Introduction

Greetings!

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is interested in:

better understanding how older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers are affected by the opioid epidemic (prescription opioids, heroin, synthetics, etc.); and identifying the kinds of new resources and tools needed for organizations to better serve their community.

We encourage you to print out the survey and gather information from fellow staff about their experiences before submitting your responses. The purpose of this survey is to:

Learn about the extent to which organizations’ service delivery and level of effort has changed as a result of the opioid epidemic, especially with regard to older adults and individuals with disabilities;

Identify the unique issues reported by older adult clients, individuals with disabilities, and their caregivers, directly or indirectly resulting from opioid misuse by them or loved ones;

Learn how organizations screen and refer older adults and individual with disabilities for support associated with opioid misuse;

Identify how organizations may be connecting with local or state initiatives addressing the opioid epidemic, or forming strategic partnerships to respond to emerging client needs; and

Pinpoint gaps in resources that may help organizations to more effectively respond to these issues.

Any findings from this survey that are shared in public forums, venues, or web sites will only be summarized in aggregate. NCOA will ask for prior consent if we would like to use any specific stories from this survey. Data will be de-identified (e.g. stripped of contact details and organization name, zip code). Instead, data summaries may be reported by state, rurality, or organization type (e.g., senior center, AAA, multi-purpose social service organization).

Your feedback will provide invaluable information on the impact of the opioid epidemic on the aging and disability services network and inform the development of key resources and tools.

We estimate that it may take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete this survey.

Please confer with fellow staff to submit a single survey representing your organization.

Please submit your responses no later than February 8, 2019. At the end of the survey, please provide your contact information if you would like to be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card.

If you have additional questions about this survey, please contact lauren.popham@ncoa.org.

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