00:00 - Joined by.

00:02 - Department of aging

00:04 - and the secretary of aging before we begin

00:06 - our chairman is truly in an introductory comments

00:08 - yes thank you chairman Harris very quickly

00:11 - it's

00:11 - important to note that

00:13 - the department Beijing is not funded through the

00:14 - general fund but funded through the lottery fund

00:17 - and within that

00:18 - a budget proposal of five hundred and five million dollars an increase of two twelve

00:22 - million or two and a half percent over the current fiscal year.

00:26 - I think we're going to have a lot of questions today

00:27 - about elder abuse about you know the aging our way

00:31 - and other initiatives that you have and I think we're we're

00:33 - concerned with

00:34 - the status of our elderly population and making sure that they're safe so

00:37 - we look forward to your testimony to me

00:39 - thank you

00:40 - see our testifies already stand and so will swear you when.

00:43 - Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about

00:45 - to give us the truth the whole truth so help you god.

00:48 - You may be seated

00:50 - in the middle of the table is our timekeeper

00:52 - when our members start their questions that will turn green they have five minutes

00:56 - when it turns yellow that means thirty seconds are left and

01:00 - when it turns red that we would ask you to conclude.

01:04 - Your

01:05 - comments.

01:11 - Alright secretary do you have any opening statements where you want to just jump in.

01:16 - Thank you I do have a brief opening statement please proceed

01:19 - so.

01:20 - Good afternoon chairman terrace Suzie

01:23 - and and

01:24 - thank you

01:25 - for the time we have satisfied today.

01:27 - I wanted to briefly highlight the accomplishments of the department of aging has been

01:30 - able to achieve in this administration

01:33 - our success and progress have only been possible

01:35 - through our work with the governor's office

01:37 - the general assembly my fellow cabinet members and most importantly partners in our

01:41 - work like the area agencies on aging

01:43 - a lp of Pennsylvania

01:45 - and the Pennsylvania council on aging just to name a few.

01:49 - The renewed commitment of this department to empower our stakeholders to not only

01:52 - inform us of what we should be doing

01:54 - but to have a meaningful and tangy apple part in bringing support and solutions to

01:58 - the challenges facing older adults.

02:00 - Since two thousand and twenty three Pennsylvania

02:02 - has benefit from a new renewed focus on

02:05 - the investment in aging services

02:07 - we began with the development and implementation of a nationally recognized

02:10 - multi-sector plan aging our way pa

02:13 - we became the thirteenth age friendly state in the country

02:16 - depart st has developed and implemented

02:18 - a nationally

02:19 - recognized comprehensive system of evaluation and monitoring of it's triple a's

02:23 - cape

02:24 - we design created and ruled out the ph care kit

02:26 - a nationally recognized resource that is literally

02:29 - helping hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania and

02:31 - in record time we stood up and Alzheimer's and

02:33 - dementia office with a thirty person council

02:36 - with Nash national partners we reframed how we view and talk about aging

02:39 - we have raised up and added new supports for grandparents raising grandchildren

02:43 - we have begun building multi-disciplinary teams and communities

02:47 - to tackle complex elder justice issues

02:49 - and forge stronger community partnerships we have

02:51 - taken steps to address the demands from older adults

02:54 - for better navigation services

02:56 - we have stood up for better housing behavioral health

02:59 - services transportation and food security for older adults

03:02 - in every community

03:03 - large small rural urban

03:06 - the department of aging

03:07 - as and will continue to bring change in monetization

03:10 - accountability and unprecedented transparency to our work

03:13 - I did this work with all of you

03:15 - with an incredible team of expert science leaders a brilliant team of new recruits

03:19 - fifty two area agencies on aging

03:21 - state partners community partners stakeholders

03:24 - and most importantly older pennsylvanians themselves

03:27 - our work is far from being done for our part the department of aging and the aging

03:31 - network will continue to keep older adults

03:33 - at the center of every conversation we will remain committed to continue us

03:37 - improvement and monitoring of the quality of our work

03:40 - the sustainability of our system to meet the ever-changing needs of older adults

03:44 - and remain true advocates for their autonomy

03:46 - dignity and right to self determination

03:49 - thank you for your time this afternoon and looking forward to answering your questions

03:53 - thank the secretary we will begin with representative you.

04:02 - Good afternoon.

04:06 - Welcome.

04:08 - Go to a department of aging we're excited that you're here and.

04:13 - Interestingly enough I just finished a policy hearing

04:16 - to talk about pace and the pace net services and how

04:20 - the costs that

04:21 - a lot of our seniors in the commonwealth

04:23 - have

04:24 - to incur because of the alas

04:26 - there

04:27 - there

04:28 - Annabel city to state on the program

04:30 - and how they now have to make some really harsh decisions as it relates to food.

04:36 - Transportation and then medication and so

04:39 - from your perspective we also heard from one of the specialists

04:43 - and the herring who said that

04:45 - they

04:45 - really strongly believe they've been working

04:48 - in this space for five decades

04:50 - in a kind of laugh and

04:51 - and the space they really do believe that there is a correlation between skill games

04:55 - lottery

04:56 - and the cost of

04:58 - such programs for our senior communities

05:00 - so that that's hex pairs will not have to bear that burden of

05:04 - how we're taking care of

05:06 - our

05:07 - seniors and the commonwealth so

05:09 - with that being said in terms of

05:11 - an expert of five decades saying

05:14 - that trajectory could sustain

05:17 - how we take care of our seniors in a community

05:20 - and where they are now with

05:22 - having to make some really harsh decisions

05:25 - for

05:26 - their livelihood

05:28 - can you give me your perspective on

05:31 - do you believe that that

05:34 - works there their

05:35 - trajectory works in terms of

05:37 - their skill games

05:39 - and.

05:40 - Conversation in a lottery and

05:42 - those programs impacting how our seniors

05:45 - are being taken care of and the commonwealth and if so.

05:49 - Or if if not please let us know what your thoughts

05:51 - would be insolvent solution to helping our seniors

05:54 - stay in their homes live

05:57 - and make sure that they're taken care of themselves.

06:00 - Thank you and I think when we talk about older adults

06:03 - the their needs are vast

06:05 - and it's very difficult to pinpoint which need is

06:08 - greatest with our older Pennsylvania population

06:11 - we built a multi-sector plan

06:12 - with one hundred and sixty three tactics that shows

06:15 - the variety and the never ending need of older

06:17 - adults as we move through this is largest increase

06:20 - our population

06:21 - is is is something that we need to make sure that we are being you know

06:26 - intentional with our investments for.

06:29 - I think that all of us.

06:31 - Report

06:31 - support the pace program very strongly the pasted pace

06:34 - not have been there for over four years forty years

06:37 - supporting older pennsylvanians helping them live

06:39 - in communities all across the state

06:42 - but also we have to be cognizant of older

06:44 - adults need transportation services older adults

06:47 - need access to nutrition services older adult needs

06:50 - our protective services

06:51 - so

06:52 - Like I said we need to be sure that we are balancing

06:55 - and being judicious with those resources that we have

06:57 - fortunately in Pennsylvania we benefit from the lottery.

07:00 - I think the real question is should we expand

07:03 - the pace program and I think the answer is I

07:06 - don't think anybody.

07:07 - Disagrees with

07:08 - adding additions services are expanding

07:11 - services for older pennsylvanians I think it is a matter of timing

07:14 - and I think that we need to wash that timing very carefully

07:17 - and come to a consensus when is the right time to move on that expansion.

07:21 - You said it's a matter of timing

07:23 - yes.

07:23 - I mean with what we see coming from Washington

07:26 - and the fact like that just this summer alone we were worried about our nutrish and

07:29 - services for older adults being jeopardized

07:32 - other programs like our health and wellness programs and other other programs we

07:35 - administer the department being jeopardized

07:37 - we

07:38 - We want to make sure that there's stability and there's enough data to support

07:41 - what we are going to decide is not going to jeopardize other programs that we have in

07:45 - the commonwealth and I think like I said

07:48 - more time to study the issue more time to gather

07:49 - data on the issue would be prudent on our part.

07:54 - While I appreciate that I will also say that although that

07:57 - is very difficult for us to be able to

08:00 - fill a bat

08:01 - a back fill from let the fat federal level is trying to withhold or

08:05 - may withhold from

08:07 - the commonwealth

08:08 - in our previous panel we had the department of revenue and they pretty much he

08:13 - said that

08:14 - there is a billion dollars one billion dollars left

08:18 - on the table each time we are not taking action and

08:22 - and acting what the governor is proposing

08:24 - as it relates to.

08:26 - Different ways that we can have some

08:29 - income revenue in the commonwealth and so.

08:32 - I think it would

08:33 - be helpful if you were

08:35 - to help me and I guess that the good people don't

08:38 - kind of lot better understand when you say timey

08:41 - and I get it's a federal level piece

08:43 - but as the state

08:44 - what other efforts do you think we can.

08:47 - Support

08:48 - and really champion to ensure that

08:51 - one billion dollars is no longer array

08:54 - laid on a table and while the seniors in our communities can be helped right now

08:59 - thank you I wasn't part of those proceedings

09:01 - I wasn't

09:02 - I wasn't privy to

09:03 - others the

09:04 - department of revenue's report out at those proceedings so

09:07 - I defer to the department of revenue on those matters and the governor's budget

09:10 - office on those matters as I don't have information on that

09:14 - before me right this minute.

09:16 - Oh

09:16 - Okay

09:17 - thanks.

09:18 - Thank the gentle lady

09:20 - represented.

09:30 - Representative krupa.

09:32 - Thank you mr chair

09:33 - and welcome

09:34 - this afternoon thank you all for being here

09:36 - and for your advocacy for our aging population

09:39 - I want to begin by recognizing the great work that is

09:41 - done in my community by southwestern Pennsylvania area

09:44 - on aging

09:45 - and that service my district in fayette county done and throughout our region

09:48 - their partnership with local senior centers

09:52 - and programs like meals on wheels

09:53 - absolutely

09:55 - make a difference in my community and.

09:58 - Not just for nutrition but for connection safety and and largely for our older

10:03 - citizens to remain in their homes

10:05 - in the fifty first district we sell for

10:07 - how critical these services are last year due to funding constraints

10:11 - a grab and go meals at our senior centers had to be suspended our meals on wheels

10:16 - program for the first time had a wait list

10:19 - and it's deeply concerning because for many seniors

10:22 - these programs aren't

10:24 - optional they're lifelines

10:26 - so I

10:27 - it really reem force the fact to that stable timely funding and timely

10:32 - being a component of that is absolutely critical

10:34 - so that our seniors don't fall through the cracks

10:36 - with that in mind I do have a couple of questions with respect

10:39 - to the current budget which included an

10:41 - additional ten million dollars in Grant funding

10:44 - for the area agency on aging network

10:47 - and that was due to my understanding is to the concerns from trip ways across the

10:51 - commonwealth about increasing demands and growing wait list for services

10:55 - can you speak to the current status

10:58 - of those waiting lists statewide

11:00 - for services like home delivered meals and other in-home support specifically

11:04 - has that additional funding helped reduce wait times or eliminate waiting lists

11:09 - and what's the average amount of time a senior might have to

11:12 - wait to receive services today.

11:16 - Thank you

11:17 - of

11:18 - The the average wait time let's dispense with that the average wait time

11:21 - really depends on the your agency on aging because

11:23 - that's also dependent on

11:25 - people that are enrolled in those programs

11:27 - so you can't predict the you know that that for each service area

11:31 - it's

11:32 - directly

11:33 - on our weightless right now for meals

11:36 - it

11:36 - Is.

11:38 - Well for the options program or options wait list is

11:41 - in forty eight triple a's

11:43 - we have

11:44 - twenty two hundred and fifty five older adults

11:47 - waiting

11:47 - for for

11:48 - for additional services

11:50 - in the caregiver support program

11:52 - we have one hundred and twenty seven

11:54 - caregivers impacted

11:55 - for additional services

11:57 - so thank you for that information

11:58 - but your be the initial party response does does give me some concern.

12:02 - That if the wait time a rich yeah varies

12:05 - depending on the area on aging does that highlight

12:09 - maybe where there needs to be some adjustments so that

12:13 - so that the areas on aging across the commonwealth

12:15 - are receiving adequate funding

12:18 - on and

12:18 - on based on equity so that that the average wait time

12:21 - is consistent across the state well I think if we're

12:24 - saying that everybody's waiting for funding

12:26 - and that would make sense but everybody who's not waiting for funding

12:29 - thirteen hundred and seventy one individuals are waiting because of funding

12:33 - eight hundred and sixty are waiting because there's

12:35 - no to no workers or caregivers available to serve them

12:38 - and there's also thirty three waiting for a variety of reasons

12:42 - beyond

12:43 - the availability of workers or dollars.

12:46 - And with a second line of questioning your general government appropriations

12:51 - or operation appropriation proposes eight hundred and fifty

12:55 - thousand dollars to expand evaluation and

12:57 - technical assistance to the trip away network

13:00 - could you explain how those funds will be issued

13:03 - what specific areas of

13:05 - of improvement your department has identify fide within the AAA system

13:08 - and how that investment will ultimately translate into

13:11 - better service delivery for seniors at the local level.

