A Richmond-Area Aging Resources Guide Beyond Berkeley: Who to Call First?

Most families find these programs about eighteen months later than they needed them.

Not because the help doesn't exist. Because it's scattered across a county website, a nonprofit that changed its name, a transit agency, and a food bank, and nobody hands you the list.

So here's the list. We're an assisted living community, and almost nothing below sends anyone our way. That's the point.

Quick answer: This is a Richmond-area aging resources guide beyond Berkeley, covering Henrico County and the greater Richmond region. Start with four numbers: The Span Center (formerly Senior Connections), the region's Area Agency on Aging, at 804-343-3000; Henrico County's Community Resource Line at 804-501-5294; 211 Virginia, by dialing 2-1-1; and Virginia's 24-hour Adult Protective Services hotline at 888-832-3858. Those four cover information and referral, county programs, general social services, and emergencies. Everything else in this guide branches off them.

If you're in a crisis right now: a hospital discharge planner or the social worker on the unit can start referrals before your parent leaves. Ask for one by name. They can trigger a long-term care screening, connect home health, and flag Medicaid eligibility faster than you can from outside the system.

The Area Agency on Aging, and the name change that trips people up

Henrico County does not have its own standalone Area Agency on Aging. Families search for one and come up empty.

The regional AAA is The Span Center, which for decades operated as Senior Connections, The Capital Area Agency on Aging. Henrico County's own website now lists it under the new name. Older directories, printed guides, and search results still say Senior Connections. Same organization, same phone number.

• Phone: 804-343-3000
• Serves: the City of Richmond and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan (Planning District 15)
• What they do: information and referral, care coordination, home-delivered meals, caregiver support, Medicare counseling, adult day care, the long-term care ombudsman program, and emergency financial assistance

Their information and referral specialists exist specifically to route people, and they take calls from adult children as readily as from older adults themselves. Language assistance is available. If you only make one call from this entire page, make it this one, and be ready to describe the situation in concrete terms: what your parent can and can't do on a normal day, what's already gone wrong, and what you're most worried about next.

Henrico County also runs its own Advocate for the Aging office, which is separate from the AAA and serves county residents 60 and older, their families, and caregivers. Reach it at 804-501-5065. They also publish a free quarterly newsletter, EngAGE, worth signing up for before you need it.

Henrico County programs most families miss

These are county-run and mostly free. Several have real financial value.

• Real Estate Advantage Program (REAP) — real estate tax relief for qualifying older and disabled homeowners. There's also a companion RECAP program and a separate real estate tax exemption for disabled veterans.
• Homeowner Rehabilitation and Repair Assistance — help with home repairs, which is often the practical answer when the issue is a broken step rather than a care need.
• Smoke Alarm Assistance Program — free smoke alarm help from the county.
• Project Lifesaver — run by the Henrico Sheriff's Office, this provides tracking technology for people who wander due to Alzheimer's, dementia, or autism. If wandering is a live worry, this is the single most important item on this page.
• Triad and SALT Council — a partnership between older residents and law enforcement focused on fraud and safety.
• Henrico County Public Library: Senior Happenings — free programming, and library staff who will actually sit with someone and help.
• Golden Age Program — free adult education classes through Henrico Schools.
• Recreation & Parks senior clubs and leagues — low-cost social and fitness programming across the county.

Getting around after driving stops

Transportation is where most aging-in-place plans quietly fail. Richmond has more options than families realize.

GRTC CARE is the region's ADA paratransit service, providing origin-to-destination rides within roughly three-quarters of a mile of fixed bus routes. The key detail people get wrong: eligibility is based on functional ability, not on age or a specific diagnosis. Eligible riders get an ADA Paratransit photo ID card that must be shown to board.

• CARE Plus covers trips beyond the three-quarter-mile band or into Henrico County. It is not required by the ADA, and there is a fee.
• CARE On Demand is an optional same-day, direct, non-stop trip.
• Reduced fixed-route fares are available for riders 65 and older, people with disabilities, and Medicare customers.

Start the eligibility process early. It involves an application and a determination, and it is not something you want to begin the week after a license is surrendered.

