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Stories
(Published in 2003)
Partnerships in San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta strive to meet needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender seniors
During the fall of 2002, a public hearing in San Francisco focused on the need for long term care and supportive services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults.
The hearing, which included testimony from about 50 stakeholders, revealed scores of concerns voiced by LGBT elders, ranging from mistrust of mainstream service providers to a lack of social an
d family support networks (see sidebar).
“It was pretty sobering,” says Bill Haskell, long term care principal investigator for the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services. “The hearing showed that we have some good services available here, but they are limited.”
San Francisco isn’t alone. Communities nationwide are recognizing the necessity to provide or enhance services for the LGBT population, which is estimated to represent between 5 percent and 10 percent of persons 65 and older, or from 1.75 million to 3.5 million people. Eldercare advocates say the actual number is likely much higher, since many LGBT seniors, fearing discrimination, remain closeted.
To help meet this need, this year The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through its Community Partnerships for Older Adults program, awarded four-year, $750,000 implementation grants to San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and five other communities. These communities will use a portion of the grant award to address the needs of LGBT older adults.
“Every community has a unique vision to address the gaps in care and service systems for those most at risk, including LGBT older adults,” says Elise Bolda, the national program director of the Community Partnerships for Older Adults program. “That’s why the distinctive work of these grantees is so vital.” Here’s a closer look at three of them.
San Francisco seeks to ‘open doors’
San Francisco, widely considered a welcoming city, offers an abundance of supportive services for gays and lesbians. But as the public hearing in late 2002 made clear, services are insufficient for LGBT older adults.
“There’s a tidal wave of LGBT baby boomers who are about to age in San Francisco, and we’re not really prepared for them,” says Marcy Adelman, a psychologist and the founder of Openhouse, a proposed LGBT-sensitive housing project.
Indeed, a $150,000 development grant funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation identified the city’s LGBT population – estimated at 13,300 people aged 65 or older – and San Francisco’s African American, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander populations as four historically underserved communities in San Francisco.
Now, armed with the new four-year foundation grant, Haskell and others at the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services intend to remedy that perceived deficiency. And the first step is to strengthen and sustain lines of communication by holding neighborhood meetings and workshops with LGBT representatives.
“We’ll look at the unique service needs, issues and concerns of LGBT older adults, and see how we can develop or strengthen what exists,” says Haskell, who is also the project director for the San Francisco Community Partnership for Older Adults. “And we’ll tie in organizations that want to provide services to the LGBT community, and begin to strengthen the natural collaborations that are available.”
Various LGBT-friendly programs already are in place, such as New Leaf Outreach to Elders, Lyon-Martin Women’s Health Services and the Charles M. Holmes Campus at the Center, better known as the LGBT Community Center.
And on the horizon is Openhouse, an innovative, not-for-profit project that will provide housing and LGBT-responsive services, programs and events for older adults.
“The concept is a destination place, a multicultural hub,” says Adelman, noting that initial plans call for a senior-health clinic, a home-health option and even a small performing-arts theater.
The six-story building will have approximately 200 apartments for seniors of all income levels. If the approval process – including site selection – goes smoothly, Openhouse could open sometime in 2008.
Though that’s encouraging, the immediate need for LGBT-focused services remains high. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Openhouse found that almost a quarter of the gay men over 65, and nearly 20 percent of the lesbians, lived alone, compared with just 3 percent of the heterosexual men and 8 percent of the heterosexual women in the community. Moreover, 71 percent of respondents over 50 didn’t have children.
Those facts are significant, Adelman says, because research has shown that children and spouses or partners are the primary caregivers of older adults. “Our LGBT seniors who live alone often don’t know where they can turn for help,” she adds.
The survey also found that many LGBT seniors have modest incomes, contrary to the notion that most gays and lesbians are affluent. “So we have a profile of seniors who really are in need of assistance for LGBT-sensitive services, and would certainly qualify for affordable housing,” Adelman says. Despite that reality and the dozens of other challenges outlined at the 2002 public hearing, stakeholders such as Haskell remain optimistic.
