Advocate for elderly, disabled in Lee
HALO aims to bring services to those in need
By ANDI ATWATER, aatwater@news-press.com
A new group that pledges to assist disabled residents and the frail elderly with housing and health care needs is expanding into Lee County.
The HALO — Housing, Healthcare and Assisted Living Options — Coalition formed last month and tested the waters in Collier County before expanding to recruit volunteers from all over Southwest Florida.
Organizers say the area is in a state of crisis, with almost 1,000 people on waiting lists for help with such things as meals, housing, a wheelchair ramp or other basic assisted-living needs.
“We’re trying to meet the needs of those people currently not receiving services,” said Gary Kluckhuhn, co-director of the Center for Assisted Living Innovation at Florida Gulf Coast University.
The HALO Coalition is the center’s first initiative, formed after research showed that many elderly residents and those with physical or mental disabilities are not receiving basic services — or can’t afford them.
When HALO began strategy meetings last month in Collier County, dozens of agencies responded, including assisted-living communities, government agencies such as the Department of Children & Families, and other businesses, including councils on aging and hospitals.
At FGCU on Wednesday, organizers saw a similar response.
Some, such as Dan Daniels, protective investigator supervisor for DCF’s adult services, said he sees major gaps in services all the time.
“There is a dearth of services for people 18 to 59 years old,” he said. “Once you hit 60, you’re eligible for a number of services out there.”
Most service providers in Lee County agree with HALO’s still-evolving stance that few available service providers effectively communicate with each other, or even know what other services may complement theirs.
HALO organizers want to bridge that gap as well as find solutions for missing services in all of Southwest Florida — and eventually the state, said HALO assistant director Robert Figueroa.
“We’re still trying to figure out who we are,” he said. “This is definitely an idea whose time has come: People want to figure out what to do with the limited resources we have.”
July 11, 2002