13:15 - Thank you

13:16 - that's specific

13:17 - those specific dollars or more to help us with

13:20 - training and technical assistance and also an investment in our ip infrastructure

13:24 - to support the area agencies on aging

13:26 - iTunes and important because

13:28 - the I t infrastructure in the area agency on

13:30 - aging uses and the department of aging uses

13:32 - has been in

13:33 - place since nineteen ninety nine

13:35 - others many struggles many challenges with that ity system

13:38 - supporting that ity system

13:40 - and continuing using that Isis

13:41 - ninety system

13:42 - continues to grow in cost every year

13:44 - as less states rely on it

13:46 - because it is antiquated and because it's justice a patchwork of of of

13:51 - fixes and not really getting the job done

13:53 - to the level

13:54 - that it needs to be done why that is important is because that data that data that we

13:58 - use to report back to the federal government.

14:00 - Impacts our funding draw down from the federal government

14:03 - in a big way

14:04 - if our data is not perfect if our data is not as accurate as a key can be it impacts

14:08 - how much money we have to do these.

14:10 - Services the balance of the remainder is two for technical assistance and for

14:15 - training for the area agencies on aging

14:16 - through cape we have identified very quickly

14:19 - that

14:20 - our area agencies on aging are struggling in

14:22 - their ability to go to documents appropriately

14:25 - the risk mitigation strategies

14:27 - so when they go in they mitigate the risk and protective services home

14:31 - or situation I should say

14:32 - they are not documenting it to the level they need to so we have already begun

14:36 - working to bring enhanced training in I'm sorry I'm overtime.

14:40 - I just saw the light

14:42 - we were bringing more training in

14:44 - we're doing more in services and we're expanding how we provide them the

14:47 - resources they need to

14:49 - be able to serve older adults in their community

14:50 - so we're both at a time thank you so very much

14:53 - like the gentle lady representative kinky.

14:56 - Thank you mr chairman

14:57 - and.

14:59 - So

14:59 - The department.

15:01 - Att

15:02 - has noted that there's been an eighty four percent increase in reports of suspected

15:06 - abuse of older adults over the last five years.

15:10 - In my office my staff has seen many cases of

15:13 - financial abuse of our older constituents.

15:17 - Some family members just draining their

15:19 - older relatives snap ap and social security.

15:23 - We had one woman whose granddaughter put a whole car loan in her name

15:28 - and she had no idea about it until her granddaughter started stopped.

15:33 - Paying on the loan and she came to our office for assistance

15:36 - we found the loan.

15:39 - These cases are absolutely heartbreaking and.

15:43 - From the annual report of older adult protective services you identified forty seven

15:48 - percent of perpetrators are family members.

15:52 - What do you think

15:53 - can be done to help recognize cases of financial

15:57 - abuse

15:58 - and older abuse elder abuse in.

16:00 - In general.

16:02 - When much of it happens behind closed doors and among family.

16:06 - Thank you

16:07 - I think one as a commonwealth and

16:10 - speaking

16:11 - to my colleagues in both the cabinet and other state agencies

16:15 - working more aligned market working together

16:18 - on how we educate and how we make sure families older adults and communities know

16:23 - about the growing problem with financial exploitation of older adults we're working

16:28 - very closely with the attorney general's office we're working

16:30 - we're trying to work more closely the office

16:32 - of elder justice in the courts in this matter

16:35 - also the department of banking

16:36 - and state police just to name a few

16:39 - this is not just a department of aging issue this is this is a commonwealth issue and

16:42 - knowing that billions of dollars are being

16:44 - exploited from older adults each and every year

16:46 - is concerning

16:47 - we also can work to update the older adult protective

16:50 - services act that doesn't even contain law language

16:53 - related to financial exploitation something

16:55 - we very much need to do to for the protection of

16:57 - older Pennsylvania is everywhere is to identify it

17:00 - and give

17:01 - not only our system

17:03 - the tools to to

17:04 - address financial exploitation but other systems

17:07 - the ability to address it

17:08 - such as the banking industry

17:10 - and having the ability to report and hold and and the protections they need to make

17:14 - sure they're working with our law enforcement with our area agency on aging

17:17 - and stopping elder abuse and and hopefully

17:19 - sometimes being able to recoup some of those losses.

17:23 - So a lot of the folks that that we work with

17:26 - don't

17:27 - want to press charges because

17:29 - his our family members and what

17:32 - beyond just law enforcement

17:34 - what can we be doing to to assist in these cases

17:39 - and again that's where as we stand up

17:41 - elder justice multi disciplinary teams in the commonwealth

17:43 - that that's that's part of the complex issues in the community solutions

17:47 - we're using victim services having conversations

17:50 - enhancing the work and the training we

17:51 - we do with our approach effective services

17:53 - workers in our fifty two area agencies on aging

17:56 - so we can meet those individuals where they're at and talk to them

17:59 - treat you

18:00 - making sure we were able to speak to these

18:02 - victims and encourage them to do the right thing

18:04 - but in many instances we have to respect it is their decision at the end of the day

18:08 - that is their autonomy and their dignity that we have to respect

18:11 - that it's their right

18:12 - and I been there in those rooms just like you

18:15 - trying to encourage people to do the to do what we know is right

18:19 - but it is their family and they have a hard time to have a very hard time doing it

18:23 - thank you.

18:24 - I.

18:25 - So obviously one of the major issues with our senior

18:28 - population as is chronic loneliness and social isolation.

18:34 - Does.

18:36 - So mentoring

18:37 - and can provide an Avenue for older adults

18:40 - to connect with new people to feel like they have a way to invest in the community.

18:48 - What with that in mind how is mentoring represented within the department of aging

18:54 - budget as a way to be more intentional in building intergenerational relationships

18:59 - and investing in our communities that way

19:01 - thank you I

19:02 - do mentoring

19:03 - aside

19:04 - intergenerational programming is something we speak about an aging our way pa

19:08 - something that we encourage

19:09 - our arts or

19:11 - know four hundred and fifty senior community centers to

19:13 - to consider

19:14 - we support our area agencies on aging where they look

19:17 - for intergenerational activities to make sure that

19:20 - we're bringing those populations together

19:22 - is an incredibly powerful

19:24 - to see

19:25 - especially older adults interact with

19:27 - not not just you

19:28 - children

19:29 - whether it be doing reading programs like success by six

19:32 - or or programs in that Lane

19:35 - but also programs with all that with adolescence and the

19:38 - power that can happen when those two groups get together

19:41 - and find commonality and really

19:44 - you know

19:44 - enhance the lives in both adolescents and older adults tremendously so

19:48 - we do encourage intergenerational programming

19:51 - and creativity in how we approach junior generational programming.

19:55 - So is

19:55 - is there an opportunity with what you're funding an intergenerational.

20:00 - Interaction to support mentoring I'll just take a yes or no as.

20:03 - It could be done as a senior center Grant yes.

20:06 - Thank you thank you mr chairman

20:07 - thank digital.

20:09 - It is

20:10 - Nelson.

20:12 - Thank you mr chair

20:13 - welcome secretary

20:14 - and lucky

20:15 - to serve on both the aging committee and the appropriations committee so.

20:20 - I've been able to participate in a number of

20:21 - hearings with you and I appreciate all the time.

20:25 - That you spend

20:26 - helping to try to keep us informed

20:28 - you know of actions within the department

20:31 - I want to

20:31 - can tenue along the lines of that subject of protective services and

20:35 - concerns you know I'm from west more land county

20:38 - you know we're very fortunate to have

20:41 - an effective AAA network and and they do a lot in that protective services space

20:47 - and

20:48 - but

20:49 - one of the things that has repetitively.

20:52 - You know come up in the area of protective services and

20:55 - and some controversy

20:57 - you know in October twenty twenty five was one of the latest reports

21:01 - about a program

21:03 - for

21:04 - older adult protective services

21:07 - and

21:08 - in the ability of triple a's to respond to

21:10 - reports of abuse

21:12 - you know specifically the comprehensive

21:14 - aging

21:15 - performance evaluation of the cape

21:18 - program.

21:21 - This assessment covers about you know

21:23 - counties have to exceed seventy five percent

21:25 - performance but your website has a lot of counties

21:28 - below and that includes.

21:30 - Even more counties that are below seventy five percent for protective services

21:35 - how how many total

21:36 - counties

21:37 - or below that threshold currently.

21:40 - Thank you

21:40 - I believe leave.

21:42 - Below the threshold

21:44 - that we would

21:45 - exercise the next level when we which is to send out formal notification

21:49 - and to bring their leadership into conversations about

21:53 - concerns about the performance of that area agency on aging

21:56 - for at at right now where we stand

21:59 - of those that we have completed.

22:01 - As for

22:02 - how many

22:03 - how many total.

22:04 - That are and indeed of us

22:06 - the next level of intervention for

22:08 - okay for in the need of the next level of intervention

22:10 - which is formal notice to their leadership.

22:13 - That we will be

22:14 - will be talking about timelines for corrections that because of

22:17 - it appear to a review of that had about fourteen

22:20 - may maybe that are below seventy five percent would

22:23 - be more accurate.

22:25 - We have a standard that when they fall below twenty five metrics

22:29 - twenty five measures within the evaluation

22:32 - they go that was when the formal notification

22:34 - process begins other e of fourteen counties.

22:38 - Currently involved in that process we may be

22:40 - bantering a little bit I mean that

22:42 - from my side that's.

22:44 - Almost

22:45 - a million

22:46 - seniors over sixty five that are in counties

22:50 - and

22:50 - that may be below that seventy five

22:53 - threshold but.

22:55 - Specifically

22:56 - part of the concern I think that the

22:58 - those

22:59 - you know involved in the senior community is the length

23:01 - of time time for that review because my understanding is

23:04 - after the program was introduced.

23:07 - Cape is saying it would almost be

23:09 - three reviews or almost

23:12 - four years.

23:13 - Before corrective or

23:15 - disciplinary actions is that correct well what I just highlighted too is

23:20 - the exact opposite we've all already acted and

23:23 - what

23:23 - or

23:24 - Triple as an formal notification about their track the changes that need to happen

23:28 - there'll be

23:29 - brought to Harrisburg will be

23:30 - have a discussion with them their leadership

23:32 - will outline time frames and goals that need to be achieved for us to move to the next

23:36 - level so no we don't have to wait

23:38 - that long

23:39 - or as part

23:40 - it's interesting because.

23:42 - You know as you were saying it's the opposite somebody else

23:45 - was nodding

23:46 - yes that for your review so it may be

23:49 - four years until disciplinary action is taken place but there's dialogue that

23:55 - beginning.

23:56 - It

23:57 - At any point and if you look at our cooperative agreements

23:59 - with the area agency on aging the language is very clear since we've updated them.

24:05 - That we have the ability at any time

24:07 - to take

24:08 - these actions that we have outlined

24:10 - if their performance falls before we

24:12 - measure discipline

24:13 - I mean it's

24:14 - I I concern is the discipline holding counties

24:17 - I mean some of the counties on your list

24:19 - we have counties at thirty three per cent performance

24:22 - counties at fifty three percent performance it's in the area of

24:26 - you know senior protective services and.

24:30 - So maybe I'm confused but are you saying now that discipline

24:34 - on counties that are operating at thirty three percent effectiveness

24:38 - is occurring

24:39 - or is it just talk.

24:42 - It is

24:42 - well I think we need to define what your week consider discipline

24:46 - we have begun the formal process of notifying and fbr agencies on aging don't hit the

24:51 - benchmarks that we outlined for them

24:53 - then we would stop

24:55 - the next level would be to stop their ability

24:57 - to draw down additional funds or Grant funding

24:59 - without hurting their bot baseline

25:01 - because if you take any action against the baseline funding an area agency on aging

25:05 - you're

25:05 - punishing the older adults in that community.

25:08 - So the only thing that

25:09 - until we updated until this administration updated

25:12 - the cooperative block Grant agreements

25:14 - the mechanism to

25:16 - quote discipline the agency's on aging was to take away their baseline funding

25:21 - and we have changed that element of that into a

25:23 - series of things that we can do

25:25 - in order to

25:26 - bring the

25:27 - ring the level of accountability up

25:29 - and to

25:29 - improve improve the performance without impacting services

25:32 - to older adults which was the danger in the previous

25:35 - cooperative agreement.

25:37 - See our time's up thank you very much for that explanation.

25:40 - Thank the gentleman representative for.

25:43 - Like a chairman thank you

25:44 - mr secretary.

25:46 - In my district

25:47 - my seniors are very concerned with

25:50 - transportation

25:51 - as as seniors

25:52 - are aging and and we're trying to

25:54 - whether we're aging at home in place or one of our centres

25:58 - access to transportation to get to doctor's appointments and medical appointments is

26:03 - is very challenging and it's very expensive for the county as

26:06 - I live right on a county line and one of the things I'm finding is that

26:10 - even these transportation systems are

26:13 - not always designed around our medical communities

26:17 - appointments and is when we crossed the county line

26:20 - our transportation systems don't always talk to

26:22 - each other and and there's not good handoffs of

26:25 - of take can.

26:27 - Someone across the county line to get

26:29 - dialysis or something like that

26:31 - what can we do as legislatures or what could you do in the office

26:35 - to make counties

26:37 - coordinate those ride share programs for transportation

26:40 - especially for a boner population of seniors trying to get medical

26:43 - treatments

26:44 - thank you.

26:45 - Again.

26:46 - I.

26:47 - Agree with you this is not just a department of aging

26:49 - solution we need to bring our partners in penndot and we also.

