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-- Programs and Services -- Contact Information Robert P. Dean named Elder Services’ new Executive Director
From the Director
by Robert P. Dean, Executive Director
Statement to the Joint Ways and Means Committee
In this, my first "From the Director" column, I’d like to share with you the written statement that I presented on behalf of Elder Services to the Joint Ways and Means Committee Hearing March 19 in Pittsfield.
Elder Services of Berkshire County, (ESBC) is the state designated Aging Services Access Point and the local Area Agency on Aging for all of Berkshire County. We provide elders with a variety of essential services including case management, protective services, in-home care, Meals on Wheels, and information about a variety of programs and services which are available to elders and their caregivers.
I attended a Public Hearing in Pittsfield with Jennifer Davis Carey, the Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, on February 6 of this year at which the public was invited to offer statements regarding the impact of budget cuts on the delivery of services to Berkshire elders. This hearing took place a few weeks before the Governor’s projected FY ‘04 budget was released.
Throughout that morning, we heard the many voices of Berkshire elders and their advocates. And we heard the fear. The fear of no longer being able to live in your own home because the services you receive in order to live there safely, (which currently average around $10.86 a day) are going to be reduced even further. The fear of being forced to choose between food and your prescription medications because you can not afford to pay for both. And the fear that the local Councils On Aging (COAs) and Senior Centers, which are the heart and hub of many elder communities will be reduced to a shadow of their former selves and may no longer be there for you.
The Governor’s FY ‘04 budget projects that state funding to local COAs will be cut by 20% to 25%; this is in addition to whatever other cuts the cities and towns are forced to make to their COAs as a result of the reduced state funding they expect to receive.
The projected FY04 budget for the Prescription Advantage Plan is zero, which means that thousands of Massachusetts elders will not be able to afford to pay for the prescription medications they need. The fact that Massachusetts was the first and only state to implement a universal senior prescription insurance plan should be a source of
pride and accomplishment, and not the justification for the elimination of affordable
medication insurance for elders. As a result of this zero funding, many elders may be forced to "ration" their medications by taking half doses or by skipping doses.
The projected FY ‘04 budget for the core State Home Care Program is reduced by 4.52 million dollars. In addition, we do not yet know if Community Choices will survive. This is the pilot program designed to save the Commonwealth money and to give eligible elders who are at imminent risk of Nursing Home placement the choice to receive more services so that they can continue to live at home. The Choices program saves money because it costs less to provide services in someone’s home, than it does to pay for someone to live in a Nursing Home.
We understand that these are difficult financial times and that difficult decisions must be made. What we do not understand is the Governor’s proposed
re-organization, which would strip the Executive Office of Elder Affairs of its cabinet level status and deny elders their place at the table. This is of great concern.
When Massachusetts created the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) in 1971 under Governor Francis Sargent, it was the first cabinet level secretariat in the nation with an exclusive mission to serve elders and with a mandate for elder advocacy. EOEA moved Massachusetts to the forefront in serving elders, and has survived and flourished as a cabinet level department, and as a strong advocate and voice for Massachusetts elders. Its head, the Secretary of Elder Affairs, reports directly to the Governor.
Because EOEA has been at the cabinet table for the past thirty years,
many important initiatives have come about, including the creation of a network of
free-standing Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs) to provide a single entry point of service to elders anywhere in the Commonwealth; and, the Protective Services Program to protect elders who may be the victims of abuse or exploitation. The Community Choices Program, the Family CareGiver Initiative, and the Prescription Advantage Plan have been among the most recent initiatives. The elders of Massachusetts have been well served by a strong free-standing EOEA with cabinet level status. Soon, this may end.
The Governor’s proposed re-organization places Elder Affairs into one of four "clusters" within the enormous bureaucracy that is the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). EOHHS has a scattered mandate to serve - among others - children, the disabled, those with developmental disabilities and, those with mental health issues. It is a fine mandate, but its focus is not elders. EOEA, by comparison, has a single focus and mandate - to serve elders.
Under the proposed re-organization plan, the EOHHS Secretary will devise a budget for the whole secretariat. Elder Affairs’ line items and many services to elders will be lost in the shuffle and eliminated in the process. EOEA will become lost within EOHHS and the voice of elders will go unheard and their needs unmet. Please do not let this demotion of Elder Affairs, and of the welfare of the Commonwealth's senior citizens, occur.
The powerful advocacy of a free-standing Elder Affairs has made possible the enormous impact of Elder Services of Berkshire County as the Aging Services Access Point for Berkshire County, and has been critical to the effectiveness and funding of programs geared to maintain elder independence and dignity, including services needed to keep frail elders in their own homes.
This strong advocacy will be increasingly necessary over the next ten years if we are to meet the needs of the baby-boomer population as they reach senior status; and we should keep in mind that over the next twenty-seven years, the elder population is expected to double.
This is not the time to surrender the hard earned access that the elders of Berkshire County and of this Commonwealth have earned. This proposed re-organization would put Elder Affairs in the closet, instead of in the cabinet.
Why must we rush to undo in three months what we have done well for thirty years? This is the time to strengthen the Executive Office of Elder Affairs; not to weaken it.
The elders of this Commonwealth have earned the right to be accorded the status of a cabinet level Office of Elder Affairs. This will ensure that the their voice will be heard even if all of their needs can not be met at this time.