Last month, we took a look at our CareLink Program and the work they are doing during the time of COVID-19. Although the pandemic has drastically impacted the way we deliver client services, CAP continues to adapt to find ways to insure our clients are cared for and connected. This month, we check in with our Aging Well Program to see how COVID-19 has impacted their clients and community, and what creative solutions they have found to continue their critical work.

But first, what is Aging Well? Started a few years ago thanks to a generous grant from Gilead, Aging Well seeks to support the well-being of aging adults living with or affected by HIV, in collaboration with others, by fostering hope and creating a sense of belonging among individuals who often feel alone and isolated. Aging Well encourages health and wellness, host social activities and events, create opportunities to give visibility & voice, engage in advocacy and activism, and support opportunities for community service.

As is the case with most human services, The Aging Well Program finds itself in circumstances governed by our response to COVID-19. This requires a complete re-working of their program delivery. It’s been no small challenge considering that the legacy program model relied on bringing together groups of aging adults who often have underlying health conditions. As we all know, public health advice tells us to avoid this, for an indeterminate length of time.

 This year, their program objectives for aging adults living with or affected by HIV include:

·       Strengthening mental health (Priority #1)

·       Providing legal and financial advising

·       Supporting a return to work without jeopardizing existing benefits

·       Assuring age-appropriate transportation support

·       Building Community and expanding psychosocial support

The pandemic presented new constraints on the Aging Well Program. In the past, their programming relied on in-office and in-community staff work, and in-person contact with program participants. This is no longer possible for an indefinite period. They now face fundamental challenges and unrealized opportunities. Like much of CAP’s programming, they have rapidly revised their program model consistent with physical distancing while retaining a commitment to the well-being of aging adults living with or affected by HIV, and while continuing and strengthening collaboration with their partners.

At its best CAP, and the Aging Well Program specifically, relies on a collaborative approach. This includes an intentional integration of services with partners within CAP and with outside organizations. This in-depth form of collaboration between entities includes a blending of similar services and activities into a single participant-centered system, while allowing each entity to retain its own identity, funding sources and systems of accountability. Their objectives are to increase efficiency and effectiveness, share human and fiscal resources, optimize scale and prevent unnecessary duplication. They allow each entity to offer its greatest strengths while being reinforced by the other entity’s greatest strengths. Success depends on establishing trust; and on having clear agreement on commitments of resources, methods of balancing power, strategies for expressing the collaboration in both public and internal communication, and investing time in collectively creating program plans and activities.

Our new strategy as we face COVID-19

Aging Well has decided to maintain the broad structure and the specific elements of their previous program model, while fundamentally altering the service delivery model. The transition retained nearly all of their programming (and added a few new elements), all delivered on the same day and time as always, but using a teleconferencing+ model using Zoom, email, text, personal phone calls and very infrequent physically-distanced face-to-face interactions. They have strengthened, expanded and defined collaborations, and they recognized the tension between capacity, need and ambition. And they continually ask, “Who else needs to be involved?” and work toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

Aging Well invites new program participants to join them!

Want to learn more about Aging Well or get involved with their programming? A good place to start is the Aging Well Program website: www.agingwellnw.org. 

Please let them know if you need more information, or if you have questions or suggestions. You can contact them using the general program email address, agingwell@capnw.org, or write to specific program staff members:

·       Jim Clay, Team Lead, Aging Well Program jclay@capnw.org

·       Craig Kolins, Program Assistant, Aging Well Program ckolins@capnw.org

·       Isaac Holterman, Coordinator, Prevention with Positives Program iholterman@capnw.org

 About Cascade AIDS Project

Founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is now the oldest and largest HIV-services and LGBTQ+ health provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, with more than 100 employees working across four locations. Our organization seeks to prevents new HIV infections; support low-income people living with HIV; and provide safe, welcoming, and knowledgeable healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. Through our vital health, housing, and other social services, we help ensure the well-being of more than 15,000 people each year.  More information can be found at www.capnw.org