Illinois residents and elected officials are participating in a statewide day of advocacy to bring awareness to the Older Americans Act.

Services provided by the law could be at risk due to federal restructuring and funding cuts. A variety of services for older adults are provided by the federal program, including nutrition, transportation, health and education programs.

Diane Slezak, CEO of the advocacy group Age Options, said many of the home and community-based senior services under the law are interconnected. She explained without them, there could be dire consequences.

"There'll be an increase in the number of people ending up in nursing homes," Slezak projected. "It's more expensive to care for people in an ER or in a nursing home bed than at home. So all of the services together that are provided under the Older Americans Act help to keep people out of poverty and out of more expensive health care."

Last year, nearly 500,000 seniors across the state received services authorized by the law. Illinois annually receives about $53 million in funding for the services. The funding is scheduled to end in September.

Andrea Proulx Buinicki, CEO of the Meals on Wheels Foundation of Northern Illinois, with is one of the programs receiving federal funding under the act, said the organization provides about 1.2 million meals every year through their delivery and congregate programs.

She pointed out it is estimated malnourishment affects up to 50% of seniors and increases health care costs by up to 300%. Social isolation also creates $6.7 billion in health care costs each year.

"We really want to make sure that people are not just surviving but that they're thriving," Proulx Buinicki emphasized. "Two of the building blocks of a thriving person have to be healthy food and social connection. One of the results is that people are able to age with dignity in their homes."

Marla Fronczak, CEO of the nonprofit AgeGuide Northeastern Illinois, said for every federal dollar the state receives, about $3 is leveraged at the local level for supportive services like caregivers, transportation and home health care.

"Big return on investment that we see in these programs," Fronczak stressed. "We just want to make it clear to people that this is a great network, it's been working for 60 years, supporting older adults in their homes, in the community where they belong, and it is a good investment."

Fronczak added cuts to other safety net programs like SNAP, Medicaid and low income energy and heating assistance programs will create gaps their programs will have to fill.

A former Wisconsin mayor said the new federal budget will only worsen the current aging crisis families like hers have already been facing.

Analysis from the Congressional Budget Office suggests President Trump's budget bill will trigger automatic cuts to Medicare due to an expected increase in the national deficit.

Judy Karofsky, a former mayor of Middleton, said it would affect hospice services and end-of-life programs already in need of greater funding. She explained when her mother was 99, the local hospice agency determined she was not dying soon enough and abruptly discontinued her services. She explained how it also triggered her eviction from the assisted living facility where she was at the time.

"This happens in this country," Karofsky emphasized. "My mother was 99-and-a-half when that was decided. We were on our own for a matter of months. She did die within the next six months, just before she turned 100. It was cruel!"

Karofsky stressed cuts to Medicare would rob many of the most vulnerable Americans, like her mother, of their right to a dignified death.

Hospice provides patients and families with pain relief, medical equipment, nursing care and spiritual support. Studies show hospice saves Medicare and families money by reducing overall health care spending. Karofsky said without it, families are faced with financial burdens few can bear.

"I thought before I was involved with my mom's hospice care, that hospice was a charity," Karofsky noted. "I understand now that every hour of help, every service, every product that's brought to a hospice recipient is reimbursed through Medicare and every hospice agency is beholden to Medicare."

The number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to more than double over the next 40 years.

Karofsky argued the issue of underregulated assisted living facilities will worsen the current aging crisis across the country. In her book, "DisElderly Conduct, The Flawed Business of Assisted Living and Hospice," Karofsky recounted her mother's negative experience at six assisted living facilities in Wisconsin and called for action to address the ongoing crisis.


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The nation's largest advocacy group for people age 50 and older is investing more than $4.2 million, including more than $75,000 in Colorado, to help make communities more livable for people of all ages.

AARP Colorado Associate State Director Marissa Volpe said the city of Fort Collins won a $20,000 AARP grant to host a series of hands-on workshops, in both English and Spanish, to make it easier for low-income residents to remain in their homes as they get older.

"This is going to focus on plumbing 101, water conservation for mobile homes and senior apartments," said Volpe. "And the event aims to really build do-it-yourself skills, reduce maintenance costs and support aging in place."

AARP's Livable Communities initiative has invested more than $24 million in some 1,700 projects since 2017, including 40 in Colorado.

The program funds innovative projects meant to inspire change in public spaces, housing, transportation and more.

This year marks AARP's most substantial investment in rural communities to date, with 45% of grants going to these areas.

The grassroots group Commún was awarded more than $18,000 to develop an emergency disaster plan for the Loretto Heights Resilience Hub in Southwest Denver.

Volpe said this community-driven effort will help empower local navigators, known as promotoras, to deliver disaster preparedness and other critical information to older residents.

"It's the idea to capacitate those on the ground," said Volpe, "the folks you might see at church on Sunday, the folks you might see in the supermarket - with the necessary information."

Bike Durango won a grant of more than $12,000 to install a temporary bike lane on Junction Creek Road.

Volpe said the lane will promote a safer environment for walking and cycling, and help people access multiple municipal amenities.

"Expanding pedestrian safety, walkability, and bikeability in communities," said Volpe. "This is a big point of making communities livable and reducing car traffic."

Eastern Kentucky is still trying to recover from the decline of coal production and a regional nonprofit will soon kick off a digital training initiative for older adults in counties in need of extra job skills.

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region was awarded a Community Challenge grant from AARP to help get this program off the ground. Participants will receive free training on artificial intelligence-related tools, Microsoft Office and internet safety.

Colby Hall, executive director of the group, said the classes send a message: Just because a key industry is no longer a force, it does not mean people living here do not have a future in these parts.

"We have a lot of really awesome, hardworking, passionate, caring people that don't want to have to leave to find opportunity," Hall explained.

Whether it is volunteering or seeking a new job later in life, Hall argued communities cannot let older adults fall behind because they have not used much digital technology. He stressed they bring years of knowledge and life experience to a project or business. Beyond remote work opportunities, labor analysts said health care and aerospace are among the in-demand sectors in the region.

As they put the final touches on the program, Hall added they want to ensure people living on a fixed income still have access to devices and other technology after the training.

"We also are going to be able to leverage our office to be able to have rental equipment," Hall pointed out. "They can use computers and have access to internet in the office."

Shaping Our Appalachian Region is based in Pikeville but the training will be offered out of its Whitesburg location. Hall noted they hope to start training the first group later this summer.

AARP Kentucky said this year, a total of eight organizations across the state will share $84,000 in Community Challenge grants.