MEOC Board of Directors meets the third Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October and December at 10 a.m. at MEOC’s administrative office building, 1501 3rd Ave. E., Big Stone Gap, Va.
MEOC Advisory Council meets quarterly on the second Thursday of March, June, September and December at 10:30 a.m. at MEOC’s administrative office building.
HOW TO REACH US
Main office
Physical address: 1501 Third Ave. E. Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Phone: (276) 523-4202
Mountain Empire PACE
Physical address: 1508 Third Ave. E. Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Phone: (276) 523-0599
MEOC Transit
Physical address: 1503 Third Ave. E. Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Phone: (276) 523-7433
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Spring is officially here, and warmer weather is on the way. The changing season means MEOC's Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly is closing out the program year. Thanks to your support, the fund provided over $257,000 in heating assistance for the past winter! This has been a record year for heating costs. Some heating fuels, such as coal and heating oil, have increased by over 40 percent, making it difficult for many of our older friends to budget for other essential needs.
Knowing that these costs will continue to rise, we are increasing the goal of our largest fundraiser. The 2023 Walkathon goal will be $200,000, up $35,000 from last year. We know it will take great effort to meet this goal, and we need your help.
All of us at MEOC will do our best to achieve the goal. In fact, last year, MEOC staff provided nearly $40,000 of financial support to internal programs, 43 percent of which went to the Emergency Fuel Fund. But we will need the community’s help to meet this new goal.
We hope you will join us on May 7 at Bullitt Park and help make this the biggest, best, most successful Walkathon ever. We are bringing back the picnic too, so stay and have a burger after walking around the beautiful Greenbelt Trail.
Thank you!
MICHAEL WAMPLER
Need for fuel fund continues to grow
The event that raises money to help nearly 1,000 older adults annually with emergency heating costs is coming up on May 7, and the community's help is needed to make it successful.
The 47th MEOC Walkathon will take place at Bullitt Park, Big Stone Gap. The walk will begin at 2 p.m. and proceed along the Greenbelt Trail. Registration will start at 1 p.m.
The fundraising goal has increased by $35,000 this year to $200,000.
"We are asking everyone to come out, enjoy the day with us and support this worthy cause," said MEOC Emergency Services Director Marsha Craiger.
"The Emergency Fuel Fund is truly the community's fund. Every cent spent to help someone comes from the heart and generosity of someone else," she added.
Craiger said that for many older residents in the region, increased heating costs in the winter create a dilemma: Do they spend their small incomes on staying warm or on other needs like groceries and
Sally Sexton (far right) and friends Susan Barber (far left) and Jeanne Estes lead a group of walkers during the 46th Annual Walkathon in 2022. The trio is part of the larger group Sal’s Pals, who have participated in the Walkathon for more than a decade.
medication?
Thankfully, continued Craiger, the Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly prevents many from making that choice.
Relying solely on donations, the fuel fund helps older adults
in MEOC's service area with emergency heating expenses. The program pays for wood, coal, propane, heating oil or electric bills for those at least age 60
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WHAT: MEOC Walkathon
THE CAUSE: Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly
WHEN: Sunday, May 7.
Registration, 1 p.m. Start, 2 p.m.
WHERE: Bullitt Park, Big Stone Gap
MORE INFO: 276-523-4202 or mcraiger@meoc.org
Participants in the 2022 Walkathon make their way along the Greenbelt Trail.
1
2023 MEOC WALKATHON
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Get your sponsorship forms by contacting Marsha Craiger at (276) 523-4202 or mcraiger@meoc.org.
2 $
Collect pledges. Ask your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers and others to support you in your cause.
3
Turn in your forms and donations when you register on the day of the event, May 7, 2023.
• Make checks to Mountain Empire Older Citizens.
• Raise at least $100 and receive a Walkathon T-shirt on the event day.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
• Donate. If you cannot walk but would like to support the cause, you can easily contribute.
- Visit www.meoc.org and click “Donate.”
- Text DONATE to (276) 242-3525.
- Mail a check to MEOC, P.O. Box 888, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219.
• Spread the word. Everyone can help by telling family, friends, and neighbors about the Walkathon.
MORE INFORMATION: (276) 523-4202
Dianne Morris (left), retired coordinator of MEOC’s Mountain Laurel Cancer Support & Resource Center, waves as she approaches the final leg of last year's Walkathon. Beside her is granddaughter Cloi Rogers.
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whose income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
During the 2022-2023 fuel fund season, which ran from Nov. 1 to Mar. 31, MEOC assisted 1,023 households at the cost of $257,690.
