At a Human Services Committee meeting, Kimberly (Office of the Aging) told members the office has seen a rise in clients and service use, reporting “we are up over 200 more calls” at the front desk compared with the same month last year and “almost twice as many health insurance counseling appointments this month as this month last year.”
The increase, Kimberly said, reflects both more people “aging into our services” and residents who can no longer privately pay for care. The office also completed its Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program; Kimberly said the total refund amount for seniors in Allegheny County was $448,919 and estimated an average savings of about $200 per person.
The office described several service developments. Kimberly said a GoGo Grandparent partnership with New York State and Plan B Express Transit is providing 35 scheduled out-of-town rides for clients the volunteer program cannot serve; the program has seven new clients and six returning clients. She said the office distributed 30 food boxes in conjunction with the organization Accord. The office also completed a vendor transition for personal response and rescue systems (PRRS) — the “help, I've fallen and I can't get up” devices — and reported “we completed a 180 clients to the new service in less than 2 weeks” in coordination with Medical Guardian.
Committee members asked operational questions about the ride partnership and devices. Kimberly said Plan B is the only current vendor in the county for that service and that the multi-party setup (state and Plan B) makes waiting-list status unclear. When asked whether clients had problems with the new PRRS vendor, Kimberly said, “So far, we haven't had anybody that has an issue with it.”
Looking ahead, Kimberly said the office’s annual senior picnic is scheduled for Aug. 5 and that more than 350 participants had already signed up; the office has an extreme-weather backup date of Aug. 6 for severe conditions.
The committee did not take a formal vote related to these report items; members accepted the monthly report as part of routine business.