The Rural Caregiver

November is National Caregivers Month and WOW would like to thank the millions of unpaid Americans across the country who care for elders, children, and disabled persons.
A report done by the University of Iowa and University of Alabama analyzes the difficulty of caring for elders in rural communities and proposes solutions to better support rural family caregivers.

Today, over 25% of elders live in a rural community. In rural settings, health services are less accessible and also more costly. Community-based programs are also scarce, resulting in a disproportionately high number of rural elders relying on nursing home services.

Several pilot programs are underway in Iowa which would provide rural caregivers with a case manager or a Family Caregiver Expert with knowledge on aging issues and community resources. The report proposes service providers must offer caregivers in rural settings improved communication and access to information, better coordination of services, and a consistent relationship to build trust.

Geographic location is critical in determining what an elder needs to age in place. The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index maps out county-by-county what it takes elders to age in place.

The full report is available online and the National Family Caregivers Association also provides organizations with tips on how to celebrate this commemorative month.

State Partners Visit Washington DC

Last week, the Elder Economic Security Initiative welcomed representatives from each of our twelve states (Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut, New Jersey, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, and West Virginia) to Washington for the 2009 Elder Economic Security State Partner Summit. The summit featured a variety of workshops on topics including fundraising, coalition building, and federal policy priorities. Also, our state partners had the chance to be filmed discussing the Initiative in their state.

In addition to workshops, our partners spent time on the Hill and met with Senate Special Committee on Aging staffers to hear about their priorities in the coming year. Following the discussion, each representative visited their respective Senators’ offices to discuss the Elder Economic Security Initiative, legislation on the $250 Emergency Payment to Social Security beneficiaries (H.R. 2597 and S. 1685) and the inclusion of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act (H.R. 1721 and S. 697) in the final health care reform bill.

All in all, it was a successful event and provided an opportunity for our state partners to meet one another and share with one another successful strategies in implementing the Initiative. We thank our partners for a wonderful conference and look forward to bringing them back to DC next year!

An Update on WOW's Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Project

Switching gears, this week I want to highlight the work of WOW’s Family Economic Self-Sufficiency (FESS) Project. In late October, the FESS team hosted ten organization’s from across the country at the first-ever, Generating Real Economic Equity Now (GREEN) Institute sponsored by the Ms. Foundation. Each participant engaged in two days of workshops with experts in workforce development on how best to recruit low-income women into the new and expanding sector of green jobs.

The ten organizations were selected by WOW after a quite competitive application process, and will be part of a year-long job recruiting initiative.

“The programs selected for the GREEN Initiative have demonstrated a strong commitment to preparing women for success in a green economy. Their levels of experience and expertise vary, but all represent a community-based coalition dedicated to creating and sustaining quality green training and employment experiences for the women they serve,” said Joan Kuriansky, WOW’s Executive Director.

Rebecca Lurie, Director of Development at the Consortium for Workforce Education concluded the event with an inspiring message of “keep building” and the importance of persevering toward an equal workforce.

National Academy of Social Insurance Cites WOW in Report on How to Strengthen Social Security

Today at a briefing on the Hill, the National Academy of Social Insurance released a new report, “Fixing Social Security: Adequate Benefits, Adequate Financing”. This report outlines potential strategies to enhance benefit adequacy and ensure long-term solvency for Social Security.

Virginia Reno, Vice President of Income Security Policy at NASI, cited the Elder Index during this morning’s event. The Elder Index is referenced in the report’s discussion on benefit adequacy, particularly referencing that average Social Security benefits fall short of what’s needed to make ends meet in retirement.

Also discussed at the briefing was the disproportionate reliance of women and communities of color on Social Security income. Two out of five older women relies on Social Security income alone. Elders living on Social Security alone are often forced to make difficult sacrifices between basic necessities, like food and prescription medicine. This report provides policymakers with viable options for ensuring Social Security is available and better for future generations.

Reflections from the Field: OLDER is BOLDER

Stacy Sanders, Associate Director of the Initiative, is our guest blogger this week. Find out what she has been up to below!

With November just around the corner, it seems the perfect time to reflect on a blitz of field activity for the Elder Economic Security Initiative (Initiative) this fall. As Associate Director, I have the honor and pleasure to visit WOW’s state partners and participate as the Elder Economic Security Initiative unfolds in their communities.