"The need is great, and it continues to grow. We hope you will come out on May 7 and ensure the need will continue to be met. We are so appreciative of everyone who supports the Emergency Fuel Fund. Without support from corporate sponsors, church groups, civic organizations and individuals alike, we could not assist anyone," said Craiger.
The rain date for the event is May 21.
Reflections on the Walkathon from a veteran employee
hen I first came to work at MEOC in February 1989, the organization, whose offices were in a little house in Wise, was celebrating its 15th anniversary and gearing up for its 13th Walkathon. There was such an air of excitement around the event, which provided — and still provides — the bulk of the funding for MEOC’s Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly.
I learned that when the Emergency Fuel Fund began, it was the only game in town for an older person needing assistance to stay warm in the wintertime. There was as yet no LIHEAP (the federal Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program), and area elders were struggling to buy fuel and pay heating bills.
In the early days of MEOC, the services offered were funded by the federal Older Americans Act. Our very first services were home-delivered and congregate meals. But it soon became clear that,
MEOC's 2023 Walkathon is May 7. See page 4 for details and how you can help.
while older persons appreciated those services, they had other, perhaps more pressing, needs.
At public hearings across the service area, frightened older people gave eloquent voice to the overwhelming need for help to stay warm in the cold wintertime. In response, the Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly came into being when a local business owner made the first collection and turned it over to MEOC to administer.
I have always loved being able to tell an older person afraid their electricity is about to be cut off or that the coal pile is getting dangerously low that we can help.
MEOC Care Coordination Director Judy Willis and family members at the 2001 Walkathon.
No complicated application must be processed, and therefore there is no lengthy wait for the help that is needed now. An MEOC care coordinator simply takes a little information on the phone and provides the assistance. Your power is about to be cut off? Don’t worry! We’ll make a pledge to the electric company as soon as we hang up the phone. There is only an inch of oil in the bottom of your tank? Don’t worry! We’ll order oil right away.
And now that I’m about to retire, I am even more aware of how vitally important the fuel fund is to older people on a small, fixed income. I feel it! I worry that I haven’t saved enough. Will I outlive what I’ve put aside for retirement? My electric bill in my big old, drafty house is so high. Will I have to move into a few rooms to be able to afford to stay in my home?
Contemplating these things makes me the more committed to fundraising for this wonderful service
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MEOC operates that helps allay some of these fears of older people.
The Emergency Fuel Fund has always been the community’s fund. A community member made the first collection of donations, and it has been the community that has sustained its work over the nearly 50 years of its existence.
The Walkathon is the Emergency Fuel Fund’s biggest fundraiser by far, and individual walkers and their individual supporters are the backbone of the Walkathon. Everyone at MEOC is so grateful for corporate sponsorship, but the contribution of individuals can never be sold short.
This will be the last year I’ll participate in MEOC’s Walkathon as a staff person. But I’ll be back again and again, because I believe in the work of the Emergency Fuel
MEOC and its neighbors and friends, with no help from government monies, envisioned, and then created, the Emergency Fuel Fund, which has brought help and comfort to so many people over the years.
Fund. I hope too that my children, who accompanied me at my first Walkathon and have kept coming back all these years, now bringing their own children, will continue to turn up for this important day. We have always looked forward to it as a fun family outing.
I hope that every MEOC employee feels the pride I feel in the agency and all the services we provide to help people.
I particularly want them to be aware that MEOC and its neighbors and friends, with no help from government monies, envisioned, and then created, the Emergency Fuel Fund, which has brought help and comfort to so many people over the years. I consider it our flagship service, the cornerstone of our reputation in the community.
I’ve been at MEOC for 34 years, 24 of those years as care coordination director. That means it has been my job to know a little about all programs and services at MEOC and a lot about many of them. My longevity of service also means that I remember when a lot of those programs and services came into being. We haven’t always been a PACE provider; we haven’t always had children’s services or services for cancer patients. What we have always had, since 1976, is an Emergency Fuel Fund, which serves clients of EVERY other program and service.
Hearthwarming Sunday boosts fuel fund
Area churches have given nearly $17,935 to MEOC’s Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly since mid-February.
This past winter, MEOC assisted 1,023 individuals, resulting in expenses of $257,690.
Contributions received from Hearthwarming Sunday allowed MEOC to continue fulfilling assistance requests through winter’s end.
Donations were made during the agency’s Hearthwarming Sunday fundraiser on Feb. 12. The annual event is held the Sunday closest to Valentine’s Day to boost the fuel fund during one of its busiest time of year.
