ElderWeb

The Miami Herald reports that the waiting list for services to help the elderly remain independent and in their homes is growing. Lat year the state used money from the Lawton Chiles Tobacco Endowment Fund to nearly eliminate the waiting list for community care for the elderly. The money represented a hefty increase for the programs, which many felt were underfunded for years. But the lists for community care and home care for the elderly are growing again, and more than 1,600 seniors in Broward and more than 1,900 in Miami-Dade await services today and some South Florida seniors have been waiting nearly a year for help.

Although the aid these seniors seek, such as house-cleaning or assistance with bathing, could mean the difference between living independently or moving to an assisted living facility or nursing home. In the past, elder advocates have tracked the waiting list as an indicator of unmet needs among the state's seniors. In the coming months, the state's Department of Elder Affairs plans to replace the traditional wait list with a new list that state officials say will eliminate redundancies and rank people according to need.

But the bulk of the funding increases is for Medicaid waiver programs, which focus on lower-income seniors. The division helps about 2,500 people a year. To take care of the current waiting list, Stephen Ferrante, interim director of the division, estimates he'd need $2 million more a year from the state.