|
LinkAge Line
The stronger link
LinkAge Line
expands offerings in 2002
With ambitious
expansion plans for the year 2002, Minnesota’s
Senior LinkAge Line® is in no danger of becoming
"the weakest link."
In fact, the snippy
"goodbye" of a British TV emcee is the
furthest thing on the radar screen as Minnesota’s
information connection source on senior services
finds new ways to reach people this year.
Not that that has
been a problem. Activity on the Senior LinkAge Line®
has more than doubled between 1997 and 2000, with
more than 43,000 calls to the line (1-800-333-2433)
in 2000. With the changes on the 2002 horizon, new
methods of getting linked into the system should
allow even more people to plug in to the state’s
resources on senior services. New developments in
telephone, Internet and personal help should expand
the Senior LinkAge Line®’s capabilities.
Database
With a target date
of the middle of 2002, at least some of the
Minnesota Board on Aging’s database of information
will be searchable through the Internet. The
information will be available for consumers,
professionals, county social service agencies and
home care providers.
Through a series of
screens, much like the menus of an ATM machine, the
search site will help information seekers hone in on
their particular needs, answering one question at a
time. For instance, let’s say Mabel needs a
particular kind of in-home assistance. Her specific
information, location and type of service she needs
can be plugged in, then an appropriate list of
resources will be punched back out or appear on the
screen.
Eventually, other
online resources like caregiver support chatrooms,
will be added to the site as well.
Doing an online
search, information seekers can also do preliminary
work from the comfort of their home and learn if
they’re even close to being eligible for certain
programs without having to go through the steps of
an application process. Also, the search can be used
by those who might not live in the state but are
responsible for developing care plans for friends or
family in Minnesota.
Dial 2-1-1
Another piece to
the expanding outreach of the Senior LinkAge Line®
will be the coming of "2-1-1." Like
"9-1-1" for emergencies and
"4-1-1" for directory information,
"2-1-1" will be a three-digit number that
will connect callers to a referral network of health
and human services agencies.
In Minnesota,
"2-1-1" will be an association with the
First Call for Help lines operated by United Ways.
"2-1-1"
is really designed as a quick place to turn to for
those facing impending situations and having no idea
where to start looking. Through connections between
agencies handling the calls, the Senior LinkAge Line®
and agencies providing the services, the goal is to
quickly get those searchers on the right track.
Currently, work is being done to strengthen
relationships between all those players so that the
connections can be made effectively.
"2-1-1"
should be available statewide late in 2002.
Community outreach
The third prong of
the new development to the Senior LinkAge Line® is
an increased community presence, putting staff
members into more one-on-one situations to provide
information and assistance. Through all of the
changes, there is one guiding principle – the
"No Wrong Door" approach. This means that
a client can enter the system by calling, through
searching the Internet or being referred by clergy
or social worker and that his or her needs will be
picked up from that point, rather than backtracking
to an official starting point.
|
