BOC Hears Region VII Area Agency on Aging Update

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Senior Staff Writer

HARRISON – Monica Freier, chief operating officer and interim executive director of the Region VII Area Agency on Aging, attended the April meeting of the Clare County Board of Commissioners to provide a presentation on her agency. She began by thanking the Board for being “wonderful community partners” and expressed appreciation for the County’s clean audit [which is required because Clare County receives funds to provide Region VII services]. Freier then assured that she was available any time the BOC might request her attendance. She then asked for a show of hands indicating who among them knows what Region VII does. Assured there was general knowledge, she moved on to define what an Area Agency on Agency is and does.

“We serve 10 counties in mid-Michigan, under the Older Americans Act,” Freier said. “That’s the money that comes in to us through federal and state grants, and we are charged with distributing that out to all of you.”

She then indicated a page in the folders distributed earlier to commissioners, which listed all the 2024 moneys which came from Region VII to Clare County. Freier pointed out that Clare County does pay dues to be part of Region VII, which in 2024 was $2,474 with the return into the county being $418,000. That did not count the MI Choice Waiver program.

“There’re not really any updates on funding at this time,” she said. Freier said she did not want to incite any panicking, and informed that she had been in Lansing for two days the prior week meeting with all the Area Agency on Aging across the entire state.

“And with out state partners,” she said. “They can’t really tell us anything. What I can tell you is your state partners at MDHHS and ACLS [Administration for Community Living Supports] are working with us, to make sure they push out funding as fast as they get it. They want to make sure that money gets in the hands of communities and not sitting anywhere that anyone could say, ‘Hey, give that back.’”

That includes American Rescue Plan Act funding not yet spent. Freier said there had been $10 million sitting in that pot, and $5 million had been pushed out for immediate use.

“Right now, we are lobbying for the MI Choice Waiver program as the number one advocacy goal,” she said. Freier went on to explain that the program is the home services Region VII provides in this local community to people who otherwise would likely be in a nursing home rather than having care in their own home.

“We keep them in their homes in the community where they want to be,” Freier said. “That can look like their own home, like their family – daughter, son – it could also be assisted living or an AFC. But we keep them where they want to be, to the best of our ability, receiving those services.”

Freier said that last year Region VII served 161 residents of Clare County and noted her realization that there certainly were not 161 nursing home beds available in Clare County. The indication there is that if the program ever went away, 161 people would either be at home without the help they need or be in a nursing home either locally or in another county.

Freier said that serving someone in their home under the MI Choice Waiver program has an average cost of $89.53 per day. That compares with $234.56 per day. She said that if everyone across the state on the MI Choice Waiver program ended up in a nursing home, it would cost the state $535 million per year.

“It is an amazing benefit,” Freier said. “The other thing I can tell you is they live longer when they’re in their homes; they enjoy life more when they’re in their homes. We provide transportation, we take them not just to the doctor. We are charged with making sure they have socialization.” She noted that includes people who go to the farmers’ market, the library, shopping, and even to concerts. “We pay for their caregivers to go with them. So that program does so much more than what a nursing home can do.”

Freier also said there is a caregiver shortage and noted that this year legislators are being lobbied heavily, and she encouraged the commissioners to do the same. She also urged commissioners to refer anyone they encounter who needs assistance to Region VII for assistance, and if their need can’t be met, there are options counselors who will help anyone who calls find the resources they need.

“So, we are there for all of you,” Freier said. “Please send everyone our way.”

Fielding a question from Commissioner Jack Kleinhardt regarding the aging population, Freier cited the fact that more than 24% of Michigan’s population is over 60 years of age, a number that is projected to grow by 15% over the next 15 years. She said that Michigan being one of the states with the oldest populations, coupled with a younger population disinclined to remain here, exacerbates the caregiver shortage.