Morris County Library: elder assistance

Morris County Library > Reference > Senior assistance

In New Jersey, the Divison of Senior Affairs co-ordinates services. "One stop shopping" for senior services, help and protection is provided by NJEASE, in Morris County at 1-877-222-3737

Assisting the Elderly--contact us if you have questions (973-285-6969)

MEDICARE web--search by geography and specialty for physicans accepting Medicare.
Long Term Care Systems/NJ--Assisted living and nursing facilities
Nursing home inspection reports
NJ Benefits for Older Persons
Organizing family records

AARP

The American Association of Retired Persons: pensions, housing, advance directives, transportation options, etc. See their AgeLine database.

APPRAISERS

Attorneys

For Morris County, contact the county Bar Association Lawyers Referral Service at (973) 267-5882. For other states, we can provide phone numbers for those bar associations or you can come in and use Martindale-Hubbell. The FindLaw Lawyers Directory can be searched by geography and/or type of law practice. The American Bar Association directs you to state bar association sites and offers an overview of elder law, including state health directives.

Automobile

Selling a car? We have both the NADA Official Used Car Guide and National Market Reports Automobile Blue Book for car values. Online, you can try Kelley's Blue Book or Edmund's Car Prices.

Bank accounts/stocks

For old bank books or stocks, try the Federal Reserve's National Information Center of Banking Information (use Advanced Search, bottom of screen) to find merged/failed banks) or come in and let the librarians help you use some of our directories.

Bonds (US Savings Bonds)

To value bonds at time of death use the calculator from the US Department of the Treasury.

Congregate living

We have directories of different NJ housing types and options for the elderly. These are in our state government documents collection:

Low and moderate income housing for the elderly
Guide to assisted living arrangements in New Jersey
Shared living residences (Cooperative Housing Corp is one example)
Matching programs for home sharing
Congregate apartment housing
Adult retirement communities
Subsidized housing for seniors
Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).

You might want to look at our videos, Assisted Living and Alternative Care, which can be charged out.

Doctors

NJ Dept of Consumer Affairs Physicians database includes information on license, ceretifications and legal actions, if any.The Medical Society of NJ online directory allows you to search for physicans by name, hospital affiliation or insurance companies.
American Medical Assn online directory.
In the library: Directory of Board Certified Specialists, Best Doctors, Best Hospitals and Questionable Doctors (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York editions.)

Drop in or day care

Senior Citizen Services and The National Directory of Adult Day Care Centers are guides to services for the elderly across the United States. Call if you need information for a single community or come in if you have to do extensive research. Online, you can find services for seniors around the country in the Eldercare Locator from the Administration on Aging, US Dept of Health and Human Services.

Financial Assistance

The state of New Jersey has programs to assist the low income elderly with pharmaceuticals, hearing aids and utilities costs. Consumer Support can also help arrange health assessments for long-term care.

Hospitals

We use the American Hospital Association Membership Directory and America's Best Hospitals. The AHA web site links to state hospital association sites.

Housing

To see which communities have housing for seniors, see Guide to Affordable Housing (NJ), and NJ income guidelines.

Home help

Small projects, meal prep, light housekeeping/laundry or basic home maintenance will be done for seniors by the Jewish Vocational Service of Metrowest. Call 973-674-2415 to inquire about help from this non-sectarian service.

Insurance

If you need to know if a policy is still in force, we can help locate the current address of a company (if still in business!) or check it in A.M. Best online. For medigap policies, come in and use some of our periodical indexing for consumer review type articles.

Legal aid

Legal Services of Northwest Jersey provides free civil legal services for seniors

Medical Information

MedLine, a database of medical literature is available at the National Library of Medicine. The National Insitute of Health offers Cancer.gov, an extensive information resource which includes treatment guidelines for physicans and patients.

Medicare

State level offices and contact numbers for Medicare information and questions are available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services web site.

Nursing homes

We have national directories of nursing homes. Also, under both federal and state law, you are entitled to examine the inspection report of any facility. (Homes are inspected by both the state of New Jersey and by the US Health and Human Services department. The federal report, though, may be a few years old.) You can also call Trenton (609) 588-7809) and get excerpts of an inspection report--ask about copying costs! To find out if there have been complaints filed against any NJ nursing home, call (609) 588-7761. We can give you the phone number of the agency overseeing nursing homes in any of the other 49 states. New Jersey has an Ombudsman for the elderly, who can accept anonymous complaints or concerns.

Pensions

Check to see if someone had/has a pension: US Dept of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration or the Pension Rights Center

Pharmaceuticals

NJ offers pharmaceutical and hearing aid assistance for low income seniors. See generally Support Services for the Aged and Disabled, from NJ Dept of Health and Senior Services. The NJ Senior Gold Prescription Plan covers prescriptions and diabetics' supplies, for residents in certain income levels. For similar programs in other states, see the listing from National Conference of State Legislatures. (Scroll down page for table of state plans.)

Police

Call the police department where your senior lives. See if they have a senior call program, in which they call seniors living alone or the seniors call into the Department each day.

Probate/wills & estates, Morris

The County Surrogates, in NJ, are responsible for probate of wills, designation of executor(s), etc. If you need another NJ county, check this NJ judiciary list. For the other 49 states, call (973-285-6969/6968) or drop us a note if you need contact information for county offices.

Retirement living

There are a number of titles you may wish to look at: Retirement Places Rated, Retire in Style, The 50 Best Retirement Communities, Retirement Living Communities and 50 Fabulous Place to Retire in America are among those books in our relocation collection.

Savings bonds (US government) Calculator for determing bond values.

Social Security benefits

The latest edition of the US Social Security Handbook is in Reference, but we really can't answer any individual questions about entitlements or benefits. Please contact the Morris County offices of the SSA at (800) 772-1213. The Social Security Administration web site offers a great deal of information--even a chance to request your accumulated contributions and current benefits status.

Stock values

For historic stock prices see MarketWatch or Yahoo Finance (some stocks as far back as1969). We have the Standard & Poor's Daily Stock Price Record, Obsolete Securities, Fish Manuals and Capital Change Reporter here, if you need an historic quote.

Support groups

Whether someone is grieving over the loss of a spouse or is an exhausted caretaker or is depressed because of diminished hearing or eyesight or mobility, there are support groups that can help. In our area, the NJ Self-help Clearinghouse maintains a phone bank at (800) 452-9790 to match you with the support group you need. We have a copy of their directory in Reference. You can also search for social service agencies in the yellow pages in our phone book collection or try some of the online yellow pages like SwitchBoard or the Big Book for help in other areas.

Valuing art, antiques, etc

The library has standard price guides to antiques (Kovels, Warmans, etc.) To find a professional appraiser check with the American Appraisers Association or the American Society of Appraisers.

Veterans' Benefits

We have the latest edition of the Veterans' Handbook in Reference, but for answers to specific questions please contact the local office of the Veterans Administration at (973) 645-5954 or the Veterans Affairs officer for the County at (973) 285-6866. The VA web site offers excellent information.

There can be too much to think about at once if you suddenly have to help an elderly relation change his or her life style or situation. Please call your local library and let a librarian point you in the right direction for the answers to some of your questions. Good luck!

http://www.mclib.info/elders.html
Morris County Library (NJ)
12 March 2008