For a broader regional list, Sheltering Arms maintains a transportation resource roundup covering Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, and Goochland, including volunteer and sliding-scale medical-appointment programs.

Meals and food assistance

There are two doors to Meals on Wheels here, and they work differently.

Through The Span Center. Their home-delivered meals program, run in partnership with FeedMore, serves adults 60 and older across the eight-locality region. Meals arrive between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., delivered by volunteers who also perform a safety check. The service is provided at no charge, with voluntary donations encouraged. Call 804-343-3000.

Through FeedMore directly. FeedMore's Meals on Wheels serves homebound adults across a wider service area on a sliding scale. One current and important caveat: FeedMore has noted it is unable to enroll new participants due to limited capacity, and is placing eligible applicants on a waitlist. Apply anyway. Eligibility is determined first, and they refer people to other resources if the fit isn't right.

Also worth knowing: FeedMore's hunger relief network of partner pantries, and SNAP, which many older adults are eligible for and never apply to.

A Richmond-area aging resources guide beyond Berkeley: caregiver support and respite

The family member doing the caring needs a line on this list too.

• The Span Center caregiver support — education, support, and connection to respite options.
• Circle Center Adult Day Services — a licensed adult day center operating since 1976, near Willow Lawn. Specializes in dementia, Parkinson's, and stroke, with meals, personal care, and caregiver support built in. Adult day services are usually the cheapest way to buy a caregiver a weekday back.
• Virginia Lifespan Respite Voucher — state vouchers that help pay for respite care. Funding is limited, so apply early.
• DARS caregiver resources — the state's caregiver support hub.
• Alzheimer's Association Greater Richmond — local support groups, education, and a free helpline staffed around the clock.
• Caregiver Teleconnection — free phone-based caregiver learning sessions you can join from anywhere.
• Opening Minds Through Art at Arts Glen Allen — an evidence-informed art program for people with dementia.
• Virginia Memory Project and Dementia Capable Virginia — statewide registry and resource initiatives.

Medicare, money, and legal help

VICAP is the one most people should use and don't. The Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program offers free, unbiased, confidential Medicare counseling through your local Area Agency on Aging. Counselors are trained volunteers who cannot sell you anything and are not affiliated with any insurance company. They cover Original Medicare, Part D, Advantage plans, Medigap, Extra Help, Medicare Savings Programs, long-term care insurance, and appeals.

• Span Center VICAP intake line: 804-343-3014. Leave your question with your name and number.
• Virginia Senior Medicare Patrol fraud hotline: 1-800-938-8885.

Other essentials:

• Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Advocates for residents of nursing homes, assisted living, and community-based care, and investigates complaints. Virginia's elder rights office coordinates the program; the widely published statewide line is 800-552-3402. The regional ombudsman for our area sits at The Span Center.
• Central Virginia Legal Aid Society — free civil legal help for those who qualify.
• The F.R.E.E. Foundation — refurbished durable medical equipment, including wheelchairs and walkers, at no cost.
• Eastern Henrico FISH — volunteer neighbor-to-neighbor assistance.
• Adult Protective Services — Henrico DSS at 804-501-7346 weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or the 24-hour statewide hotline at 888-832-3858.

What this guide doesn't cover, and where to look instead

A Richmond-area aging resources guide beyond Berkeley has limits worth stating plainly.

It isn't a provider directory. Home care agencies, geriatric care managers, elder law attorneys, and senior living communities are all private-pay markets with dozens of local options. The Span Center's information and referral team can point you toward categories; they don't rank companies, and neither do we.

County-specific programs stop at the county line. The tax relief, home repair, and sheriff's programs above are Henrico's. Chesterfield, Hanover, Goochland, and the City of Richmond run their own versions with different names, thresholds, and filing windows. The City of Richmond's Office of Aging and Disability Services is the equivalent front door inside city limits.

Waitlists and funding change. Respite vouchers, home-delivered meals, and repair assistance are all constrained by annual funding. A "no" in March is sometimes a "yes" in July. Ask when to reapply rather than assuming a closed door stays closed.

