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I think it is important to assess for depression, grief, and suicide when working with the elder population. Risk factors will look different for an individual across the life-span.

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In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program

The IHSS Program will help pay for services provided to you so that you can remain safely in your own home. To be eligible, you must be over 65 years of age, or disabled, or blind.  Disabled children are also potentially eligible for IHSS.  IHSS is considered an alternative to out-of-home care, such as nursing homes or board and care facilities.

The types of services which can be authorized through IHSS are housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry, grocery shopping, personal care services (such as bowel and bladder care, bathing, grooming and paramedical services), accompaniment to medical appointments, and protective supervision for the mentally impaired.

Who is it For:

Eligibility criteria for all IHSS applicants and recipients:

You must physically reside in the United States.

You must also be a California resident.

You must have a Medi-Cal eligibility determination.

You must live at home or an abode of your own choosing (acute care hospital, long-term care facilities, and licensed community care facilities are not considered "own home").

You must submit a completed Health Care Certification form.

How the program works:

A county social worker will interview you at your home to determine your eligibility and need for IHSS. Based on your ability to safely perform certain tasks for yourself, the social worker will assess the types of services you need and the number of hours the county will authorize for each of these services. This assessment will include information given by you and, if appropriate, by your family, friends, physician or other licensed health care professional.

A completed Health Care Certification (SOC 873) must be received by the county prior to authorization of services.

You will be notified if IHSS has been approved or denied. If denied, you will be notified of the reason for the denial. If approved, you will be notified of the services and the number of hours per month which have been authorized for you.

If you are approved for IHSS, you must hire someone (your individual provider) to perform the authorized services. You are considered your provider's employer and, therefore, it is your responsibility to hire, train, supervise, and fire this individual.

If your county has contracted IHSS providers, you may choose to have services provided by the contractor.

If your county has homemaker employees, you may receive services from a county homemaker.

http://www.cdss.ca.gov/In-Home-Supportive-Services

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If you work within CA knowing about IHSS is very helpful. Here is the link for more info. 

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If you work within CA knowing about IHSS is very helpful. Here is the link for more info. 

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http://www.dds.ca.gov/SupportSvcs/IHSS.cfm

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http://www.redwoodcoastvillage.org/
Redwood Coast Village, where I did my first internship, great grass roots aging in place organization

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PACE PROGRAM delivered by the Office on Aging

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PACE PROGRAM delivered by the Office on Aging

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https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/help-paying-costs/pace/pace.html

I worked for the office on aging and helped begin this program at our senior center. We had a very active group of older older adults and it was one of my most cherished times as a beginner social worker.

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I know that in dealing with the older adult population we must find ways to identify some signs of abuse as individuals get older they may need more help from the community and family members. I find that this hand out has helped some caregivers identify if there loved ones are being neglected by able bodied adults. Sometimes it very difficult for the older person to understand that they are being neglected due to a medical condition or the individual is dealing from dementia (Alzheimers Disease). Many individuals in this population also get financially scammed because of the vulnerability of this population.

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Lisa Williams- I thought that this was a great article about different cultures in regards to how they treat their elderly.

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Lisa Williams- I thought that this was a great article about different cultures in regards to how they treat their elderly.

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The world's population is getting older. Across the globe, people are living longer thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and technology. This population shift brings with it incredible possibilities, but also a new set of challenges. How do we care for our elderly?

Jared Diamond: How societies can grow old betterIn today's talk, Jared Diamond examines the vast differences in how societies across the globe view and treat their senior citizens. Some groups revere and respect their oldest members, while others see them as senile and incompetent, making them the butt of jokes. In some societies, children care for their parents at home, while in other cultures, children put their parents in homes where others care for them. Some cultures even see their elderly as a burden and resource drain, and opt for more violent approaches to senior care.

The Western system for elder care is far from perfect, notes Diamond, and everyone stands to learn something from how different societies care for their seniors. Watch his talk to hear what he means, and below, read some further insights on how people across the globe treat their old folks.
Who is considered old?
As Diamond mentions in his talk, the perceived value of the elderly is an important factor in determining whether seniors are respected or not. And this may be a function of who is considered old. In the United States a senior citizen is defined as someone who is 65+. But in other parts of the world, like New Guinea, anyone 50 or over is considered lapun, or an old man. As Diamond points out in his book, The World Until Yesterday, this difference has wide implications, as the two age groups tend to have a different set of physical and mental abilities.

The United Nations recently turned its attention to developing policy to support aging populations around the world - and their line for elderly begins at 60. In fact, the UN has started celebrating the International Day of Older Persons in October, which acknowledges the contributions to society made by those over the 60-line.
Where do the elderly live?
The Confucian teaching of filial piety shapes the living arrangements of elderly Chinese, Japanese and Korean people. About ¾ of elderly Japanese parents live with their adult children, a pattern replicated in Korea and China. China's new Elderly Rights Law mandates that children visit their parents frequently, no matter how far away they live. If children don't comply, they could face fines or jail time. "We raise our children to take care of us when we get old," one Chinese senior citizen told the BBC.

