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GrAce Ministries
Letter of Intent
“Gracefully Aging with
community encouragement” is an ideal that we would all like to have
come true in our own lives.
GrAce Ministries would like to make this ideal a reality.
GrAce Ministries was
established because our population is aging. According to the
2000 census data, the national percentage of persons 65 years and
over is 12.4 percent; both Horry and Georgetown Counties
have an elder population of 15 percent. These
percentages can only be expected to grow as the Baby Boomers start
turning 65 in 2011 and the number of older people will increase
dramatically during the 2010-2030 period. The older population in
2030 is projected to be twice as large as their counterparts in
2000, growing from 35 million to 71.5 million and representing
nearly 20 percent of the total U.S. population. South Carolina’s 65
and older population is projected to grow from 517,000 in 2005 to
696,000 in 2015 to 963,000 in 2025. According to these
projections, our elderly population here in Horry and Georgetown
Counties will grow similarly to 20 percent of our total population.
Unfortunately as our population ages, so will the number of those
citizens requiring assistance with their activities of daily living.
Currently “about 20 percent of older Americans need help getting out
of bed and bathing” yet only “about five percent of elderly
Americans live in nursing homes.” The other 95% of elderly
Americans live in the community. GrAce
Ministries was established to assist that 95% of the elderly
Americans living in the community, our community.
GrAce
Ministries works with homebound seniors and caregiving
families to help them continue to live as independently as
possible. GrAce Ministries
was established to pull our community together into an encouraging
and supportive environment which uplifts and dignifies people.
GrAce Ministries was
established to assist elderly Americans to “gracefully Age with
community encouragement”.
In 2005, the SAGE
Institute, an initiative of the South Carolina Hospital Association
funded by the Duke Endowment started the SC Network and
Implementation Initiative, which created Area Geriatric Network
Teams throughout the state of South Carolina to identify problems
and work together to develop plans to address the problems
identified. The Area 8 Geriatric Network Team brought together 40
representatives from Georgetown, Horry and Williamsburg Counties,
both public and private sectors, from hospitals, hospices home
health agencies, adult day centers, assisted living facilities,
nursing homes and social service agencies. The Area 8 Geriatric
Network Team identified the top four problems in our region as:
Elder Abuse/Neglect; Transportation; Behavioral Issues; and Care
Management. GrAce
Ministries is seeking address this problem in our community.
Care management
helps guide seniors and their caregivers through the complex long
term care maze. When an older adult needs help managing his or her
everyday life, coordinating services and resources to maintain
independence or connecting to those who can assist with care
decisions, a care manager helps develop a plan for now and in the
future.
Why do we need
GrAce Ministries?
Aren’t there enough senior services available already?
GrAce is not
reinventing the wheel, just improving it. The system of senior
services that is currently in place is not really a “system” at
all. It is more like a wooden wagon wheel—very bumpy and very hard
on the family riding on it. We plan to change that wagon wheel in
for a nice new steel belted radial tire—and smooth out the ride for
the care giving family. Case management works to smooth out the
bumps, locate the services that are available and link the family to
them—to help the family to avoid the potholes that break you down
and wear you out as you strive to provide care for your loved one.
More than 80 percent of elder care is provided by family members or
people who live with the older person.” Former First Lady Rosalynn
Carter found that fifty percent of caregivers report burnout. What
about those seniors without family members in the area to help them?
“According to the AARP Public Policy Institute’s “Elderly Who Live
Alone” Fact sheet “more than one in four older persons who live
alone do not have any living children.”
GrAce will be there
and provide needed community support, information and linkages to
these isolated seniors.
GrAce
is a non-denominational, independent,
faith based ministry. GrAce
is a ministry in the universal sense; we believe that we are called
to serve those in need, placed on earth to help each other.
GrAce is a ministry
designed to help families grow together through the aging process.
GrAce Ministries was
incorporated in August 2005 and granted 501c3 status in May 2006.
GrAce Ministries is seeking operating funding:
I. To implement a
geriatric care management program which covers the range of senior
services, eliminating gaps and overlaps in services by coordinating
with existing resources in Georgetown and Horry Counties for elderly
persons and their caregivers at all economic levels, regardless of
ability to pay. The services provided to
an individual senior and their family are based on their needs and
can include: Geriatric assessment; Development of care plan to meet
the needs identified; Assistance in implementing care plan;
Coordination of services needed; Aging-in-place home assessment with
housing adaptation and/or modification assistance; Encouragement and
prayer; Home visitation; and Reassurance telephone calls.
II. To develop a
volunteer base in each county and create a network of volunteers to
provide services that are not currently available or to supplement
available services (for example to assist senior and/or caregiver
while on a program waiting list). We also believe that development
of a supportive community utilizing volunteers to supplement
available services and to provide services where there are gaps is
the only viable method to ensure that the needs of seniors are met.
Strained agency budgets and increasing senior needs call for
creative ways to provide services. We propose to recruit volunteers,
including seniors themselves, as a vital component of a
comprehensive geriatric care management system. “A 1995 Gallup Pole
estimated that approximately 8 million Americans over the age of 65
would volunteer if they were asked.” Evidence shows that people are
more likely to volunteer when “they perceive that (a) there is a
pressing need, (b) the program needs their help because there is
almost no one else to help, and (c) their work will have an
immediate and beneficial impact.”
III. To develop a
network of providers who will work with
GrAce to provide
donated labor, discounted services, and/or donated materials to meet
the needs of homebound seniors (for example to build exterior ramp
or interior home adaptations/modifications needed to ensure that the
senior is safe in their home). We propose to supplement this
service with a pool of funds for materials and/or items that are not
donated.
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