Submitted by
Nassau County Council on Aging
Jeff McDowell
COA Communications and Marketing
November 5, 2014 11:00 a.m.
In collaboration with the Nassau County Bar Association, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, and the Northeast Florida Paralegal Association, the Council on Aging of Nassau County will host a free two-session workshop designed to educate and execute advance directive legal documents. This workshop will be held at the Nassau County Council on Aging’s Senior Center in Fernandina Beach, 1367 South 18th Street, on Friday, November 7th and Friday, November 21st.
Besides educating seniors on the importance of advance directives, the documents are designed to identify in writing their end of life plans and wishes to family and designated caregivers. This workshop will also offer seniors the services of local volunteer attorneys to draw up and execute durable powers of attorney, living wills, health care surrogate designations, and designation of pre-need guardians. The attorneys will provide their services pro-bono, meaning there is no associated costs to the participating seniors for these documents.
This important workshop is a two part process. The first session, to be held November 7th from 10:00-12:00 will consist of a short presentation outlining the purpose of each of the above-mentioned documents and any questions or concerns on these documents will also be addressed. Appointments will be made at the conclusion of the presentation for the next session to be held on November 21st beginning at 1 pm. At the 2nd session, the actual documents will be created free-of-charge by the attorneys and paralegals. Seniors who would like to have these documents created on November 21st are required to attend the informational session on November 7thth. At the conclusion of the session on November 21st, seniors will leave with the actual legal documents they requested.
This workshop was created by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA), in partnership with the Joint Public Policy Task Force of the Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys and the Elder Law Section of the Florida Bar, Florida Legal Services, and the Florida Senior Legal Helpline. The first Nassau County event of this kind was held at the Council on Aging in May of 2014. If you have any questions or need more information, please call 261-0701 or 845-3331.
In its 40th year serving the needs of Nassau County seniors, The Council on Aging of Nassau County is a 501(3)(c) not for profit agency. There are five outreach programs currently offered by the COA: Two Senior Centers, In-home Services, Transportation Services, Meals on Wheels, and Adult Day Healthcare. The COA is partially funded by local and federal grants and donations from local individuals and businesses. For more information, please visit their website: www.coanassau.com.
So nice to see the Council on Aging hosting such important events for the seniors in our area. It seems they, as well as many other charity’s help so many in our area. Lets help keep these guys going in the future by urging the City once again to fully support them with the same funding we have granted them in years past. Talk to your Commissioners and urge them to increase the Cities support and do the homework as to who is for and who is against supporting them during this election cycle, and remember your vote will count in the run off election .
Will this be repeated in the future? Today is the first I’ve heard of this and cannot attend this first meeting on such short notice.