ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on training the largest long term care group in the country – family caregivers – and on preparing students as future trainers of the vital links in the service chain. For some seven years, a coalition in the Utica/Rome area of New York State called Planning, Advocacy and Coordination for the Elderly in Oneida County comprising representatives from service agencies and professionals in the area, has been offering a free program to the community twice a year. The purpose of involving a diversity of service providers and agency representatives is that this program has proven to serve as an entry point into the system for many people in the community. Effective network-building is particularly challenging under several circumstances: public transportation is non-existent, poverty is prevalent; services are not easy to access; and the elderly are frequently isolated.
