What actually happens when you call the Area Agency on Aging?

Who answers the phone

An information and referral specialist. Not a nurse, not a caseworker, not a salesperson. Their job is to work out what the person in front of them needs and which programs are worth pursuing, across everything the agency knows about - not only the waiver.

In the metro Atlanta region, the Area Agency on Aging is the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the service you are calling is Empowerline. Other parts of Georgia have their own Area Agency on Aging doing the same job for their region.

What they will ask you

Expect a structured conversation rather than a form. Broadly, they cover four areas.

Who the person is. Name, date of birth, address, who else lives in the house, who is involved in their care.

How they are managing. Bathing, dressing, using the toilet, moving around, eating, medication, whether they can be left alone, what has gone wrong recently. This is the longest part, and the most important one to answer honestly.

Money, roughly. Whether they have Medicaid or Medicare, what income they have, whether there is a spouse. Nobody will ask for account numbers on this call.

What you are worried about. Say it plainly. ‘I cannot keep doing the nights’ and ‘the hospital wants to discharge her Friday and I do not know what happens then’ are useful information, not complaints.

What a screening is

The word gets used loosely. A screening is a conversation that sorts a situation into likely directions. It is not an application, it is not an assessment, and it is not a determination of eligibility.

At the end of one, you should come away knowing whether the waiver looks like a plausible fit, what other programs might help in the meantime, and what the next step is with a name attached to it.

If you do not come away with that, ask before you hang up: what happens next, who does it, and when should I expect to hear from someone?

What happens after you hang up

If the waiver looks like a fit, the person is referred on for a level-of-care assessment - the DON-R, done in their home. That is the next real gate, and it is covered on its own page.

Separately, Medicaid financial eligibility has to be established through the Division of Family and Children Services if the person is not already on Medicaid. These two tracks run in parallel and neither waits for the other.

You may also be told about programs that do not require the waiver at all - meal programs, respite, transport, caregiver support. Take those referrals seriously. They are often the only help available during a wait.

How long each part takes

The call itself usually runs somewhere between twenty minutes and an hour, depending on how complicated the situation is. Scheduling an assessment after it takes longer, and the whole path from first call to services starting is realistically two to six months, with a waiting list often on top. The timeline page breaks that down stage by stage.

Making the call go well

• Call from somewhere quiet, with a pen, and expect to be on the phone a while.
• Have diagnoses, medications and the doctor’s name in front of you.
• Describe a bad day as well as a good one. Understating need is the most common mistake families make, and it is not kindness to anyone.
• Write down who you spoke to and the date. You will be glad of it in two months.
• Ask what you should be gathering now. The document checklist covers most of it.