26:53 - Need help from the general assembly

26:55 - in fixing some of these issues

26:56 - to to your point when I was an area agency on aging director my frustration was

27:01 - having my shared ride to go across the border into lozano county

27:04 - to get my

27:05 - constituents to the va pa.

27:07 - Same struggles that you

27:09 - identified aren't our transportation services stopped at the lack a wanna

27:12 - county border

27:13 - so I mean it really requires all of us to work to get past

27:17 - those barriers we do not

27:19 - necessarily have the jurisdiction over

27:22 - over

27:22 - the shared ride

27:23 - community or

27:24 - coordinators that

27:25 - that

27:25 - penndot does

27:26 - but we do fly fund

27:28 - our area agencies on aging spend about six million dollars or eight million dollars a

27:32 - year about eight point one million to be exact

27:35 - a year in supporting the these operations

27:38 - that gives us a return on our investment about forty nine million dollars

27:42 - but

27:42 - we still need to work on improvements in efficiencies and we need your support to do

27:46 - that at the local level because cuz

27:48 - you know again

27:49 - we don't necessarily have

27:51 - as much jurisdiction in the in that space as as other entities.

27:55 - Now and I appreciate that and I think this is

27:56 - one of the areas where you could help us to

27:59 - help

27:59 - help

28:00 - us in the legislature and obviously coordinating on

28:03 - how those budget dollars can be driven towards.

28:07 - More cooperation across those borders to make sure that the medical care that's

28:11 - needed that those rides are available for those seniors

28:14 - we

28:15 - We're we're

28:16 - we're experienced more and more seniors and

28:18 - I'm going to be one of them soon

28:20 - and

28:20 - we need to make sure that that that system is well funded

28:23 - and we're able to get to those doctors appointments so

28:26 - anything you guys can do to help us to direct

28:29 - where we could either put funds as our our population ages

28:33 - or how we can.

28:35 - Enable it through legislation to

28:37 - to have those cross-border corporations would be

28:40 - very helpful.

28:42 - Benckiser.

28:43 - The gentleman representative bargain

28:45 - thank chairman and welcome secretary I'd like

28:48 - to follow up above with some questioning.

28:51 - Similar to my.

28:53 - Colleague from west more land and

28:56 - mr secretary under the new cape

28:58 - monitoring system AAA

29:01 - review use occur every eighteen months instead of the previous

29:06 - annual reviews

29:07 - now.

29:09 - I think it's important to know

29:11 - that it's been widely publicized

29:14 - and critics

29:15 - have been have have

29:17 - published that they believe

29:18 - many of these changes have relaxed

29:21 - or

29:22 - Have a relaxed oversight of the county agencies

29:25 - and have weakened the efforts to ensure that

29:28 - our county agencies follow the rules and

29:30 - keep older Pennsylvania safe and specifically

29:34 - critic site that is because

29:36 - you know you once had led the lack a wanna.

29:39 - County of agents

29:40 - county agent

29:42 - pardon me county aging

29:43 - agency

29:44 - later presided over the association that.

29:47 - Represents their interests and so

29:51 - with with the belief that you were

29:53 - you know sympathetic

29:55 - to the very agencies that you oversee so

29:58 - I just like to ask them some questions related to that

30:01 - and.

30:02 - So according to your website cycle one

30:05 - began in January of twenty five.

30:10 - At point.

30:14 - Not all triple age have been reviewed since the beginning of

30:17 - twenty five is that is that right

30:20 - that is correct

30:21 - okay so

30:22 - and I was

30:23 - on your website.

30:27 - It looks like.

30:29 - Twenty

30:30 - does that sound right twenty agencies have been reviewed and

30:33 - twenty

30:33 - out of the fifty two that sounds twenty agencies have been reviewed and.

30:37 - I didn't hear I apologize

30:39 - twenty agencies

30:40 - have been reviewed

30:41 - twenty agencies have had their exit conferences

30:44 - twenty agencies are posted on the website

30:46 - twenty six agencies have been completed

30:49 - and we are waiting for their exit conferences

30:51 - so we can post their information on the website

30:53 - there are two more agencies currently in review.

30:57 - So would you suggest then that the departments

30:59 - are on track to complete all the reviews by June

31:02 - we are on track to

31:03 - complete the reviews by the end of summer

31:06 - that is our goal is to try to make sure that

31:08 - we we are meeting that goal

31:10 - by the end of summer did you say I

31:11 - apologize second or by the end of summer

31:13 - okay so

31:14 - and.

31:15 - I.

31:17 - How many triple agencies

31:20 - have complete review under cycle one

31:23 - right now complete review twenty six

31:26 - complete review

31:27 - on twenty six complete review

31:28 - okay

31:29 - let me ask you how how's the order of the review selected

31:33 - the order of the view was established based on

31:35 - those area agencies on aging that has I've been

31:38 - not reviewed in the longest period of time so we

31:40 - started with the ones that had not been reviewed.

31:43 - Because remember

31:44 - from two thousand and seventeen until twenty twenty three

31:47 - the records aren't good on how often the area agencies on aging were monitored

31:51 - only we can only say with certainty that two potentially three times

31:56 - since two thousand and seventeen to two twenty twenty three

31:59 - were all area agencies on aging monitored for

32:01 - protective services in a twelve month cycle

32:03 - only two times we can definitively say that maybe three if we're being generous.

32:08 - So it has not been

32:10 - what we do when we started cape we did not stop a

32:13 - process of consistently monitoring area agencies on aging

32:16 - for

32:16 - all of them every twelve months

32:18 - that was not in place when I came in that was not occurring when I came in

32:22 - we make corrections to a new system if

32:24 - it was in place but it wasn't occurring is that right correct

32:27 - okay so it wasn't

32:28 - it just wasn't occurring is what you're saying.

32:31 - Okay

32:31 - and let me ask you this actor I'm sorry to interrupt you by the way

32:35 - and

32:36 - the.

32:37 - Winwood says cycle to begin.

32:39 - Cycle two would begin at the end of summer

32:41 - when we finished the first cycle as we just

32:44 - highlighted that that is our goal

32:45 - but like any other department and I think when

32:47 - we if we discussed the remap process we'll see

32:50 - the department of aging has not been resourced appropriately in terms of

32:53 - manpower

32:54 - in terms of the staff that we need

32:56 - so as people take promotions yeah or people have leave

32:59 - it impacts our work tremendously because we are not

33:03 - a big agency

33:04 - we do not have adequate resources in many ways to do the work that were mandated by

33:09 - the general assembly to do and by

33:10 - regulation to do remember

33:12 - an agency of our size typically functions on

33:15 - between seven and ten percent administration

33:17 - we function inland less than half of that we function on three percent administration

33:22 - so with these changes do you feel you'll be able to.

33:25 - Function properly with the investments that

33:27 - effectively and efficiently with the effect of the investments that have just

33:30 - recently been made in the department as we expand

33:33 - our ability to do those work as we continue to grow

33:36 - our capacity yes I do believe that and

33:38 - and also I want to highlight in the legacy system typically

33:41 - in those it's monitoring cycles that were completed

33:44 - about ten percent between eighty eight and ninety percent

33:47 - of the area agencies on aging were always compliant.

33:51 - We talked about the ten percent that were not comply at the ten percent that struggle

33:56 - in the cape system that you have before you.

33:58 - That number has changed

34:00 - fifteen percent of the area agencies on aging are struggling and need extra support

34:05 - mandatory technical assistant

34:07 - so if it's easier how is it five percent more

34:09 - is my question.

34:11 - Our time is up thank you secretary thank chairman

34:14 - gentlemen.

34:16 - Representative caught.

34:18 - The chairman Harris

34:19 - thank you secretary coalition thank your team for

34:21 - all the great work that you do here in our commonwealth supporting our older adults.

34:27 - I see

34:28 - patients

34:29 - that have dementia and other

34:31 - related.

34:33 - Disorders

34:34 - and their caregivers and I noted a struggle a lot.

34:39 - Last session

34:40 - rep Matt and.

34:42 - Introduced a bill that would create an office of dementia another relate of.

34:46 - Alzheimer's dementia to other related disorders

34:49 - and we

34:50 - pass it into law was proud of co prime

34:52 - at bill with her

34:53 - can you tell us.

34:55 - How that has been going since it's been unveiled how the

34:59 - department has been going

35:00 - at any success stories that you can you can talk to us about

35:04 - thank you and you know we went right to work

35:06 - with the resources that were provided to us to stand up the hdr d division

35:10 - and we're really proud of the work that we've done in a short period of time

35:14 - we've on boarded a director a supervisor another staff member and we are in the

35:18 - process of working with our thirty member committee which has also been stood up

35:22 - we have five robust work groups regularly meeting

35:24 - have they've already had over thirty meetings

35:27 - I'm sorry for robust work groups

35:29 - already regularly meeting

35:30 - one on risk reduction early detection and diagnosis

35:34 - hair giving community and

35:36 - clinical linkages all of these have been meeting regularly

35:39 - and really working with our stakeholders to

35:42 - not only identify problems are really

35:44 - embracing our stakeholders to help us identify solutions.

35:48 - We have worked with our pa care kit and literally we have been able to

35:52 - connect resources in the pa character to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania and

35:56 - many of which

35:58 - have family members or loved ones

36:00 - experiencing Alzheimer's or

36:01 - dementia related disorder

36:03 - we've worked with our our senior centers we've worked with our adult day centers

36:07 - we've worked with our our caregiver support program to

36:11 - increase our resources available and our training available to all of them

36:14 - what you'll see in the near future is training with the federally qualified health

36:18 - centers to make sure that they have

36:20 - the knowledge for early detection you'll see

36:22 - our work with the universe the city of Pittsburgh and the

36:24 - penn state university and an enhanced trainings in the

36:27 - communities help people with early detection and other

36:30 - related trainings

36:31 - you'll see us working with lewy body association you'll

36:33 - see us are working with the adult day and the triple a's

36:36 - to make sure that we have people and experts in place to support family support

36:40 - caregivers in this space particularly.

36:43 - It's been some of the most successful work we've done and we've done it with our

36:46 - stakeholder partners partners like the Alzheimer's

36:48 - association partners like the Jewish healthcare foundation

36:51 - have been instrumental in standing up h mentor

36:54 - agent dementia friendly communities all across

36:57 - across Pennsylvania and we've also been able to engage other stakeholders as well to

37:02 - really see success in this bay base

37:04 - working well with our sister agency at the department of health to also support the

37:08 - work that they do and our cross section

37:10 - work in this space

37:12 - that's great I've actually referred a couple of patients over there so really

37:15 - grateful to have it as a resource

37:17 - also wanted to ask about aging our way

37:20 - looking to.

37:22 - Make sure people are able to stay in the car wealth as they retire

37:26 - and live in their golden years and also attract people to

37:29 - move to Pennsylvania

37:31 - to spend their golden years or retire

37:33 - can you tell us about this road map and how will help to attract

37:37 - and retain older adults here in the commonwealth

37:40 - well I I think.

37:42 - Pennsylvania benefits tremendously from our lottery system Pennsylvania benefits

37:45 - tremendously for the investments that we have

37:48 - made and older adults in the services and

37:50 - in the infrastructure

37:51 - of

37:51 - Aging are waiving our tenure multi-sector plan to change that infrastructure improve

37:55 - that infrastructure as I said one hundred and sixty three tactics designed to support

37:59 - people living in their communities longer

38:02 - safer

38:02 - and with supports and service is that they deserve we do that through partnerships

38:06 - with our agencies on aging in a variety of stakeholders.

38:10 - We impact

38:11 - almost every facet of life we impact almost every department within the commonwealth

38:15 - every cabinet member that has intersectionality with us

38:18 - when you look at what we've done with

38:20 - with secretary Dunn and her team

38:22 - and built out a prescription plan for our state rx

38:24 - when you look at the work we do with secretary sager

38:27 - making sure older adults have

38:28 - access

38:29 - you know with good Seattle good sidewalks good lighting

38:32 - that all comes back to the work we're doing under the umbrella of aging our way pa.

38:36 - It's great that

38:37 - last question is about the the share program

38:40 - to build and I'm actually working across the aisle with

38:42 - to help older adults be able to share their

38:44 - own house with with people that are looking for affordable options

38:48 - can you tell very briefly in a

38:50 - few seconds that we have

38:51 - how this program

38:53 - helps people

38:54 - say their home and have affordable housing

38:56 - and also what may be the current roadblocks to expanding that statewide when when the

39:00 - federal funding for shares are expiring so that program

39:03 - we're

39:04 - looking for b source

39:05 - to keep that program in place will be our next hurdle.

39:08 - As far as share share helps

39:09 - by opening up older adults homes to others

39:11 - older adults or other people from the community

39:14 - that can share that living space with them

39:16 - with supports and services to help them

39:19 - make sure that one the person safe too that there's boundaries and three that

39:22 - we can

39:23 - we can help these two individu fuels that need housing desperately because

39:26 - the

39:27 - housing is such a struggle for all parts of the commonwealth.

39:30 - That they can live together in Harmony and

39:32 - basically

39:33 - share the expenses of of how they live

39:35 - thank you secretary thank you chairman

39:37 - thank the gentleman representative flood.

39:39 - Thank you

39:40 - mister secretary we've talked at length

39:43 - in previous hearings about your

39:44 - depart mint's

39:45 - failure to protect seniors and a lack of data

39:48 - when an investigation involves a death

39:50 - we continuously see news coverage

39:53 - of heartbreaking cases throughout the state

39:55 - highlighting failures to respond to cases and ultimately

39:59 - the tragic loss of life.

