The Importance of "Equal Choice"
I am hesitant to say it, but I think that spring is finally upon us! I am eagerly looking forward to the warmer, longer days after a trying winter of inclement weather.
Each year, spring brings more than higher temperatures. It also is the season for rigorous debate in the state legislature. Because programs at Mystic Valley Elder Services (MVES) are funded by state and federal funds, we have a particular interest in the debate and its outcome. We want to be able to continue to offer elders and caregivers the quality services that they deserve. To do this, we look to the legislature—and to you—for help in supporting several efforts.
MVES believes strongly in offering choice to clients. Elders should be able to choose to live in a setting of their own choice. No one should be forced into a nursing home. Long-term care facilities should be an option, but not the only answer. To this end, I ask that you support an outside section of the budget called “Equal Choice,” along with a companion piece of legislation that would make equal choice the letter of the law. The proposed stand-alone bill and outside section ask that institutional bias be eliminated, allowing an elder who is eligible for nursing home placement to be able to choose equivalent care in a community-based setting. By supporting these initiatives, which are sponsored by Representative Mike Festa, the legislature will ensure that elders have the choice to live where they want next year and in years to come.
To be able to successfully live where they want, elders need to be able to receive home care assistance. The state budget line items that fund home care and elder protective services are the 9110-1630, 9110-1633, and 9110-1636 accounts. We are asking the legislature for nominal increases in these accounts so that we can continue to provide the level of services critical to the well being of elders wanting to remain safely, with dignity, at-home. Offering choice is important, but to make a community-based living a realistic option, adequate home care services need to be supported.
Central to all of our needs is nutrition. Elders require help with preparing meals when living independently. The Meals on Wheels program at MVES delivers over 1,000 nutritious meals to isolated elders each weekday. Other elders benefit from attending senior dining sites or cooking their own dinners. In the latter case, the price of food can become a burden for seniors. This burden is temporarily relieved through the Farmers’ Market program in which elders receive coupons for fresh fruit and vegetables. Regrettably, the funding for programs like Meals on Wheels and the Farmers’ Market has not increased in four years. When we factor in inflation, the lack of an increase actually becomes a decrease in services. Thankfully, Representative Paul Donato is spearheading the effort to increase nutrition funding statewide by $1 million in next year’s budget. Let your legislator know that you support this effort to increase the elder lunch account, line item 9110-1900.
I would like to thank our state senators and representatives in advance for their hard work in supporting the idea of choice for elders. I encourage all members of the community to contact their legislators and ask them to help elders by supporting the aforementioned budget items and bills. These legislative initiatives are central to the effort to provide elders with choice, safety, and necessary services.
These bills are clearly beneficial to elders, but also to taxpayers. With the help of these bills, we can offer elders a community-based setting for much less than the cost of living in a long-term facility.
Please support this important effort. Our elders deserve choice. Taxpayers deserve to know their contributions are helping elders in a fiscally responsible manner.
Contact your state senator and representative today. You easily locate and contact them by going to http://www.mass.gov/legis/legis.htm and clicking on the Legislators section of the home page to locate your state senator and representative. They all have email addresses or good old fashion telephone and mail accounts. It is easy, and most of all, effective! Bring quality home care home in 2005.
