SL County Aging and Adult Services conducting community assessment survey
Feb 1, 2024, 9:00 AM
SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — Are you 60 or older, an adult with disabilities or a caregiver of either of these groups? Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services is trying to better serve its community with a survey.
What do you need? Share in the aging services survey
“We’re undertaking a community needs assessment,” said Nels Holmgren, director of the Division of Aging and Adult Services. “There are a lot of services that are available through Aging and Adult Services – transportation, Meals on Wheels, in-home services. We like to do the survey periodically to make sure that we’re capturing the needs that people have.”
Holmgren and his team want to know if they’re providing what you need.
“The results of the survey will be used to build a plan to address some of the gaps that are identified in the survey,” explained Traci Lee, Program Administrator with Aging and Adult Services. “We want to enhance the services we provide and make them better. Also, we want to make sure we’re meeting the needs of people statewide, both urban and rural.”
Any information that is gathered in the survey will be kept confidential.
“This is purely to get people’s thoughts and feelings,” Holmgren said. “We don’t collect any personal information.”
I took the survey
The survey was super easy. It took about 10 minutes. What blew me away was how many programs are offered that I just didn’t know about.
My husband and I care for our 35-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome. Because we don’t have any family in Utah, we have always believed that this was a responsibility we carried alone.
Wrong — there is so much help available.
“We learned when we did the survey in 2019 that people didn’t know about the services,” Lee said. “We’re really trying to focus on education and outreach so that people know about the services and know where to go to get them.”
If you need help getting to services, Aging and Adult Services developed a care coordination program that will help you navigate getting the help you need.
Need help or know someone who does?
Do you need help with getting to appointments or grocery shopping? Maybe help with yard work or shoveling snow? Many of our seniors are taken care of by family and neighbors, but I bet there are services they would benefit from if they knew they existed.
It’s possible you don’t need any help yourself, but maybe you’re aware of someone who does. Are there seniors in your neighborhood who need help? Their grass is never mowed. Maybe they need someone to help them with house cleaning or cooking, snow shoveling or getting to the doctor.
“Helping to connect people is really critical for us,” Holmgren emphasized. “We want to make sure these important services are being used by the people who need them.”
Who should take take the aging services survey?
“We’re looking for people from all over Utah, across the state, who are over 60,” Holmgren said. “That’s our primary target group that we’re looking to serve. But also adults with disabilities and caregivers to seniors and adults with disabilities. We want to hear from the unpaid family and friends and also the paid professionals.”
Some Spanish speakers can assist you on the phone as well.
