Senior Advocate Program started

Daniela Mohor

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 8:36 a.m.

The Clark County Commission launched a program Wednesday to help senior citizens find the services they need.

Dubbed Senior Advocate Program, the initiative will provide a central point of contact and referral for seniors.

Seniors looking for a specific service can now simply call (702) 455-7051 and a senior advocate will refer them to the right agency.

"The real key to the success of the program is to have a phone number where someone can call and get the information about the right agency instead of having people do 15 different phone calls until they find the right one," said Kathy McClain, one of the county's senior advocates.

The county started working on the program about a year ago, McClain said. In June 2000, the county held a senior forum, and the participants said they found it difficult to identify the service that would meet their needs among the dozens of programs available. From there came the idea of creating a central point of contact, McClain said.

But the program includes other efforts too. It plans to create a senior advisory council to the County Commission and to do outreach work in the community.

It will also start the Senior Leadership Institute, a training class for volunteers willing to work with seniors.

"The ultimate goal is to train newly retired, younger and healthier seniors to volunteer and help the older and weaker seniors throughout different agencies," McClain said.