New Area 10 Agency on Aging director steps into role amid state level ‘challenges’

Amy Guerrettaz has been in various roles that support seniors at the Area 10 Agency on Aging for more than four years.

On May 1, she stepped into the executive director role, succeeding Chris Myers, who spent more than 10 years at the nonprofit.

The Area 10 Agency on Aging is an organization aimed at bridging older adults to resources that encourage living independently. This includes the Aging and Disability Resource Center, long-term care advocates, in-home care companions, case managers and home-delivered meals.

The agency also has a Reliable Experts Providing Accessibility, Independence Rehabilitation and Safety (REPAIRS) Team that can assist with repairing unsafe parts of the home, installing safety features and building ramps.

Area 10 also runs Rural Transit, a public transportation service that gives door-to-door service to anyone, regardless of age or ability, for $3 a ride in Monroe, Putnam, Lawrence and Owen counties.

When Myers decided to retire and focus more on her home life, Guerrettaz wanted the new executive director to understand the importance of the people Area 10 serves and the programs it has.

“We’ve had a lot of changes happening here in the state of Indiana with care management, Medicaid waivers and all the different services that we provide, as well as funding, lots of cuts to our funding,” Guerrettaz said. “I was concerned about what would happen if someone from the outside came into our agency.”

While at Area 10, Guerrettaz has served as a care manager, options counselor, activities and programming manager and dementia outreach specialist.

“She really was shining in that community outreach, community leadership role, and [I] felt like that would be a good fit for potentially transitioning to fill my position after I decided to retire,” Myers said. “She was directly working with me, and so I got to really see her passion for our mission and ability to really drive a project and build community relations, and just really care about what we do.”

That was the most important quality Myers was looking for in a new executive director, she said. It is important in moving forward amid the “challenges” that come with the state shift to managed care for the 60 and older population two years ago and the upcoming shift affecting case management for the 60 and under population.

Indiana has 16 Area Agencies on Aging. In 2024, it transferred AAA management for those 60 and over to three Managed Care Entities — Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Healthcare Community Plan and Humana Health Horizons of Indiana.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that this shift could cause AAAs to lose their ability to provide certain programming and services that the MCEs won’t.

On Aug. 1, a similar transition will happen for waiver case management for care for the 60 and under population. Five Indiana agencies were selected to manage cases, 11 down from the 16 AAAs in the state.

“That takes the remaining Medicaid waiver care management away from Area 10 and Area Agencies on Aging, which is really unfortunate, because those are truly your most vulnerable seniors and people with physical disabilities who need that kind of local connection for support, and now they’re going to be much more regionalized,” Myers said.

In regionalized care, people will fall through the cracks and be less trusting of their options, Myers said.

“There’s just no way you can have a local connection when you have, you know, so many counties that you have to represent for people,” Myers said. “That local connection, that trusted source of people who can help you navigate things and find the answers and resources is just so important.”

Myers trusts Guerrettaz to have the strength, focus and intelligence to do what is best for Area 10, she said, but acknowledged that she’ll need community support.

“Many changes are being made at the upper state and federal levels, so many cuts are happening that I feel the stronger communities can be for each other and the stronger that communities can support their residents,” Guerrettaz said. “I think that’s the only way that people are going to be able to thrive and survive.”

As Guerrettaz continues in her new role, her goals for the organization include growing Rural Transit ridership. She also hopes to expand the home-delivered meals program and the Bloomington support groups for those living with brain change and their care partners.

To support Area 10, Guerrettaz said people can donate. To make a donation or find other ways to back the organization, visit area10agency.org/showyoursupport.