Services for Seniors and People with Disabilities

Welcome to the podcast of the City Club of Eugene, Oregon. The City Club builds community vision through open inquiry and is dedicated to engaging the public on a wide range of topics. Coming up on this program, presenters will describe how access to programs such as Medicaid, Oregon Health Plan, long-term care, senior nutrition programs, area resources, volunteer opportunities, and more. We appreciate the sponsors who make our civic work possible, including Lane Community College, lanecc.edu, and the University of Oregon, u.orgon.edu. And here is your podcast episode. Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Eugene. My name is Alyssa Gilbert, president of the City Club of Eugene, and it's my honor to welcome you to another of the many forums we've held since 1990, in the name of our mission to build community vision through open inquiry. We would love for you to browse our past programs at city club of eugene.org or our YouTube or Facebook. Please consider becoming a member if you'd like to support our rigorous volunteer work as Oregon's only city club that provides weekly forums. And with that, I turn the mic over to the coordinator of today's program and chair of City Club's program committee, Joel Corrin. The Lane Council of Government to help seniors. The presenters will describe how access to programs such as Medicaid, Oregon Health Plan, long-term care, senior nutrition programs, area resources, volunteer opportunities, and more. Attendees will be provided with a comprehensive guide on the back table there, the Lane Senior Guide, which lists all the services that are available for senior. And pick one up and take it home. Our speakers today are Melissa Andreon, who's worked for Senior and Disability Services since July 2016, celebrating her 10 years. And she spent the first six years as a case manager assisting people with Medicaid programs in 2022. She was promoted to community outreach volunteer coordinator in this role. And she travels throughout Lane County, sharing the information that she's going to share with you today and providing presentations. She may try to get you to volunteer. Maddie Davis is the lead adult and protective services specialist for senior and disability services, where she has worked since March 2023. Maddie has began her career as a community health service worker. where she found joy in working with older adults, particularly some of the most vulnerable citizens in our community. This focus led to her position with APS, completing investigations in the community and in facilities, working on the abuse reporting hotline, receiving reports of abuse and neglect.

Maddie became lead APS specialist in February of 2026, where she primarily provides training to new staff and assists ongoing staff training. Melissa will speak first, followed by Maddie. Thank you, Joel. And thank you everyone for being here this afternoon. I'm very excited to see you all in the room. Very excited about the folks that will be listening later on. I am. I'm Melissa Andrian. I am the community outreach and volunteer coordinator with Senior and Disability Services. And senior and disability services is the largest division of Lane Council of Governments. I also, besides doing community outreach and giving presentations like this, I recruit volunteers. So I'll be talking about that. Senior and Disability Services is the AAA for Lane County. It means we're the area agency on aging and disability. And we coordinate and offer services and resources and programs that help older adults and adults with disabilities who are living in Lane County. Our mission is to advocate for seniors and people with disabilities and provide them quality services that promote dignity, independence, and choice. We provide services to residents of Lane County. We provide services to older adults who are over 60, and also, again, adults who are over 18 who live with disability. We also have programs and resources for the caregivers of those people. We have three full service offices in Lane County. We have one here in downtown Eugene at 10th and Willamette, right across from McDonald Theater. We have one in Cottage Grove in the community center. And we have one in Florence at the DHS office on Highway 101. So we also have some limited outstations and people working in areas such as Junction City, Oak Ridge, Benita. And again, we serve all of Lane County. See, we often travel to where people are. If I didn't mention the community you live in, we will travel to that area if you're applying for programs. We go to people and do home visits and things like that. So the first point of contact for getting in touch with us and learning about our programs and applying for different types of services is called the Aging and Disability Resource Connection. And we have a lot of acronyms, so we shorten that to ADRC. And I'll refer to the ADRC several times, but the local phone number for the ADRC is 541-682-33.

