CONTACT:
Jennifer Gallo, Community Public Relations Coordinator
302-479-1691
For immediate release – February 6, 2006
THE FAMILY & WORKPLACE CONNECTION LAUNCHES NEW SYSTEM TO PROVIDE
ONLINE ACCESS TO ELDER CARE INFORMATION
( WILMINGTON, DE) – The Family & Workplace Connection (FWC) has launched ElderOnline, a new program that provides the general public, the elderly, their caregivers, and elder care professionals with ongoing online access to comprehensive, current information on elder care service providers in and around the state of Delaware. The program was created based on feedback from FWC’s Elder Care Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from all segments of the Delaware elder care community including state agencies, social service organizations, elder care service providers, senior centers, older adults and caregivers. AARP Delaware and AstraZeneca, founding sponsors of ElderOnline, have provided significant financial support for the system.
“We at AstraZeneca have supported numerous programs that help the elderly, and we’ve also had an excellent, ongoing relationship with The Family & Workplace Connection,” said Irene Fick, Director, USBC Health & Community Alliances. “The ElderOnline initiative is a great fit for us—it enables AstraZeneca to be associated with a program that makes a difference in the lives of older people and their caregivers.”
With the support of AARP Delaware and AstraZeneca, FWC is able to provide free access to information for the elderly, their caregivers and families, and low-cost memberships to customized data search options for human service professionals who support and serve older Delawareans.
“It is always good to support efforts that work to increase quality of life and support successful aging,” said Lucretia Young, State Director of AARP Delaware, “The Family & Workplace Connection’s new ElderOnline tool will provide the ‘one stop’ service that caregivers and professionals serving caregivers need to help them simplify the process of caring for others.”
With “baby boomers” approaching retirement age and general life expectancy increases, FWC’s Elder Care Advisory Committee responded to the need for a reliable, comprehensive source of information on programs for the elderly. In the past, elder care information in Delaware had been accessed through multiple state agencies and community organizations. The lack of access to comprehensive, current information created additional hardship for older Delawareans, their caregivers and those who provide much needed services to them. ElderOnline was designed to alleviate this problem by:
- Promoting ease of access to reliable, comprehensive elder care information through both online (24/7) and telephonic access;
- Providing customized search options to support the differing needs of family caregivers and community service professionals;
- Creating a cost-effective option for maintenance of high quality elder care information statewide;
- Supplying service providers with an effective way to reach prospective clients.
To learn more about ElderOnline and to access the service, please visit www.familyandworkplace.org.
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The mission of The Family & Workplace Connection is to enhance the supply and quality of care and education for children and elders and to help families effectively manage their work and personal life responsibilities.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole.
AstraZeneca, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, aims to make a positive contribution to local communities through charitable donations, sponsorships and other initiatives that help to make a difference. In particular, AstraZeneca focuses on bringing benefit in ways that are consistent with their business of improving health and quality of life.
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