To the editor:

In keeping with the promise to inform our constituents of legislation that may be of interest, we have co-signed a bill regarding our senior population and those who care for them. The legislation (2022- H 7616) would transform the state’s Office of Healthy Aging into a far more robust and comprehensive agency to better serve the needs of Rhode Island’s seniors. It would expand the office to a full-fledged state department, expand its director’s authority, and appoint local senior centers as hubs for service delivery, with authority to bill Medicaid for transportation services.

We feel that Rhode Island should invest much more in services that enable people to age in place and safely remain in their communities. By working cooperatively with senior centers, this bill would make it much easier for people to access the support they need as they age.

The legislation would authorize the new Department of Healthy Aging to protect and enable seniors to stay healthy and independent by providing meals, health programs, transportation, benefits counseling and more. Under the bill, the department would provide professional development to agencies and programs that provide services to seniors in the state and become a clearing house to help those agencies and businesses assist senior centers in the delivery of services from the state.

In particular, the bill directs the new department to manage and develop a multi-tiered transportation system that works with the Department of Human Services, the Department of Transportation, senior centers and with all existing modes of public transportation to develop transportation plans that suit the elderly population of each municipality. Creating reliable and comprehensive local transit for seniors would make a world of difference in enabling older Rhode Islanders to live safely and independently in their own homes.

The legislation also seeks to have the new department develop and submit to the General Assembly a funding formula to meet the requirements the new law sets forth, including input from seniors and the caregivers and allocating funding to each municipality based on its senior population, with restrictions that the funding be used only for senior programs.

The legislation has been sent to the House Finance Committee, and its cost has not yet been determined. This bill is intended to start an important conversation among state leaders about appropriately providing for Rhode Island’s aging population.

Susan Donovan
Bristol/Portsmouth (District 69) Chair-Subcommittee on Aging and Senior Services

June Speakman
Bristol/Warren (District 68) Chair-Commission on Affordable Housing