and local meaning serving all of Lane County with live people who answer the phone to answer your questions. And if you have to leave a voicemail, they'll call you back pretty soon. So we have about nine people who are answering those phones all week long during the weekdays, Monday through Friday, I want to say 8 to 430, something like that. So definitely give us a call. As I talk about these programs, I'm going to refer back to them and say these are the folks who can help you. with that. Now, the ADRC is also the aging and disability resource connection of Oregon. So what that means is it's a statewide resource. You can contact us and ask if you live in a different county. For example, you could call us and ask, what is the ADRC in my county? And we'd be able to help you locally. You can also find the ADRC website at ADRC of Oregon. again that's a statewide resource we run the senior meals program for lane county and the senior meals program is a nutrition wellness program for adults who are 60 and up and their spouse regardless of age so it includes cafe 60 an in-person lunch program and it also includes meals on wheels delivery for those who qualify Our cafe 60 in-person lunch program is offered at nine locations in Lane County. I recruit volunteers for all of those locations. I'm going to list them for you. The locations are Eugene, Springfield, Coburg, Cottage Grove, Presswell, Florence, Junction City. Oak Ridge, and Veneta. So if you're in one of those areas or near one of those communities, we'd like to learn more about lunch, you could give us a call at the ADRC. And there is no cost for lunch at Cafe 60, and donations are always welcome. So if someone is food insecure and unable to pay, we still welcome them. We want them to come. We encourage them to tell people about it and have a hot lunch with us and make some friends and a community. And it's just a wonderful. It's a wonderful program. It's been around for quite some time. We wouldn't be able to do this program without the help of our volunteers. We have volunteers who work on site in the kitchen and in the dining area. We do not cook. We have the food prepared and delivered to the locations through our central meal kitchen. And then the volunteers are prepping and preparing. And there are also volunteers who are doing meals on wheels delivery. So again, if you are wondering. about Meals on Wheels or do I qualify for that? Give us a call. Again, the ADRC phone number is 541-682-3353. And you can ask us all about those meal programs. I'm going to talk about a lot of programs very quickly. Okay. And if you hear a program that sounds interesting to you, my hope is that you would call the ADRC and you would ask them about this resource about these programs because they will be able to help you with information, qualifiers, appointments, things like that if you're interested in applying. These are all voluntary programs and I'm going to tell you about them. So we have one called the Family Caregiver Support Program.

It provides support and resource to people who are caring for their family members who are unpaid. We have a program that I recruit volunteers for called Rural Medical Escort Rides. These are people who live in rural communities who offer using their own personal vehicle to give medical transport to someone in need. It's one of the clients maybe we've been working with already, and that isn't a volunteer opportunity in rural communities. We'd love to talk with you if you're interested in that. It's a great program. We also have experienced staff through our Senior Connections program who are available to talk to you about long-term care planning and decision-making. So if you are, life is changing, health is changing, have questions not sure where to start or what's out there. We have people that can talk to you about your options, about the kinds of programs that are available and just help answer questions that you might have. We have something called health promotions programs, and those are free to the public workshops that are available and you can join. They are... six weeks, once a week, about 10 to 15 people usually, and they deal with topics such as living with diabetes or living with chronic conditions. They even have one called powerful tools for caregiver. So if you're interested in learning about free classes available through our programs, give us a call at the ADRC. And we also help people with the low-income home energy assistance program who live in rural communities. So if someone calls and they live in... metro area, Eugene Springfield, we're happy to help them with information and to refer them to the right organization that does those applications. But if someone says, I live in a rural community, I live in Cottage Grove, I live in Creswell, then we're going to give them a referral to our area coordinator who is someone who can help them with that application Rurally. So we like to share that. We also have a program. It's going to be a lot of alsos because we have a lot of programs and really excited to share that today. So one of them is called Oregon Money Management Program. I do recruit volunteers for Oregon Money Management Program. I actively need... volunteers in Florence for this program. And it's a volunteer who goes monthly to a client's home and helps them with their bill pay tasks. They do not take over their bills or anything like that, but they help them maybe open up their bills and write it down and get them paid and keep track of that so that they can continue to live independently. Oregon Money Management Program is a great resource. We also have senior law services.

volunteer attorneys who work with senior law services and we connect people to that program. It's a program designed to meet the civil legal needs of Lane County seniors who are over 60. And if you have questions about that or if you need any kind of legal information, like lawyers or low income or sliding scale, things of that nature, the ADRC, again, that number, 541, 682-3353, you can give us a call and we will absolutely have some referrals for you. Okay. Another really big program folks might have heard of that we help the folks apply for is SNAP. It's the supplemental nutrition assistance program. And we have the application for that and many other programs. So with SNAP. Anyone can apply with us with our office. All Oregonians are eligible to apply with us in our office, even if they're not an older adult or a person with a disability because of the way that that system works. It's one application for various programs, and anyone who gets in touch with us, we'd be happy to help them with that as well if we're the people that they called and they need help. Okay, so with SNAP. SNAP is people apply for SNAP under something called the one system. And again, with the one system, we have other programs that people can apply for like Medicaid, Oregon Health Plan. Okay, we have eligibility specialists who help you apply over the phone. They can help get all of that information gathered, and you can sit at home and talk with them on the phone while they help you fill out the application. But also, you can have the ability to come and meet with us in person if you prefer to meet with us in person to apply for these programs, or you can do it online on your own if you are really great at using computers, and you could just go online and do that as well. We have various long-term care programs such as Oregon Project Independence. And Oregon Project Independence is limited services for adults who need a little bit of help to remain independent, right? And so maybe a caregiver could come and help them with chores or housekeeping, something of that nature. It would help them remain independent. It is not a full Medicaid program, so are there some different qualifiers? If you're interested in something like that, or if you know someone who needs a little bit of help just in their data. life with things like chores or meal prep or little personal care, then this might be a program for them. Again, it's called Oregon Project Independence Medicaid. With the Medicaid program when you're applying with that one system, we also have things like Medicare savings. We have different types of programs that might be able to help pair with people's Medicare insurance to help offset co-pays and deductibles. So there are a lot of different savings programs available, and you