During the region’s coldest months, Nov. 1 through March 31, the Emergency Fuel Fund begins to run low, as the number of assistance requests increases. Churches and individuals assist in the way that works best for them.
Donations are always welcome. Mail contributions to: MEOC, ATTN: Emergency Fuel Fund, P.O. Box 888, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219. You may also go to www.meoc.org and click “Donate.”
For more information about the fuel fund, contact MEOC Emergency Services Director Marsha Craiger at (276) 523-4202 or mcraiger@meoc.org.
PACE celebrates 15th anniversary
Mountain Empire Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is celebrating 15 years of providing quality care to seniors that allows them to age in their own homes.
Since opening its doors, PACE has served 419 participants living in Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the City of Norton. PACE has successfully provided care for its participants, all of whom have chronic care needs, and support for caregivers in a way that has allowed most of them to live out their lives at home and out of nursing facilities.
During April, PACE will engage in a variety of activities to celebrate the 15-year milestone. “PACE is so important to the work MEOC does to allow older persons in our service area to remain where they want to be, in their homes and their communities,” said Executive Director Michael Wampler.
“We recognize PACE and look forward to celebrating all our programs and services in 2024 when we will celebrate MEOC’s 50th anniversary,” he added.
PACE HISTORY
America’s first PACE program got its start in California in the 1970s. By 1996, PACE programs
had popped up in 15 different states, serving only urban areas at the time.
Ten years later, in 2006, Congress provided funding to expand the PACE model of care into rural areas. During that time, MEOC Executive Director (now Emeritus) Marilyn Pace Maxwell began working with other key players to open one of the very first rural PACE programs. The dream was realized on April 1, 2008, when MEOC’s PACE program opened to its first participants.
The PACE program has tackled some of the most challenging aspects of aging in a rural community: limited access to resources and limited availability of assistance in the home.
When someone enrolls in PACE, Mountain Empire Transit, also operated by MEOC, will pick them up at home and bring them to the PACE center. If needed, home care is available to assist them in getting ready and to be waiting for them when they get home.
While at PACE, participants can receive medical, nursing, and personal care; physical, occupational, and recreational therapies; social services and nutrition counseling. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are provided
daily. Participants can engage in activities and crafts and socialize with other PACE participants.
For some, coming to the PACE center may not be an option. In such cases, these same services are provided in the home. Physicians, nurses and therapists make house calls to ensure the participant’s needs are addressed in a way that allows them to age at home.
Whether services are received at home or in the center, PACE is dedicated to keeping participants in their own homes for as long as possible.
Am I Eligible for PACE?
at least age 55 eligible for nursing facility level of care able to live safely at home with support
live in Lee, Scott or Wise counties or the City of Norton
(Must meet certain financial and medical requirements)
Mountain Empire PACE
Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly
A Care Plan that Puts You at the Center
Mountain Empire PACE provides comprehensive, tailored medical and social services to older adults who qualify for nursing home level of care but can remain in their own homes with our help.
Coordinated Healthcare
Primary and emergency care, hospitalization
Transportation
Rides to and from the PACE center and appointments
Therapies
Speech, physical and occupational
Social Engagement
Group activities, crafts and more
Prescription Medications
Pre-packaged and delivered to your home
In-Home Support
Personal care, homemaker, and respite services
Specialty Care
Dental, vision and hearing
Nutrition Services
Meals and dietary counseling
PACE welcomes new provider
Dr. Elizabeth Cooperstein joined Mountain Empire PACE’s care team on Feb. 1, 2023.
Dr. Cooperstein is a well-respected physician who has served this area for many years. While she has been affiliated with the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly for some time, we are pleased she has become an official member of the care team who will help ensure quality of care and quality of life to those enrolled in the program.
Dr. Cooperstein will work alongside and provide guidance to the PACE nurse practitioners and nursing staff to ensure participants receive necessary medical care and are better able to manage their chronic conditions.
DR. ELIZABETH COOPERSTEIN
Helping older adults remain independent
Ninety-three-year-old Lockwood Amos is determined to stay in her own home and remain independent as long as she can.
Mountain Empire Older Citizens is helping her do that.
Amos has received in-home support from MEOC for several years. She also relies on Mountain Empire Transit to take her shopping and other places she needs to go.
She first began receiving homemaker support, which provides help such as light housekeeping, grocery shopping, laundry service and meal preparation. Amos now receives personal care too, which includes assistance with activities of
daily living such as bathing, dressing and personal grooming. Homemakers and personal care aides aren’t nurses but are supervised by a registered nurse who helps assess the person’s needs.
