Information and Assistance (I&A)

Information and Assistance (formerly known as Information and Referral) or I&A is provided under Older Americans Act funding, as a direct service through the Area Agency on Aging to the community comprised of Pasco and Pinellas counties. Pasco County has received I&A since July 1, 1993 while Pinellas County started receiving the services on January 1, 1994.

Information assists older persons in obtaining knowledge about public and private resources and services which may be available to them. Assistance is an activity wherein information is obtained on a person's needs and the person is directed to a particular resource; contact with the resource is made for the person as needed; follow-up is conducted with the referred person and/or resource to determine the outcome of the referral. This extends the information service because it makes contacts and linkages with community service agencies to address the individuals's full range of need.

Contact for I&A services can be made by calling the Senior Helpline. It is a toll-free call to seniors, caregivers and professionals serving the aging network. The Senior Helpline also maintains reference and resource materials on benefits and services available in the community. It provides both verbal and written response to inquiries. It collects, analyzes and reports to the Area Agency on Aging about the needs of older persons, the adequacy of community resources to meet the needs of older persons, and the effectiveness of public and private efforts at meeting the identified priority needs of older persons in the community. A Senior Resource Directory is a product of this service.

A strong component of the Senior Helpline is its function as the contact point for the volunteer-driven health insurance counseling program, SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders). Due to the promised availability of choices resulting from Medicare+Choice and the actual limited alternatives to managed care options through Medicare HMOs, more elderly and disabled are calling for help with their insurance concerns.

Another component of information and referral is the ability to avail elderly in need of immediate needs assessment through short term case management services as a result of self referral, referral by friends, family and caregivers, through the Florida Power Gatekeeper Program and Elder-Links Program in conjunction with the EMS System (911).

Click here to access the Senior Helpline web page.