Kentucky State Plan on Aging – 2009-2012

Overview

Marking a 91.4% increase in a decade, over a quarter of Kentucky’s population will be age 60+ (26.2 percent) by 2030. Diversity between rural and urban areas is dramatic. In preparation for this aging demographic, the Department of Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) coordinated, created, and submitted its state age plan per the requirements of the Older Americans Act.

Key Points

The plan focuses on how Kentucky is streamlining its processes to “modernize and rebalance” its long-term care service system. The plan reflects an ongoing effort from previous plans to become systemically more efficient.

Other plan highlights include:

1. Kentucky has been in the process of reorganizing at the governmental level, combining departments and expanding services.
   
2. DAIL is also developing a “single assessment and care plan for all of the aging and disability programs funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky” (page 10).
   
3. The Kentucky Elder Readiness Initiative (KERI) continues to thrive (since 2005) to encourage participation by the senior community in planning initiatives. This has been particularly helpful in initiatives related to rural or ethnically diverse programs in the Appalachians, where the difference from urban living is stark.

“There are more than 60,000 children who live in grandparent-headed households and another 12,294 living in households headed by other relatives” (page 12). Kentucky’s plan includes a recognition of the complexity multi-generational households can bring with respect to caregiving and services.

How to Use

Kentucky made the difficult, yet worthwhile, decision to combine aging departments while expanding services. This allows them the capacity to respond better to the unique challenges ahead. Local governments struggling with which organizations or departments to combine or eliminate may want to consider this state plan as a template. In addition, planners may find Kentucky’s response to older adults raising young children helpful to their own planning efforts.

View full report: Kentucky State Plan on Aging – 2009-2012 (PDF – 611 KB)