Greater Lowell Elder Mental Health Collaborative Home Page

The Greater Lowell Elder Mental Health Collaborative (GLEMHC) has advocated to develop and to increase mental health services for elders in the Greater Lowell area since the mid 1980's.

The Collaborative has brought together individuals and agencies which provide elder services, mental health services, nursing services, hospital care, nursing home care, etc. in the Lowell area. It was organized initially by Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley (ESMV) and was able to obtain several grants for staffing. In recent years it has been run on a volunteer basis by its membership.

Some of the programs generated or provided included:

Group services for isolated elders ;
Friends in Deed (a friendly visitor program);
A psycho-geriatric assessment service;
Trainings for providers and consumers.

Purpose of This Web Site

Individuals and agencies regularly ask about mental health:

How and where do I obtain a service?
How do services differ?
How do I know if someone needs help?
What can I do to stay healthy?
Who are providers and how do I know what they do?

It became clear that information about elder mental health and appropriate services is not accessible to everyone.

The Greater Lowell Elder Mental Health Collaborative decided to develop an elder mental health resource. It made sense to place this information at an accessible location. We also wanted to make changes easily in order to keep them current. Therefore we decided to develop an elder mental health resource guide on a web site.

The information in this guide is available to anyone. The section on agencies and their services is about the Lowell area. The other sections are applicable no matter where you live or work. It is our hope that this guide will help you to make referrals or to obtain services more easily. It will not help you to make diagnoses or assessments for yourself or for others.

We encourage your participation in this guide. If you have suggestions about information or what could be added to any section please let us know.

Mission Statement

The Greater Lowell Elder Mental Health Collaborative is dedicated to improving and increasing access to mental health services for elders.

We have advocated and developed mental health services for older residents of the Greater Lowell Communities since 1985. Originally, the GLEMHC was organized and funded by Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley. In 1992 the work of the Collaborative was in part funded by the Parker Foundation. More recently, members of the Collaborative volunteer their time with the support of their agencies. The members represent agencies that provide elder services, elder mental health and nursing services, hospital care and home health care in the Lowell area.

For More Information

For information about the organization, please send email to info@ eldermentalhealth.org

For information about this site, please send email to webmaster@ eldermentalhealth.org.

Untitled from Frank Baskin on Vimeo.

DIRECTORY

NEWS FLASH

I. Question One

This ballot question failed. If passed it would have had devasting consequences for elders and their families. It is a relief. However, there is oter news.

Our concern moving forward is the impact of cut-backs in the State budget due to declining revenues. Please read the next item.

II. Cutbacks in Mass 2009 Budget

Governor Deval Patrick of Mass announced on 10/15/08 cutbacks to the 2009 State Budget. Revenues for this fiscal year have been very low. If this continues there may be additional cutbacks which will impact services.

The following is a list of budget changes which will impact elders.

While this includes some cuts to MassHealth there are some others not included here.

GOOD NEWS:

Protective services and ECOP were protected.

THE REST:

ELDER MENTAL HEALTH(lost almost half of its funding)
Family Caregivers(eliminated)
Supportive Senior Housin(lost1.2 %)
Congregate Housing(lost 22.5 %)
Residences for Homeless Elders(lost 66%)
Elder Nutrition(lost 2.98 %)
COAs(lost 2.5 %)
ASAPs(lost 6.8 million).
Prescription Advangage(lost 12 %).

III. Mass F'Y 2009 Budget

The following is a summary of some aspects of the F'Y 2009 budget as passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor.

The results are better than might have been expected. Many items which we were fearful of elimination or significant cutbacks did not happen. There are few examples of significant increases or new programming/services.

One use of language(Score 3)which has been used to protect frail elders was ,unfortunately, vetoed by the Governor.

Thank all of you for your efforts .

* Score 3

The Governor vetoed the current language which applies the score 3 clinical criteria to both new and also current residents.
Without an override by the legislature this protection for frail elders will no longer apply.

ACTION STEP:
Please contact both your Mass State Representative and Senator to override this veto. Maintain the current Score 3 clinical criteria for both new and current nursing home residents.

* Geriatric Mental Health

Line Item

Funded at $ 225,000. This funds the demonstration projects but not new programming.

9110-1630 Account

EOEA may now allow ASAPS to use these monies for mental health services(no funds were added this account for this service).

* Family Caregivers

Funded at $ 253,000.

* PNA

Maintained at $ 72.80 per month.

* Community First

Funded at $ 20 million with 5 Million dedicated to the Rolland case. Not 45 million but a start.

* Councils on Aging

Funded at 8.615 million. A victory for the COAs.

IV. Medicare co-payments for Mental Health Services

The co-payments for Medicare Part B services will be reduced from 50% to 20%. This will be a gradual reduction over six years.

Congress had to override a Presidential veto.

The Federal House of Representatives has made some important changes in Medicare services.

Clinical social workers would be allowed to bill Medicare directly for services provided to residents who are in a Medicare A (SNF) bed.

ACTION STEP:

**Please contact your Federal Senator and request they support these provisions in the Senate Finance Committee.

VI . SENIOR SUICIDE ACT

HR 4897

ACTION STEP:

Ask your Federal Rep to become a co-sponsor of this bill.

VII Guardianship

This bill(S. 843)in the Mass legislature will:
1. Creates a new standard for "incapacitatred person" based on functioning(lack of capacity)
2. The guardian's powers would be limited
3. The guardian must submit detailed annual reports.

ACTION STEP:
Contact your State Senator to support this bill.

Caregiving

* Caregiver Burnout

* Caregiver Health

* Development of Objectives for Family Caregivers

* Elders Who Are Depressed::Tasks For Family And Friends

* Family Support Groups

* Journal Writing About Gratitude By and for Caregivers

Harmful Family Caregiving Behaviors

* Help From Family Members

Research on Caregiving

*Spousal Caregiving Can Lead to Gum Disease