Originally, the
Idaho Office on Aging was organized within the Department of Special
Services. In 1972 the number of State Agencies was
reduced and the Office on Aging moved under the Executive
Office of the Governor, where it remains
today. In 1995 the agency was changed from an Office
(with a 17 member Advisory Council) to a Commission.
Congress enacted the Older Americans Act of 1965
and created, as an operating agency, the Administration on
Aging (AoA), within
the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. After DHW was
reorganized, the Administration on Aging became a part of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
In part, the Act declares that
our older citizens are entitled to ‘freedom, independence, and the
free exercise of individual initiative in planning and managing their
own lives…’. Toward this goal, the State of Idaho, by statute,
created the Idaho Commission on Aging.
The Idaho Senior Services Act recognizes the need
to provide basic necessities to its older people in their later years
and particularly in providing efficient community services. These
services include access transportation, adequate nutrition, in-home
services, and adult day care. Community services should be designed to
permit the state’s older people to remain independent and to be able
to avoid institutionalization; and these services should be provided in
a coordinated manner and be readily available when needed and
accessible to all older people.
