When beginning new life chapters, it is important to remember the journey.
After participating in a panel on Aging and Family Support at the Indiana Black & Minority Health Fair, I kept thinking about what brought me here. I recently joined Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to lead special projects like the Indiana PathWays for Aging program, but my passion for helping older Hoosiers began long before.
As an undergraduate, my social work internship involved working in acute care rehabilitation. There was a range of people in need of this support - from younger people who suffered horrific accidents to older people in need of post-stroke and other rehabilitation. While other staff tended to spend time with the younger adults, I gravitated to the older patients. My heart connected to these individuals through the richness in their stories, talking about their lives and the lessons they had learned. I knew I wanted to spend time helping them regain hope through controlling what they can control.
This internship led me to an entire career focused on aging. I have worked as a social worker at a long-term care facility, as an attorney working in estate planning, and at a university implementing geriatric models of care. Helping people age with dignity has always been my passion and it is why I jumped at this new opportunity.
Indiana’s PathWays for Aging program is a new statewide initiative, which acts as a managed care plan for 60+ year old adults who qualify for Medicaid. At its core, the initiative provides quality, coordinated care. For many older adults, their care is disjointed. They have multiple doctors for different conditions, and oftentimes, there are gaps in communication. Our goal is to bridge these gaps and bring everyone together to provide the best care possible.
As people grow older, most want to live in their own homes surrounded by their loved ones. That’s why a major goal is ensuring they can live where they want. For some, it may be a nursing facility where they feel most comfortable and safe. But for those who want to stay in their homes, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield provides the necessary wraparound support and services so that they can truly age in place with a focus on living a healthy life.
Ensuring that we have community services in place to support everyone is the most critical issue for the aging population. First, we must establish that all communities are aware of available services, instead of it being a well-kept secret. Second, we must secure the same access to these services for Hoosiers in rural areas through a strong statewide network of care. Third, we must cultivate a stronger workforce to support this, as home and community-based service providers struggle to fill critical positions.
In addition to the focus on older adults, we are keenly aware of the important, and oftentimes unrecognized role, that family caregivers play. Many caregivers don’t identify as one, and see their role as the son, daughter, or spouse. Being a caregiver for an aging family member can feel isolating and overwhelming. I know with my own grandmother how caregiving can strain family members. Our hope is to ensure that we focus on caring for the caregiver as a vital part of our programming. My vision is a state where older adults live full and healthy lives surrounded by the support they need focusing on what matters most to them.
Dawn Butler is the Anthem Indiana Director GBD Special Programs, PathWays for Aging. She is a Warsaw Community High School graduate.