can call us if you have questions about, oh, do I qualify for a Medicare savings program? And then we're known a lot for long-term care services, which is when caregivers either come to someone's home and help them with their daily care needs, or they have a community where they go to live, where they then receive care, depending on the amount of care that they need. So again, I kind of... just list off a lot of different things and if any of that is something that you might be interested in if you know someone who has needs you can help call on their behalf you can call and ask us questions ongoing we're an ongoing resource for you living in lane county you can have different questions we can you know work on whatever it is you're working on but just know that we're a resource and we would love to talk with you any questions at all that you have and i am also available to provide this presentation so if you're part of a group and you want me to come and talk to that group i'd be happy to do that you might see us out in the community giving out goodies at tabling events And again, I recruit volunteers. So I'm going to stick around later. And if you want to come talk to me about volunteering, I have info about that. And now I would like to introduce to you our next speaker who will tell you all about another aspect of our work, Maddie Davis with Adult Protective Services.

Good afternoon. Today I will be discussing Senior and Disability Services Adult Protective Services, or APS unit. My name is Maddie, and I am a lead adult protective service specialist. And today we're going to be covering what APS does, who qualifies for APS intervention, what types of abuse APS investigates, the common elements of our investigations, and then how to report abuse. So, Adult Protective Services screens and triages concerns of abuse and neglect to determine if criteria is met for an investigation and how promptly an investigator needs to respond. We also provide consultation and referrals as needed, as well as protective services throughout an investigation. We then complete our investigation and our assessments of alleged victims and potentially provide appropriate risk management and intervention to ensure safety. We complete civil investigations. Our principles are guided by NAPSA, which is the National Adult Protective Services Association. Our principles have a social model of intervention, which focuses on offering safety and protection. Adults maintain the right to refuse any kind of services that we offer, and adults also maintain other civil and constitutional rights until otherwise adjudicated by a court. We cannot force anybody to do anything. We are focusing primarily on making sure that people have the right to be safe while balancing that right with their ability to make their own decisions that might not conform with societal norms or what someone else wants for them. The individuals that are eligible for APS intervention are those over age 65 or those over age 18 with a physical disability. or anybody who is residing in an APD or aging in people with disabilities licensed care facility within our state of Oregon. The two types of investigations that we complete are community and facility. So for community investigations, we will go and meet an alleged victim wherever they are. Typically, that's in their home setting. It can also be in... a shelter in a hospital at a family member's house wherever they are in a facility investigation we are going to adult foster homes assisted living facilities residential care facilities like memory care placements And we are investigating a variety of different abuse types. We have nine different abuse types that we investigate, including neglect and self-neglect. The other abuse types are physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, abandonment, wrongful restraint, involuntary seclusion, and verbal emotional abuse.

In 2025, the most commonly investigated abuse type in the state of Oregon was neglect, with over 12,000 investigations assigned. Neglect occurs in both the community and facility setting, with neglect being the primary type of abuse investigated in a facility setting. And neglect is defined as the failure to provide basic care or services to an individual when that failure results in harm or risk of serious harm. The second most commonly investigated abuse type in 2025 was financial exploitation. Financial exploitation can include wrongfully taking items or money, misappropriating or misusing money, failing to use the income or the assets of an adult for their benefit. Lastly, the third most commonly investigated abuse type in 2025 was self-neglect, with nearly 4,000 investigations assigned. And self-neglect is when an adult is unable to understand the consequences of their actions or their inactions when that inability could lead to harm or endangerment of themselves. And so a self-neglect investigation has a much different approach than a... an investigation with an alleged perpetrator. For self-neglect, we're really focusing on making sure that the victim is safe and that they're connected with any appropriate services that they need to be to mitigate harm or risk of harm for them. And so some common elements of our investigation are completing unannounced visits with both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. We are offering referrals and protective services to all individuals involved in investigations. Usually that's the alleged victim, but often we are connecting our reporters or our alleged perpetrators with resources to mitigate safety concerns. Some protective services that APS offers include collaborating with law enforcement or with licensing entities for their own investigations, assisting an alleged victim through protective order or restraining order process, or simply delivering a food box to an alleged victim. And some common referrals offered by APS are referring someone to the ADRC to see if they can get connected with some programs through senior and disability services, if they could qualify for long-term care, and also sending misdirected reports to other investigative entities. So on our screening line, we are often getting all different types of reports. And even if someone doesn't qualify for our intervention, they might qualify for intervention from another entity like development. disability services or Lane County Behavioral Health who do their own investigations.