Pat Dockery, the personal care aide assigned to Amos, visits her Norton apartment Wednesday through Friday for two to three hours a day for a total of 7 ½ hours per week. On a lateFebruary morning, Amos chatted about the help Dockery provides as the latter prepared to mop the kitchen floor.
Amos is fiercely independent, though she does have some health problems. “I get up every day
Lockwood Amos (left), 93, says receiving in-home support from MEOC makes it easier for her to remain independent in her own home. Personal care aide Pat Dockery is seated beside her.
and try to help myself so I can stay in my home. I want to be independent as long as I can. But some things have gotten harder for me, and that’s where Pat comes in,” said Amos.
“I couldn’t make it without her. She’s been so good to me,” said Amos about Dockery.
“That goes both ways,” interjected Dockery, who has been with MEOC for nearly 28 years.
Amos explained that Dockery provides help with things such as shopping, housekeeping, bathing and getting dressed.
MEOC Director of In-Home Family Support Services Heather Oakes explained that most older adults like Amos want to be in their own homes and connected to their communities instead of a nursing home or other long-term care option.
“Many older adults can no longer perform tasks like house cleaning, doing laundry or grocery shopping. Others need additional help with dressing, bathing, toileting and grooming. That’s what in-home support services are designed to do — provide people with the assistance they need to remain independent in a clean, safe, familiar environment,” said Oakes.
To learn more about in-home services, call (276) 523-4202 Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
More about in-home support services
As we age, we may find ourselves in need of help to complete some daily activities of living such as personal care, meal preparation and housekeeping. MEOC offers in-home services that allow older adults to remain independent in their own homes as long as possible.
• Personal care services are available to Medicaid-eligible persons who meet requirements for nursing home placement but with assistance can remain in their own homes. Geriatric aides, under supervision of registered nurses, provide in-home assistance with daily living activities such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, personal care and running errands.
Individuals who have not been elibible for Medicaid in the past may become eligible when they have a need for community-based long-term care services like personal care.
• Homemaker services provide assistance with activities such as preparing meals, shopping for personal items, managing money, using the telephone or doing light housework. This service is free to those who meet eligibility requirements.
Mountain Laurel Center provides resources to cancer patients
The Mountain Laurel Center, part of Mountain Empire Older Citizens, provides education on cancer prevention, early detection and treatment to individuals and groups.
MLCC Coordinator Tiffany Jacobs is available to speak to civic, church or other groups about cancer-related topics.
The center also provides liquid nutritional supplements and financial assistance for travel for diagnosis, treatment, and surgery as well as for other unforeseen expenses.
Call Jacobs at (276) 523-4202 or email tiffany.jacobs@meoc.org to learn more.
Personal care aide Pat Dockery performs housekeeping duties in addition to helping with activities of daily living such as personal grooming, bathing and dressing.
Willis retiring after 34 years of serving the region's elderly
Longtime Care Coordination Director Judy Willis will retire at the end of May, taking with her 34 years of knowledge, experience, and countless memories of serving the area’s older adults.
“I have loved the job,” said Willis. “From what I hear others say about their jobs, I believe it may be rare to find work you love, that gives you a reason to get up in the morning and makes you feel like perhaps you have done something to make a positive difference in someone’s life that day.”
Willis joined MEOC in 1989, when the agency was in a small house in Wise, as a receptionist. In 1991, when the Virginia Department for the Aging (now DARS) provided a grant for area agencies on aging to implement elderly case management programs, Margaret Sturgill became the case management director, and Willis became her assistant. Then, in 1999, when Sturgill took over MEOC’s new public guardianship program, Willis was named the case management (by that time, care coordination) director. That’s where she’s been for the last 24 years, time for which she is so grateful.
“Working with a care coordination program that serves older persons was not something I had trained for, nor was it anything with which I had previous experience. But, once here, I knew it was God who placed me here and that I had found my life’s work,” she said.
Willis said she is privileged to have worked with so many wonderful care coordinators over the years. “The work they do is so important, and they have such hearts for it,” she added.
Reflecting on MEOC’s history, Willis recalls a long list of agency-wide accomplishments. The agency is known as an innovator, not just for programs that serve the aging but also for its multi-generational services. Willis is honored to have assisted with such projects over the years, including a cancer
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MEOC Care Coordination Director Judy Willis joined MEOC in February 1989 and will retire at the end of May.
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prevention project that received the top innovations award from the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging in 2017.
