It’s time for the politicians to pay attention to seniors’ needs
Solution for saving the planet from climate change might be a giant parasol
The message was clear and simple from Connie Bosse.
“This is an important issue,” she said.
That was clear by the attendance. The room at SUNY Adirondack last Friday was filled with more than 100 of what could be the region’s most potent political force - senior citizens.
Their hair may have been gray - some white - but there was still a fire in the attendees who didn’t like what they were hearing.
Bosse, the co-president of the Adirondack Chapter of the American Association of University Women, was one of the forces behind this event.
While the event had a rather mundane label “Status of Home Health Care Across New York State,” the message it delivered was one of concern and urgency.
“I think the most important thing I took away from the event is the importance of planning and the number of resources available,” Bosse told me in an email. “If you think you do want to age in place, what do you do about your assets? What agencies and organizations are there to help you get ready? We have the Office of Aging in Warren County, as well as groups like Age in Place Glens Falls. It’s never too early to get ready, even if that means down-sizing now and making sure you explore all your legal options (like putting your assets in a trust).”
Heavy stuff.
Stuff most of us don’t want to think about.
“I think the other take away is - and I’ve heard this from multiple people - what happens if you don’t have a healthy spouse, or a local child who can step in and help,” Bosse continued. “You need to go to paid support, and what a mess that is right now. Luckily we have groups like Caring Majority who are fighting the good fight, fight being the operative word. You would think given the aging population in New York, making home health aides a viable, well paid profession would be a priority for the governor and Legislature.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently proposed cutting long-term care services, home care and other services aimed at older New Yorkers. Hochul said state Medicaid spending had grown 40 percent over the past four years and needed to be cut by $1.5 billion.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera provided another solution with the introduction of the “Home Care Savings & Reinvestment Act.”
The bill would stop the state from paying insurance companies billions of dollars for Managed Long Term Care plans (MLTCs), and return that money for home care management directly to the state.
It would allow people to age at home.
That’s when we heard from Ilana Berger and Becky Preve.
Berger is coordinator for New York Caring Majority and director of Caring Majority Rising.
Preve is executive director for the Association of the Aging in New York.
Both restored not only some hope to the proceedings, but a healthy dose of anger for the politicians who are failing to address the problem and Gov. Hochul who is proposing more cuts.
Preve reminded the audience that seniors could be a political juggernaut.
“Ageism is as real as it gets,” Preve said pointing out that there are 5 million New Yorkers over the age of 60, yet less than one percent of the state budget is dedicated to helping them.
“Older people are the backbone of the economy and it’s time that they stand up,” Preve said. “How we find home care in our health system is not equitable.”
Preve said seniors pay some $72 million in taxes.
There was life in the room again.
People were getting feisty.
They wanted to know who they talk to about that.
Naturally, there were no state representatives in the room.
The first hour was a depressing litany of statistics that should sound the alarm in anyone over the age of 50.
New York State was fourth nationally in the number of adults over the age of 60.
By 2030, nearly a third of the state’s population will be over 60. And by then there may be no one there to take care of anyone who needs the help. Warren County is one of the oldest counties in the state.
The speakers and panelists on hand were not shy in laying out the problems.
They spoke of the difficulty in finding home health care aides willing to work for low wages despite the needed multi-faceted skillset. The median pay was $33,000 to $38,000 for those at the top tier with benefit packages failing to address basic concerns. Most of the workers were forced to take part-time positions, despite the need for full-time work.
“It is overwhelming how skilled these health care professionals are,” said Linda Fusco.
Yet, hiring has remained stagnant.
Robert Martiniano, the keynote speaker from the University at Albany’s School of Public Health, spoke of an aging population in the Capital District and North Country. He said that by 2050, the North Country would be second only to Miami Beach in the age of its residents.
For those in need of someone to help in the home the wait list is currently anywhere from a week to a month locally. That will get worse.
“It’s hard to plan for the future when you don’t what the future looks like,” Preve said.
Both Preve and Berger urged those present to call and write letters to their state representatives like Dan Stec and Matt Simpson and ask them to support the Home Care Savings & Reinvestment Act.
By the end of the program, many wanted to know what to do next.
That may be the ultimate key to get this issue the attention it deserves.
Giant parasol idea
When it comes to climate change, I suspect there is an optimistic segment of our population that believes scientists will save the day before we are cooked to a cinder.
In Cara Buckley’s “Climate Forward” column in Friday’s New York Times, she describes one idea of a “giant parasol” constructed in space that could deflect enough of the sun’s radiation to reduce the climate of the earth to acceptable levels.
