Town bolsters senior services with addition of case manager

By Gloria I. Wang

Following more than a year of discussions on the town's senior services, the Los Gatos Town Council recently recruited the Jewish Family Service of Silicon Valley as the town's official case management consultant.

At the April 16 town council meeting, council members voted to enter into a yearlong contract to have Jewish Family Service provide a senior case manager for the town. In the contract, the town will pay Jewish Family Service $36,000 for slightly longer than a full year.

Monica Pagani, who has been with the Jewish Family Service for approximately three months, will be the new case manager, effective May 1. Pagani will work at three-quarter time--30 hours a week. She has a master's degree in psychology.

Pagani, 33, says that her role as case manager is as an advocate for the seniors. She will work with seniors and their families to take the steps necessary for seniors to stay in their homes, such as arranging for transportation, assessing the seniors' needs and referring seniors to other agencies.

The contract between the town and Jewish Family Service expires June 30, 2002.

The recent action is the fruit of the now-disbanded Senior Task Force, formed in January 2000. The task force made several recommendations to the town, which included hiring a case manager, recruiting a full-time senior coordinator and improving the design of the Neighborhood Center to make it more senior-friendly--dubbing the recommendations "a face and a place."

Town staff and the community services commission worked together to establish a plan of action and funding specifications. For the case management portion, Jewish Family Service and Live Oak Senior Nutrition and Service Center submitted a joint proposal to the town. While Jewish Family Service is responsible for the actual case manager, Live Oak will receive town-budgeted funds to expand its existing volunteer program for seniors.

As for the senior coordinator position, town staff is still in the midst of the recruiting process. Community Services Director Regina Falkner says that she hopes the post will be filled by the beginning of June. According to Falkner, the coordinator will work more on an administrative level--networking with other organizations, improving the senior drop-in center and focusing on internal projects.

The Neighborhood Center, however, has already undergone some of the improvements suggested by the task force. Falkner says that the location of the senior drop-in center was switched with the teen counseling center, previously near the front of the building, to make the drop-in center "more prominent." New windows, drapes and carpeting have been installed to reduce the noise for the seniors.

Jewish Family Service has been active in Los Gatos since 1979. According to Executive Director Tim Prince, the organization was originally founded to meet the needs of the Jewish community. As the organization grew in resources, its services expanded beyond the Jewish population. "We realized that we had to give back to the community," Prince said. Currently the Jewish Family Service has programs for seniors and refugees.

Pagani's office hours at the Neighborhood Center on E. Main Street will begin on May 1. Those who need case management services may call 408.354.1514.

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