Michael J. Burgess, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging, today announced the release of funds 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 have been diagnosed with a serious illness that has reached a terminal or end-stage point.
The four programs will each receive $50,000. The programs will be administered by the offices for the aging in New York City, Broome, Suffolk and Chautauqua counties. The programs are as follows:
According to Burgess, 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.
Formally known as the "End of Life Care - Community Support Demonstration Program" the NYSOFA grant 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 collaboratively to carry out the formal care aspects of the program, with the support of strong formal or informal partnerships between all local parties involved.
Burgess said, "Providing emotional support and counseling for the client and/or their caregiver, companionship for the client and respite and aid for the caregiver are critically important to help maintain one's independence and improve the quality of life for a frail elder. Equally important are developing partnerships among various providers, training and retaining volunteers and providing individual and community information, advocacy and assistance for the client and or their caregivers with accessing local programs and resources available to sustain them in the community. I am confident that these programs will ensure the dignity of those in the program and will help them to live fully until the end of life."
A fundamental aspect of the End of Life Care - Community Support Demonstration Program is to recognize that support and healing can take place even in the face of a serious, life threatening illness.
For more information about the program in your area, contact the county office for the aging, or in New York City, the NYC Department for the Aging.