Investigators will collect evidence throughout their investigation, including completing interviews, gathering documents and photos, and creating their own observations. And finally, once all necessary information is gathered, an evidence-based conclusion is reached to determine if abuse or neglect did or did not occur. The report then goes through a review process and an alleged perpetrator is notified of the outcome. And so now I want to discuss how to report abuse to us. You can call us via phone. Our local line is 541-682-4-1-40. The statewide line is 1-855-503-7233. We also have staff at our office at 1015 Willamette Street, available Monday through Friday during working hours to take reports in person. We also receive mail there if you want to send mail to that address. You can also email us at Abuse Reporting at El Cog-O-G-R-D-G-O-R.gov. And what do you include in your report? We ask that you include any information that you have, the more, the better for us typically, specifically around demographic information for the alleged victim, name, age, contact information. If you know anything about an alleged perpetrator, providing us with that information is very helpful as well. And then a concise summary of what occurred or what you know about the abuse or neglect, including any kind of timeframes, witnesses, and any impact to the victim. All calls in Oregon to APS are logged in our centralized system. And even if a report does not meet criteria for investigation at that point, it's really important to have that reported information for history so that if we do get a call again, we can reference back to that. Also, we are often able to just provide resources and assistance at the screening level to maybe mitigate concerns if we aren't able to get involved with an investigation. Your confidentiality as a reporter is protected by Oregon law. It can only be released with permission or in specific legal circumstances. Please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you. Feel free to line up at the microphone and we'll have a short break before we begin our Q&A. Okay, it's time to start the Q&A. First question, please. You can direct it to either one of the speakers or both. Everybody, I don't know who to ask this. This is a lot. I mean, it's one thing I enjoy about this is that it's good to know that all of this is under aging and disability resource, and you all use the same number. So that's really nice. And it means that the operator has to figure out who you want to talk to. But anyway, I am a health care aide.

But I live in a community of 70 small houses, co-op. And there's several people who are aged. I've helped a couple people get in the DHS health aid program. But this lady has a retirement pension and Social Security. But she has too much money to get a health care aid. But she had a broken back 10 years ago. into anemia, and she's really not able to do her housework, which would just really help her out a lot. But she can't get a health care age. So I was listening to your programs, and the one that sounded like I would like to know if it's the right one, is the long-term care, the Oregon Project Independence, is it the long-term care or the Medicaid long-term care program? So that's what I'm asking. So you're correct in Oregon Project Independence Medicaid might be an option for this person because it's for folks who have higher incomes. It's for folks who may have resources like some savings. It may be that they own a home and they don't want to have any type of estate recovery through the formal Medicaid program. Oregon Project Independence started as a pilot with Oregon, where it was to help people remain independent and healthy in their own homes by providing limited services, meaning maybe housekeeping, light housekeeping, some meal prep, maybe some personal care if they need a little bit of that. But it is for people who might not income qualify for the other Medicaid program. And because it expanded recently, it has... more hours than it used to, has some more benefit than it used to. It's taking on more consumers to be on the program than previously. But I don't know all of the exact, and we don't talk about kind of numbers in a general setting, but I would encourage you or your friend to call us and get the information about Oregon Project Independence Medicaid and see if that might be something that works. I mean, the Medicaid long-term care program is a little different. It is. So Medicaid long-term care, like Title 19, I don't want to get too into all the, because I haven't done case management in many years. But that one is going to have resource limits and income limits, and you're going to have to meet specific levels of care before you qualify for that. And then if you do, then you might qualify for in-home care, which is caregivers coming to where you live in your own space. Or sometimes people move to a community-based care setting because. they need 24-hour kind of availability of care. So that's the other one sounds more doable. I would say call because there might even be some other options that we're not mentioning or that are in the database that are just helpful for her because some people do have to private pay, but there's different options for private pay when people still have some incoming resource. All right. Thank you very much. Definitely call. Okay, thank you. Next. Hi, my name's Rebecca. I am a lapsed city club member, and for that, I apologize. We can correct that. Thank you for being here. There are a lot of folks in the Eugene Springfield area, in Lane County, whose parents or other elderly loved ones live in a different state and, you know, might be in long-term care, might be on Medicaid, but are alone.

