Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 4 Apr 2018

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From YouTube: 40 Years Serving Seniors

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Baltimore County’s Department of Aging is 40 and serving today’s seniors with more programs and services than ever.

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Welcome to hello! baltimore county., I'm ellen kobler., the baltimore county department of aging turns 40 this year.

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And they have been making a positive difference in the lives of our older residents and their families. The whole time.

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Here, to tell us about how your family can benefit. Is deputy director, laura riley.

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Thank you so much for joining us., thanks for having me.

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so 40 years ago was when the department of aging came to be.

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Tell us how it happened and a little bit about the history.

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Well, the federal government set the stage in 1965.

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When they passed, the older americans act,, which really recognized that older adults in the country needed some services in place., so that started the funding, started. Some federal level policies.

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That then, trickled down to the local area..

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Meanwhile, some concerned citizens in baltimore county were already starting the work and they created a commission.

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That looked after how they could get more people into aging services in baltimore, county.

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and so by 1978. The county council actually passed a resolution.

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To create the baltimore county department of aging.

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ellen:, so what is,? If you will, the vision of the department?.

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What are some of the motivations? sure. directly in line with what the federal administration on aging believes.

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Is our vision is to help people live longer and live well in the community.

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So if, through their interaction with us, they are able to have a good quality of life while residing in the community,, then we've done our job.

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In the community, being the key. absolutely.

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And what do you mean by that? stay in their own homes??

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We want them to stay in their own homes, if that's their choice..

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So it's really up to the individual.. Some may want to move closer to family,, maybe move into an apartment where they don't have as much maintenance..

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Whatever that choice may be. We want to be there with the resources to help make that happen for them.

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okay., so living longer, living well is kind of the idea.

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Absolutely. and what are some of the services that you provide to help people do just that?.

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Probably the most visible in the community is our senior centers.

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We have the largest network in the state of 20 senior centers.

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And those are in various communities around the county.

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And each one mimics, the community, that they're in,, so no two are alike.

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They really cater to the people who live in that neighborhood,.

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What kind of interests they have.?

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So we have some standard activities in all of them,, but then they take on their own little local flair, based on what the needs of the community are., so you'll be able to go there to find fitness, arts and crafts,.

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Lectures, continuing education, health screenings,.

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Just about anything that you can dream up,, we can probably create it in a senior center.

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What are some you've intrigued me with the idea of sort of.

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The localization of some of the programming and all.

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can you think of any examples? well,. It tends to be that in the towson area.

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We have a lot more classes that are based on continuing education.

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It just seems like the folks in that community are more interested in learning foreign languages or current events.

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Some of our other centers, seven oaks comes to mind,.

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Is very fitness, oriented, and so their fitness center.

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And a lot of their classes that are related to physical activity are very popular, there. and lately a very intriguing one is pickle ball,, which has become very popular.

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Jacksonville has over 140 pickle ball players.

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So, as I say, each senior center has their own little specialty.

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Okay. and what about some of the other programs that the department offers?.

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Probably the other most visible is our county ride,, our transportation.

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People see those buses driving around the county..

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You may think there's a lot of them, but there's only about 20 on the road on any given day getting people to and fro..

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So that really is one of the keys to living longer, living well.

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Transportation's one of those things that most people are very dependent on.

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If they have to give up their driving or their cars., but then the rest is really coming through our maryland access point,.

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Which is our central number, where you can give basic information.

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About yourself and we can help determine what benefits and programs you might be eligible for.. So how does somebody get in touch with your office?.

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And find out what benefits they can enjoy?.

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The best place to start is that maryland access point number., it's 410-887-2594.

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And we have certified information and referral specialists there.

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They'll answer the call, they'll ask some screening questions,.

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And then help decide where the best referral is from that point, on.

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Okay. now what about people's healthcare and medicare?.

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It gets very complicated.. Are you able to help with that?.

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We absolutely are. our state health insurance, program, known as ship,.

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Is one of those where people can call, get information, and help sort through their medicare,, their medicaid,.

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And all of their healthcare insurance questions that they may have.

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So they can also access that through calling the 887-2594 number.

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Okay. and over the 40 years are there some changes that have happened.

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And what do you see kind of on the horizon for department of aging?.

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We've been doing a lot of reflection, since it is our 40th anniversary.

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I've been fortunate to be there for over 30 of those 40 years.

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So it's very fun to look back on some of the different activities that happened.

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And so many of them have changed, but yet they've stayed the same..

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So I think some of the pictures that we've been seeing, people came to art class,. They definitely did come and learn how to paint.

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They were wearing ties and the ladies were wearing dresses and pearls.

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That's not so anymore.

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we're much more informal now at the senior centers.

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Resort leisure. yes,, definitely so.

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Travel has become very large for us,, which, in the beginning.

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Was very localized, and now our senior centers have trips going as far as europe and cruises, and things like that.

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Some of the other activities that have changed,, we see more men, now.

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In the beginning, our centers were much more of a common.

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Spend all day and have lunch activity.

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now we're seeing more folks coming for activities,.

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Coming and going almost like a campus., so they're in,, they're, out,, they're, coming and going.

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We see,, as I said, more of the men coming into the centers,.

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Which is definitely something that we've pushed for.

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there weren't as many when we first started.

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so we're seeing a different population and a lot more fun.

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Very nice.: well, we encourage everybody to contact the baltimore county department of aging..

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They can go on your facebook on your county website and find out more.

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We welcome everyone to come on.. Thank you very much..

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Thanks. and thank you for watching hello! baltimore county.. We encourage you to connect with baltimore county government on all of our social media. Platforms.

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