Abstract
Describes the Virginia Commission's Project on Aging approach to serving elderly blind persons on the verge of entering a nursing home. Using empirical observations of the Project's participants, provides insight into the characteristics and needs of this population, examines the impact of a service delivery model that imphasized linkages to existing community services, and discusses the development of a structured volunteer program that enabled elderly blind persons to remain in a community setting. A longitudinal cost analysis of 42 olients whose imminent institutionalization was prepented by the Project's intervention, suggests that the dollar cost of maintaining elderly blind persons in the community is considerably less than the cost of nursing home care.

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