40:01 - I would like to highlight a story published in

40:03 - spotlight pa in October of two thousand and twenty five

40:06 - were failures by the local AAA and your department

40:09 - led to a sixty eight year old man taking his own life

40:12 - to escape abuse

40:14 - as a matter of fact this specific population continues to die at alarming numbers

40:18 - while under care of this system.

40:21 - I have

40:22 - stale nursing home in my county northampton county.

40:25 - Years have issues of abuse I've held a hearing.

40:29 - On it a few years ago highlighting a constituent.

40:33 - Who.

40:34 - Died and nothing has changed

40:37 - and most

40:37 - recently in the fall of last year

40:40 - and Alzheimer's patient

40:42 - endured an exorcism by a deranged

40:46 - nurse

40:46 - who had her fingers

40:48 - and a cloth shoved down his throat

40:50 - thankfully he did not die

40:52 - nevertheless these are serious and egregious situations of all our vulnerable.

40:58 - Older adults are placed in

41:00 - but with regard to the deaths

41:03 - your department continues to say

41:05 - tracking these deaths

41:07 - during an open investigation is not authorized

41:10 - under the older adult protective services law and while

41:14 - the governor does call for an update within the budget

41:18 - what

41:18 - is your department doing to specifically change these provisions.

41:24 - The.

41:25 - You're mistaken about

41:27 - several things respectfully one the department of aging

41:30 - does track

41:31 - fatalities an open protective services cases.

41:34 - We guarantee

41:36 - that there are agencies on aging

41:37 - have done their due diligence and in connecting

41:41 - those cases to the coroner's office

41:43 - the district attorney's office as

41:44 - in law enforcement that is part of our mandate in fact

41:47 - we know with certainty

41:49 - that in our last reporting period

41:52 - that there were seventeen hundred deaths on open protective services cases

41:56 - that's three point six nine percent of the cases that we received in total.

42:01 - Point

42:02 - or one percent

42:03 - not even a half percent

42:04 - were nexus cases those are cases where there's a correlation between

42:08 - the protective services case

42:10 - and the death of the older adult

42:12 - those cases were checked by the department

42:14 - to make sure the area agencies on aging did everything they needed to do

42:18 - and reported throws.

42:19 - The balance the fifteen hundred and two twelve cases were also checked

42:23 - to make sure that there was no mistakes that

42:25 - the nexus has did not exist

42:27 - and were verified that the agencies on aging did their due diligence we have

42:32 - always

42:33 - we have

42:34 - this process we have been doing this process

42:37 - it is not the same process they did in the previous

42:39 - administration it has changed it is docu rented it is more formal

42:43 - as opposed to the process before I became secretary.

42:47 - It does exist

42:48 - what we are asking for is something totally different

42:51 - and that is a fatality review process

42:53 - that is like act thirty three and the child welfare system

42:56 - at the county level

42:58 - to support county agencies

43:00 - working with the community is

43:02 - to help with complex cases to identify flaws

43:04 - in their policy and practice and improve them

43:07 - we track our death data unfortunately we do have an

43:10 - older adults pass away while we're working with them

43:12 - we track it and we verify that the error agencies on aging

43:15 - have done what they're supposed to do in those matters

43:18 - so the governor's budget themes

43:20 - calls for the creation of the older adult fatality review team

43:24 - is the intent to finally address this egregious overdue omission in upset.

43:29 - This is

43:30 - yes as to fix or something an Oprah that should have been

43:33 - put in place like I said

43:34 - having spent seventeen years in child welfare

43:37 - having conducted act thirty three meeting

43:39 - myself having written those reports

43:41 - not have being that in aging is something that we need to correct together

43:46 - it's an important part of the process

43:48 - and in the case of that sixty year old man who had killed himself

43:51 - did the AAA in that case received any punitive action for the handling of that case

43:57 - thank you we cannot speak to the specifics of any case.

44:03 - Mr secretary the governor has called for an update to

44:05 - the adult protective services act or upset to include

44:09 - glaring omissions such as the recognition of

44:11 - financial exploitation while such an update

44:14 - would likely be an undertaking

44:16 - would your department be willing to work on incremental updates

44:21 - so we can quickly get

44:23 - the needed updates without the weight of a larger omnibus bill

44:27 - thank you and I have always stood by we're not we haven't walked away from the table

44:30 - we will continue conversations to get upset updated

44:33 - and will continue to

44:35 - be a good partner and negotiate in good faith.

44:38 - So you so you are willing to give incremental updates

44:41 - I am willing to negotiate in good faith.

44:44 - Thank you.

44:45 - Thanks to gentle lady representative avni.

44:50 - Thank you mr chairman thank you mr secretary and your staff for being here.

44:55 - We had a conversation about the governor's

44:59 - housing action plan last week with the

45:02 - secretary of human services we talk generally

45:05 - about

45:06 - the impacts of that plan on folks who are facing

45:09 - housing insecurity particularly vulnerable communities

45:13 - about one is it kind of talked to you a little bit specifically about

45:16 - the

45:17 - the the housing action plan and as it relates to

45:20 - seniors

45:21 - and what it's going to do to benefit our seniors across the commonwealth.

45:25 - Thank you

45:26 - you know we at the department of aging we focus like like our our sister agencies and

45:31 - and and like the plan highlights we we have been focused on

45:34 - making sure there's accessibility affordability

45:36 - and availability of older adult housing

45:39 - everywhere in the commonwealth what we heard when we did our stakeholder engagement

45:43 - to aging our way pa is housing is the number one concern

45:46 - of older adults in every one of our sixty seven counties

45:49 - it is something that

45:50 - we as a department

45:52 - are passionately working on internally and externally with our partners we spoke

45:56 - briefly about the share program

45:58 - how that has impacted our work

46:00 - we've talked about or echo as our elder cottage housing opportunities that we are

46:04 - standing up in communities across Pennsylvania

46:06 - but we need help in that space from the general assembly to help us

46:09 - deal with some of the challenges we have

46:11 - with zoning in certain areas

46:14 - and we're working again with our sister agencies who have

46:17 - have a broader

46:18 - bandwidth with with housing then the department of aging to

46:21 - make sure that

46:21 - again

46:22 - older adults have that safe and stable housing

46:24 - that they deserve that they can afford it

46:26 - it's accessible to them and it works for them in their needs.

46:30 - Go to

46:30 - are we able to

46:32 - bunny chance quantify what the housing need

46:35 - across commonwealth is specifically for seniors

46:39 - is anybody taking data

46:40 - the way that we talk about housing in general.

46:43 - Or the lack of housing in the commonwealth

46:45 - do we have any targeted.

46:47 - Quantifiable data that speaks specifically to

46:49 - ours seniors the department of aging doesn't and I

46:53 - think the challenge with some of that data is

46:55 - the variety of housing challenges that are out there whether it's people who

46:59 - are struggling with their property tax whether it's people that are struggling with a

47:02 - home that they owned that they can't keep maintenance on

47:04 - whether it's people struggling to find an affordable

47:07 - unit.

47:08 - The the variety is endless

47:10 - in our sixty seven counties

47:12 - we know though that

47:13 - older adults have responded that this is their number one concern

47:17 - so I think that

47:17 - you know as working with our communities is really where we find our solutions

47:22 - and listing to our communities what they need and how

47:24 - we support them to make change is very important

47:27 - especially in this space because

47:28 - what is an issue where I'm from

47:30 - Scranton is may not be the same issue that's in dolphin

47:33 - and and you know in

47:35 - Harrisburg

47:35 - and the same could be very different when we get out to western pa Pittsburgh.

47:39 - Is there anything that we that we can be doing more around the space for housing and

47:44 - security for if people care about

47:46 - senior housing is there more that we can be

47:48 - doing as the legislature funding policy he was

47:51 - to help expand access to it.

47:53 - I I think when we identify a barrier

47:55 - and

47:56 - he's helping us knock down those barriers overcome

47:58 - that barrier work through that area is essential

48:00 - I know that I have many of our AAA have been trying to stand up I know one in

48:04 - particular is trying to stand up a housing unit

48:06 - and meeting some resistance in doing so even with partners at the table

48:10 - willing to work and fund the endeavor.

48:14 - Okay

48:14 - thank you mr secretary thank you mister I'm appreciated

48:16 - thank the gentleman.

48:19 - Represented all summer.

48:21 - Thank you mr chairman.

48:23 - Good afternoon mr secretary.

48:25 - I have a article copy of an article here and

48:29 - I'm going to just follow up on representatives

48:33 - floods questioning regarding

48:36 - and I'll get right to it it is.

48:39 - From spotlight

48:41 - as and the article

48:44 - the title of the article is records reveal shapiro

48:47 - administration stopped tracking why older adults

48:51 - die during abuse

48:53 - neglect investigations

48:55 - and I'll just read us as.

48:58 - The piece out of the article.

49:01 - Is

49:02 - That the spokesmen one of your spokesman said.

49:06 - A review process is not within the scope of the department's

49:12 - authority under Pennsylvania.

49:14 - Older adult

49:16 - protective services law.

49:19 - Although the statute does not explicitly prohibit the department from tracking

49:25 - causes of.

49:28 - Death in reviewing whether the investigative failures might have increased.

49:33 - That increase of harm.

49:36 - The spokesman also said

49:38 - determining whether

49:40 - an older adult died under suspicious circumstances would require department staff

49:46 - to investigate those causes of death further.

49:51 - Which

49:52 - she said the department does not have the authority

49:56 - or the expertise to do.

49:59 - So

50:00 - As I just highlighted.

50:02 - We look at data that shows the cause of death of the older adult.

50:07 - We don't look at

50:09 - whether that cause that was indicated to us.

50:12 - We don't look beyond that cause so if

50:14 - we the data that we receive

50:16 - says the older adult

50:18 - died of a heart attack in the field

50:19 - unfortunately passed away because of cancer.

50:22 - That is where it ends we do not have medical

50:24 - expertise to go beyond that that data is reported from

50:28 - to us

50:29 - from our sister agency it is the

50:30 - data that is formally entered on that older adults death certificate.

50:34 - Are older adult protective services act doesn't even define suspicious death

50:40 - and every what we do is we check the information that we have available to us from a

50:44 - verified source from the commonwealth

50:46 - check the work that's being done at the agency on aging

50:49 - check to see if there is a

50:50 - nexus a connection in the investigation between the death of the older adult

50:55 - and the case that has been referred to us and refer

50:57 - to the proper authorities which is the coroner's

50:59 - district attorney

51:00 - and law enforcement to take the

51:02 - tech investigation to that next step

51:04 - again which we are social workers

51:06 - we don't have the authority to do any criminal investigations

51:09 - or medical examiner investigations.

51:12 - Okay thank you they gave for

51:14 - clarifying that.

51:16 - I.

51:18 - In Wayne and pike counties are triple a's do an excellent job servicing our

51:24 - adult senior citizens and

51:27 - often times talk about.

51:30 - Issues with transportation

51:32 - and

51:33 - lack of healthcare infrastructure and access to two

51:38 - and a myriad of other issues mr secretary since

51:44 - fiscal year two thousand and twenty four twenty five

51:49 - your department has received approximately six million

51:53 - for aging our way in pa.

51:57 - The proposed budget indicates an additional three million for this program

52:02 - to transform infrastructure

52:05 - and coordination of services for Pennsylvania's

52:09 - older adults.

52:11 - Can you specify what this would entail and how it

52:14 - differs from the current year's initiatives thank you.

52:18 - Aging our way pa our tenure multi-sector plan

52:22 - has been

52:23 - built off of each year so we build every year it is is not you know what there's one

52:27 - hundred and sixty three tactics that a ten year multi-sectoral plan

52:30 - we build off of each year as we accomplished tactics

52:34 - in here one

52:35 - we accomplished by standing up the pa care kit.

52:38 - Built the grandparents raising grandchildren helpline

52:41 - see screen interventions in communities

52:43 - that are

52:44 - volunteering for it in the commonwealth

52:46 - we became the thirteenth age friendly state in the commonwealth

52:49 - we built the eighty rd office

52:52 - we will have the prescription plan for nature with the

52:54 - department of health this is a long answer so if you

52:56 - want

52:57 - like the entirety.

52:58 - We have reframed senior centers to make them more viable

53:01 - and more welcoming to the new older adult population

53:04 - and we've had to

53:05 - know this might seem small to some but not to older

53:07 - adults we have the older adult shout showcase in year two

53:10 - we worked on the direct care worker blueprint

53:13 - to bring that direct care worker blueprint of

53:15 - life in Pennsylvania with our stakeholder partners

53:17 - promoted life and day programs

53:19 - promote built the local companion with the

53:21 - Pennsylvania council on aging to help implement

53:24 - the plan

53:25 - modernize the aging network through our

53:27 - national partners

53:28 - at started a program with

53:30 - the university of Pittsburgh to improve lighting safety in the homes of Pennsylvania

53:33 - stood up suicide prevention from older adults

53:36 - and made sure that we are reframing the adult bay system to make sure that capacity

53:40 - I can do years three if everybody would like to hear your three

53:44 - year three again refreshing the Pennsylvania link

53:46 - the older adults in every community in Pennsylvania said

53:49 - we need better navigation services

53:51 - link has been in place since twenty sixteen it has not had a substantial investment

53:56 - we want to modernize that program

53:58 - make sure that older adults specifically caregivers and those individuals living with

54:02 - disabilities have that navigation service that they deserve in a modernized and

54:07 - a comprehensive way

54:09 - we are localizing aging our way

54:11 - I'm making sure

54:11 - we are working with communities to implement

54:13 - these these tactics all throughout the state

54:16 - and we're working again to

54:17 - get the direct care worker blueprint.

