The Aging Evolution
The Area Agencies on Aging fund and deliver services within a complex system to meet the specialized needs of older Kansans and caregivers. Choices in the community means more people can age in place instead of premature entry into a nursing home or assisted living.
A National Network
Local Leaders for more than 5 decades!
The Kansas Area Agencies on Aging are part of a national network of 56 state agencies on aging, 629 area agencies on aging, nearly 20,000 service providers, 244 Tribal organizations, and 2 Native Hawaiian organizations representing 400 Tribes, and 80,000 volunteers. Area Agencies on Aging were established under the Older Americans Act (OAA) in 1973 to respond to the needs of older adults and caregivers in every local community. AAAs are the “boots-on-the-ground” organizations charged with helping vulnerable older adults live with independence and dignity in their homes and communities. Locally managed with federal, state and local funding resources, service delivery decisions are made at the community level: often in the private homes of the individuals who need services. The AAA’s primary responsibilities include the following:
- Proactively carry out, under the leadership and direction of the State agency, a wide range of functions related to advocacy, planning, coordination, inter-agency linkages, information sharing, brokering, monitoring and evaluation, designed to lead to the development or enhancement of comprehensive and coordinated community-based systems in, or serving, each community in the planning and service area to [help] older persons lead independent, meaningful and dignified lives in their own homes and communities as long as possible.
AAAs provide services that fall into five broad categories:
- Information and Access services
- Community Services
- In-Home services
- Housing
- Elder Rights
Services such as meals and a range of in-home services make independent living a viable option.
The Kansas Network
Your Boots-on-the-ground local agencies
Area Agencies on Aging deliver a core set of services: funding for nutrition programs (congregate and home-delivered), in-home and other community services, including programs to support physical health and fitness, and to assist caregivers for older adults.
Area Agencies on Aging are one of the first coordinated care systems created in 1973 by the Older Americans Act. For more information, call your local Area Agency on Aging or 866-457-2364.