And I've talked with a lot of people who might need their loved ones to move here. And I'm curious about how easier, difficult is it for someone to transfer Medicaid from another place here and long-term care, getting into long-term care on Medicaid. Thank you. Okay. So. If they live outside of Lane County, but in the state of Oregon, because they're statewide programs, those kinds of transfers are, I don't want to say easy, right, because moving an aged person is not easy when they have health conditions. But those are going to be more streamlined because it's all the same programs. These are statewide programs served out through the county, right, per county. When it is a out-of-state person. It happens all of the time, right? And so the adult child of that person who's needing the care, they could contact us directly. They could ask us questions. My aging parent lives in California and I want to move them up here. What are the steps to do that? How do I do that? When do I do that? So then they can learn about... More about the income qualifiers, the resource limits, the different programs. When do I need to apply in order for this to be available for them when they get here? When we're talking about long-term care, like in-home care. They need to be here so we can assess them and their needs here on site, right? So it might be that they're learning about the process, figuring out how to get them moved here, and then they're having those appointments hopefully set up very soon after their parent gets here. But, like, we can't assess people who live out of state, for example. We can't determine that unless they're here so we can know what their day-to-day needs are. But it definitely... The ADRC is going to have a lot of different referrals about, you know, this long-term care planning. How do we make these decisions? What are the options for when we're trying to make these decisions? So we do encourage people to call as soon as you feel like you want to, right? If you wait until the last minute, these appointments are going to still maybe take a month or so out. So that's something really important to share, is we're not an emergency responder in that sense, but we're doing these as quickly as possible. We have timelines. So with appointments, when you're asking for applying for different programs, I actually asked yesterday the lead with the ADRC, and they said, oh, yeah, still about, you know, about. four weeks, plus or minus, depending on the program, some are a little longer. OPI Medicaid actually has a longer wait for getting an appointment just because it's a lot of people are coming on to that program. But I hope that answered your question a little bit. Yeah, I'm curious.

Like out of state to a facility. So, I mean, it just has to do with do they qualify and then do finding a place where they can move to. And again, I haven't, there's a very specialized eligibility team that works with like those kinds of things and like transfer, you know, people are transferring from out of state, that kind of thing. But it would just have to be a matter of aligning the programs with. okay, this person is moving on this state out of the state of Missouri and on this date, they're going to be arriving to a place that they have secured here in Oregon and then, you know, things transfer over that way. But again, it's very much individualized in terms of how that will work and what all the specifics will be. So again, we encourage people to just get started with. the asking questions and learning about, you know, the steps so that you can be prepared for when you're ready. And if it's already that time, you know, then you call us. And we just start wherever you're at. I'm not saying that if you're urgent, don't call. Like, call as soon as you know about us. And we'll be happy to share whatever we can and get you set up with appointments and all those things, whatever you might qualify for. And again, they're all voluntary programs. So you could choose like if. if you are interested in that program or not. Hi, I'm Antoinette Lucrezor with Gray Bear Advisors. I'm a caregiver coach, and I'm also a proud unpaid family caregiver. First of a mother, who, thanks to all of you, were able to navigate the very system and go early, go often. That's my advice. Along those lines, one of the things I wanted to mention as another resource is there's another organization in town, a nonprofit, called the Senior Provider Information Network. And it is comprised that spin of Lane County. And they have a senior resource health fair every year. This year it's expanding from the Campbell Center out to the fairgrounds at Lane on September 18th. And I want to encourage everyone to go to that if you want to know more. I'm happy to answer questions later. A shameless plug for them. One of the things that's there, though, is all of these other services, both the for-profit and the other non-profits. So my question to both of you is, who are your nonprofit partners that you really wish other people also knew about? I'm going to start with, yes, we will be at Spin Fair again this year at Wheeler Pavilion on Friday, September 18th. We've been there every year since 2022, and probably prior to that before the pandemic. But yeah, we love the Senior Provider Information Network. They also have a meeting at the Campbell Center.

