Notified 45 minutes after a woman with Alzheimer’s disease went missing, Licking County Deputy Sheriff Nick Shuster knew he needed to act fast.
He activated a device that picked up a radio signal from a bracelet the woman was wearing.
Within 15 minutes, Shuster soon found her tangled in brush at the bottom of the hill on which her house sits.
Fortunately, she was enrolled in Project Lifesaver, which points first responders, including law-enforcement personnel and firefighters, to the individual’s location.
“We saturate the area to try to find them as quickly as possible,” Shuster said.
Project Lifesaver, directed by Deputy Karen Dunlap, is one of many programs funded by the senior services levy that is on the Nov. 5 ballot for renewal.
The levy funds services offered by 17 local organizations. In 2022, the senior population made up about 18% of Licking County’s population and are moving toward making up about a quarter of the population.
Olivia Biggs, marketing chair for the senior services levy campaign and president of the board of directors for the Licking County Aging Partners, says the levy renewal is necessary to maintain services.
“With the population continuing to grow here – and age – it’s really important to sustain this levy and keep these services,” said Biggs.
In the almost 40 years since Licking County voters were first asked to approve the senior services levy, they have always approved renewal. It funds organizations that provide such services such as Project Lifesaver, Meals on Wheels and transportation to medical appointments and grocery shopping through Licking County Transit.
The levy will be based on 2019 property values, meaning the tax will not increase for homeowners. It amounts to about $26 annually for every $100,000 in property valuation. If renewed, it will continue for another five years beginning in 2025. The levy will need a simple majority vote in order to pass.
Despite the levy’s historic support, Biggs said she wants to make voters know what’s at stake.
“We just encourage people to make a plan to go vote and be educated and aware of what’s on the ballot,” said Biggs.
Licking County Aging Partners, based at 1058 E. Main St. in Newark, received the most funding from the senior services levy last year at just under $5 million, according to LCAP Executive Director Melissa Owens.
Last year, LCAP served 4,100 individuals – many multiple times – through its programs, including an adult day center, professional eye care, indoor and outdoor housekeeping services, homemaking services, personal care, social services, Meals on Wheels, transportation, tax services, and a new program piloted this spring. Meals on Wheels, for example, serves an average of 1,000 seniors a day.
A new program introduced by Owens is the Friendly Visitors program.
“It was kind of an answer to some of the problems that we were seeing – social isolation and loneliness has been declared a national epidemic,” Owens said.
For some seniors, the only interaction they have with others is from programs such as Meals on Wheels, but these visits are brief and not enough to combat social isolation.
Through the Friendly Visitor program, volunteers make weekly, hour-long visits to clients affected by social isolation. The program aims to cultivate connections and form an engaged senior community.
“This is my favorite job I’ve ever had,” said Rita Hokenberry, a former registered nurse and hospice nurse, and one of the first to join this program.
A senior herself, Hockenberry, 67, was worried that LCAP wouldn’t consider her.
“When I applied for this, I thought maybe they’ll want someone younger,” Hockenberry said.
LCAP is trying to break through ageism by hiring seniors to lead programs such as this.
When Hockenberry provides this service, it benefits more than the clients, she said.
“I learn so much from these people who our culture tends to ignore,” Hockenberry said. “It’s just it’s been such a gift. I feel like it’s not going to work. I feel like I am paid to socialize.”
The end goal for the program is to create a network so supportive that seniors will no longer need the program.
“The longer Rita stays engaged, the less likely she’ll be dependent on a social service agency like ours for all of her needs, and that’s kind of the goal,” Owens said.
All services LCAP provides are funded by the Senior Services Levy, according to Owens. While LCAP receives some funding from the state, it is not nearly enough to sustain all of their services or the new services they want to add.
Another goal LCAP has for the funding is to invest in more technology education. LCAP has a device-lending program for seniors to borrow iPads and mobile hotspots.
“A lot of people in Licking County still don’t have access to (the) internet, and so we’re hoping by them being able to borrow those devices and learn how to use them, they might be able to learn additional skills like purchasing groceries online,” Owens said.
Online skills are especially important in the wake of dangerous scams. The Licking County Job and Family Services office protects the safety of senior citizens and educates them about these scams through adult protective services.
The Adult Protective Services office helps senior citizens facing abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation, according to Director Jennifer Ellis-Brunn.
“We’re seeing a lot more of that financial exploitation piece,” Ellis-Brunn said.
The office receives state funding to investigate such financial scams, but it’s not enough to cover other key services.
“We don’t want to step in, do an investigation and back away. We want to stay and be able to provide any supportive services that family needs,” Ellis-Brunn said.
Licking County Job and Family Services also investigates the quality of seniors’ living conditions to ensure they can keep living in their home safely. The agency has two social workers who perform investigations for the entire county.
“The dollars we get from the state don’t even fund one social worker, really,” Ellis-Brunn said.
The funding from the senior levy makes its way all around the county, just as seniors can travel free around the county because of levy funding provided to Licking County Transit.
Seniors can utilize any of the Licking County Transit’s services free because of the Senior Services Levy. Licking County Transit offers an on-demand service in which seniors can schedule rides in advance, or they can ride on the fixed-route bus lines traveling through Granville and Newark. The transit system plans to add a line from Newark through Heath, Hebron to Buckeye Lake in the future.
The free rides reduce isolation for the senior community, according to Matt Allison, executive director of Licking County Transit.
“We’ve heard so many anecdotal stories of seniors saying how our services and this partnership with the senior levy really changes their lives by being able to be mobile,” Allison said.
One senior told Allison her relief about no longer relying on her children to get around.
“Now that she has transit options, she feels freedom to be able to ride and to do things on her own,” Allison said. “In hearing the stories of people that are getting the benefits, and the impact of riding transit, it touches us so it motivates us.”
These stories and connections are testimony to the importance of the senior citizen levy, and to one of Licking County’s biggest strengths, said Ellis-Brunn: Collaboration.
“Licking County is a very collaborative county,” Ellis-Brunn said. “We’re very fortunate in that regard, and things like the senior levy allow us to not only collaborate, but take action and get things done for this population.”
This story was updated at 2:10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, to correct information about how much support the levy will need to pass, and to clarify Hokenberry’s paid role with Licking County Aging Partners.
Maddie Luebkert writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.