Plan to attend the 2021 Virtual Forum on Aging April 20 & 21. Social workers, nurses and nursing home administrators may earn up to 6 CEUs for attending the two-day online conference. We have a great lineup of speakers designed to meet the education needs of today's professionals. Registration will close on Tuesday, April 13. 

It's not too late to become a Forum on Aging sponsor. There are still opportunities available to make sure you're seen online by the almost 400 professionals in the aging and disability field who attend the conference. Click here for more information or contact Amy Leonhardt at aleonhardt@help4seniors.org.

COA has been advocating for the needs of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent advocacy efforts have focused on making sure older adults have access to the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available. One of these is working with local health departments to vaccinate homebound individuals. Those who feel they need to be vaccinated in their homes can contact COA at (513) 721-1025 to be screened for eligibility. Get more information and review eligibility guidelines.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program is returning to our service area in 2021. COA worked with community members and the Ohio Department of Aging to secure a grant to bring the program to southwestern Ohio for the first time in 2020. To qualify for $50 in coupons to spend on fresh local produce at participating farmers' markets and farm stands, older adults in our five-county service area must be 60 or older, with a household income less than 185% of the poverty level. We will begin to accept applications on April 1. Get details here.

We are seeking volunteers to conduct brief phone surveys with clients in one of our programs. Calls will be made March 29-April 18, and each call should take only three to four minutes. Volunteers should be able to make calls between 8 am and 8 pm, and they can be made any day of the week. If you're looking for a volunteer opportunity that will help make a difference for older adults, we encourage you to click here for details.

Gov. Mike and First Lady Fran DeWine visited our COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Riverview Towers in Cincinnati on March 12, where they were able to see how Area Agencies on Aging, like us, are working with the Ohio National Guard and other local partners to vaccinate high-risk older adults.

COA welcomes Judy Eschmann to our senior leadership team. Judy was most recently our Director of Program Operations, and was promoted to Vice President - Community and Business Operations. Read more.

HEAP Winter Crisis Program ends March 31. Applications for this emergency program that helps low-income Ohio households maintain their utility service must be submitted by this date. The non-crisis HEAP program ends May 31. More info.

Follow along on Facebook as we share memories of our 50 years of service. Share your own COA memories on our page and tag them with #COA50years. 

Aging with Pride: IDEA (Innovations in Dementia Empowerment and Action) at the University of Washington is offering a free program for individuals with memory loss and their caregivers. The program includes nine individualized sessions with a trained coach and focuses on problem solving, improving communication and low impact exercise. The sessions are virtual, using easy video chatting. Compensation is provided for completing phone interviews. Either the person with memory loss or their caregiver must be LGBTQ. Learn more.

Tax day for individuals was extended to May 17 this year, giving us all a bit more time to prepare our taxes. While the pandemic has affected some of the methods and options, there are still places for older adults to get tax preparation assistance this year: