Benefits Check-Up Desk (sample)
One desk at the library on Wednesdays: Medicaid, the homestead exemption, energy help and food benefits, with the forms and someone to fill them in with you.
One list of meals, rides, help at home, memory care, paperwork and the rest — each entry checked by a volunteer, with the date shown. Or call the navigator and let a person do the searching.
36 listings in Fairfield and Pickaway counties, 31 checked in the last 120 days.
One desk at the library on Wednesdays: Medicaid, the homestead exemption, energy help and food benefits, with the forms and someone to fill them in with you.
Six mornings on lifting safely, medicines, the bathroom, hard conversations and looking after yourself. Next class starts in October.
A monthly evening for spouses, sons and daughters doing the caring. Someone sits with the person you care for in the next room, if you need that.
Forty-five minutes of seated exercise led by a volunteer, twice a week, in the library meeting room. No sign-up; come in what you are wearing.
Volunteers for the jobs that stop a person staying home: gutters, a fallen fence, snow, mowing. Free for anyone over 65 living alone; materials at cost.
The town's small bus, $1.50 a trip, picks up at the door with a call the day before. Wheelchair lift on both buses.
A phone line staffed around the clock for anyone caring for someone with memory loss: what to do tonight, what to ask the doctor, where to turn next.
A volunteer phones every morning; if nobody answers by the second call, a named neighbour or relative is called. Free, for anyone living alone.
A trained volunteer walks through the house for trip hazards, fits grab bars and a shower seat, and leaves a list. Free for anyone over 65.
A monthly box of shelf-stable food and produce for households over 60 under the income line; the box is packed to be carried, or delivered if you cannot come.
Help with bathing, dressing, laundry and light cleaning from trained aides, a few hours a week. The fee slides with income; the navigator can check the levy-funded slots first.
A nurse visits the home twice to set up routines, the bathroom and the night, and leaves a plan. Free under the Area Agency on Aging contract; a wait of a few weeks.
Classes, a woodshop, a choir, lunch and the tax-aide desk in season. The building is level and the bus stops outside.
Volunteers drive their own cars to appointments within 40 miles. Free; a week's notice is best. Not for wheelchairs — the van service above is.
Free legal help for people over 60 on wills, powers of attorney, landlord problems and debt collectors. The first call is a screening; a lawyer calls back.
A pendant that calls for help when pressed, installed and explained at home. A sliding monthly fee from $0 to $30; the levy pays for it below the income line.
For people on Medicaid: rides to covered appointments, arranged by the plan's ride line three working days ahead. Have the member number ready.
A trained volunteer sits with you through Medicare choices, Part D and the savings programs — free and objective. Busiest October to December.
A day program for people with dementia: lunch, music, a walk, someone who knows their name. A sliding daily fee; the caregiver gets the day.
A trained volunteer comes monthly to sort the post, pay the bills and balance the account with you, for anyone who is losing track. Not a power of attorney.
Small repairs that keep a house safe — a step, a rail, a leaking tap, a furnace check — paid by a county grant for owners over 60 under the income line.
A shared hot lunch at the community hall three days a week, with a ride if you need one. A suggested gift of $3; nobody is asked twice.
An hour and a half at the library for the person with dementia and the person with them, together. Coffee, a song, no agenda. Just come.
Coffee, cards, exercise at 10, lunch at noon, a nurse on Tuesdays, a bus to the store on Thursdays. Membership is $10 a year and waived on request.
Free tax preparation for older adults by trained volunteers, by appointment, February to mid-April. Bring last year's return and every form that came in the post.
A list of self-employed aides who have passed a background check, hired and paid by the family. The registry does not employ them; the navigator can explain what to ask.
Volunteers build a wooden ramp in a day for a person who cannot manage the steps. Free for households under the income line; others pay for the lumber.
Up to 40 hours a year of paid relief — an aide or a day program — so a caregiver can rest, funded by the Area Agency on Aging. One phone call to apply.
Five hot meals a week delivered to the door for anyone 60 and over who has trouble cooking. One phone call starts it; no income test. A frozen weekend pack is available.
Call before you pay anyone who phoned you. Someone will say whether it is a known scam and what to do next, and pass it to the official line.
Subsidised one-bedroom apartments for tenants over 62; rent is about a third of income. The waiting list is long — put a name down early and keep the address current.
A volunteer who knows the Social Security website and the office's hours helps with an application or a lost card, then hands you to the official line.
Groceries from the town store delivered for a flat $6, ordered by phone. Pays for itself for many; the navigator can say whether a free option fits first.
Un grupo mensual, en español, para quienes cuidan a un familiar mayor. A monthly group in Spanish for people caring for an older relative.
Door-to-door rides to medical appointments, the pharmacy and the store, in a lift-equipped van. A sliding fare from $2; Medicaid rides are arranged separately.
Insulation, a furnace repair and draught-proofing at no charge for households under the income line, older adults first. Apply by phone; a crew visits within the season.