Dept Of Senior Affairs Keeping Older Adults Safe and Connected

Keeping Older Adults Safe And Connected

By Anna Sanchez, Director, City of Albuquerque Department of Senior Affairs

Since March of this year, many activities, services and programs in our community have changed significantly. Soon after the first case of coronavirus was reported in New Mexico, our Centers, along with many other public and private buildings and facilities closed to the public. I know that this has been a challenging time for many of our members, who came to our Centers for meals, friendship, and activity. The past few months have looked very different for our department internally as well and I’d like to share a little about what we have been up to since mid-March along with some of the ways we are working to keep you engaged and ways we are planning for the future.

Even with our Centers closed, many of our staff have served as essential employees as we shifted focus to make sure we were continuing to meet basic needs. Between our five pick-up lunch locations and our Home Delivered Meal program, we have served more than 180,000 meals, as of the end of the June. Our Care Coordinators have conducted nearly 4,000 phone check-ins on clients. We have helped sort, prep and distribute more than 3,000 senior meal kits, grocery bags and paper supply bundles that were compiled through donations by the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department, Roses Paper, Western Sky Community Care and many members of our community who wanted to help during this challenging time. In total, Senior Affairs helped sort and distribute $40,000 worth of food and supplies. In between helping sort and distribute donations, our Home Services team continued to build ramps and do jobs outside, like yard clean ups and painting. Even our Senior Corps volunteers continued to pitch in, with Senior Companions maintaining a support system with their clients through phone calls and several RSVP volunteers continuing to help out where needed.

We’ve also worked to keep people active and connected by shoring up our online resources. You can see a series of Sports & Fitness videos on our Facebook page at Facebook. com/cabqseniors or on cabq.gov/ seniors. In them, our fitness staff leads you through stretching, warm ups, and exercises for your upper and lower body that you can do with at-home equipment or items you have in your house. If you feel like your computer skills could use a boost, we are providing free training through Teeniors ® , tech-savvy teens and young adults who help seniors learn technology through one-on-one, personalized coaching. Whether you have questions about your cell phone or computers, or want to learn how to text, video call, share pictures, download Netflix, order groceries online, navigate the internet, or anything else, Teeniors can help you. Check

out your preferred Center’s newsletter for more information.

Because it’s important that we continue to plan for the future, we are also using this time to gather input for our Age-Friendly Albuquerque project. The City of Albuquerque is applying for Age-Friendly designation through the World Health Organization (WHO) and AARP. Age-friendly cities are livable and thriving communities that improve the lives of all. AgeFriendly designation recognizes communities for their livability standards and identifies dynamic ways communities can progress through age-friendly initiatives. The City of Albuquerque is committed to grow as an agefriendly city and we need public input to make it happen. Participants can take a short survey, phone interview and/or join an online focus group to share their age-friendly ideas. Visit www. cabq.gov/ agefriendly, email agefriendlyabq@cabq.gov or call (505)-333-9769 for more information on Age-Friendly Albuquerque.

We, like you, look forward to a time when we can re-open our Centers and welcome you back. We are continuing to use the public health order as a guide for determining when it is best to re-open in an effort to ensure the safety of our members. In the meantime, I hope that you will stay engaged with us through our Age-Friendly Albuquerque project and through our digital resources until we can meet again in person! Information on our project, resources and phased re-opening will be available at cabq.gov/seniors, through 311 and through the Senior Information Line at 505-764- 6400, as it becomes available.

TOMORROW ISN’T PROMISED... LET’S PLAN FOR IT TODAY. Wills Trusts Powers of Attorney Advance Health Care Directives (living wills)

Call today for a free consultation: (505) 503-7782 or visit www.MossGeorge.com

MOSS GEORGE LLP

experienced. effective. trustworthy. attorneys at law.