Nothing here replaces a clinical assessment. If the underlying question is whether someone can safely stay home, that's a conversation for their physician, not a phone tree.

Two families, two starting points

The daughter whose father stopped driving. Her first instinct was to look at senior living. What he actually needed was a ride to dialysis three times a week and groceries. She applied for GRTC CARE eligibility, signed him up for home-delivered meals through The Span Center, and used the county's repair assistance program to fix the front steps. He stayed home another two years, and the family had a plan in place when things did change.

The son with a wandering worry. His mother had walked to the end of the street twice. He called the Henrico Sheriff's Office about Project Lifesaver, enrolled her, and joined an Alzheimer's Association support group. He also booked a weekday at Circle Center so his own work didn't collapse. None of that was a move. All of it bought time and lowered the temperature.

How to use this list without drowning in it

1. Call The Span Center first. 804-343-3000. Describe the situation plainly and let their intake specialists route you. This saves weeks.
2. Apply for the slow things immediately. Paratransit eligibility, respite vouchers, and Meals on Wheels all have processing time or waitlists. Apply before you need them.
3. Check the money programs annually. REAP and similar tax relief programs have filing periods. Missing one costs a year.
4. Book one VICAP call before each Medicare open enrollment. It's free, and plan networks change yearly.
5. Write the numbers somewhere physical. A card on the refrigerator beats a bookmark nobody can find at 9 p.m.

Call us for a referral we don't benefit from

Here's an offer that costs you nothing.

If you're somewhere in this Richmond-area aging resources guide beyond Berkeley and stuck, call us and ask. Our team keeps these programs on hand because our residents' families use them, and because plenty of the people who tour here aren't ready to move and shouldn't. We'll tell you who to call. If the answer is Project Lifesaver and a ride program rather than a move, we'll say so.

When and if the picture does change, we're on Gaskins Road in Short Pump, with assisted living and memory care in a community small enough that our team knows every resident by name.

But that's a separate conversation, and it can wait. This list can't.

Ask us where to start →

FAQs

Who is the Area Agency on Aging for Henrico County? 

The Span Center, formerly Senior Connections, The Capital Area Agency on Aging. It covers Richmond City plus Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan counties. Phone 804-343-3000. Henrico County separately operates an Advocate for the Aging office at 804-501-5065.

Is there free transportation for seniors in Richmond? 

GRTC CARE paratransit is the main public option, with eligibility based on functional ability rather than age. Reduced fixed-route fares are available to riders 65 and older and Medicare customers. Several volunteer and sliding-scale programs also operate regionally.

How do I get Meals on Wheels in Henrico County? 

Two routes. Through The Span Center at 804-343-3000 for adults 60 and older, provided at no charge with voluntary donations. Or apply directly to FeedMore, which uses a sliding scale but has recently been enrolling to a waitlist.

Where do I report concerns about a senior's safety? 

Adult Protective Services. Henrico DSS at 804-501-7346 during business hours, or the 24-hour statewide hotline at 888-832-3858. For concerns about care inside a licensed facility, contact the Long-Term Care Ombudsman.

Does this Richmond-area aging resources guide beyond Berkeley cover other counties? 

Most of it, yes. The Span Center, FeedMore, VICAP, and the ombudsman program all serve multiple counties. The county-specific tax, repair, and sheriff programs listed here are Henrico's; Chesterfield, Hanover, and Goochland run their own equivalents.

Sources

• https://spancenter.org/
• https://realestateadvantageprogram.com/ 
• https://www.ridegrtc.com/grtc-services/care-paratransit/ 
• https://spancenter.org/service/home-delivered-meals-feedmore/ 
• https://feedmore.org/meals-on-wheels-eligibility/ 
• https://www.vda.virginia.gov/vicap.htm
• https://spancenter.org/service/medicare-insurance-counseling-vicap/
• https://www.elderrights.virginia.gov/ 
• https://cvlas.org/get-help/ 
• https://www.free-foundation.org/request-equipment 
• https://henrico.gov/dss/aps/ 
• https://www.rva.gov/human-services/office-aging