A HAND UP FOR SENIORS
Raimondo visits adult daycare in Woonsocket to announce plans to bolster healthcare for seniors
WOONSOCKET –– Gov. Gina Raimondo visited an adult daycare facility here on Friday to announce that she will launch a series of “roundtable discussions” next month to help develop a plan to improve healthcare for senior citizens and the disabled.
Timed to dovetail with Older Americans Month, Raimondo broke the news to an audience of nearly 100 people at PACE RI on Social Street, promising that she isn’t just paying lip service to improving the delivery of healthcare to some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
“We’re not just talking about it,” she said. “Every senior, every Rhode Islander, deserves a system that works.”
She said the goal of the community forums is to develop an “an action plan” to create a healthcare system that is easier to navigate, more personalized and, particularly in the case of seniors, more home-based.
“It’s not just about spending more money,” she said. “It is about spending more money, but it’s also about being smart about the way we spend it.”
Raimondo shared the podium with Department of Elderly Affairs Director Charles Fogarty and Director of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals Rebecca Boss.
Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott, Medicaid Director Patrick Tigue and Veterans Affairs Director Kasim Yarn were also in the spectator section.
The governor said the administration has made progress in beefing up elderly nutrition programs such as Meals on Wheels, allocating more resources for local senior centers and increasing wages for home health aides and personal care workers. But she called for improving healthcare “infrastucture,” saying, “There’s a good deal more we can do.”
Raimondo and her aides stressed the importance of customized health care and programs like PACE, that are fo-
cused on the delivery of care designed to allow seniors to live at home as long as possible, instead of nursing homes. She told a story about her father, who lived for years after doctors told him his death was imminent. She believes his unexpected longevity was the result of an integrated approach to his treatment that included care from family members and practitioners who visited him at home.
Fogarty, a Glocester resident who is retiring as DEA director in a few weeks, said there will be an increased demand for home-based healthcare in the future – not just because Americans are living longer – but because they want to get old at home.
“The good news is we’re getting older in the sense that people are living longer,” said Fogarty. “The majority of seniors prefer to age in place – and re-
main at home.”
Echoing Raimondo, Boss urged anyone connected to the healthcare delivery system, including clinicians, caregivers, patient advocates and others, to participate in the upcoming discussions. She said state policymakers will be looking for their feedback to create “an actionable vision” for change.
“We need you at these sessions,” said Boss – another Glocester resident. “We need your energy and ideas.”
The first of the community healthcare forums will be held at the South Kingstown Senior Center on June 14. The governor said it would be the first in a series of forums to be held in various locales over a period of six to nine months.