Urban Elderly Coalition, Robert J. Ahrens, president, prepared statement_ Taylor, Mr., Mr. Crawford, Ms. Capers, Ms. Pillaut, Ms. Dennery, Ms. Williamson, Ms. Chapoit, and Mr. Deist, a panel of participants at the Sacred Heart Nutrition Center, New Orleans---. STATEMENTS Continued Schwartz, Roger A., director, Food Research and Action Center, Inc., Senior Home Security, Inc., Steve D'Angelo, executive director, prepared Senior Services and Centers of King County, Ann LeVasseur, R.D., Meals Taylor, Mr., a resident of New Orleans, La. Page 827 832 1025 1305 1412 773 775 239 254 398 1203 1055 1243 Williams, Bessie Walker, executive director, Ven Vechten Community 275 Zane, Harry B., project director, Ocean County Nutrition Project for the 1433 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Articles, publications, etc. : Arts and the Aging, by Rita Schwartz, Department for the Aging, New 1272 Bicentennial Charter for Older Americans (Basic Human Rights) 285 County Goals for the Future, a report on services to the elderly, by 467 314 Do You Have an Appetite for Old Age?, by Stephen Clapp, from the 1348 Eligibility Criteria, Title IX revision, from the Department for the 1268 First National Title VII Conference, April 7-8, 1978, resolution of... 1400 1044 Language of Recommended Changes, Appendix A....... 292 National Paralegal Institute Nursing Home Advocacy Training Con- 1197 1260 Seniors Helping Seniors, for Senior Home Security-- Senior Community Service Employment Program-Minority Participation Project MORE Finds "Bureaucracy Run Amok", from the Community 1345 855 1033 Summary Report of the National Indian Conference on Aging, Phoenix, Senior Home Security Programs, by Stephen D'Angelo, from the Police 1047 513 They Rebuild Homes and Hopes, by Kim Plummer, from the Globe- 1045 Communications to: Eagleton, Hon. Thomas F., chairman, Subcommittee on Aging, from: Alexander, Chauncey A., ACSW executive director, National Association of Social Workers, Inc., Washington, D.C., Mar. 17, 1978. 1307 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION-Continued Page Eagleton, Hon. Thomas F., chairman, Subcommittee on Aging, from-Cou. 1391 1349 Curry, Robert C., director, Community Nutrition Institute, Wash- Cooper, Albert S. Jr., chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, 265 631 1326 McCord, Marcia, staff director, Subcommittee on Aging, from Glickman (Mrs.) Donald, chairman, Committee on Aging, Community Service Society, New York, N.Y., Apr. 10, 1978___. Ossofsky, Jack, executive director, National Council on the Aging, Inc., Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 1978 (with enclosures). Pearson, Adelaide P., Noblesville, Ind., Jan. 21, 1978_. Riley, Trish, staff director, Maine Committee on Aging, Augusta, Maine, Feb. 15, 1978 (with enclosure) ___. Winston, Ellen, chairman, Social Policy and Legislation Committee, National Council for Homemaker-Home Health Wide Services, Inc., New York, N.Y., Feb. 21, 1978. Green, Hon. Ernest, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Washington, D.C., from Rita I. Schwarts, program director, Department for the Aging, New York, N.Y., Feb. 2, 1978__. Lacayo, Carmela G., national executive director, Asociacion Na- Levasseur, Ann, R.D., Meals on Wheels/Mobile Market coordina- 985 650 1339 1304 886 1399 1365 1393 1401 1395 APPENDIX Programs for the Elderly.. Study of Funding Regulations, Program Agreements and Monitoring Proce 1455 Evaluation of the Area Planning and Social Services Program, vol. I, Findings and Methodology for Phase I, from Westat, Inc.--. 1457 1543 OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1978 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1977 U.S. SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING OF THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES, New Orleans, La. The subcommittee, met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., at 139 South Lopez Street, New Orleans, La. Senator Thomas F. Eagleton (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senator Eagleton, Senator Johnston, and Representative Lindy Boggs. Senator EAGLETON. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Senate Subcommittee on Aging of the Senate Human Resources Committee, of which I am chairman, is now in session to take testimony with respect to the extension of the Older Americans Act. I am delighted to have with us here today Senator Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, although not a member of the Human Resources Committee, nevertheless an individual keenly and deeply interested in legislation and matters pertaining to America's senior citizens. If I may, I will have a brief opening statement and then I will yield to Senator Johnston. We will have witnesses both this morning and this afternoon. A witness list is available at the table to my left. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR EAGLETON On behalf of all of the members of the Senate Subcommittee on Aging, I welcome the opportunity to receive testimony today on the programs conducted under authority of the Older Americans Act. At the beginning of this decade, the Older Americans Act consisted largely of a program of grants to the States, under which about $15 million was distributed among the States, four territories, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Needless to say, divided among all of these entities, $15 million was hardly adequate. Since that time, that is, within a period of 10 years, tremendous changes have taken place. Total funding for the program for the Older Americans Act now totals something in the neighborhood close to $700 million. That is quite an increment from $15 million a decade ago to $700 million today. leadership as chairman of the subcommittee, the increased Federal While I would like to attribute this startling growth to my effort in this area is largely due to the increase in the population aged 65 and over. In 1950, 8.2 percent of our population was 65 or older. By 1975, this percentage had risen to 10.6, or approximately 