UNION, N.C. — Council on Aging supports more than 6,000 families in Union County. And those numbers are projected to grow.
The local non-profit provides free services to hundreds of Union County seniors who rely on in-home care to remain independent. It provides adults over the age of 60 with in-home care, safety tools, and critical medical supplies.
But there is such a need for the non-profit’s services that its executive director says they can’t help everyone.
“These are all the people waiting for services,” executive director Andrew Friend.
He was referring to the list of 180 people on the wait list for in-home care.
The non-profit already provides in-home care to 250 people. But Friend said those needs are growing. He said most recent data from NCDHHS, Union County ranks second in the state for the 65+ population percentage growth over the next 20 years.
In the last five years, Friend said the non-profit has grown its budget and staff and almost doubled the number of people it serves. And the non-profit’s services are critical, Friend said.
“Almost 90% of our clients fall below 200% of the federal poverty level, but unfortunately they don’t qualify for Medicaid,” he said.
The group is trying to grow through fundraising, Friend said, so more people like 85-year-old Margie Clay get to live independently.
Clay is full of life, but she says her aid Karen comes to do the things she can’t do anymore.
“There’s a lot of people in nursing homes who would love to be at home but they don’t have any other choice,” she said. “Without them, I’d probably be there.”
Friend said the hardest part of his job is making calls to families, but it’s too late.
“And we’re not able to provide them service in the last year of their life when they need us the most,” he said. “We’re really just trying to grow this program so we can serve everybody that needs us when they need us the most.”
The organization accepts donations in the form of money and physical items like wheelchairs and incontinence materials. Friend said the non-profit is grateful for the help it gets.
“Nobody knows what a blessing it has been,” he said. “Nobody.”
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