54:19 - Moving forward that was

54:21 - that was created in two thousand and nineteen

54:23 - and we're also working to

54:24 - hopefully

54:25 - see evaluation so that we can show you the measurable metrics

54:28 - of the impact the work that is happening.

54:31 - They give us a second Terry

54:33 - thank you mr chairman.

54:35 - Thank the gentleman representative Webster

54:38 - thank you mr chairman

54:39 - secretary thanks sure

54:41 - you and your team and I know all the hard work that has to go behind the scenes to

54:44 - prepare you for today so

54:46 - thanks to everyone for that.

54:48 - I'm

54:49 - a little bit of elite and I have two quick questions I think

54:52 - most

54:52 - were all elected so we

54:54 - we have to prepare and run for office

54:57 - but nobody runs for election on

54:59 - let's make the I t systems better platform

55:02 - right but it's really important so you want to take a few minutes to talk about

55:05 - why we need to modernize our I t systems.

55:08 - Thank you

55:09 - and it is incredibly important to us

55:11 - because it really has a big impact on the

55:13 - dollars we draw down from the federal government.

55:16 - Our ID system went into place in nineteen ninety nine

55:19 - that's the year I began my career I am not a young man.

55:22 - That ity system

55:23 - has only had a series of patchwork fixes

55:27 - over those years to try and modernize it

55:29 - we are one of the only states using

55:31 - this ID system

55:32 - as we become the only state using this ot system it

55:35 - will become incredibly expensive for Pennsylvania

55:38 - others have moved to modernize systems

55:40 - one small example of

55:42 - the savings as we moved our ombudsmen platform

55:44 - off of this platform to a new platform.

55:47 - We saved immediately started saving two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year

55:50 - it's not doesn't seem like a lot in the grand

55:53 - scheme of the state budget

55:54 - but it's a huge amount for the department of aging

55:56 - we also want to make sure that the data we're sending

55:59 - to the federal government is as accurate as possible

56:02 - through pain stake king efforts this year we

56:04 - identified two hundred thousand points of data.

56:07 - That we have missed

56:08 - traditionally we had to do a different search

56:10 - because the ID system didn't give it to us.

56:13 - We found two hundred thousand different

56:15 - points of data to report to the federal

56:16 - government that impacts our draw down tremendously

56:20 - ity is also responsible to give us the data that the general assembly demands of us

56:25 - so that we can

56:26 - reported accurately

56:27 - and quickly

56:28 - so not only does it help us document and make sure our cases are done

56:32 - helps us with our monitoring process

56:34 - it does benefit Pennsylvania by

56:36 - providing more resources to it the better our data is.

56:39 - Thank you for that.

56:41 - Switch topics completely and talk about caregivers because there's

56:44 - a woman in my houses

56:46 - has been a caregiver for for our elders

56:49 - and

56:50 - in a different scenario but.

56:52 - I'd like to follow up and ask you to talk a little

56:54 - bit about the character of her support program

56:57 - who qualifies what the.

57:00 - How do you get some funding for that and what do

57:02 - we really need to do what could the legislature do

57:05 - to make that program really support of the men and women

57:08 - and particularly the women who

57:10 - who take on that role for our families.

57:13 - The caregiver support program is one of our most progressive.

57:16 - Platforms in at the department of aging it serves grandparents

57:19 - raising grandchild Aaron from fifty five and older

57:22 - and then it serves a variety of caregivers in every capacity across the commonwealth

57:26 - of

57:27 - Our art we do have a waiting list for care

57:29 - for the caregiver support program right now

57:32 - but we have seen the steady growth

57:34 - we are supported with federal dollars for the federal suit

57:36 - for

57:37 - the caregiver support

57:38 - program as well

57:39 - this

57:40 - this program ram is a reimbursement model

57:42 - that we have in the commonwealth that

57:44 - an individual can

57:46 - submit their approved expenses or what we would approve and expenses

57:49 - and be reimbursed to a certain degree

57:51 - of what it costs them to care for that individual I'll use

57:55 - a personal example before I came to aging my

57:57 - grandparents benefited from the caregiver support program

58:00 - my grandfather

58:01 - was proud to say that

58:02 - most of his care of the care of my grandmother that he was administering

58:06 - it was a flip in that situation

58:07 - was covered eighty percent was covered by the caregiver support program

58:10 - it helped my grandmother lived in the community

58:13 - longer it kept her away from a nursing home thus saving Pennsylvania dollars that.

58:18 - Would have gone to her care earlier without it and I'm going to

58:22 - hazard a guess and

58:24 - this isn't medical opinion but.

58:26 - I'm sure that extended her life and welfare as well

58:29 - it is it's so powerful.

58:31 - Thank you for all that

58:32 - mr chairman thank you

58:34 - we thank the gentlemen representative maiko.

58:37 - Chairman and mr secretary thank you for being here.

58:41 - I got a quick question about the

58:43 - resource evaluation mission alignment project remap.

58:47 - I

58:47 - S the

58:48 - revenue secretary about this earlier but

58:51 - my understanding from the.

58:53 - Executive budget it's you're in

58:55 - we're in round two I guess of that

58:57 - and your department fell under it you're

58:59 - looking for inefficiencies and identifying them

59:02 - finding what's effective

59:03 - can you speak a little bit about what that review has it been completed at this time

59:07 - r revamp has been completed yet.

59:10 - Can you speak a little bit about what cost savings you guys may have may or may

59:14 - not have found

59:15 - thank you I and I I understand

59:17 - don't get your funding from the general fund

59:19 - guy

59:20 - and I think you and I I highlighted before that

59:23 - what we operate on administratively

59:25 - is less than half of what our

59:27 - agencies of our size operate on

59:29 - when you're looking at seven to ten percent as the typical admin for an agency of our

59:33 - size were operating on just about three percent

59:35 - we are a very

59:37 - lean agency see

59:38 - what is unique about our remap process is it discovered that

59:41 - we needed additional resources in order to stay

59:44 - compliant with our monitoring requirements we needed additional resources to make

59:48 - sure I r I t infrastructure that I just highlighted it was sufficient

59:52 - and we needed additional resources to

59:54 - basically complete our mission and our

59:56 - what is asked of us at the general assembly

59:58 - 296 unique I know and when you think of efficiencies but when you're operating one

01:00 - 05.050 department at three per cent admin I think we can say

01:00 - 09.340 we are doing everything we can to be lean I also just highlighted for a fact

01:00 - 11.830 why we're trying to move off this ity platform

01:00 - 14.200 again a cost savings measure and

01:00 - 15.370 and we still take

01:00 - 19.660 conserving resources very seriously and can tenuously find ways to do

01:00 - 21.050 more with less

01:00 - 22.840 and to make sure that we are

01:00 - 23.440 you

01:00 - 28.150 maximizing the resources that we are graciously allocated to to carry out our mission

01:00 - 29.660 so that

01:00 - 30.830 you identified

01:00 - 32.950 inefficiencies as forest funding

01:00 - 36.920 in your current funding stream goes and you need more allocation.

01:00 - 38.690 For I

01:00 - 40.270 I guess rectifying those

01:00 - 41.480 issues.

01:00 - 44.560 Once those issues are

01:00 - 48.970 corrected do you find that your current funding stream would be appropriate.

01:00 - 49.630 I

01:00 - 50.870 Love refunding you got

01:00 - 55.066 I think it's prudent to when the process of on boarding sixteen additional staff

01:00 - 58.480 members to the department of aging were so we're putting those people in place

01:00 - 01.558 adding those individuals into the positions they need to be in.

01:01 - 04.108 It's premature for me to say if

01:01 - 06.489 that is enough or if that is too short until

01:01 - 08.758 I have those people on boarded and in place

01:01 - 09.808 and we have the

01:01 - 11.288 you know carrying out the work that

01:01 - 12.268 we believe

01:01 - 15.508 is sufficient right now but until we get them out there and doing the work.

01:01 - 18.778 I can't I can't speak to the evaluation of our

01:01 - 19.558 process

01:01 - 21.998 understand that and then.

01:01 - 25.358 Once you bring these on board the sixteen people.

01:01 - 30.004 Will you be able to supply a report to the general assembly so we understand what is

01:01 - 31.708 actually happening with the department

01:01 - 33.428 for adequate funding.

01:01 - 34.651 I would be happy to

01:01 - 35.068 report

01:01 - 35.698 okay

01:01 - 38.558 appreciate that and we look forward to seeing that.

01:01 - 41.198 I it.

01:01 - 44.048 Thank the gentleman.

01:01 - 45.968 Representative donahue.

01:01 - 49.198 Thank you mr chairman thank you secretary for being here.

01:01 - 51.578 It's good to have constituents.

01:01 - 53.348 In high places.

01:01 - 55.228 I just have a quick question

01:01 - 56.438 regarding.

01:01 - 58.198 Your cape process

01:01 - 00.488 since rolling out the.

01:02 - 03.758 The cape or the comprehensive aging performance evaluation.

01:02 - 04.408 As a

01:02 - 06.808 department been able to identify any significant

01:02 - 08.578 data trends based on the monitoring or

01:02 - 10.408 monitoring of results so far

01:02 - 13.378 yes we have and thank you for that question you know.

01:02 - 16.408 One of the flaws of a legacy system was

01:02 - 20.888 you were identified as non compliant and you were required to go backwards

01:02 - 23.828 and fix the work that had already been done.

01:02 - 24.568 The

01:02 - 26.908 change in philosophy with cape is making sure that

01:02 - 29.338 we make sure the work is better going forward

01:02 - 31.946 one of the things that we're proud of with cape is

01:02 - 34.558 being identified able to identify statewide true hence

01:02 - 39.178 statewide trend that we have identified is the area agencies on aging in question

01:02 - 39.958 have

01:02 - 41.518 had challenges

01:02 - 44.273 documenting their risk mitigation strategies

01:02 - 47.188 that is not that they have challenges with risk

01:02 - 50.638 it is not that they are leaving people at imminent risk of harm

01:02 - 51.758 in that by

01:02 - 54.848 a lot the standard of law is something very different.

01:02 - 58.738 Their documentation on what they've done to mitigate risk has been a challenge

01:02 - 01.858 and that impacts their overall scores in documentation

01:03 - 04.378 and risk mitigation we have been

01:03 - 06.128 started already.

01:03 - 09.658 Training the agencies on aging providing enhanced technical support

01:03 - 12.441 area agencies on aging that hit a certain threshold

01:03 - 14.908 are required to have mandatory technical asis stunts

01:03 - 15.868 and

01:03 - 17.428 really working through

01:03 - 18.898 this identify trend

01:03 - 20.398 to make sure that those who

01:03 - 21.928 have not been monitored

01:03 - 24.328 start to make the corrections now

01:03 - 27.488 rather than waiting for their monitoring to happen.

01:03 - 30.728 Thank you for that thank you mr chairman.

01:03 - 34.178 Thank the gentleman representative rail.

01:03 - 36.128 Secretary coverlet.

01:03 - 37.508 The.

01:03 - 38.878 According to that

01:03 - 45.068 two thousand twenty four twenty five older adult protective services annual report.

01:03 - 46.988 There were.

01:03 - 48.428 Statewide

01:03 - 54.298 reports of elder abuse totaling say sixty six thousand seven hundred and nineteen

01:03 - 57.488 last year which absolutely sickens me.

01:03 - 01.129 There's been an eighty four percent increase in the

01:04 - 05.018 annual reports of need over the past five years.

01:04 - 08.758 In an effort to prevent abuse I've had

01:04 - 09.998 addressed

01:04 - 16.858 it by introducing some legislation in the form of house bill thirteen fifteen fifty

01:04 - 19.952 which would allow residents of skilled nursing facilities

01:04 - 23.528 to place cameras in their rooms to monitor care.

01:04 - 26.248 I can tell you from personal experience I i.

01:04 - 29.630 Recently had to unfortunately place my father

01:04 - 33.458 in a nursing home and I chose to put him in Ohio

01:04 - 36.868 which is twenty minutes away from me because we do not

01:04 - 39.088 have this available right now

01:04 - 41.588 and my father has Alzheimer's

01:04 - 44.788 which is one of the more likely groups to

01:04 - 47.291 potentially be obese used.

01:04 - 53.198 So I'd like to know what your position would be on legislation like this.

01:04 - 53.848 Thank you

01:04 - 57.724 and you know that we as the department of aging we are the state unit on aging

01:04 - 01.408 responsible for the older Americans act being carried out across the commonwealth

01:05 - 05.098 we don't have jurisdiction over nursing homes per se

01:05 - 08.548 but our role in this space is through our ombudsmen on office

01:05 - 10.904 or the statewide ombudsman reports to the secretary

01:05 - 13.048 of aging the department of aging workers with

01:05 - 14.518 the statewide ombudsmen

01:05 - 16.568 and the statewide ombudsman's

01:05 - 20.128 position is to make sure that we're protecting the rights of of

01:05 - 21.598 individuals like your father

01:05 - 23.488 to make sure that they have their voice

01:05 - 27.208 that they make sure that they have the supports and services that they need

01:05 - 30.233 so really our ombudsmen program is is there to just

01:05 - 33.638 guaranteed the rights and protections of older adults.

