Coping with chronic illness can be a difficult experience for anyone.  For an elderly person, living alone, it can be overwhelming.  How will daily personal care needs be met?  How do I get my groceries?  Who will help make my meals?  Who will help me balance my checkbook?  How can I stay in touch with family and friends?  Who will help me figure all this out?

March is National Social Work Month and the theme this year is Hope and Health: Help Starts Here.  Social workers have the proper education and expertise to help clients navigate the often-confusing world of care and assistance options. At North Shore Elder Services, we employee professional social workers who are trained to assist elders and their families to access a wide array of home and community-based resources.

With nearly 1200 area elders assisted on a daily basis and several thousand elders and their families helped last year alone, NSES social workers, in their roles as case managers, perform a variety of functions to keep people living safely in their own homes. They work as an integral part of interdisciplinary teams, collaborating closely with nurses, physicians, community caregivers and other medical professionals. Social workers advocate for the right course of action for their clients with service vendors and other agencies.

As the American population ages, social workers at NSES and all around the country are increasingly called upon to meet the needs of older adults in home and community care settings.  Nearly half of all social workers who work in health care agencies and facilities are currently seeing older clients, according to the NASW Center for Workforce Studies, and that number is expected to increase dramatically.

North Shore Elder Services is sponsoring a free workshop on the circuit breaker tax credit on Tuesday, March 6 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. Certified AARP tax aide volunteer Gerald Stepner will be speaking about qualifications for the tax credit and how to go about filing for this refund.

"Attending this workshop could help seniors to file for a sizeable return," Stepner said. "One woman from our February workshop was able to put in a claim for the last three years. It really pays to come by and see what it is all about."

This free workshop is open to the public and will be held at 152 Sylvan Street in Danvers. Please call 978-750-4540 and ask for Information Services to register.