“Each of these new paths is going to open doors,” Haskell says. “With this four-year grant, and the new people at the table, and the progress of things like Openhouse, our hope is for dynamic, accessible services for the LGBT community in San Francisco.”
Boston to emphasize involvement, access
Compared with other U.S. cities, Boston is well on the way to providing programs, services and support for LGBT older adults.
The Massachusetts capital already is home to at least two key initiatives: the LGBT Aging Project, an advocacy group focused on issues of aging in the gay and lesbian community; and Fenway Community Health, which conducts outreach to gay and lesbian seniors.
In addition, a not-for-profit organization called Stonewall Communities is planning a 75- to 100-unit housing complex in central Boston for middle- and upper-income gays and lesbians over 55. On its Web site, Stonewall promises to offer contracted services from “experienced health care providers sensitive to the needs of lesbians and gay men, assuring the highest level of quality and sensitivity.”
While those kinds of initiatives are encouraging, eldercare representatives in Boston are concerned that existing services for older adults aren’t being tapped by LGBT seniors.
“There are long term care and supportive services here that technically should be available to every older adult who qualifies,” says Brian Souza, director of the Boston Partnership for Older Adults. “But LGBT seniors are often reticent and feel skeptical about accessing the traditional eldercare network for fear it isn’t sensitive to their needs, it isn’t welcoming, and it won’t understand them.”
The situation is further complicated by the lack of outreach to gays and lesbians by many programs that serve older adults. “So you have these agencies that are meant to be the entry point for information and access, and yet LGBT older adults aren’t using them,” Souza says.
It’s little wonder that the Boston partnership is using some of its grant funding to spur involvement by LGBT representatives in development of the partnership’s strategic plan, which covers issues such as housing, social services, health care, and mental and cognitive health.
“We’ve tried to gather data related to the LGBT community in each of those areas,” Souza says, “and we’ll include that population in any planning and any program development.”
The partnership already has two LGBT seniors on its board of directors: a lesbian who is an eldercare advocate, and the leader of the local chapter of the Prime Timers, a social club for gay men. “We want to ensure their voices are part of our leadership,” Souza says.
Atlanta begins outreach to LGBT community
Greater Atlanta’s nearly 4 million residents include an estimated 350,000 older adults. And though the size of the LGBT community hasn’t been documented, it’s apparent that many members aren’t seeking supportive services.
“Through our initial 18-month development grant, we discovered there were populations of older adults who were significantly underserved, who were not emerging in any of the traditional parts of the aging network or the long term care system,” says Kathryn Lawler, project director of Aging Atlanta, part of the Atlanta Regional Commission. “And gay and lesbian older adults were by far one of those groups.”
As a result, Aging Atlanta—a partnership of public, private and nonprofit groups from across the Atlanta area—is emphasizing outreach to LGBT older adults to encourage their use of available long term care and supportive services.
“Our goal is making sure our services are welcoming to all people,” Lawler says. “But we also recognize that not everyone is going to be comfortable being served in the traditional aging model, and that we have to consider alternatives.”
Aging Atlanta’s initial activities include:
- identifying existing LGBT support groups and services;
- determining faith-based congregations for information distribution;
- creating a section for LGBT older adults on the AgeWise Connection Web site http://www.agewiseconnection.com/;
- setting up an Aging Atlanta information booth during the three-day Atlanta Pride Festival;
- implementing a living-wills project with the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia (an association of LGBT legal professionals), the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers and the Atlanta Regional Commission;
- beginning LGBT-sensitivity training for agency staff and, eventually, service providers.
“What we’re wrestling with right now is whether we need to help establish parallel services for LGBT older adults, or focus on integration to the current system. And we’re guessing it’s probably a mix of both,” Lawler says. “I’d like to hope that a year from now we’ll have a concrete path toward achieving those two things.”
By: Rick Ramseyer
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