This September, I traveled to present to the West Virginia Senate Health and Human Resource Committee and the newly established Economic Security and Long-Term Care Taskforce. With funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, this taskforce will bring together stakeholders from across the state to ensure access to long-term care services and supports for elders and disabled persons. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy is a key partner in this effort along with many others, including the Senate Committee staff, Community Voices and Vision Shared. The taskforce will draw from the findings of the Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index to establish policy priorities and opportunities for reform related to long-term care and to identify opportunities to better coordinate services in West Virginia’s rural communities. These efforts will bring to the forefront the critical link between economic security and affordable long-term care services and supports.

Also in September, I journeyed to Wisconsin where WOW partnered with the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) to bring a series of financial training workshops to college-age and mid-career women. These workshops incorporated the concepts of “income adequacy” “self-sufficiency” and “economic security” – all of which are critical to WOW’s ongoing efforts to change how policymakers, the media, advocates, service providers and the public-at-large conceptualize and measure economic need. WOW also took part in a legislative seminar hosted by the Wisconsin Women’s Network to educate state policymakers on the Initiative’s successes to date. WOW seeks to empower and educate individuals as well as transform systems. Both are critical to advancing positive social change for elders and their families. This set of Wisconsin events illustrates just how the Initiative makes this possible.

An October trip to the annual convention of the New York Statewide Senior Action Council, Inc. rounded out this year’s travels where the convention theme “OLDER is BOLDER” most certainly rang true! WOW joined its research partner the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in presenting draft Elder Index data to volunteer advocates from across the state. In New York, the Initiative will be a vehicle to inspire and strengthen grassroots advocacy in critical areas of the state. The Elder Index will provide data to help advocates across the state quantify the economic realities facing far too many older adults. For me, this last trip reinforced just how critical it is to engage senior advocates and bring their voice to issues affecting low-income elder in their communities.

As always, I return from these trips re-energized and inspired! This last set of trips also has me re-convinced of the value of an economic security framework for social change.

The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything

Today, the Center for American Progress (CAP), in collaboration with Maria Shriver, released The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything. The report outlines how government, businesses, and faith-based institutions are responding to changing demographics in the workplace, namely the increasing number of women workers. The report outlines and how to create better opportunities for women and men in the workplace.

At a luncheon at CAP this afternoon, the first lady of California spoke about the shift from men to women as the majority of workers in just one generation. Shriver sees this report as something that will improve the labor force both for employees and employers. Women now make up half of the workforce and this transformation is changing our country by making more women breadwinners for their family. .Shriver makes clear that though the title of the report is woman specific, the report takes into the account the views of both women and men and how similar their opinions are of what needs to be done to improve work conditions.

You can view the full report HERE and the Executive Summary HERE.

Workplace flexibility is an issue discussed on numerous occasions in the report and is directly connected to caregivers, both of children and elders. The inability to adequately care of a loved one due to work obligations causes many adults unneeded stress and Shriver stated that it is every American’s right to request a flexible work schedule.

This marks the first day of a week of presentations and media coverage of the report. It is featured on the cover of the latest issue of TIME Magazine and will be discussed on all NBC Network stations, including on this week’s Meet the Press.

Bills Considered in U.S. Congress to Support Elder Economic Security

Two pieces of legislation are moving through Congress that have the potential to affect the economic security of America’s elders. The Medicare Premium Fairness Act of 2009 (H.R. 3631) passed the House last week and is now in the hands of the Senate. The bill would stop the upcoming 2010 increase in Medicare Part B premiums for 11 million seniors. Given the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) freeze for the next two years, the House decided it unfair to raise medical out-of-pocket costs for seniors whose Social Security benefits will not increase. The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index) shows that health care costs, including the Medicare Part B premium and other coverage expenses, are the number two out-of-pocket cost for seniors. Holding the Medicare Part B Premium steady will support elders living on limited incomes, many of whom already make difficult choices among basic needs, like prescription drugs and home energy costs.

The Emergency Citizens Relief Act of 2009 (H.R. 3597 and S. 1685) is now being debated in the House. This bill would give elders a $250 payment in 2010 to partly compensate for the COLA freeze. The Elder Index demonstrates that elders living on Social Security alone are unable to meet their basic needs. A boost in Social Security payments would assist elders who are barely making ends meet.

Both bills would somewhat alleviate the financial struggle that many elders face today.