First or second Wednesday, second Wednesday of every month at Campbell Center and Eugene Senior Provider Info Network, spinlane.org. Yeah, I got thumbs up. Okay. Nonprofits. The first one I want to shout out is Food for Lane County because Food for Lane County subcontracts to deliver Meals on Wheels in Eugene for our senior meals program without them and without their volunteers. We would be in a lot of... We'd have a lot, I would have to recruit a lot more volunteers, actually. I was just thinking about that. It's a lot of people. And we really appreciate them. St. Vincent de Paul. I don't want to get caught not shouting out everyone, but St. Vincent de Paul, we do a lot of work with them. They have a lot of great programs for the unhoused community, for the veteran community, for folks in need. I'm going to pass it to Maddie because those are the two that came just right off the top. Yeah, I think anything around housing that is able to get people connected to wait lists, there's lots of places like Catholic community services that are offering food pantries on a regular basis so that people can depend on that to go get groceries. Disability Rights Oregon is a pretty big one that we are referring individuals to in APS so that you can have someone who is really advocating for you, usually throughout an investigation if it's criminal or civil. So yeah, I agree with Melissa. We appreciate all the nonprofits in our town and everything that we're able to coordinate with. Hello, I'm Kellyanne Stiles, and I'm a person with disability, fibromyalgia, and a person over 65, and also in Section 8. So I recently got a letter and it stated... The best that I read really quickly was that it was emergency housing type of thing that, for Section 8, and I thought I was good forever. And it says that due to lack of funding. that in January of 27, it will no longer be available to me. But something about they were going to roll over some people back onto a regular Section 8 voucher. And one part I thought I read, it says you didn't have to do anything about it. And then on another part, they're saying that they're not going to be able to accommodate everyone. And so my question is,

Are your offices, nonprofits, partners, anyone available to help people like me with that? Because I personally am so low income. I cannot afford a place of my own. I will say we are not, for adult protective services, we don't do investigations into entities like homes for good or into other things like that. But if you give, yes, no. But if you give us a call, we could help you connect to maybe who you need to talk to. If that is to like file a formal complaint somewhere, if that is to get connected with someone who could be an advocate for you to kind of work through the process and help you. go through the documentation, help you maybe speak to whoever you need to speak to at that entity. That would be, yeah, we would be happy to direct you to an appropriate entity for that. Yeah. No, I know. I'm just saying if you call our hotline, we would be happy to get you connected with where you need to go to. We, through APS, are not able to kind of provide like a case management type of situation where we do help someone through that process unless we are doing an investigation that maybe we could help that alleged victim. I was just going to say, so we're not homes for good, so I can't help you with Section 8 stuff, but. ADRC might be able to help you with housing resources, information, resources. people that you can call programs, things like that that might be available for you based on whatever needs that you have. And then if you qualify for any of like Medicaid, Title 19 where people receive care, sometimes people move to communities, right, where assisted living, that kind of thing, where they have care available to them, that would just be based on qualifying, but we're not a housing provider in any way. We do have resources about housing. So I would encourage you to call ADRC. Yeah. The ADRC has this huge database full of information that we don't know the half of that stuff that's in there. So that's why we go call them because they are trained and all day long they're looking up information for people with similar, never the same, right, but similar needs, similar questions. And so, and we're ongoing resource. So you can call and go, okay, this was going on.

Maybe they have some resource for you. Maybe they have some different ideas about low-income housing or affordable housing in the area, things like that. But yeah, call us ADRC-541-682-33-353. Would you recommend that people come to your office? or call or go on land. Any of those things. So whatever works for you works for us. Again, our main office here in downtown Eugene is 1015 Willamette Street, right down by the bus station across from McDonald Theater, Cottage Grove Community Center in the very back of the building, Florence at the DHS office on Highway 101. You can come in in person. We have a full staff, you know, who are support staff down. providing information. And then we even have people who come down to you. So if you need an ADRC staff and you're at the office, they'll send an ADRC person down to talk with you. Some people like computers better and they're just really good at that and they want to use that. So that, of course, is available to you. But just having a conversation with a really friendly person who knows that you're needing resources, who understands how hard and confusing it can be. And then they keep track of what you asked about. back, we can just continue on from where we left off. It's not like I'm giving you the same referral every time. That's why we say we're an ongoing resource because sometimes people need a lot of information and stuff before they get to the point where they're applying for our programs. Maybe they never need to apply for Medicaid, but maybe they need resources and that is always available to you. So again, call us anytime. Next question, ma'am. So I have a question about residency requirements. Do you have a residency requirement and how long is it? The reason I'm asking is I recently attended a seminar on death with dignity and what the requirements are for that. And I found out that Oregon and Vermont are the only two states in the United States that do not have a residency requirement to apply for that program. So for your programs, is there a residency requirement? And what is it? As far as I can remember if you live here, that's our residency requirement. You moved here, now you live here. I live here now. I moved here. I live here now. So. I don't know that, I mean, you're welcome to call ADRC and ask because they will know about, like, with programs and things. But as far as I can remember, there's no, like, 30 days or, you know, six-month requirement, like, that I, for, like, our general, a lot of our programs are just general resources and information. They're free to everyone who calls us and needs it, right? But applying for things like Medicaid or, or, or,