Here is what Buckley published on Friday:
It’s come to this. With Earth at its hottest point in recorded history, and humans doing far from enough to stop its overheating, a small but growing number of astronomers and physicists are proposing a potential fix that could have leaped from the pages of science fiction: The equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space.
Apparently, there are other ideas right out of science fiction, including scattering dust deep into space (University of Utah study), creating a shield of “space bubbles (MIT) while one astronomer at the University of Hawaii suggested tethering a big solar shield to a repurposed asteroid.
Some of it sounds crazy, but the giant parasol could be ready within a few years.
Helping each other
This is how community works.
The Chapman Museum had a room full of naked mannequins in storage in an upstairs closet.
Kyleen Wade, the owner of Finders Keepers, was looking for mannequins to dress for her storefront windows on Glen Street in downtown Glens Falls.
Kyleen took the mannequins off the Chapman’s hands and the result was this beautiful Valentine’s Day-themed window.
Two local businesses helping each other.
Perfect at 20-0
Over the years, Glens Falls has sported some amazing boys basketball teams. It was just five years ago that Joe Girard III led Glens Falls to the state championship.
But this year’s unbeaten team may be the best yet.
I’ve been watching Glens Falls basketball since the Jimmer days 15 years ago, but the five starters on this year’s team - one through five - may be the best ever.
Glens Falls just completed a perfect 20-0 regular season and will begin play in the Section II Tournament next week. What is more impressive is an offense that regularly flirts with 100 points a game. No team has come closer than 13 points in any game.
Glens Falls went to the sectional finals last year before losing decisively to Catholic Central. Both teams appear to be on a collision course for that game again with Catholic Central sporting a 17-1 record.
The Times Union did a story on the unbeaten team this weekend.
Junior Thunder
At the end of last season, I reached out to Glenn Merkosky about his gig as the Junior Thunder coach.
It has been another banner season for the Junior Thunder and I finally took in a little of the action on Sunday afternoon with the Thunder playing the Vermont Lumberjacks.
As might be expected, the play isn’t anywhere near as fast as the regular Thunder, but what did surprise me was the crowd that was at the game. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but even if it was filled with just family and friends it was a good turnout.
The Junior Thunder has two more home games left at the Cool Insuring Arena on Feb. 13 and 14 at 7 p.m.
Remember Bill Clinton?
I heard this little factoid on television the other day.
Former President Bill Clinton, who left the presidency 23 years ago, is younger than both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Clinton is just a couple months younger than Trump, but still…
Support big-time theater
If you have never been to Adirondack Theater Festival, you are missing out.
It is Broadway caliber production each summer. You can find out about ATF and the shows for the upcoming season while being entertained at the Wood Theater on Saturday in its annual fundraiser.
This year’s theme is “Pep Rally” and it is a great time to cheer for professional theater in our community.
There is also a local theme this year with ATF announcing the commissioning of a local play thanks to a $25,000 donation by Crandall Library.
Yeah, the tickets are $90, but it is for a good cause and you will have a good time.
Gillian and I will both be there.
Going paid
Will and I have both been humbled by the response we have received from readers responding to our request to paid subscriptions as a way to support our work.
Within hours of my post on Monday about our commitment to doing the work in 2024, we had more than 100 paid subscriptions, despite the fact that we will still be publishing our entire newsletter for free whether you pay or not.
We had over 150 by the end of business on Tuesday.
Thank you again for your support.
If you have not signed up for a paid subscription, you can click on the link below.
Yesterday was Ronald Reagans birthday & Ms. Stefanik had a tweet honoring that fact. My reply to her via twitter is as follows: "Just a few "FACTS" about our "greatest" POTUS steffie. During his tenure the national debt increased by 186%. Much of that is attributable to 2 major things, his arms race with the USSR & his tax cuts. Like all GOP generated tax cuts they generally favor the rich & corporations. You steffie have a large constituency of elder retired workers like myself. In order to pay for these costly endeavors, He initiated an income tax on Social Security benefits, that is still in effect to this day."
Perhaps a change is in order?
This is all so important. I've seen reports on other countries who help subsidize adding on to a families home so that aging parents can live with them or helping to pay to move parents closer to their children. I live two hours north of my parents and the traveling since my step-father has been diagnosed has been brutal. Their GP just dropped their insurance as of June (JUNE! months before the open enrollment!) So much to address with our aging population.