s referral network have to be turned away. But Bennett hopes as CARE finds ways to increase funding, it can be expanded to the public at large.

Dec 01

Joy’s House

By Feature, Programming

Joy’s House

Tina McIntosh, president and CEO

  • 2028 Broad Ripple Ave.
    Indianapolis, IN 46220
  • 1615 Castle Ave. (new)
    Indianapolis, IN 46227

http://www.joyshouse.org

When Tina McIntosh was a student at Ball State University, she volunteered at an adult day center in Muncie, and that experience planted a seed.

In 1999, McIntosh launched Indianapolis-based Joy’s House and 10 years later, expanded its Broad Ripple operation. The agency recently announced the opening of a Southside location near the University of Indianapolis.

All this hard work and innovative programming recently won the local nonprofit a prestigious national award. This fall, the National Adult Day Services Association gave Joy’s House its top prize — outstanding and innovative adult day center — and encourages others to learn from its model.

“We might be scared to be in a room with people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s, because we don’t understand it. We think they’re sad and drooling and kind of sit around waiting to die, when the reality is, and I tell people a lot at Joy’s House, sometimes they may be a little sad, but they’re not waiting to die. They are lively and fun,” said McIntosh.

While Joy’s House’s primary work is to provide innovative day programs for adults, McIntosh realizes that caregivers needed services, too. She says that 1 of 3 adults is a caregiver for someone. Last year, that figure was 1 in 4.

“We have pulled together folks in Indiana who do caregiving programs. There is so much that needs to be done.”

About two years ago, WIBC (93.1) approached Joy’s House to seek input on a potential radio show.

“Caregiver Crossing” was the result and is a program for listeners who are caring for a loved one or who will be one day. The hour-long show can be heard on Saturday mornings from 7 to 8 a.m.  McIntosh co-hosts the weekly show with Terri Stacy and guest experts join them to discuss the many aspects of caregiving. The show has been No. 1 in its time slot for over a year.

“It is a program that has become an on-air support program for caregivers. We have a lot of fun in the process. It’s overwhelming how many support areas there are. And I truly mean that. It’s overwhelming in a good way. It’s just been an honor to have people reach out and kind of say, ‘Here’s our situation, what advice can you give.’

“I found myself talking on the phone with people countless times, I might not have all the answers for them, but sometimes they just need a place where someone’s going to listen.”

The radio program is just one part of Joy’s House’s education caregiver program. Twice a year, there is a free one-day retreat for caregivers. It also provides CARE Kits, a binder full of template information to help someone think through either when they are caregiving or when they are just looking toward the future. All medical and home information is in one place.

“We’ve given out over 1,000 of those into the community, and actually 1,000 more are arriving at our door any day. All people have to do is reach out to Joy’s House to get a kit free of charge.”

Nov 24

Texas orders local nonprofits not to serve Syrian refugees

By Feature

By Ruth McCambridge, editor in chief, The Nonprofit Quarterly |

As was reported by Rick Cohen last Monday, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, joined other Republican governors in declaring that Syrian refuges were not welcome to be resettled in that state. “As the governor of the state of Texas,” he said, “I will not roll the dice and take the risk on letting a few refugees in simply to expose Texans to that danger.”

In Cohen’s newswire last week, he wrote:

This is yet another of those issues that nonprofits might hope to dodge as “not their issue,” someone else’s concern and priority, but it’s not. If the U.S. slams the door on desperate Syrian refugees, the nonprofit sector that claims to represent openness, inclusion, and democracy will find its credibility seriously damaged should it fail to do whatever it can to confront the politicians using fear and hatred as a tool for political advancement.

Now, that representation is being tested, and the sector’s reaction has been mixed.

Though governors have no right to exclude refugees, they do have other ways to make resettlement difficult. In a letter sent to several local nonprofits from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, nonprofits involved in resettlement were asked to stop serving Syrian refugees by Friday—and according to this report, several complied. (Of the 7,200 refugees that resettled in Texas last year, 213 were Syrian.)

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Nov 24

Business models: Understanding the “new power”

By Feature

By Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms, Harvard Business Review |

We all sense that power is shifting in the world. We see increasing political protest, a crisis in representation and governance, and upstart businesses upending traditional industries. But the nature of this shift tends to be either wildly romanticized or dangerously underestimated.

There are those who cherish giddy visions of a new techno-utopia in which increased connectivity yields instant democratization and prosperity. The corporate and bureaucratic giants will be felled and the crowds coronated, each of us wearing our own 3D-printed crown. There are also those who have seen this all before. Things aren’t really changing that much, they say. Twitter supposedly toppled a dictator in Egypt, but another simply popped up in his place. We gush over the latest sharing-economy start-up, but the most powerful companies and people seem only to get more powerful.