Oregon Project Independence, something like that. I think it's just as long as you live here. So as long as you have a legal address? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I mean, as far as I could be wrong. I like to just say that. I could be wrong. So, but I think I don't, I don't remember, Maddie. Do you remember? I will say I've worked with individuals through the process who did not have an address or maybe didn't even have access to a social security number or card and they're still going through with services. Thank you. Dr. Smalley. Sandy Smalley, City Club member. My question is for Maddie. How do you intersect with the Ombudsman program? Yes, pretty heavily. Oftentimes, when we have facility cases, if there is an ombuds involved, we are coordinating with them because they're very, very important for our residents in facility settings and making sure that their rights are being met. So, yeah, we have ongoing communication with ombudsmen. We do cross reports. If they need to report stuff to us, they will call us. If we think they need to be aware of something, we will reach out to them as well. But otherwise, just throughout the course of an investigation, we typically just make sure we are having regular communication with those partners. If it's ombudsman, if it's licensing, whoever it may be that needs to be overseen and making sure things are moving along in the right direction. I have a couple questions for... Maddie, of the reports that you get alleging abuse or neglect, what percentage of them are confirmed? We have a high percentage of cases that are not substantiated. So once we get out there, it is determined that the preponderance of evidence does not show that abuse or neglect was occurring. So it's very high that we get out there and we do not substantiate it. Say it's probably less than like 30% of cases that are substantiated or abuse or neglect. And that's why we focus so heavily on risk and protection and making sure that the victim is safe. That's our primary focus. Of the cases that are confirmed, are any referred to the DA for prosecution? Yes. Oftentimes, we are working with the police if that's for, like, a neglect case, a financial abuse case, a case of, like, seclusion or restraint. We are working with the police from, like, the beginning of our case to the end of their cases. And then, yeah, a lot of times it's left in the hands of the DA to see... If anything is going to happen criminally, we only do our investigation civilly. So a lot of times it's just handing it off to that entity. Just one more question. You mentioned a restraining order.

I assume you have to go to court for that. For restraining orders, yes. Who is the lawyer who's representing your agency in those cases? We do not go to court with an individual for restraining orders. We can help an individual go through that process themselves, or we could help a family member work through that process themselves. But the individual will be doing that process on their own. maybe with some support from us. If there's family who can do it, we would love that to happen because what oftentimes happens is you fill out a petition for restraining order online, and then the judge or whoever is going to call you back whenever they can the next day. And so oftentimes we're not available to go be with someone when the judge calls them back. So as much as natural support can help you through that process, we try to. So most of these... cases are handled by the individual themselves without counsel. Yep, by the individual themselves, we will refer you to Oregon Law Center or to legal aid if you need to get connected with an attorney. But usually through that restraining order protection process, people are able to handle that pretty well than themselves. You have another question? I have one more question. As I said before, I live in a large community, and some people are older, and sometimes... people start showing signs of Alzheimer's and dementia. And that's all very subjective, and we can't make that judgment. And we have one person who has no family, so we decided it was something that would have to be referred to the family for them to take care of or investigate or have them go to a doctor. But what do you do with, I mean, would I go to something like the Senior Provider Information Network for more information about that? Is that a good plan? Because we don't really know what to do with that particular problem. I mean, this person is not a danger to himself at this point or anything like that. But if that occurs in a community, you know, you don't want to ignore people that are in that kind of situation. So we don't really know what we should do. Got this. Okay. The ADRC is where you would start. You are actually able to contact the ADRC on behalf of others to request information, to request resources. Sometimes people even help others apply. It is the person who is receiving. the service they have to agree and sign up and sign on when it gets to that point. But there are definitely people whose needs are so high that they are unable to contact us themselves. So whatever kind of friend or family or community member who is, you know, caring about them or caring for them want to help by calling us and getting. Even appointments set sometimes and being there with them. We were worried about the legal aspects of intervening in a situation where we're not family. That's what we were concerned about too.