01:05 - 33.928 I

01:05 - 36.045 Have to go back and look at any specific

01:05 - 38.458 legislation but we're always looking to enhance the

01:05 - 40.228 you know the protections for older adults

01:05 - 41.068 but also

01:05 - 42.875 we have to balance that out with respecting

01:05 - 46.338 their their wishes their dignity and their right to

01:05 - 49.378 autonomy I understand you I understand the concerns with the

01:05 - 50.588 nursing facilities but.

01:05 - 53.438 I don't have jurisdiction over them.

01:05 - 56.548 I understand but you would still have influence

01:05 - 59.728 on it and I think we owe our seniors more dignity

01:06 - 02.648 in these final stages of their life.

01:06 - 07.918 Having an ombudsman is great but they they just are there in a snapshot of time

01:06 - 09.508 and people like my father

01:06 - 13.378 can't have a voice in this situation I think it's vital

01:06 - 17.018 that we can be viewing the the.

01:06 - 18.628 Care that they're receiving

01:06 - 22.238 so I would hope to have your support in the future.

01:06 - 26.398 Well.

01:06 - 26.710 I

01:06 - 27.818 I I would I would.

01:06 - 28.708 I would

01:06 - 32.340 we would support any enhancement to an older adult's life that made it better

01:06 - 34.238 and protected them more.

01:06 - 37.028 Okay I appreciate that thank you.

01:06 - 41.078 Thank the generating

01:06 - 42.278 rapper.

01:06 - 44.468 Representative velvet.

01:06 - 46.288 Thank you chair and

01:06 - 47.588 thank you all for being here

01:06 - 52.138 I have a lot of senior citizens in my district that want to stay active

01:06 - 55.178 and they also want to supplement their income

01:06 - 59.378 so I wanted to see what is the department doing to connect.

01:06 - 04.118 Older Pennsylvania ins with the senior community service employment program

01:07 - 06.988 and also I wanted to see it is there a way that we can

01:07 - 10.018 increase the wages for their program as well

01:07 - 10.978 thank you

01:07 - 12.778 that is a federally funded program

01:07 - 15.560 that that is that we administer through several of our

01:07 - 18.748 our our partners lp for for one and

01:07 - 20.698 some of the area cities on aging

01:07 - 22.318 we do our best to connect

01:07 - 24.728 those older adults to that that program.

01:07 - 28.204 Through our fifty two area agencies on aging in some of our fifty two area agencies

01:07 - 31.948 on aging even create employment opportunities for older adults I I had

01:07 - 34.488 to see sap individuals working at my office

01:07 - 37.138 when when I was an area agency on aging director

01:07 - 40.258 the struggles with that federal program is

01:07 - 40.798 that

01:07 - 42.448 year after year

01:07 - 43.808 it's threatened with

01:07 - 44.728 with being shuttered

01:07 - 47.217 in fact we have seen a reduction in our funds that are

01:07 - 49.738 available from the federal government to run that program

01:07 - 52.804 and advocacy on the federal level is necessary

01:07 - 55.438 to stabilize the program and to make sure

01:07 - 58.978 that we can continue to connect older adults to it it's a powerful program

01:07 - 00.508 it's done incredible work

01:08 - 03.428 and it's a credible resource to.

01:08 - 05.908 And it's continuously in jeopardy

01:08 - 07.018 from our from our

01:08 - 08.638 you know from a federal point of view

01:08 - 09.568 do you know how many

01:08 - 13.208 senior citizens in Pennsylvania are actually take part of the program.

01:08 - 16.568 Right now it is.

01:08 - 19.858 Twenty twenty four there were six hundred and eighty two and

01:08 - 21.188 individuals.

01:08 - 22.628 Thank you

01:08 - 24.508 and also wanted to see

01:08 - 25.168 there's

01:08 - 29.978 a lot of people who are taking care of their aging parents

01:08 - 31.378 and they come up

01:08 - 32.158 against

01:08 - 33.628 a lot of challenges

01:08 - 35.008 when they are talking about

01:08 - 36.598 rehabilitation homes

01:08 - 38.078 or senior homes

01:08 - 40.468 if they are to have challenges

01:08 - 42.868 with those rehabilitation homes or their seniors homes

01:08 - 43.498 or what

01:08 - 45.388 resources does your department offer them

01:08 - 46.198 but

01:08 - 50.278 we're always a resource to families and to caregivers to anyone

01:08 - 52.558 related to an older adults issue so

01:08 - 54.718 are fifty two agents he's an aging

01:08 - 56.158 are there to support and help

01:08 - 57.538 with any issue

01:08 - 00.082 related to an older adult we may not be the agency

01:09 - 02.816 with jurisdiction we may not be the agency that.

01:09 - 04.768 Can fix the problem

01:09 - 09.148 but we are always that voice we are always that front door we're always that connector

01:09 - 11.657 to make sure that we can help someone address their

01:09 - 15.206 issues or put them in the hands of the entities I quit.

01:09 - 15.628 Awesome

01:09 - 18.458 thank you thank you for all your work and future.

01:09 - 28.918 They generally representative rig by.

01:09 - 30.688 Thank you chairman

01:09 - 31.928 good afternoon gentlemen

01:09 - 33.922 mister secretary there has been discussion throughout

01:09 - 36.458 the hearings on the growing aging population

01:09 - 38.338 in the commonwealth and ensuing

01:09 - 39.268 there are six

01:09 - 40.738 sufficient service

01:09 - 44.308 capacity to meet the growing demand for these services

01:09 - 48.688 particularly in nursing facilities while I understand that the licensing and payment

01:09 - 51.548 for these facil please do not fall to your department

01:09 - 53.907 I'm just wondering if you are concerned that the seniors

01:09 - 56.278 who need this level of care will be able to receive it

01:09 - 59.258 with a number of facilities that are closing.

01:09 - 00.878 Thank you.

01:10 - 01.288 Again

01:10 - 05.818 no jurisdiction over the nursing facilities in Pennsylvania in any way shape or form

01:10 - 06.628 up from

01:10 - 10.414 reports that I've seen last we were only at seventy percent capac city of nursing

01:10 - 14.278 facilities but again I don't have updated information I did from my partners

01:10 - 15.838 at dhs in d o h

01:10 - 16.948 n

01:10 - 21.188 Specific numbers related to facility availability in Pennsylvania.

01:10 - 23.048 Thank you.

01:10 - 27.448 Thank the German

01:10 - 29.886 representative because of russky.

01:10 - 33.448 Thank you chair and thank you very much for being here with us today

01:10 - 34.198 and

01:10 - 36.647 representatives Donohue claimed you as his

01:10 - 39.688 specific constituent but you are from Scranton

01:10 - 42.658 and so I get to claim you as one of ours as well as south

01:10 - 44.588 Africa being here today and thanks for all the

01:10 - 46.588 work you've done in the past I know your history

01:10 - 49.758 but the triple a's especially the work you did in northeastern Pennsylvania

01:10 - 51.488 and our AAA

01:10 - 56.638 for our older population and I know how challenging sometimes that population can be

01:10 - 58.772 and I know that sometimes they

01:10 - 02.098 have unique challenges sometimes they don't have great support systems

01:11 - 03.568 and I I know.

01:11 - 05.804 There are very special people

01:11 - 08.204 that work in triple a's and work with aging adults

01:11 - 08.954 and

01:11 - 11.594 like I said I I actually also am a nurse

01:11 - 14.653 and I worked in Scranton for twenty five years and

01:11 - 16.964 our population is aging so I know we've worked in

01:11 - 20.004 in in together with your your

01:11 - 20.834 triple a's

01:11 - 22.844 and certainly taking patients and

01:11 - 24.084 sending them back home

01:11 - 25.394 and having

01:11 - 26.684 issues that may need

01:11 - 27.344 some

01:11 - 29.489 extra support and sometimes like I said they

01:11 - 31.874 they don't sometimes have that support system

01:11 - 33.014 so I really want to

01:11 - 36.344 highlight what your plays have done and the other fifty two of them

01:11 - 37.874 in the fifty two fifty two

01:11 - 40.260 fifty two hundred km a while so they are a great

01:11 - 42.584 resource for our population that aging population

01:11 - 45.062 but I wanted to talk a little bit specific typically

01:11 - 48.654 about what the governor has proposed as part of his budget

01:11 - 51.434 to up to update and how important is to update

01:11 - 53.054 the current older adult

01:11 - 54.854 protective service act

01:11 - 58.854 and one of the reasons to do this is to address financial

01:11 - 01.404 expectations that seniors sometimes

01:12 - 02.784 have in their lives

01:12 - 04.894 and I want you to talk to me a little bit about out

01:12 - 08.174 how updating this act will help the triple a's address

01:12 - 09.824 the investigations and

01:12 - 11.874 that that sometimes happen.

01:12 - 13.194 So thank you.

01:12 - 13.874 Thank you

01:12 - 14.714 you do

01:12 - 18.104 the update will benefit all of Pennsylvania and not just

01:12 - 21.444 agencies on aging and their protective services investigations

01:12 - 22.764 but other

01:12 - 25.304 professional communities law enforcement communities

01:12 - 25.514 and

01:12 - 26.324 communities

01:12 - 29.442 really having the impact that we need for older Pennsylvania

01:12 - 34.034 I spoke briefly today about the fact that financial exploitation is not included

01:12 - 35.444 in our our our

01:12 - 36.914 our current Oprah bill

01:12 - 37.574 or

01:12 - 39.254 A law I'm sorry excuse me

01:12 - 41.424 we do not address.

01:12 - 45.674 The matter of what is suspicious stuff

01:12 - 47.834 we do not have sufficient

01:12 - 48.914 protections

01:12 - 52.400 you know for older adults in terms of background checks some of the facilities that

01:12 - 55.814 exist today did not exist when those laws were created

01:12 - 00.104 so we want to enhance the background checks we want to make sure that we're not leaving

01:13 - 01.374 individuals like

01:13 - 04.584 we have not too far individuals that have serious

01:13 - 05.174 criminal all

01:13 - 06.414 backgrounds

01:13 - 09.830 working in communities without protecting our older adults we want to make sure that

01:13 - 12.764 our language lines up with the adult protective services act

01:13 - 15.074 again we want the banks to have the ability

01:13 - 17.504 you know to have their duty to report

01:13 - 19.184 but also the protections that they need

01:13 - 20.334 to to help us

01:13 - 22.964 make sure older adults have their finances held

01:13 - 26.504 so that you no more exploitation have opens than what they have discovered

01:13 - 28.920 we want to make sure that we're correcting

01:13 - 31.244 the constitutionality issues of the law that's

01:13 - 31.904 been

01:13 - 34.034 in place since the peak decision

01:13 - 36.494 so there's no more lifetime bans unemployment

01:13 - 40.514 we have a sufficient waiver process to get people who should be working working

01:13 - 42.284 and back out into the communities

01:13 - 46.790 and again we want to make sure that this law is modern nice and we are able to

01:13 - 49.394 response to the modern needs of older adults it was written

01:13 - 50.324 you

01:13 - 53.855 almost forty years ago and it it really needs this refresh

01:13 - 56.354 and this update to serve Pennsylvania in a modern way

01:13 - 56.804 and

01:13 - 57.074 make

01:13 - 58.179 it forty years

01:13 - 59.654 nearly yeah yeah so

01:13 - 01.394 thank you obviously needs to

01:14 - 02.294 be updated

01:14 - 02.684 to

01:14 - 03.614 Protect our

01:14 - 04.124 our

01:14 - 05.324 Pennsylvania so thank you

01:14 - 05.804 much

01:14 - 07.134 thank you.

01:14 - 09.704 What.

01:14 - 10.844 This

01:14 - 12.404 lady represented advance oh

01:14 - 16.034 thank you chairman Harrison thank you mr secretary for being here today

01:14 - 19.994 I too want to give a shout out to our trip boys bag and Westmore god do

01:14 - 21.824 they do a great job for

01:14 - 25.184 our elder population mr secretary I want to talk about your

01:14 - 26.324 sea scream

01:14 - 31.940 program it's a a web based platform to standardize and verify previous provider

01:14 - 34.404 screening practices across the commonwealth.

01:14 - 38.564 In this initiative support is this initiative supported by aging our way

01:14 - 42.371 pa funding and how much does the program cost to the department.

01:14 - 43.304 Thank you

01:14 - 47.720 c screen is an aging our way initiative is a voluntary process in which the provide

01:14 - 50.924 riders are able to share with us their hiring practices

01:14 - 54.164 this this process was rooted in the industry insurance industry

01:14 - 58.104 really what the insurance industry uses to identify

01:14 - 01.336 individuals hiring practices to determine what level

01:15 - 04.274 of risk they would present to writing them a policy

01:15 - 05.921 so using that that

01:15 - 08.502 evidence based model that was developed in

01:15 - 10.934 our world helps us to identify what providers

01:15 - 14.204 are on boarding individuals to go into older adults homes

01:15 - 14.954 okay

01:15 - 18.554 in the best way possible and giving them a rating associated with that

01:15 - 22.724 voluntary right now it is not something that is required for providers to do

01:15 - 24.880 but are good providers the providers that are

01:15 - 26.703 doing great work across the commonwealth have

01:15 - 28.014 welcomed

01:15 - 30.758 process and have supported this process the

01:15 - 31.323 the

01:15 - 33.194 exact dollar amount

01:15 - 34.814 for the aging our way initiative

01:15 - 36.354 of.

