Mystic Valley Elder Services (MVES) cheered Governor Patrick’s appointment of Representative Michael Festa to the position of Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, the Commonwealth’s elder unit. Festa, who has represented Melrose and four precincts in Wakefield for five years, has long been an advocate for elders and community-based care options.

“This is a good week for elders in the MVES communities and all over the state,” said Daniel J. O’Leary, executive director of MVES. “Representative Festa will be a superb leader of Elder Affairs.”

Throughout his tenure in the legislature, Festa has been a proponent of elders having a choice about where they receive services. He was a supporter of the Community Choices program that allowed elders to receive intensive home care services rather than be placed in a nursing home. In 2006, he co-sponsored the “Equal Choice” legislation that mandated elders who received help from the state be allowed to live in the least restrictive setting possible.

“Representative Festa is a champion of elders,” said O’Leary. “His commitment to elders and their needs will further the aging network’s continuous effort to provide elders with options.”