Native American Map for Elder Services (NAMES):
A Long Term Care Planning Tool Kit
In September of 2002, the University of North Dakota National Resource Center on Native American Aging (NRCNAA) received a grant from the Office of Rural Health Policy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop a tool kit for use by tribes in the planning and development of their long term care services.
The Native American Map for Elder Services (NAMES) is a tool kit that fully describes the spectrum of long term care. NAMES was developed to assist American Indian and Alaskan Native groups with planning, developing, and implementing long term care services for their elderly within their communities.
Focus Group
A group of American Indian leaders where brought together to clarify the content of developing a clearer process for building long term care services. They not only provided guidance on what would be needed in this type of long term care capacity building, but also shared personal experiences of what works in their communities.
Two focus group meetings were held to discuss the area of long term care and to provide direction for this project. The first meeting was held in November, 2002 in Denver, Colorado. This 2 1/2 day meeting began with presentations from various agencies to provide the focus group participants and staff with information on each agency’s programs for dealing with long term care issues. The second and third days of the meeting were devoted to a facilitated discussion on long term care by the focus group participants.
The second meeting took place on February 23, 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona. This meeting will bring together the focus group to determine if the newly developed Native American Map for Elder Services adequately represents the recommended direction provided at the first meeting.