01:15 - 40.664 While he's looking at up is that something the department covers all the costs

01:15 - 43.270 for some do our local triple haze off to contribute

01:15 - 45.884 to some of that we have covered the cost of this pilot

01:15 - 48.404 again this is a pilot this is not something that

01:15 - 52.514 we necessarily will be continuing we're we're piloting this across the commonwealth

01:15 - 54.164 we're going to measure to see it's

01:15 - 57.008 effectiveness and then make a determination if this

01:15 - 59.414 like other pilots is something that we should continue

01:15 - 01.094 AAA spare no cost in us

01:16 - 02.864 ok okay thank you about that

01:16 - 04.194 and.

01:16 - 08.390 The press release announcing just program stated that the local area of agencies will

01:16 - 10.844 be able to share provider ratings on the screen

01:16 - 11.954 who will be

01:16 - 14.563 rating these these providers how will we ensure

01:16 - 16.994 that there is integrity with these ratings as a

01:16 - 21.680 well the program itself is rates the providers that that Nancy scream platform is

01:16 - 24.434 what provides the ranking and the rating so that their

01:16 - 25.424 their tool

01:16 - 26.294 their their

01:16 - 28.934 evidence based tool is what's used to generate the score

01:16 - 29.654 alright

01:16 - 34.166 and when this program was rolled out was there an rfp before we implemented at

01:16 - 35.204 anything with it

01:16 - 38.444 this was a sole source agreement as there it was no other provider

01:16 - 40.124 in the state or nationally that we

01:16 - 42.494 were able to identify that does this practice

01:16 - 43.824 so this is

01:16 - 45.684 what do I want to say it.

01:16 - 46.994 Is it's sole

01:16 - 47.924 technology

01:16 - 50.660 there's there's nothing else out there like if you think that's something that

01:16 - 53.564 the state should be getting into it with some taxpayer dollars here.

01:16 - 56.974 I think that we are looking to find ways to protect

01:16 - 57.824 elder or adults

01:16 - 59.733 you know thinking about the individuals that go into

01:16 - 01.844 their home see them at their most vulnerable moments

01:17 - 04.578 not see them you know when they're about to take

01:17 - 06.674 a bath at their often times alone their their

01:17 - 09.104 mobility has challenged their ability to to

01:17 - 10.814 take care of themselves as challenge

01:17 - 13.994 making sure that individuals are safe to go into their home is

01:17 - 16.490 of Paramount importance to the department it's a Paramount of

01:17 - 19.214 importance to the the the entire general assembly into

01:17 - 20.354 Pennsylvania I think

01:17 - 24.350 and right now we just highlighted at the older adult protective services act doesn't

01:17 - 28.310 have all the protections in place necessary to make sure that person that's going to

01:17 - 30.614 walk into their home at their most vulnerable moments

01:17 - 33.014 is not a perpetrator of a crime somewhere

01:17 - 34.904 or has not done something worse

01:17 - 37.604 and is now in their home about to give them up.

01:17 - 38.654 Yeah

01:17 - 42.164 I would agree with you I think as we heard today from our colleagues are

01:17 - 44.892 our safety of our senior citizens we can't put a price

01:17 - 46.996 tag on it and if it's something that works then it's.

01:17 - 49.902 Definitely a toner toolbox that we can use to keep

01:17 - 52.034 our senior citizen safe it's it's definitely worth it

01:17 - 53.904 thank you sir like.

01:17 - 57.478 Thanks gentlemen represent okay.

01:17 - 59.034 Thank you chairman.

01:17 - 00.744 Good day.

01:18 - 05.694 Secretary coolidge and your team thank you for being here today

01:18 - 08.024 I want to just let you know that

01:18 - 11.534 in one hundred and sixty fourth legislative district some of my

01:18 - 16.064 most serve constituents are our seniors and so

01:18 - 18.254 last week I went by one of

01:18 - 20.864 my senior living spaces and

01:18 - 23.334 kind of tour talk to them about your visit this week

01:18 - 26.054 and the fact that I was going to be able to ask you

01:18 - 29.354 a couple of questions and guess what they came up with

01:18 - 33.564 they came up with we want to know about AI

01:18 - 34.764 so

01:18 - 38.024 And it took me by surprise a little bit but

01:18 - 41.384 some of them had concerns you know we're in a time

01:18 - 45.464 where where our technology is rapidly advancing and a lot of times folks

01:18 - 51.260 don't think that the seniors are up on it but they very much have to be because we

01:18 - 53.084 live in a world that demands that

01:18 - 56.125 and so as we see these advances in technology

01:18 - 59.114 and the expansion of data centers to support it

01:18 - 04.194 can you tell me what the department of aging he is doing to help our seniors

01:19 - 08.934 understand these technological advances and how to use it safely.

01:19 - 11.654 Thank you I I think

01:19 - 13.673 you know first and foremost as you know especially

01:19 - 15.734 with what you've talked about at length today

01:19 - 17.704 and we talked about financial exploitation

01:19 - 19.214 and AI is a big part

01:19 - 23.924 of financial exploitation and educating older adults on AI in that space is

01:19 - 25.744 critically important to everyone in this room

01:19 - 26.744 to make sure that

01:19 - 28.994 financial exploitation doesn't happen so

01:19 - 32.624 while there is a tremendous amount of potential for good with AI

01:19 - 35.414 we have at the department of aging have had to balance

01:19 - 40.394 that good with some concerns and financial exploitation and exploiting older adults

01:19 - 41.144 being

01:19 - 44.054 prominent in making sure that we're doing our edge

01:19 - 45.817 or we're educating and working with sister

01:19 - 47.984 agencies working with the attorney general's office

01:19 - 52.274 to continue this education and prevent people from being exploited because

01:19 - 55.394 like and we all know once the money's gone it's so difficult to catch

01:19 - 56.874 internally

01:19 - 00.014 we have a work group developed to talk about the benefits of AI

01:20 - 01.224 that can be working

01:20 - 03.100 and we're also part of national conversations

01:20 - 05.234 and national work groups talking about AI

01:20 - 07.814 and how other states have been able to put at

01:20 - 08.444 work

01:20 - 11.804 so like everyone else will working with our our cabinet

01:20 - 14.684 or fellow cabinet members with our internal teams with our

01:20 - 16.746 external teams on a national level to see

01:20 - 18.794 what benefits can be offered to older adults

01:20 - 21.464 while balancing protecting them from from

01:20 - 23.064 dangerous exploitation

01:20 - 26.144 thank you you all have been so good in the past especially

01:20 - 29.474 where I am in Delaware county with getting that information out so.

01:20 - 33.314 I really love look forward to talking to cosa and working

01:20 - 39.710 more directly with this particular issue since it is growing and as we know there are

01:20 - 43.934 bad actors that are using AI to defraud individuals we have you know

01:20 - 46.664 the scam jams and those types of events

01:20 - 49.794 where our da's office is really involved

01:20 - 51.374 can you explain In how

01:20 - 52.704 the department

01:20 - 55.724 a little bit more about how you're educating seniors

01:20 - 58.724 on how AI can be misused in this way.

01:20 - 02.654 How can we work together to educate them and keep our seniors

01:21 - 05.054 safe from these scams because

01:21 - 08.004 that's what we hear most often and I know.

01:21 - 11.244 Somebody was talking about that earlier about.

01:21 - 13.036 An account being opened up

01:21 - 15.886 in one of the seniors name by their own family member

01:21 - 18.496 we have a situation right now where we're

01:21 - 21.346 keeping our eye on it because we're not seeing

01:21 - 24.176 the constituent we're seeing a caregiver

01:21 - 28.186 and that sends up red flags for us we we want to make sure

01:21 - 31.576 that we're doing the best and that education is so important so so

01:21 - 33.796 do you have any suggestions on how

01:21 - 38.246 we can better educate is all of our offices are willing to do so.

01:21 - 40.402 Well first and foremost are fifty two area

01:21 - 43.036 agencies on aging are always out at any event

01:21 - 44.596 that calls for it whether it be

01:21 - 46.156 a night out whether it be

01:21 - 46.636 a

01:21 - 49.516 Senior fair that's being held by a representative or senator

01:21 - 53.752 we're out there with information share sharing and discussing that in every one of

01:21 - 55.576 our service areas across the commonwealth

01:21 - 58.396 whenever we're invited we make it a point to be there

01:21 - 02.249 again working with partners like a repeat of the department of banking doing the

01:22 - 06.226 robust work that they do all across our commonwealth going to senior centers

01:22 - 08.988 but also it's important to think of different venues we

01:22 - 11.746 have seen that we will spend a lotta times at senior centers

01:22 - 14.146 but often times we we need to be doing events at

01:22 - 17.506 public spaces like libraries to bring broader audiences in

01:22 - 19.576 to get that information into more hands

01:22 - 23.746 anytime anyone wants to do a partnership in this space we are willing and will

01:22 - 28.136 be able to find partners to collaborate and get this information out the best weekend

01:22 - 32.026 and one last question does the department have any kind of locator or

01:22 - 36.406 for seniors that may have to trans transition

01:22 - 37.306 from

01:22 - 39.856 one housing location to another

01:22 - 41.506 that we don't have

01:22 - 42.316 ok

01:22 - 43.916 I would love to talk to you about that

01:22 - 46.346 thank you so much thank you chair.

01:22 - 50.966 Sure thanks gentle lady and recognizes representative Marcel.

01:22 - 54.016 Thank you mr chairman and thank you very much for being here

01:22 - 55.166 today

01:22 - 01.076 mr secretary as you noted earlier there are four Tripoli's out of compliance

01:23 - 05.936 you said at one point that the AAA would receive a formal letter with benchmarks

01:23 - 08.876 to achieve in one order to come into compliance

01:23 - 09.496 what is

01:23 - 13.066 the provided time frame for the AAA to reach

01:23 - 17.146 those benchmarks that that varies by need for triple a

01:23 - 19.845 so that that would be based on their correction

01:23 - 21.976 put up their practice improvement plan

01:23 - 23.806 what they are required to do so

01:23 - 26.986 you can't say that they all have the same practice improvement plan

01:23 - 27.436 all have

01:23 - 29.986 deficiencies in a variety of areas

01:23 - 30.706 so

01:23 - 31.426 It would be

01:23 - 33.886 based on their individual those letters have gone out

01:23 - 36.616 and we are in the process of scheduling them with a

01:23 - 38.626 triple a's and their community leaders

01:23 - 40.066 and their leadership

01:23 - 41.056 to discuss

01:23 - 43.996 no set timelines and those corrections that have to be made

01:23 - 45.506 okay and if

01:23 - 48.547 what occurs I know there are lot of different circumstances

01:23 - 51.256 but what occurs if those benchmarks are not met

01:23 - 54.796 and that amount of time that you've requested so for the first time since I

01:23 - 57.136 since I have a secretary we have a clear outline

01:23 - 00.686 of what that process is that did not exist before.

01:24 - 02.866 We can now say

01:24 - 06.952 that if an area agency on aging is failing it we bring people in for leadership

01:24 - 10.426 conferences conversations put them on formal notice give them their time frames

01:24 - 12.986 if they miss those time frames.

01:24 - 13.456 They their

01:24 - 15.886 baseline funding is not impacted but they are

01:24 - 17.446 excluded from receiving

01:24 - 21.502 grants such as seniors and community center grants or additional funding that becomes

01:24 - 24.806 available to the department of aging through the administration of community living

01:24 - 25.246 or

01:24 - 27.236 Part of the funding redistribution

01:24 - 27.856 they they are

01:24 - 31.276 excluded from that process but their baseline funding isn't threatened

01:24 - 33.196 if that does not

01:24 - 36.479 if we don't see corrections and we don't see improvement.

01:24 - 37.946 Then we have the

01:24 - 39.386 ultimate.

01:24 - 40.886 Ultimate.

01:24 - 44.026 Step that we can take that can't be taken lightly because again

01:24 - 48.646 when we take any of these steps you potentially jeopardize services two older adults

01:24 - 50.936 and that's something we can't disrupt.

01:24 - 52.576 The process of d designation

01:24 - 56.106 is not something that we have talked about at the department of aging but we have as

01:24 - 59.966 you know in this administration have made part of the accountability process

01:25 - 02.056 it is clearly outlined by the administration

01:25 - 02.896 entity living

01:25 - 04.666 how this process must happen

01:25 - 07.816 we have updated our a p d from nineteen eighty five to

01:25 - 09.976 merely outline how it would be done in Pennsylvania

01:25 - 10.906 we've included

01:25 - 14.776 language in our cooperative walk rant to talk about the d designation process

01:25 - 18.016 if we got to that level with an area agency on aging

01:25 - 19.922 community partners like yourself would be put

01:25 - 21.826 on notice this was happening in your district

01:25 - 23.746 public hearings would have to happen

01:25 - 25.366 public input would have to be

01:25 - 27.226 and we would have to talk about what

01:25 - 28.006 how this

01:25 - 30.205 time frame would be and what would be the next

01:25 - 32.536 process to on boarding a new area agency on aging

01:25 - 34.376 it is not simple.