But of course, it doesn't take Confucian ideals to place value on spending time with the elderly. Article 207 of the French Civil Code, which was passed in 2004, requires that adult children "keep in touch" with their elderly parents. The law was passed, according to a recent article in The Week, in response to a study that showed a high rate of elderly suicides in France, and to a heat wave in which 15,000 mostly elderly people died,

In India and Nepal, the tradition has long been: a newlywed couple moves in with the groom's family, in what's called a patrilocal living arrangement. But shifting economic forces are reshaping residence patterns, according to the University of Maryland's India Human Development Survey. As parts of the country urbanize, children are moving hundreds of miles away from their parents. The Indian and Nepalese governments are addressing this by developing state-run elderly care programs.
What words describe the elderly?
A culture's respect for the elderly is often reflected in its language. Honorific suffixes like -ji in Hindi enable speakers to add an extra level of respect to important people - like Mahatma Gandhi, who is often referred to as Gandhiji. According to Wikipedia, mzee in Kiswahili - spoken in many parts of Africa - is a term used by younger speakers to communicate a high level of respect for elders. And as this report reveals, the Hawaiian word kūpuna means elders, with the added connotation of knowledge, experience and expertise.

And then there's the suffix -san in Japanese, which is often used with elders, reveals the nation's deep veneration for the old. The country regularly holds Respect for the Aged Day, with the media running special features that profile the oldest Japanese citizens. The Japanese also see a person's 60 th birthday as a huge event. Kankrei, as the celebration is called, marks a rite of passage into old age.
What special foods can the elderly eat?
Around the world, a number of traditional societies reserve certain foods for the elderly, Diamond reveals in his book. In Nebraska, only senior members of the Omaha Indians eat bone marrow - they believe that if young men do so, they will sprain an ankle. Similarly, the Iban of Borneo advise that only old men eat venison because, if the young taste it, it could make them timid. In Siberia, the Chukchi believe that reindeer milk will make young men impotent and young women flat-chested, so it's reserved only for older people.

The group with the strongest food taboos: the Arunta Aboriginies, who live near Ayers Rock in Australia. Eating certain foods can lead to a "series of dire consequences for young people," as Diamond notes in The World Until Yesterday. The Arunta believe that eating parrots will create a hollow in a young man's head, and a hole will grow in the chin. If young Arunta men eat wildcat, they will develop painful and smelly sores on their head and neck. According to societal belief, young women who eat kangaroo tails will age prematurely ... and go bald. Meanwhile, quail consumption will lead to stunted breast development, and conversely, eating brown hawks will lead the breasts to swell and burst, without even producing milk.
Do the elderly have special powers?
As Diamond mentions in his talk, many elders are respected because of highly specialized skills and knowledge. For example, Hawaiian grandmothers are revered for their unique knowledge and skill at creating ornate leis and feather accessories. Similarly, since an elderly woman in New Guinea was the only person alive who witnessed a devastating typhoon, her people looked to her for guidance on which plants are safe to eat if another disaster were to strike. Even Western societies revere the experience associated with age - the average age for a US President is 54; the average age for a Supreme Court justice is 53.

But certain societies take this a step further and attribute magical powers to the elderly. The Huaorani people of Ecuador believe that elderly shamans, called mengatoi, are endowed with magical powers, according to this Thinkquest article. This society believes that shamans can transform into jaguars. These elderly healers sit with the infirm to channel their animal spirits a cure for disease.
And what does the end of life look like?
End-of-life decisions vary drastically across cultures. Some societies do everything possible to keep their elderly alive. Other groups, however, see old and frail members as a burden, and thus take steps to end their lives. In his talk, Diamond notes that eldercide typically happens in communities that are either nomadic, or that live in harsh climates with limited resources.

According to a study in American Ethnologist, the Chukchi of Siberia practice voluntary death, in which an old person requests to die at the hand of a close relative when they are no longer in good health. And in The World Since Yesterday, Diamond notes that the Crow Indians in the US and Norse tribes in Scandinavia follow similar practices - the elderly put themselves in an impossible situation, like setting out to sea on a solo voyage. Finally, the Ache of Paraguay let their men wander off to die on the "white man's road," and - perhaps shockingly to some - they kill elderly women by breaking their necks.

On the flip side, the curious Greek island of Ikaria seems to have life-extending magic in its soil, notes The New York Times. Residents of this small Mediterranean island are four times more likely than their American counterparts to live to 90, and they live on average 8 to 10 years longer after being diagnosed with cancer or cardiovascular disease. Its residents don't rush through life: they stay up late, eating Kalamata olives, drinking mountain tea and swimming in the crystal-clear water. The answer to this island's longevity probably lies in its eating patterns and relaxed lifestyle, but nobody can definitively explain the magic behind this island of centenarians.

What are the traditions surrounding old age in your culture?

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What it's like to grow old, in different parts of the world

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The world's population is getting older. Across the globe, people are living longer thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and technology. This population shift brings with it incredible possibilities, but also a new set of challenges. How do we care for our elderly?

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What is social work? Services for older people

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What is the video about? This film focuses on the very rewarding, diverse but complex role of a social workers working in an adult's services team. The film looks at the complexity of cases ranging from care planning to mental capacity assessments and decisions that need to be made in the context of each individual case to achieve best outcomes for people who use services and their carers.

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Area 1 Agency on Aging
A great place to get connected to resources that can raise your quality of life.
http://www.a1aa.org/

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https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/aging-place-growing-old-home
This is a link to a guide to help prepare people to be able to stay in their home as they age. It offer tips for preparing and thinking ahead of potential obstacles and solutions.

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Great local resource for this population

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This site has a lot of ideas for assisting clients with expressing grief, including talking, writing, creating art, music or poetry, and memorializing. They also have an online grief club for those who may not be ready to attend in person support groups. It looks like it could be a great resource for helping clients with the grieving process.
https://www.recover-from-grief.com/

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https://www.ioaging.org/services/education-training-caregivers
The above link leads to the Institute on Aging's page about training for providers - one of the main points in the readings this week was the lack of appropriate training, so I wanted to share!