This commentary is by Emilie Krasnow of South Burlington. She is a candidate for state representative.
Far too many older Vermonters are struggling right now.
From the high cost of prescription drugs, healthy food, heat and housing to social isolation and loneliness, our seniors face many challenges. I believe no one should ever have to struggle to afford basic human needs, least of all our older friends and neighbors.
These last two years have been especially difficult for our senior community members. Many were unable to be with friends and family, to see their doctors on a regular basis, or access the services they need in their homes and in the community. As a state, we need to continue to do everything possible to ensure Vermont seniors get the help they need where and when they need it.
Statewide, there are huge gaps in service delivery for our elder population. Staffing shortages, insurance struggles and financial struggles have combined to create a perfect storm of challenges for our rapidly growing aging population.
Many older Vermonters live alone in rural areas with limited or no access to transportation, which impedes their ability to access food, health care and community engagement. There are multiyear waitlists for senior housing, and options are unaffordable to many. Our seniors struggle with a lack of insurance coverage for dentures, hearing aids and glasses, as well as difficulties obtaining affordable prescription medications. Additionally, more Vermonters of all ages are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases.
Hospital social workers face difficulty identifying long-term care facilities able and/or willing to accept Medicaid patients and/or patients with dementia and mental illness.
This past session, two bills that address some of these issues were unanimously supported in the House and Senate and became law earlier this year.
S.11/Act 183 is a workforce development bill. Included in this bill is more than $12 million focused on recruitment and retention of the health care workforce. Much of this is targeted to addressing our critical nursing workforce shortage.
S.206/Act 113 mandates the State Plan on Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging is embedded into the State Plan on Aging. Connecting these two important planning and accountability tools will ensure the work of the state and organizations serving older Vermonters is coordinated. As part of the Older Americans Act, Vermont is required to update our State Plan on Aging every four years. The new State Plan on Aging will be released on Oct. 1, 2022.
One final piece of S.206 is the requirement to identify funding for a permanent statewide dementia coordinator. This will support the more than 13,000 Vermonters over 65 living with Alzheimer’s and their over 26,000 unpaid care partners.
Our state is indebted to many organizations that work tirelessly to support our aging population. They need our support, both financially and legislatively. Older Vermonters and service providers have expressed that they did not know where to go with questions regarding what programs or services are available in their towns or regions (e.g., transportation, food, housing, volunteers), and have suggested that a resource be created that provides this information both locally and statewide.
There is, of course, the challenge of getting information to older Vermonters who do not have computer access and/or are not online, and any future expansion of internet access needs to address this issue as well. And in the coming months and years, there will be a need for many more community volunteers to support older Vermonters, as currently, many volunteers are getting older themselves and will need the very services that they support now.
We know that this elder support services crisis is happening all over the nation, and was exacerbated by the devastating effects of the pandemic on our health care systems. We can’t solve this on our own.
Through my volunteer work at the food shelf, I have seen firsthand the discrepancies in age, race and socioeconomic status among those who walk through the door of the food shelf versus those shopping down the street. I have spent time visiting with older residents and low-income seniors in my district, listening to their concerns and helping them with resources. Many of them are experiencing food insecurity and making tradeoffs between paying for food, medicine/health care, or other expenses.
We need more resources and options to support older Vermonters who want to stay in their homes. We need more available and affordable housing for those who want or need to live in a long-term care facility, memory center, or nursing home. We need coordination locally and statewide to get information in the hands of our Vermont seniors, so they have the tools they need to be able to access currently available services. We need to recruit and train the next generation of community volunteers who understand the critical importance of their work in their community, And we need the state to support and implement these initiatives.
Meeting these needs will take investments, both short- and long-term, but I believe we owe it to our elders to ensure they have dignity and are safe in their final years.
Thank you to thousands of volunteers, service providers and elected officials who have worked so hard for this population and who are committed to continuing this work.
