Chatham County Council on Aging

The Council on Aging's multifaceted nutrition program is vital to the health and well-being of Chatham County's older adults. The Council assists individuals at risk of malnutrition and social isolation by providing nutritious meals through meals on wheels (mow), congregate nutrition, and frozen and shelf-stable meals. Community volunteers and partners deliver meals on wheels on 12 routes throughout Chatham County to homebound older adults, many of whom live alone. In addition to providing a daily meal, volunteers also provided a wellness check to ensure the client's safety and well-being. The Council's two senior centers of excellence also serve as congregate nutrition sites and offer a noon-time meal and activities for older adults who are not homebound or do not qualify for meals on wheels. For individuals who are not on a meals on wheels route and cannot or do not wish to attend a congregate nutrition site, the agency offers frozen meals. In the event of adverse weather conditions, the Council provides clients with shelf-stable meals. In fiscal year 2021-2022, 16,172 hot meals, 1,972 frozen meals, and 689 shelf-stable meals were served through the meals on wheels program. During that same period, 6,142 hot meals, 628 frozen meals, and 828 shelf-stable meals were served to the congregate nutrition clients. Additionally, 7,278 frozen meals were provided to individuals who opted to not receive daily meal deliveries through the meals on wheels program, their address did not fall within a current mow route, or they did not wish to participate in a congregate nutrition site.

Through a partnership with Chatham transit network, the local coordinated transportation system, the Council on Aging provides general and medical transportation services to older adults. The Council arranges transportation for participants to the agency's two senior centers/congregate nutrition sites in pittsboro and siler city 5 days per week through Chatham transit so that participants can enjoy activities, socialization, and a nutritious lunch. Chatham transit operated 7 routes (4 in pittsboro and 3 in siler city) for Council on Aging participants during fiscal year 2021-2022. In addition to providing transportation to and from the centers, weekly stops were also made to the pharmacy and grocery store so that participants could obtain needed items. The Council on Aging also works with Chatham transit to provide transportation to and from routine medical appointments. During fiscal year 2021-2022, 2,816 medical transportation rides were provided to 188 individual clients and 5,386 rides were provided to the senior centers/congregate nutrition sites for 55 individual clients.

The Council offers an in-home aide (iha) program for older adults needing assistance with their personal care needs, as well as respite care services for family caregivers who need assistance providing care to their loved one. The Council maintains contracts with state-licensed home care agencies for these services. In-home aides provide assistance with personal care, meal preparation, housekeeping, and other tasks that older adults with limited mobility cannot do for themselves. Additionally, respite services provided to family caregivers allows the caregiver to take a much-needed break, tend to other tasks, or handle some of their own needs or medical appointments all while knowing their loved one is being cared for. Care plans are customized to each client's specific needs. In fiscal year 2021-2022, a total of 18,549 hours of in-home assistance was provided through the iha program. Additionally, 1,531 hours of respite care was provided for family caregivers.

The Council offers many other programs and services for Chatham's growing older population. Its responsiveness to the community has been recognized and honored in carious ways. In 2014, the Council was name the "small business of the year" by the Chatham County chamber of commerce; in 2016, the Council was selected by the western Chatham naacp for its humanitarian award; in 2017, Chatham public health honored the Council as its "partner of the year," the nc association of County commissioners gave the Council the "excellence in innovation" award for its work in developing a collaborative database on home repair, and the unc gilling's school of global public health chose the Council for a capstone project to develop a comprehensive plan for Aging in Chatham County; in 2018, another unc capstone team chose to support the Council in implementing the plan, glaxo smith kline selected the Council in implementing the plan, glaxo smith kline selected the Council for its "impact" award, and the nc division of Aging and adult services chose Chatham County and the Council for its annual "ernest b messer service excellence award; in 2019, still another unc capstone team shoes the Council for its graduation practicum and the Council led Chatham County to have the largest percent growth in nc's senior games and silver arts program; and in 202, the Council was chosen as one of three local Aging service agencies from across the u.s.a. to present a national webinar on "addressing nutrition and social connection needs of rural older adults during the covid-19 emergency, and has been selected by the home depot foundation as a national grantee for its helping homebound heroes initiative. ; in june 2022, the eastern Chatham senior center was reaccredited as a "center of excellence" by the north carolina division of Aging and adult services. The western Chatham senior center currently has this designation also and will be due for reaccreditation in 2023.