Community Resources

For Older Persons

Reported by Dan Joshua Ojoy
 Community Based Supports and
Resources
• Community-based supports and services (CBSS) are designed to help
community-dwelling older adults remain safely in their homes and
delay or prevent institutionalization.
• Institutionalization is a global phenomenon and its impact on
elderly’s quality of life. If someone becomes institutionalized, they
gradually become less able to think and act independently, because
of having lived for a long time under the rules of an institution
 Demographics
• More than 20% of older adults (aged 60 and above) currently receive
CBSS. Older adults who use these services need them: over 90% of
service users have multiple chronic conditions and corresponding
activity of daily living (ADL) deficits. With the rapid aging of our
population, even as overall health improves the number of older
adults who could benefit from CBSS is expected to increase
significantly in the coming years.
 Examples of Services and Supports
• Community-based organizations provide a broad range of programs
for older adults and caregivers. Most health care providers are
familiar with nutrition, homemaker, and transportation services as
well as senior centers but many other services are available, including
legal assistance and case management services for clients and
counseling and respite services for caregivers.
Homemaker services Services designed to maintain a healthy home
environment such as housekeeping, meal
preparation, laundry, and shopping

Home delivered meals Meals delivered to the home of those who cannot
prepare or obtain adequate nutrition

Congregate meals Meals served in a community setting to those who

cannot prepare or obtain adequate nutrition

Transportation Includes subsidized mass transit, curb-to-curb

paratransit and other assisted transportation, and
driver education

Personal care Hands-on or cueing to assist individuals with

ADLs or IADLs
Case management Professional management of an individual’s
health care; identification and assessment of
biopsychosocial needs; monitoring use of services
to ensure positive outcomes

Information and assistance Used to help individuals or their representatives

identify, access, and use support services
(exclusive of case management)

Nutrition education and counseling Assessment of and assistance in meeting of an

individual’s nutritional needs by a licensed
nutritionist or dietician

Adult day care Community-based program offering social,

recreational, and health-related services in
congregate setting
Outreach To inform and educate the public of the
availability of services, benefits, and programs
Chore Household tasks such as heavy cleaning and yard
work
Legal assistance Consultation and representation for consumer
issues, housing, benefits, etc.
 Nutrition Service Programs
• Older people – 60 and up – are more susceptible to nutritional
problems. In the Philippines, the 2018 National Nutrition Survey
(NNS) result shows Chronic Energy Deficiency in elderly has
significantly decreased to 13.4% but overweight (24.7%) and
obesity (6.3%) is increasing. Android obesity, a case in obese
individual in which the body’s extra fat gets distributed over the
abdominal region of the body, in elderly also increased. Moreover,
elevated blood pressure significantly declined but high fasting blood
sugar increased to 13.8% from 11.0% in 2013.
• Food guides were born out of researches conducted throughout the years. In 2016, the
Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and
Technology launched a food guide dubbed as Pinggang Pinoy for different age
groups. Pinggang Pinoy is a healthy food plate showing the recommended proportion per
food groups (GO, GROW and GLOW) in every meal.
• The plate promotes the basic principles of nutrition—MODERATION, BALANCE and
VARIETY. Pinggang Pinoy has additional healthy tips for the elderly:
(1) to eat less of salty, fried, fatty and sugar-rich foods to prevent chronic diseases;
(2) to understand nutrition information on product labels to make smart food choices; and
(3) to stay physically active.
• The first week of October of every year is declared as Elderly
Filipino Week pursuant to Proclamation No. 470, s. 1994. This was
designed to promote the well-being of the elderly under the lead of
Department of Social Welfare and Development. The 2019 Elderly
Filipino Week theme “Healthy and Productive Aging Starts with
Me” emphasizes the need to promote the health, wellness and
productivity of senior citizens.
 Community Resources
Local Senior Centers - Senior centers connect older adults to vital
community services that can help them stay healthy and independent.
More than 60% of senior centers are designated focal points for
delivery of OAA services—allowing older adults to access multiple
services in one place.

City Hall - Start with your municipal building or city hall to get
connected with senior services that can include referrals to Meals,
safety checks, and even medical equipment rental.
Home Care Support for Senior Citizens – These are preventive,
Rehabilitative and Developmental programs and initiatives for older
persons in need and at risk
• Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens – Was designed to protect
indigent senior citizens from the loss of income and unemployment as a
result of illness, Injuries, Disability and other circumstances.
 Coalition Of Services of the Elderly
• COSE is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) in the Philippines
working with older persons since 1989. They focus on the formation and
strengthening of Older Persons’ Organizations (OPOs); advocacy; and
partnership building.
• COSE is a licensed and registered Social Welfare and Development
Agency, and a member of various humanitarian and development
networks at the international and national levels.
 Strategic Focus Areas
• 1. Protection and Inclusion
• Ensures that the older persons, national and local government units, and
other stakeholders work together in developing and implementing policies
and programs for the aging sector.
• Promotes the rights and welfare of older persons through policy advocacy
and awareness-raising of issues and existing laws/policies related to older
persons.
• 2. Income Security
• COSE together with older persons works to ensure their rights for an age-
friendly, diversified, and secure livelihood; adequate social protection;
and equal opportunities in employment and work.
• Introduce and establish an age-friendly and diversified livelihood within
older person’s organizations (OPOs) such as small-scale businesses and
micro-lending, a communal garden that uses crop diversification and
typhoon resilient farming, etc.
• 3. Active and Healthy Aging
• Promotes healthy and active aging through community-based health
programs, advocacy for better health policies, and institutionalization of
healthy practices in COSE’s internal policies.
• Formation and development of community health volunteers to provide
geriatric care to sick, frail, and bedridden older persons.
 DSWD HOME CARE SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SENIOR
CITIZEN: (HCSSSC)
• is a community-based program that aims to provide quality care
for the sick, frail, bedridden senior citizens in their own homes
through their family/kinship caregiver and homecare volunteers.
The project ensures that older persons, their families and
communities promote healthy and harmonious family relationships
and take effective steps to provide care and protection to the sick,
frail, bedridden, disabled, abandoned and neglected senior citizens.
 Objectives
OBJECTIVES
• Provide a package of caregiving services for senior citizens who have difficulty in
performing activities of daily living due to old age and ailments
• Capacitate volunteers to plan and deliver home care support services to the senior
citizens in their own homes
• Encourage active participation of the family in establishing and sustaining programs
and services for the senior citizens
• Enhance capabilities of implementing LGUs/P0s, senior citizens organizations in the
delivery of services to home care beneficiaries
• Raise public awareness on the needs and aspirations of the senior citizens
 Components
• Social Mobilization
Home care volunteers are mobilized to serve as social support and companion in recreational
and socialization activities as well as daily living such as bathing, grooming and dressing, meal
preparation, eating and taking medicines
• Capability Building
Conduct of skills enhancement on the care and management of senior citizens, team building
activities as well as value formation sessions to families, community volunteers & service
providers
• Service Delivery
Based on the helping plan, beneficiaries are provided with home care, respite services, physical
fitness program, kinship care, palliative care and spiritual services
Thank you for
listening!