Arlington County's partnership with a low-income apartment complex to provide cost-effective assistance that helps older residents live independently won the top 2011 "Best Practices" award from the Commonwealth Council on Aging.
The partnership between the County's Aging and Disability Services division and Culpepper Garden provides affordable services normally found in assisted living facilities to older residents of the complex. The program will receive a $5,000 donation in recognition of its efforts to help older Virginians age in their community.
"This award recognizes Arlington's efforts -- embodied in the 2007 Elder Readiness Plan adopted by the County Board -- to work with community partners to ensure that Arlington is a good place to grow old," said Terri Lynch, director of the Arlington county Agency on Aging.
The services provided through the partnership with Culpepper Garden -- such as transportation, personal care, adult day health care and nursing case management -- normally are found in assisted living facilities.
Culpepper Garden provides federally-financed housing for older men and women. Two service coordinators and the County's Agency on Aging work together to help residents identify their needs and apply for and access services.
"With these awards, the Council and the Virginia Department for the Aging honor creativity in services that foster livable communities for older adults through home- and community-based supports such as transportation, housing, caregiver support and intergenerational programming," Virginia Department for Aging Commissioner Jim Rothrock said in a press release issued by the VDA.
For more information, you can read the Virginia Department for Aging's press release at http://www.vda.virginia.gov/news.asp.