HALO Coalition holding symposium on assisted lifestyle alternatives

Saturday, August 10, 2002

By MARCI ELLIOTT, mrelliott@naplesnews.com

The HALO Coalition will hear about and discuss models for housing and other assisted living options at its first regional symposium next week.

The recently formed coalition of Southwest Florida government and social agencies, businesses and organizations — united to help the elderly and disabled — has scheduled a two-day symposium with government and private-sector leaders as keynote speakers.

The HALO Coalition Symposium on Assisted Lifestyle Alternatives is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 15-16 in the Whitaker Hall Sprint Room at Florida Gulf Coast University in Estero/Fort Myers.

Admission is free, with continental breakfast and lunch. Registration for the symposium is under way.

"The symposium is significant because we're bringing an array of experts together from all disciplines of care for the elderly and disabled," said Gary Kluckhuhn, HALO's founder and the director of FGCU's Center for Assisted Living Innovation, the coalition's founding organization. "I have never seen a forum or venue anywhere like what's going to happen on the 15th and 16th."

The HALO symposium will feature presentations by leading gerontologists and other authorities on housing and other services for frail elders and people with disabilities, said Robert Figueroa, assistant director of the Center for Assisted Living Innovation.

Topics will include the role of interagency and public-private partnerships in providing affordable, community-based housing and care; alternative living and care models; how innovative technology and service delivery mechanisms can allow more people with disabilities to live in their own homes rather than in institutions; and the potential of volunteers to alleviate the shortage of in-home caregiver resources.

Terry White, secretary of the state Department of Elder Affairs and keynote speaker at the Friday lunch, will explain how the department works and how its services can assist clients under the HALO umbrella.

Judith Rabig, project director of the Green House Project, a program that has reformed long-term care, will tell about the project and how it creates small community homes where elders can live and receive the care they need.

Rabig also will tell about the Eden Alternative, an innovative program that has changed the lives of staff and residents in nursing homes nationwide. The Eden Alternative and the Green House Project were created by William Thomas, a Harvard Medical School graduate known for nursing-home reform and elderly care.

"The time has come to reinvent the long-term care environment for the 21st century," Thomas has said. "We must change the way we think about, regulate and deliver services to people who are frail, disabled or elderly."

Cecilia Rokusek, dean of FGCU's College of Health Professions and another symposium speaker, will address the challenge of long-term health care.

Other symposium presentation topics will include:

n The Gizmo House, a unique, high-tech "smart home" that allows six disabled residents to live virtually assistance-free

n The Angel Program, care solutions offered through volunteers and sponsors

n Avoiding "environmental aging," or matching the environment to individuals' needs

n Models for community-based affordable housing, creating opportunity through partnerships

n Shelter and care, exploring the connection between housing and services

The symposium is open to assisted-living center directors, nursing-home administrators, social workers, developers and builders, nurses and health care professionals such as physical, occupational and recreational therapists, and others involved in the care and delivery of services to the elderly and disabled.

"It's also open to families planning for themselves or family members," Kluckhuhn said. "Families will have an opportunity to see not just institutional options, but ways to live in their own home or a single-family living environment."

For more information on the HALO Coalition Assisted Lifestyle Alternatives Symposium, call Gary Kluckhuhn at (239) 732-0375 or register online at www.halocoalition.org.