You're saying a community member can, a neighbor can help that too. If that individual is given you consent to get that information. Consent is the issue, yeah, being evaluated and all that stuff. Okay. And you're not going to be, it doesn't sound like you're going to be forcing anybody to do anything. No, no, no. It just sounds like you want to get information. Right. Well, yeah. Okay, thank you. Are there any more questions? Hi, Alyssa Gilbert, City Club president. I also work for a local shelter organization, shelter care. And we have seen in the shelter sector, the fastest growing population that we're serving is elderly women. And I'm curious if you guys have seen like the same sort of demographic shift in the amount of like calls that you're getting and the demographic that you're supporting. I don't know if I have seen a shift, but I think you are definitely accurate. And I think there's a huge population of individuals who don't have a partner, never had a partner, no longer have a partner, and now they are alone. And I think about living life alone out of 30 years old and how it wouldn't be possible. So I think that's completely accurate that that demographic is a lot more prevalent right now in our community. And I think that's an area that we could be focusing on how to serve them best. I'm going to ask you one more question. Oh, boy, do you have a hard job? I, you know, I'm always focused on how can we make our case managers okay at the end of the day when they're working with a really, they're seeing a lot of really difficult things each day, and so are you. And I'm curious if you guys can each speak to what you do to make yourselves okay. I, yeah, I try to keep life and work separate as best as I can and know that At 5 o'clock, I get to go home to my toddler and have a wild couple hours and just enjoy that. But it is really difficult. This is real work and this is real life and these are real individuals and it's really hard leaving a home sometime when you don't know what's going to happen next. But I think that's why we do what we can and that's why we're in this field. You work at shelter care, you're in this field. This is why we do it because we want to and we know that we are making a difference at the end of the day. I guess margaritas was the wrong answer. Go ahead. Oh, real quick, I like to camp. I have a dog. My kids are grown. They live in Portland. Sometimes I go visit them and spend too much money and eat good food. But same as Maddie. I definitely know how to separate the work that I do from the life that I have because I've done this for so long. If you want to keep doing it, you just have to learn how to sustain it, how to take care of yourself, how to have your own life and own hobbies. So you can come back and be present for the folks who, you know, have questions or are in need of these different types of programs and resources. So yes, definitely just making sure that you don't forget about who you are and the things you love. It's not all just work all of the time and use your time off wisely.

Quick question. So you are senior and disability services. Right. Could you just say a few words about the departments or programs that you offer for adults with disabilities who are not seniors? And does that mean physical disability and mental health? So the leading factor would mostly be like living with physical disabilities. We do have people who have cognitive barriers, who have mental health disability they live with, who receive our programs as well. For example, Oregon Project Independence Medicaid, I want to say is for people who are 18 and up who qualify the Medicaid program itself, Title 19, like it is going to be based on the level of care needs that people have. So it is dependent upon what people need help within their day-to-day lives and when they identify that to us by telling us about how their day-to-day life goes. And so some of our programs, for example, like senior meals program, I mentioned that's like 60 and up and spouse regardless of age. So the reason that is is because the funding for that is older Americans Act funding, which is specifically for older Americans who are over 60. And so without... trying to remember them all, I would just say when you call and ask us, you know, what you need, we're going to connect you with as much info in many programs as we can so that you can choose out of what you qualify for, so you can choose what you would like to participate in or receive. Question for Maddie. What are the prevalent scams out there that are affecting? what aren't there yeah every week they're coming up with something new because we catch on to it and they know it and then they create something new i mean there's the grandparents one there's the sheriff one there's all kinds of stamps yeah i mean what what i say is if you don't know the phone number that's calling there's no need to answer it let them leave a voicemail and if they don't leave a voicemail they probably don't need to get in contact with you um and if you do answer your phone just be smart about it um and also be smart when you're opening your mail like they're they're they're getting very creative at how they're getting in touch with people. So just try to stay on alert as best as you can. And if you have concerns, you can always reach out. You can always, if they're saying they're from your bank, they're saying they're from somewhere, actually just call your bank, the number that you know and ask them about it, and they'll tell you. What services do you provide for people with declining memory? It's not a personal question. Which all needs advice.

Through APS, we want to get you connected to however you need to get connected to. If that's going to a medical provider and getting diagnoses, if that is getting connected to support groups, if that's having family who is agreeing to show up to your house once a day at 5 o'clock, whatever it is to make sure that there's a plan in place so that you have or the individual has the support that they need to either stay in their home or to move into a facility if that's what they want to do, to really live the life that they want to live. safely and make sure that there are people or entities around that are making sure that they are safe. One more question. What advice do you have for people in the 60 to 65 who are contemplating retirement and becoming senior? Do you ever do on-site answering of questions for people, either at a facility or in their home? to apply, how to apply? So this is great because I actually meant to talk about the mobile outreach services vehicle when I was going through my massive list of things earlier. And we have a van. With a wheelchair lift and with computer office inside, with internet and eligibility specialists, then we take that mobile outreach services vehicle to various locations throughout the county. And our eligibility workers hang out in there waiting for people to come in and apply for programs and services. And if they do go in there, they can, you know, tour the van and check it out, ask questions, or they can even say, I want to apply for Snap right here right now. And that is what they are geared up to do. I'll now call and listen. Thank you. This has been our July 31st, 2026 conversation at the City Club of Eugene.

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