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Nov 17

The challenges posed by aging global population

By Feature, Programming

By Scott Simon and Ina Jaffe, NPR |

One-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or older in 15 years. NPR’s Ina Jaffe talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the aging of the population worldwide and the challenges it presents.

SIMON: The U.S. population is aging, but it’s not just the U.S., is it?

JAFFE: Oh, no, not at all. In fact, some other countries are ahead of us. Japan, for example, a quarter of the population there is already 65 years of age or more, and the populations of some Western European countries are already at that 1-in-5 level that the U.S. is headed for.

SIMON: Whatever else happens in this discussion, should we remind ourselves it’s the result of some good news – that people are living longer?

JAFFE: Well, it is a result of people living longer, but only in part. In North America and Western Europe, people are living longer. But there’s a bigger reason for the aging of populations and that’s that people are having fewer children. That’s what you see in Eastern Europe and Russia and Turkey. And sub-Saharan Africa is not aging as quickly as other places because reproduction rates are higher there.

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Nov 10

What Singapore’s plan for an aging population can teach the United States

By Feature, Programming

By Tara Bahrampour, reporter, Washington Post |

Singapore, one of the world’s fastest-aging countries, has announced a massive, multipronged plan to help its citizens age successfully — one that advocates say leaves the United States in the dust.

The $2.1 billion plan announced by the Ministry of Health, “A Nation for All Ages,” comprises initiatives on topics such as health and wellness, education, volunteerism, housing, transportation and social inclusion. A new “National Silver Academy” will offer post-secondary education to older people, and up to $142 million will go toward innovations in research to transform the experience of aging. The initiative also includes housing (with) elder-care and child-care centers in the same facilities to promote intergenerational bonding and piloting therapeutic gardens for dementia and stroke patients.

Singapore, an island city-state of 5.5 million, is one of the fastest aging populations in the world, with the number of residents aged 65 and over projected to hit 19 percent in 2030, up from 9.3 percent in 2011. Its plan is striking in that it focuses heavily on empowerment rather than just tending to the frail.

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Nov 10

The liberation of growing old

By Feature, Programming

By Anne Karpf, op-ed, The New York Times |

LONDON — WHY do we have such punitive attitudes toward old people? Granted, the ancients did hideous things to elders who were unable to work but still needed food and care, but in more recent times, that had changed: In 18th-century New England, it was common for people to make themselves seem older by adding years to their real age, rather than subtracting them.

Yet today, the language used to describe the changing age composition of the population is little short of apocalyptic. We’re told that the “graying of America” is an “agequake” or a “demographic time bomb.”

In 2050, Americans age 65 and over are predicted to almost double in number to 83.7 million, one-fifth of the population. An aging population does pose real challenges, but increasing numbers of people of working age (as traditionally defined) are unemployed today, while growing numbers continue to work beyond pensionable age.

In reality, age can no longer be neatly correlated with economic activity. In particular, old people are themselves significant providers of care, notably the childcare provided by grandparents.

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Nov 10

World report on aging and health

By Feature, Programming

By John Beard, Alana Officer and Andrew Cassels for the World Health Organization |

Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself.

The World report on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and in enabling their on-going participation in society.

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Nov 03

Reliable online auction platforms geared toward nonprofit needs

By Feature, Fundraising

Laura S. Quinn, executive director Idealware for Tech Soup |

What tools can help you raise money and rally support for your cause through an online auction? We take a look at the software tools that are widely used in the nonprofit sector.

An online charity auction can be a good way to raise money, rally support for your cause, and hopefully, to have some fun. Like any special event, an online auction requires solid planning and a fair amount of staff time. What it won’t require, however, is substantial technical expertise. Several good online platforms will host and help you manage your online auction.

What should you be thinking about as you consider an online auction? What tools might work well? We asked a number of nonprofit professionals with experience in auctions for their software recommendations and condensed their advice here.

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Oct 27

Relay for Life events lead the way

By Feature, Fundraising

The American Cancer Society, which held nearly 5,000 Relay for Life events in 2014, raised $335 million during that time to lead the way in the annual Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Top 30 listing.

The charities on the list, compiled by the Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Forum, raised more than $1.6 million and featured more than 8.3 million participants.

The total revenue raised, however, is a 2.47 percent decline from 2013.

Second on the list is the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk, which raised $110 million, an increase of 4.92 percent.

Among the charities making a significant gain was the Alzheimer’s Association. It held 650 walks across the country and raised $67 million, an increase of 18.6 percent.

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