Her most cherished memories, however, are of people who encouraged and nourished her development at MEOC. She has a long list.
“Founding executive director Marilyn Pace Maxwell, a visionary who made the things she imagined come to life, at whose feet I was privileged to learn;
“Kind Margaret Sturgill, who taught me everything she knew about service;
“Wise Irma Snodgrass, who knew exactly what to do and acted decisively in the most challenging situations;
“Sweet Julia Dillon, who was everybody’s cheerleader;
“And young Michael Wampler, who came to us as a distributive education student in high school, then worked in practically every department on his way to becoming executive director. I have had the pleasure of both supervising and being supervised by him, and I think I have managed to stay in his good graces through it all.
“There are so many more people, too many to mention, who have come and gone, leaving their mark, making a difference, and adding to the MEOC story, which is so much a part of my own story,” continued Willis.
Thus, it is the people Willis will most miss, those whom she helps serve and with whom she works. “I will miss my friends. I will miss talking to the people MEOC serves and hearing their stories. I will miss the routine. Mostly I will miss being part of something bigger than myself,” she said.
Willis will also be missed tremendously by those who have worked with her over the years.
MEOC Executive Director Michael Wampler has worked with Willis for over half his lifetime and was among those who learned from her when he was a care coordinator in her department. Wampler finds it hard to sum up everything that Willis means to MEOC, to the community it serves and to him personally.
“Judy has been a great mentor and friend to all
of us. She leaves behind a legacy of compassion and caring that is unrivaled. She will be missed more than she knows,” he said.
Though Willis will miss the work and the people, she is looking forward to retirement.
“My very first plans involve a lot of doing nothing of any value. I envision myself lingering over my tea and reading in the morning. I see long walks in the summer sun and sitting on my shady porch just enjoying the feeling of nowhere to go and nothing to do,” said Willis.
That won’t last for long, though. “I have been MEOC’s care coordination director for so long, and that is such a huge part of my identity. I will need to cultivate other interests, other parts of me,” she said.
Her plans include visiting her daughter and family in California, whom she hasn’t seen since just before the pandemic. “I want to write more; I want to read more. I will spend more time in the library. I will take longer walks. I will meet friends for breakfast or lunch. I may begin to bake again. I don’t think I will begin to clean. Notice I didn’t say ‘again,’” she joked.
Eventually, Willis continued, she might even be interested in a part-time job. “I don’t have any great big plans, just a few little ones to keep me healthy, active and engaged,” she added.
This photo of Judy Willis appeared in the November 1989 Mountain Empire News, about nine months after she came to MEOC.
Empire Older Citizens, Inc.
Worried about falling?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in people 65 and older. But falling is not a normal part of aging. MEOC offers three FREE programs to help you manage your fall risk.
A Matter of Balance: Eight-week workshop emphasizing practical strategies to reduce fear of falling and increase activity levels. You will learn to view falls as controllable, set goals for increasing activity, make changes to reduce fall risks at home and exercise to increase strength and balance.
Bingocize®: Ten-week program combining a bingo-like game with exercise and health education. Overall goals are to help older adults improve and maintain mobility and independence, learn and use health information focused on falls reduction and other health-related behaviors, and socially engage with other older adults.
Tai Chi for Arthritis and Falls Prevention: Eight-week program to improve movement, balance, strength, flexibility, immunity and relaxation while decreasing pain.
Mountain
Do you know a new or expectant parent?
Healthy Families is a FREE, voluntary home visiting program offering one-on-one support through regular visits with you and your child to enhance positive parent-child interactions. Our staff can answer questions, provide books, developmental and health information and connect you with resources in our community. Families accepted into the program will receive a Welcome Baby Gift on their first home visit!
Interested in participating or learning more? Complete and return the screening form below or scan the QR code at right to complete online.
Name: Mother’s date of birth: Today’s date:
Address:
Phone number:
Baby’s date of birth or due date if prenatal: First-time birth: Yes No
Marital status: Married Single, separated, divorced or widowed
Mother’s employment status: Employed Not employed at this time
Mother’s education No high school diploma or GED High school diploma, GED or above
Current stressors (Please check all that apply):
Finances/Money Housing Personal relationships
Children/Parenting Other (please list) None
How may we contact you? Text/Call Not interested
Please list one other contact person and phone number:
Relationship to you:
Please email completed form to HealthyFamiliesSWVA@gmail.com or fax to (276) 523-4208.
The Virginia Department of Social Services grant # FAM-21-083A-17 provided partial funding for development of this flyer.
