Coalition addresses housing, health care needsThe housing and health care coalition is an initiative of FGCU's Center for Assisted Living Innovation. Saturday, June 29, 2002 By MARCI ELLIOTT, mrelliott@naplesnews.com
A new Southwest Florida housing and health care coalition got a jolt of energy from charged-up agency leaders at its official launching this week. More than 60 representatives of private, nonprofit and governmental organizations on Tuesday rallied in support of the month-old group, which assists frail elders and other disabled adults through affordable housing, health care and other daily assistance. "So many people told me they had never been to a meeting with so much power, energy and enthusiasm," said Gary Kluckhuhn, the group's acting director and organizer. The group of about 60 people met at the Florida Gulf Coast University Naples Center to officially launch the Housing, Healthcare and Assisted Living Options coalition, dubbed HALO. The coalition, made up of organizations that provide various services to the elderly and disabled, also decided to keep the HALO acronym as its official name and added "Healthcare" to its title. Wednesday, the coalition's advisory board met with an FGCU business consultant to begin working on a business plan. The coalition's biggest problem is the lack of money for a full-time director and staff, said Dan Regelski, director of the FGCU College of Business' Small Business Development Center/Center for Leadership and Innovation. But that problem should be taken care of in time after the efforts of fund-raising and other subcommittees start showing results, he and the advisers agreed. Meanwhile, Regelski advised the board on administrative and organizational matters. The housing and health care coalition is an initiative of FGCU's Center for Assisted Living Innovation, of which Kluckhuhn is director. At Tuesday's meeting, agency leaders told about their enthusiasm for the coalition and what their respective organizations can offer. "I can see this working," said Jack Dixon, marketing director for Arden Courts, an Alzheimer's assisted-living community in Naples. "We can help educate the community on what services are available." Dixon said another major goal was to help the elderly and disabled gain access to affordable medication. He relayed the story of an elderly woman who cut her expensive medication dosage from three a day to one to keep the cost down. "This group is going to address the high cost of drugs," he said. "For many people, it comes down to a question of, "Should I eat, or should I buy my medicine?' " Susan Golden, a planner with the City of Naples, said she could help with the coalition's goals to find affordable housing for elderly people and people with disabilities. "A number of housing recommendations will eventually come to us," Golden said. "We will look for federal, state and other funding sources to help with the housing." Leigh Straub, marketing director for Summerhouse, an assisted-living home in North Naples, said the coalition's potential was impossible to envision. "This is huge. It's really big," Straub said. "It gives inertia to Gary's efforts." Geoff Moebius, hospital administrator for Cleveland Clinic Florida in Naples, said the coalition gathers service-providers together in one place to organize and coordinate their offerings. "There are so many groups that are all doing good things in the community," said Moebius, chairman of the coalition's advisory board. "This is wonderful because it's taking all those good things and taking all their expertise, and uniting them under one umbrella." And that, Moebius added, will also eliminate duplication of services. Sgt. Mike Wittenberg, senior services coordinator for the Collier County Sheriff's Office, said his unit's goal is to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors. "Sometimes self-neglect is just as serious as abuse by others," Wittenberg said. "Criminal law enforcement is not the an swer. This (coalition) will fill gaps when nobody else does. Sometimes all people need is to be taken by the hand." Jerry Sanford, spokesman for the North Naples fire department, said his organization — Community Emergency Response Team — has 300 volunteers who have been trained to assist in tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters. The volunteers will be available to provide help at other times, too, Sanford said, such as grocery- shopping for the elderly and disabled. Moebius cautioned the advisory board that with all the good services offered in the community, "We could become very overwhelmed, very quickly." The advisory board agreed to focus on getting the Collier County chapter of the coalition up and running before forming boards in Lee and Charlotte counties.
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