11 million additional elderly citizens. The Older Americans Act Amendments of 1973 embodied substantial revision and enlargement of the activities and programs authorized by the act. Most significantly, these amendments provided for the establishment of area agencies on aging to provide a comprehensive network of services for older persons at the local level. In addition, they authorized a number of new and revised programs, including some of the following: Expanded research, training, and demonstration programs on matters relating to transportation services for the aging. A new program of support for the establishment and operation of senior centers at which older persons may enjoy social activities and obtain information and referral services. A greatly revised program of volunteer activities as part of the foster grandparents and RSVP programs. Inclusion of the nutrition program for the elderly under the umbrella of the Older Americans Act. A new program of community service employment for older Americans administered by the Department of Labor. I might add at this time, although it is not in this prepared statement, we do have a breakdown of the funding for these key elderly programs. I might just read these figures into the record. Under title 3 of the act, and that is the part that deals with State and area agencies on aging, the appropriations for the fiscal 1978, the year that we are now in, the fiscal year 1978, the appropriation for that category was $187 million. Title 4, that is the research title, or research section, $29.3 million. Title 5, and that deals with multipurpose senior centers, $40 million. Title 7, and that is the basic nutrition title, $250 million. Title 9, that is the older workers employment, I just mentioned that one a moment ago, that's $190.4 million, and those figures total $699.2 million. Now, the 1975 amendments embodied some new initiatives; specific earmarking of four priority services for transportation, legal counseling, residential repair, and inhome services. Those were specifically set forth as objectives or goals, but the act, the 1975 act primarily continued the programs as they had been existing heretofore. I have spent considerable time discussing the evaluation of the Older Americans Act programs to demonstrate the tremendous progress that has taken place in this decade. The existing authority for the Older Americans Act expires September 30, 1978. The subcommittee is now reviewing all programs under the act as the initial step in extending and revising the law. We are here today to elicit your testimony on problems that you perceive with current programs and areas of need to which no support or inadequate support is provided. It may be that existing programs are too rigid; it may be that greater flexibility is needed at the State and local level; perhaps that limited resources are spread too thinly to have maximum impact in any area; perhaps that specific direction from Washington is necessary to assure delivery of important services. It may be that everything is working well and that no major revisions should be undertaken at this time. That is the reason for these hearings. This is the first set of field hearings we will hold on this act. Another set will be held perhaps sometime in the spring in the Midwest, maybe Chicago, and in addition, we will have the hearings in Washington, D.C., for the various governmental types of witnesses and citizens of that greater metropolitan area. I might say as a footnote before yielding to my distinguished colleague that the reason we picked Louisiana, and more specifically New Orleans, La., was the fact that the State and especially the Greater New Orleans area, has been very forward-looking, very outgoing, as it were, with respect to these senior citizens programs; excellent nutrition centers, one of which we are obviously using today and we will stay for lunch and so forth. So we wanted to pick a city in the South where we thought the programs had been well received and were being well implemented and that is why we picked New Orleans and we are delighted to be here. I yield at this time to my colleague, Senator Bennett Johnston. STATEMENT OF HON. BENNETT J. JOHNSTON, A. U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA Senator JOHNSTON. Thank you very much, Senator Eagleton. The success of this program is very much attributable to Tom Eagleton who is chairman of the Subcommittee on Aging of the full Human Resources Committee. Many of you may know, we have in Congress a division of responsibilities, and a division of labors where each of us serves on a separate committee. Some are subcommittee chairmen. Those who have subcommittees, chairmanship of a subcommittee have a special duty, responsibility, and power to shape the legislation that comes before that subcommittee. I might say that Senator Eagleton as chairman of the Subcommittee on Aging has been the guiding hand in this field of legislation. The success of the program, several hundred percent in just recent years of increase and funding for this program is a measure of his success. I say that not just to please my colleague of whom I am very fond and with whom I am very good friends, but also to impress upon you that what you say today, the recommendations that you make, can be directly translated through Senator Eagletonand I will support him and help him in that regard through Senator Eagleton can be translated directly in the law because we are here at one of the more progressive, successful programs and you as representatives of that program can help us a great deal. You know, one of the measures of the success of a society is the longevity of its people. Think of it-when you determine the state of civilization in various countries around the world, well, you look at per capita income, you look at infant mortality, and you look at longevity. How long does the average person live? In the United States, we have been very successful at extending the lifespan of people. So when we look at the increasing figures of |