ARPA/Healthy Aging Grants- Success Stories in 2024
Thanks to ARPA and Healthy Aging grants, Direction Home was able to significantly increase services provided to individuals in 2024. Various innovative programs were developed and concluded between April – December 2024, including programs providing food and meals, care coordination, minor home modifications, chores, tablets, Internet access, and digital inclusion.
Food and Meals
Home-delivered meals and alternative meal options have been in high demand for several years. We developed two initiatives to address this need: the Direction Home Diners Club (an extension of 2020’s Restaurant Initiative), and food box delivery.
1,580 members joined the Diners Club over four months, enjoying over 4,250 meals from participating local restaurants! The Diners Club not only supported nutritional needs of older adults and patronage of local businesses, but also provided members with an opportunity to prevent isolation by visiting places in the community they otherwise would not be able to afford.
Over 700 other individuals received food box delivery of nonperishables in partnership with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank from May – December 2024.
Care Coordination
Care Coordination Express, a smaller-scale version of Direction Home’s Care Coordination Program, served 125 individuals with home-delivered meals and emergency response systems.
Minor Home Modifications
From January to September, 40 Stark County residents were provided home modification services such as ramps and other accessibility changes, and/or chore services like pest removal or one-time cleanings. An additional 80 individuals have been helped with home modifications and chore services since 2023 because of ARPA funding.
Digital Inclusion
A continuation of the ConnectMeDHAD program, eligible applicants were provided with a device, Internet access, and one-on-one support to navigate their tech. In Stark County, 144 tablets and 87 hotspots were provided in 6 months. In Portage County, 124 tablets and 93 hotspots were provided and 122 attendees utilized 7 community classes over the course of 4 months.
Members receiving home delivered meals, emergency response systems, and other services through ARPA and Healthy Aging funding should expect the last date of service to be 12/31/2024, or a date as previously discussed.
To prevent their services from ending, members may have the option to privately pay their current service providers. They also may find additional benefits through their Medicare Advantage plan. To find out more, they should contact member services by locating the number on the back of their health plan member identification card.
Direction Home may be able to provide additional services to these members on a limited basis. Interested individuals are encouraged to sign up for Direction Home's e-newsletter here to be notified of future program opportunities.
Additionally, if members believe their eligibility has changed to qualify for the PASSPORT program, they can request a free assessment through our Aging & Disability Resource Center at 877-770-5558.