Politics & Government

Op Ed: State Senate Candidate Genevieve Davis on Elder Affairs

Davis will run for State Senate in November.

The following was written and submitted by State Senate Candidate Genevieve Davis.

Baby Boomers have a new name.  They are the “Silver Tsunami”.  What they did to education and housing is about to be done to senior services.

In the United States and Massachusetts, this is the most rapidly growing segment of the population.  It currently represents 20% of state residents, a figure that is expected to increase by 50% over the next two decades.

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Massachusetts has been going in the wrong direction on this issue.  Funding for the Elder Nutrition Program has been cut.   The state’s funding formula for Councils on Aging has been reduced by 10% even though the population increased by 200,000 in the last decade.

An AARP report, published last September, shows that Massachusetts does not do well in addressing affordability and availability of long term services for the elderly at its present level of users.  The state ranked 30th in services for adult day health services, homecare, residential services at nursing and assisted living homes and support for family members.  What will happen when the numbers increase?

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Now is the time for us to prepare action plans to meet the needs of this Silver Tsunami.  We want to keep this population healthy and independent.   We need to plan for growth in our Councils on Aging, giving them adequate resources, both in policy on how to best serve the needs of these individuals and the funding to make it happen.

I will make this a focus of mine when I become the State Senator for Plymouth and Norfolk.

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