What Our Program Provides

We provide services to our community in FOUR ways -

Information & Referral
"A daughter calling from Minneapolis says, "My father lives in the Fairview Apartments in Holdingford and I'm concerned that he doesn't eat properly, what can I do". We connect the daughter with the nearby home-delivered meal service and then follow-up a few weeks later to be sure she got the service started for dad. Then we also offer to check on hime regularly. This is a typical situation where we provide Information and Referral. Other calls we get are for legal assistance or tax help, help with insurance questions, or information about housing options.

Group Education & Training
With our emphasis on Healthy Aging since 2009, we provide a variety of health promotion seminars and caregiver seminars to help people be better prepared for some of the challenges of aging. They include "Living Well with Chronic Conditions", "Matter of Balance" fall prevention seminars, "Healthy Eating" sessions, and the "Powerful Tools for Caregivers" workshops. In addition to these "evidence-based" programs we also provide afternoon and evening health talks and seminars to help people prepare to age healthy.

Service to Individuals
"Helping Hands Outreach has saved my life!" is one comment from a woman in her 80s who had lost hope of being able to stay in her lifelong home. Providing a "safety net" of services to individuals in their homes is an important service we provide. We have over 100 volunteers who are trained and eager to help with rides to medical appointments or for groceries, providing homemaking or chores for people in their homes, simple home repairs and modifications, help with insurance questions or other paperwork, friendly visiting and companionship particularly for those living alone, a phone network to keep people connected and facilitate "wellness checks", support and respite for caregivers, and other services that help older adults and adults with disabilities maintain a healthy quality of life.

Social & Recreational Experiences
What years ago we may have thought of as just "having fun" has now been shown in studies to be vital to healthy aging. Continuing to maintain positive relationships and being connected and contributing to the community as one ages will contribute directly to the health and the quality of their lives. We provide activities nearly every week that bring older adults and adults with disabilities together to be with friends. Activities include our monthly "Mystery Lunch Bunch", monthly shopping trips, art & craft activity days, outings to local gardens or local events, fishing expeditions, boat rides, and group surrey rides on our Wobegon Trail system.  

All of our services in all the four categories work together to help create a healthy community where older adults and adults with disabilities want to live and be a vital part of the community.