Students organize forum for elderly
By SARAH NESTOR
News Writer
In order to raise awareness of issues facing the elderly in Indiana, Saint Mary's students from the Social Work Department organized a community forum to discuss social security, prescription drugs, home-based and nursing home care.
The featured panelists were: Dr. JoAnn Burke, associate professor and board member of CHOICE Program; Sen. John Broden; Beth Morlock, senior director of programs at the Center of the Homeless; Jim Kizer, son of a CHOICE patient; Becky Zaseck, REAL services employee who focuses on providing information for senior citizens; and Jerry Black, employee of Memorial Hospital's home care unit.
"There needs to be an intergeneration effort to work together on elderly care," Burke said. "We have to stop thinking of people at 65 as being done and then becoming a burden."
Community and Home Options to Institutional Care for the Elderly, CHOICE, offers home care services for any citizen that is at risk of losing his or her independence as a result of disease, injury, aging or any other ongoing disabling conditions. Thousands of Indiana citizens are currently on a waiting list for the program, which receives little funding.
"The cost of caring for the elderly is only going to become worse," Zaseck said. "The care is more expensive and people live longer, so both as a nation and a state we are not prepared to meet costs."
The Indiana General Assembly appropriates all money for the CHOICE Program and because it is not a legal entitlement for citizens to receive home care many are forced into nursing homes because it is a legal entitlement funded by Medicaid.
Broden, Notre Dame graduate representing District 10 in the Indiana General Assembly, spoke about what legislation has been passed and what can be done in the future.
"The largest Medicaid expense to Indiana is prescription drugs and a way to support this is a higher increase in taxes," Broden said. "Indiana has always been a low tax state, there has not been a general tax increase since 1988 and a sales tax increase from the 3.2 percent to 3.4 percent will raise money for the elderly."
Broden emphasized the importance of becoming a registered voter and to contact state legislatures because through involvement the legislatures will listen to voters.
Kizer discussed the benefits of the program to not only his mother but to himself in caring for his mother.
"The CHOICE program allows the elderly to stay independent and live at home as long as possible," Kizer said. "Taxpayer money is not being wasted on a shoddily-run program."
All News Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
