1. October2015•PittsburghSeniorNews
14
October2015•PittsburghSeniorNews
15
Volume 6, Issue 11Volume 6, Issue 11
By Margi Shrum
Communications Specialist, Allegheny County
Department of Human Services Office of
Community Relations
For Pittsburgh Senior News
Mark has worked on the Senior-
Line for more than five years.
As a care manager, he is among staff
members at the Department of Hu-
man ServicesAreaAgency onAging
(DHS/AAA) who answer questions
and provide referrals for Allegheny
County’s older adults.
One day, Mark took a phone call from
a woman seeking help with bringing
her sister, who was in her 90s and
in a nursing home in another city,
to Pittsburgh. The caller explained
to him that all family members who
lived near her sister had died or
moved away, and now the sister was
alone. The caller wanted to know if
SeniorLine’s trained experts could
tell her what to do to end her sister’s
isolation. Mark began investigating.
“This was my first time I had a situ-
ation that included a nursing home
that was out of state,” Mark says,
but because SeniorLine specialists
are trained and certified by the na-
tional Alliance for Informational and
Referral Systems (AIRS) in practice
and procedure and have also been
trained in an in depth approach to
providing information and assis-
tance, called Options Counseling,
he dug in to find a solution. That
included securing Medicaid in Penn-
sylvania, necessary for the woman
to receive nursing care in Pittsburgh,
and finding a facility that had a bed
With a warm touch, SeniorLine care managers link older
adults to information and services
for her. Mark located the proper
forms and sent a packet to the sister
and then helped her fill them out.
In many instances, SeniorLine
care managers never learn of the
outcomes for the people they help;
but in this instance, Mark received
a voicemail a few months later. The
sisters had called to thank him. Mark
was touched by the call.
“They were so happy,” Mark recalls
noting that, as a social worker,
making a difference is an important
motivator for him in his work. “They
now had each other in their lives.”
The SeniorLine connection
Making a difference for older adults
is what the SeniorLine is all about.
Located at the AAA offices on
Pittsburgh’s South Side, the Se-
niorLine employs 15 care managers
who answer any question posed
to them—from locating housing,
transportation, food assistance
and in-home care to giving voice
to older adults who, for example,
find themselves lost in automated
customer service systems.
At SeniorLine, a warm touch is
behind everyone’s work. While the
service is an outreach mandated
by the Older Americans Act and a
priority service for the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, SeniorLine
care managers foremost are . . .
well, caring.
“I am most gratified like when I am in
the phone room hearing the empa-
thy, kindness and concern that care
managers genuinely offer to people,”
says Ethel Novogradac,AAASenior-
Line supervisor. “We get such strong
consumer feedback on the fact that,
in this day and age, they can find a
‘live’ person to help them.”
Photo credit: www.depositphotos.com.
SeniorLine has been around for
about 30 years, beginning with a half
dozen staff members who answered
phones.As demand and technology
have expanded, the service has
been modified and upgraded. It now
features care managers with spe-
cific expertise in transportation and
housing issues, as well as those with
longtime experience who consult on
more involved questions—which can
be posed via email and TTY, not just
by phone.
The service handles nearly 50,000
inquiries a year. Many times the
calls come from neighbors, friends
or relatives of older adults whose
life situation appears to be dete-
riorating. Callers can be unsure
what to do, and the information and
referrals provided by SeniorLine
care managers show them the
way. The service also works with
other information and assistance
programs, including the Allegheny
Link, also operated by the county
Department of Human Services,
and PA Southwest 2-1-1, to ensure
answers are found.
Importantly, SeniorLine is the re-
quired point of intake for anyone
who knows about and desires
long-term care programs, such
as Family Caregiver Support, that
may help keep older adults safe
and independent in their home.
However, people who contact the
SeniorLIne seeking general infor-
mation may also consent to an
intake interview that could lead to a
helpful program that they might not
have known about or considered.
The intake interview, conducted by
a SeniorLine care manager, would
be forwarded to an appropriate pro-
gram staff, who can then arrange
an in-home assessment of needs
for a program match.
That extra step
Angel has been a SeniorLine care
manager for 15 years.As other care
managers are, she is trained to be
proactive when helping someone,
probing during her discussions with
county residents to make sure that
while the person’s first inquiry is an-
swered, there aren’t other issues for
which the region’s many resources
might offer help. While sometimes
social work services are found to
be needed, no actions are taken
without the consent of the person
in question and confidentiality is
always maintained.
Angel recalls taking an inquiry from
a woman who had applied for a
financial assistance program she
needed but had been denied. She
had given up. “I told her what the
next step should be and explained
to her why it was important that she
take that step,” Angel says.
The woman took Angel’s advice
and pursed the reasons behind
the denial. It turned out that the
woman’s financial information had
crossed in the mail with the agency.
The agency issued a denial letter
the same day that the necessary
financial information reached it.
The woman ultimately received the
assistance she needed because
Angel was able to help her see
and pursue the proper path to it.
“People get overwhelmed,” Angel
adds. “They don’t know where to
start. They are grateful that we give
them some direction.”
Gary, also a 15-year veteran on
SeniorLine, agrees. “We help them
solve their own problems. Some-
times, it’s just that they didn’t think
about the solution.”
Gary says that one of the most sat-
isfying aspects of his job is knowing
that somehow, he might play a part
in improving the circumstances of
an older adult. “We’re in it for the
older adults. You do get a good feel-
ing from that,” he comments.
Although SeniorLine is the primary
point of contact for information and
assistance accessed through the
Allegheny County Area Agency
on Aging, specialists can also be
found at 21 specific Senior Com-
munity Centers. Contact informa-
tion for those centers is listed on
page 15 of the Allegheny County
Senior Resource Guide and in ev-
ery issue of the Pittsburgh Senior
News. PSN
Contact the SeniorLine by phone
at (412) 350-5460, (800) 344-4319
or TTY: (412) 350-2727; or email
SeniorLine@Alleghenycounty.us.
The SeniorLine operates 8:30 to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday.
Photo credit: www.depositphotos.com.