SALSA Partnership
(Seniors Accessing Long-Term
Care through Strategic Planning
and Advocacy)

The SALSA Partnership formed in August 2000: “We began the strategic planning committee for elderly with the vision to create an improved quality of life for the fastest growing population in our community, fearing increased demand overwhelming the social and medical service network.” From the original 25 member organizations, there are now 60 including partners from non-traditional organizations such as transportation providers, media outlets and churches without elder ministries. The Partnership identified three key goals to help it realize its vision. These included: increasing the communication and coordination between the community’s long term care and supportive service providers; increasing the preventative nature of long term and supportive services; and increasing the leveraging of public and private resources so consumers would have enhanced choices for self-directed programs.

Successes:

• The Partnership initiated a “Rings of Age” film festival which screened 15 films by a diverse group of local film makers. Those submitting films included first-timers who had been trained by the partnership, movie critics, documentary film makers and even television personalities. Two of the films have been rebroadcast on the local PBS station, and one is being reproduced for broadcast on national PBS.
• A senior leadership class was developed with a six day curriculum to equip older adults to serve as advocates by strengthening communication, team building, and leadership skills.
• The Partnership succeeded in expanding coverage of issues affecting older adults through all types of media in English and Spanish – print, radio and television. Regular pieces on older adults appear in a weekly newspaper column, on the local NPR station, on the NBC affiliate’s noon show and on a weekly radio program.

Real Life Impact:

Consumers are represented in the Partnership by a special group of sixteen older adults called the Senior Senators.  Okey D. Lucas, Mayor of Van Horn for 38 years, serves as a Senior Senator for the SALSA Partnership.  Mayor Lucas often voiced the struggles of older adults living in the six surrounding rural counties where long-term care services are extremely scarce.  At the end of one of these sessions, Mayor Lucas said, “I want to thank you for putting these roundtables together.  I know I’m supposed to be here to give my opinion, but I think I’m getting more than I’m giving.”  Mayor Lucas went on to say that in his 38 years as a public servant he had never learned more or felt more empowered than he has as a Senior Senator.