Baltimore County, MD Time of Your LIfe, 11 Jan 2018

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From YouTube: The Home Team Program Serving Baltimore County

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Danielle Singley, Home Team Program Manager, BCDA.

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Welcome back to the time of your life., I'm your host, ethel rasmussen.. The home team program supports older adults in baltimore county.

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To learn, more, danielle, singley,, home team manager at the department of aging, is on the show to share information.

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About this wonderful program. welcome to the show, danielle. hi, ethel., let's start by defining home team.. What is home, team?.

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The home team is a program that has existed.

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With the department of aging for more than 30 years., it is a group of people that consists of volunteers and staff.

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Five staff people,, three of whom are field coordinators,.

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That do the volunteer, recruitment and placements of volunteers.

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With seniors in the community., the volunteers are the service providers..

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They go to seniors' homes for the purpose of visiting, with our seniors.

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That are homebound and isolated in the community., and then we also have some volunteers that go to food pantries.

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So,, the purpose of the home team really is to provide services to seniors.

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That are homebound and either are experiencing isolation or are food insecure.

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And we have volunteers that operate throughout the entire baltimore county,.

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From the lansdowne-arbutus area, up to the maryland line,.

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Down to the dundalk and sparrows point area.

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And we are very proud to have them on our team.

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They do a lot of work in the community. we average about 13,000 hours of volunteer time per year,.

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And the average person on our team,, our volunteers,.

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Have been with us for over 10 years., what a wonderful contribution.

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How does home team support the community?

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so, the home team--? We have two focuses with the home team.

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The first focus is with our friendly visiting program,.

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And what they do,, the volunteers of the home team do.

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In the friendly visiting program, is they visit seniors, who are sixty years of age or more and are homebound and are experiencing isolation.

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They go to the homes of the seniors, and they will spend time with them.

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They provide the necessary reassurance to seniors who may not have a lot of support from family..

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Perhaps their sons and daughters live states away or work during the day,.

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Or you know,, they might have lost a spouse.

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So, they're kind of disconnected from the community.

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And so,, we support the community by really taking care of those people.

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That have aged in place in their home and choose to remain in their homes.

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The other focus of our home team is our food agent, program.

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That started in 2015,, so it's still relatively new,.

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And how we support the community through our food agents? Is we connect seniors.

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Who are homebound and food insecure with food pantries.

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We currently have 26 partnerships with food pantries.

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Throughout baltimore county, and our volunteers go to those pantries,.

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Pick up the food, and deliver them to seniors who can't get to those food pantries..

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The qualifications to get into the food agent program vary per pantry,.

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But we are very proud of our food agents..

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They have been dedicated., they usually pick up at least once a month for our seniors.

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And really provide for those who, again, can't get to the pantries.

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And, you know, need a little bit of assistance with just maintaining food supply.

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Is there a cost associated with these services through the home team program?.

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People will be very pleased to know that there is no cost.

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It's a free service,, but there is an assessment process for our seniors.

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For the friendly visiting program,, you have to be 60 years of age or more.

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You have to live within baltimore county., you do have to live in the community, and usually it's an apartment, building, senior apartments,.

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Or in a single-family home, townhouse, row house,, something like that.

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So, in other words,, we don't go to a nursing home or to a hospital.

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To provide friendly visits, because usually, those places have their own friendly, visiting program.

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And so, you have to be 60 years of age-- well,. I think I said that already, and you have to live alone.

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What an inspiring program.! How can someone learn about becoming a volunteer in the program?.

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To become a volunteer of the home team,, you should call our office,.

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And we will provide that information at the end of the program,.

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Or it might already be on the screen., but you can call the office.. You can obtain an application.

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You do have to complete an application,, an interview,.

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A background check, and then you meet with one of our field. Coordinators,.

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And the field coordinator,, if we have a placement for you,, will attempt to match you with someone.

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now,. What we pride ourselves in is we personalize each match.

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We really do try to make sure that the fit is right.

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For the volunteer and the client. and the client is an--, the senior is an equal partner.

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In making that decision., we do take in their feedback.

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If they're not comfortable with the volunteer...

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likewise, with the volunteer,, if they're not comfortable with the placement,, because not all placements work, per se,, we will accept that.

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And try to find something: that's a better match for both of them.

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I did want to also mention, though, about the food agent program for clients.

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In order to be in that program,, it's also an assessment process,.

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But it also depends on the eligibility requirements.

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Of the food pantries themselves, and they do vary.

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Each pantry for our seniors do have their own eligibility requirements.

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Some pantries will require seniors to provide more information than others.

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And so, we do ask for a release form to be signed,.

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If we do have to release information. so,, I did want to kind of clarify that.

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For those viewers listening and interested in more information, who, should they contact?, they can contact the home team at 410-887-4141,.

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Or they can send an email, if you're an email person, at hometeam@baltimorecountymd.gov.

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Wonderful., thank you for being on the show today.

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Thank you, ethel. we're going to take a short break. when we return, we'll learn about senior center travel, senior box office, and what's happening at your local senior center.

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