01:25 - 36.376 It is but it is a process that

01:25 - 37.186 we have

01:25 - 39.106 very much shored up in this time

01:25 - 41.076 so what you're saying is that there's very

01:25 - 45.886 transparent and public way that these next levels of intervention are yes

01:25 - 47.266 exactly okay thank you.

01:25 - 50.006 So you stated in.

01:25 - 53.006 Cycle one of the cape monitoring review

01:25 - 53.626 and

01:25 - 56.096 that would conclude by the end of the summer

01:25 - 01.646 but that eighteen months would actually put it at the end of June so are you delaying

01:26 - 03.924 like there's a discrepancy between June vs end of

01:26 - 06.076 summer so I'm just trying to figure out what that is

01:26 - 08.536 but again we have faced challenges as

01:26 - 11.236 with making sure that we have adequate team

01:26 - 12.496 to do this as people

01:26 - 14.656 are promoted as people move to other positions

01:26 - 16.876 that impacts our work tremendously

01:26 - 20.536 we we were doing three area agencies on aging at once because of

01:26 - 21.316 people moving

01:26 - 22.586 in preview promoted

01:26 - 23.926 we're down to twice again

01:26 - 25.376 we a lean office

01:26 - 29.086 we don't have a lot of our back so we are keeping pace the best we can

01:26 - 32.686 and making sure that we're being as efficient with the resources that we have

01:26 - 34.426 but we can only do with

01:26 - 36.256 with met the manpower that we are

01:26 - 38.996 we were able to you know to maximize.

01:26 - 42.796 The eighteen month cycle to be clear we do a twelve month look back

01:26 - 45.356 at the area agency on aging is work.

01:26 - 46.096 There is a

01:26 - 49.509 time for them to build an adequate practice improvement

01:26 - 51.796 plan that has to be approved by the department

01:26 - 54.136 and there's time built in for them to implement

01:26 - 54.796 a plan

01:26 - 57.346 so that the corrections that they have to be made

01:26 - 01.762 can take that what we're looking at we go back out is not just the work we already

01:27 - 03.346 evaluated the last time we were there

01:27 - 08.266 we want to show continuous progress we want to show continuous improvement again

01:27 - 12.436 we are making this easier for the agencies on aging the data is not suggesting that

01:27 - 14.956 we aren't what we're doing is identifying trends

01:27 - 17.356 training on those trends and improving the work

01:27 - 19.216 for older adults everywhere

01:27 - 20.026 thank you

01:27 - 21.016 and finally

01:27 - 25.342 what would you say to critics that might claim that some of the changes that your

01:27 - 30.836 agency has been making benefit the county aging agencies but not older adults.

01:27 - 32.806 Thank you I I think

01:27 - 34.546 that one you know

01:27 - 35.176 everyone

01:27 - 38.326 has said over this is easier we've proven numerically it's not

01:27 - 40.276 okay that it's not easier with

01:27 - 41.776 legacy systems showed

01:27 - 44.087 a deficiency of ten percent and our system is

01:27 - 46.156 showing a deficiency level of fifteen percent

01:27 - 48.166 so what it is doing is

01:27 - 50.416 identifying the areas in which

01:27 - 54.526 our area agencies on aids not just in protective services but in all categories

01:27 - 55.186 such as

01:27 - 58.942 the caregiver support program or older Americans act services remember this is a

01:27 - 02.506 comprehensive evaluation not just about protective services

01:28 - 05.326 what the agency has to do it in it's entirety

01:28 - 07.816 to provide the right level of services to older adults

01:28 - 10.166 thank you thank you mr chairman.

01:28 - 12.626 Share thanks gentle eating and recognizes

01:28 - 14.546 representative Gallagher.

01:28 - 15.826 Thank you chair

01:28 - 16.946 thank you met mr

01:28 - 18.206 secretary.

01:28 - 20.026 I'd like to talk about a

01:28 - 20.866 senior city

01:28 - 22.646 senior center grants.

01:28 - 25.736 The pros budget includes a three million

01:28 - 26.446 for senior

01:28 - 28.396 center grants which is the same amount as funding

01:28 - 30.556 for the twenty twenty five twenty five twenty six

01:28 - 31.726 fiscal year

01:28 - 35.936 what types of things can the senior centers use this funding for.

01:28 - 36.406 Thank you

01:28 - 39.316 there's two types of senior center grants one competitive

01:28 - 40.466 one.

01:28 - 40.906 You know

01:28 - 44.296 raise funding grants that we give to not well now noncompetitive grants that

01:28 - 45.976 you know we help make sure that

01:28 - 49.917 really every senate senior center in Pennsylvania benefits all four hundred and fifty

01:28 - 52.246 senior centers recognized by the department of aging

01:28 - 53.806 are able to benefit

01:28 - 55.336 from from the Grant process

01:28 - 58.121 those who choose the competitive process can choose

01:28 - 00.256 it for projects and we've seen them things like

01:29 - 02.306 new kitchens new floors.

01:29 - 04.046 Hb ak systems

01:29 - 06.826 whatever infrastructure that they need to improve on

01:29 - 08.066 to make sure that

01:29 - 11.596 the the space they occupy is is is sound

01:29 - 15.616 we've also seen new initiatives and programs you know like the mentors hip program

01:29 - 16.856 that was highlighted earlier

01:29 - 18.026 we've seen requests for

01:29 - 19.756 for additional funds like that so these

01:29 - 20.356 are

01:29 - 23.375 there's a wide variety of asks that all that

01:29 - 24.016 can be

01:29 - 24.766 that

01:29 - 26.296 can be presented to the department

01:29 - 30.862 and we can make sure that you know we're doing our very best to fund innovation and

01:29 - 33.596 also keep the infrastructure of senior centers strong.

01:29 - 34.366 Okay

01:29 - 35.116 thank you

01:29 - 36.196 secretary

01:29 - 39.986 can you tell us what the status of the twenty twenty five six grants are.

01:29 - 41.656 The non-competitive the

01:29 - 43.706 grants have already been distributed

01:29 - 46.262 and the competitive grants are in the final phases of review

01:29 - 49.676 and they should be ready to further release mid April.

01:29 - 52.136 Thank you secretary Peggy chair.

01:29 - 55.546 Share thanks gentlemen and recognizes representative record.

01:29 - 57.176 That gives chairman

01:29 - 59.536 secretary thank you for joining us here today.

01:29 - 00.196 I'd

01:30 - 04.156 like to focus a little bit on the the locks one co-pay assistance program

01:30 - 05.396 through pace

01:30 - 08.497 it provides up to a fifty dollars co-pay assistance

01:30 - 11.446 at the point of sale in pharmacies for non pace cars

01:30 - 13.306 consumers and patients goalies

01:30 - 16.256 is this is this program's still operational.

01:30 - 17.846 Thank you.

01:30 - 19.254 Fortunately I

01:30 - 19.666 do

01:30 - 22.546 Benefit from having mister Tom sneddon who's

01:30 - 24.016 who's run the pace program

01:30 - 26.096 since it's inception and I'm going to defer to him

01:30 - 27.956 to drift to answered.

01:30 - 28.726 Thank u

01:30 - 31.226 s is still running undergrad.

01:30 - 33.926 Or is it

01:30 - 35.956 the inter agency contract

01:30 - 37.576 information shows from dita up

01:30 - 42.586 that funding for last fiscal year was seventeen thousand two hundred and thirty nine.

01:30 - 45.766 I would jumped up to seventy five thousand this year

01:30 - 48.398 and then it's projected to be at nineteen thousand

01:30 - 50.956 for the upcoming fiscal year twenty six twenty seven

01:30 - 55.606 I can you explain the large increase this this current year and where additional

01:30 - 58.016 doses of the oxo provided.

01:30 - 58.936 We

01:30 - 00.446 We haven't used

01:31 - 01.886 much of that lobby

01:31 - 03.386 at this point.

01:31 - 05.296 A lot depends on

01:31 - 07.106 federal appropriation.

01:31 - 08.846 Of that on it but

01:31 - 10.466 at this point.

01:31 - 11.546 We haven't used it.

01:31 - 12.316 Okay

01:31 - 14.816 do you know how many doses have been provided.

01:31 - 16.636 No sir

01:31 - 19.166 revive it yes do you know how many doses have been provided

01:31 - 20.176 for it

01:31 - 22.906 depends on the medication okay

01:31 - 24.856 but it's usually a lower dose

01:31 - 26.326 okay and

01:31 - 29.656 I know you know when I go to the pharmacy and a lot of folks do

01:31 - 30.896 and.

01:31 - 33.616 The doctor might prescribe the name brand but

01:31 - 35.596 if the pharmacist will will

01:31 - 37.456 proceed cry but generic does.

01:31 - 40.516 Is is a generic available for this is that

01:31 - 43.376 or we are we paying for name brand prices.

01:31 - 47.986 Over the counter is available and it's infrequently used

01:31 - 48.766 okay

01:31 - 50.246 and

01:31 - 52.306 thank you I really appreciate the

01:31 - 54.746 background information as thank you sir.

01:32 - 03.206 The chair thanks gentlemen

01:32 - 05.486 and recognizes representative

01:32 - 06.866 allegory.

01:32 - 09.956 Thank mr chairman

01:32 - 12.586 thank you secretary to your team for being here today

01:32 - 14.402 really do appreciate it I have a couple of

01:32 - 16.426 questions for you but I want to start off with

01:32 - 19.384 a question regarding food assistance for our seniors

01:32 - 22.316 and the meals on wheels program and nutrition

01:32 - 25.546 so back home in Montgomery county

01:32 - 27.776 sector you had visited.

01:32 - 30.586 My district along with sen Maria Colette

01:32 - 33.243 at generations of Indian valley which is our local

01:32 - 36.176 senior center in the Indian valley in souderton

01:32 - 39.796 and there that's when you announced along with the governor

01:32 - 42.106 your aging our way pa plan

01:32 - 43.636 and the the

01:32 - 45.746 announcement of that plan.

01:32 - 49.696 While there you were able to see the

01:32 - 53.056 commercial kitchen that they have and where they offer the meals on wheels program

01:32 - 58.456 so we know that food costs continue to rise in this increased

01:32 - 00.376 cost is putting a lot of pressure

01:33 - 04.166 on food and nutrition programs across the commonwealth.

01:33 - 08.516 One such program is that meals mm wheels program as we know.

01:33 - 12.193 Also the programs are often dependent upon

01:33 - 15.976 volunteers these are volunteer run organizations that

01:33 - 20.266 offer a service of trying to keep the costs down by

01:33 - 21.746 having volunteers

01:33 - 26.152 and also they do wellness checks on individuals as well when they go door to door

01:33 - 29.696 these are the local neighbors checking on each other.

01:33 - 34.492 How can we work together to support our local meals on wheels programs to make sure

01:33 - 37.736 that our seniors continue to have the access

01:33 - 39.556 to food and nutrition that they

01:33 - 41.126 need and deserve.

01:33 - 45.226 Thank you and much of what we've covered today is about awareness

01:33 - 45.736 and

01:33 - 48.316 say I'm a huge supporter of meals on wheels

01:33 - 51.256 I'm a huge supporter of the work that they do again

01:33 - 53.026 this goes far beyond

01:33 - 55.704 simply feeding an individual there's connectivity or

01:33 - 58.546 social connection there's pushback and social isolation

01:33 - 00.376 there's added safety features

01:34 - 00.886 have to

01:34 - 05.632 do it to enhance in older adults you know life when we have meals on wheels programs

01:34 - 07.576 knocking on their door and delivering their meals

01:34 - 09.196 I I think awareness

01:34 - 11.936 and the discussion of the benefits of meals on

01:34 - 14.776 wheels is necessary of you do we live in a society

01:34 - 16.856 that is really focused on convenience

01:34 - 21.526 but not necessarily making the best decisions based on information that they have

01:34 - 26.332 at all times so I think education and making sure people are aware of what what what

01:34 - 28.742 the differences in types of homeless services

01:34 - 31.096 provided that this isn't just simply about

01:34 - 34.006 delivering food this is about delivering connectivity it's

01:34 - 36.376 about delivering a level of social service

01:34 - 38.836 and also standing up community resources

01:34 - 40.076 you know.

01:34 - 40.396 Dogs

01:34 - 42.716 dogs places amazing resource in your community

01:34 - 45.016 and he really does an incredible job not just

01:34 - 47.266 you know in terms of meals on wheels but

01:34 - 48.586 connecting older adults

01:34 - 50.056 to to act devotees

01:34 - 51.386 health and wellness

01:34 - 52.246 information

01:34 - 55.146 keeping them in their community to keep them safe keep them connected

01:34 - 00.376 how valuable do you think that connectivity is that that connection that wellness check

01:35 - 02.730 of an individual each time they go to a door

01:35 - 04.906 with a with a meal that's been prepared for them

01:35 - 09.352 I don't think anyone here would argue how important that connection is and sometimes

01:35 - 10.956 that's the one only friendly voice and they

01:35 - 12.946 only friendly face an individual sees all day

01:35 - 15.506 and it's also sometimes their lifeline.

01:35 - 17.086 Of information and of

01:35 - 19.236 just getting them connected to something more so

01:35 - 20.146 I don't

01:35 - 23.116 know if a price can ever be put on that level of connectivity

01:35 - 25.036 I appreciate that I know that there's

01:35 - 27.529 pressures within the marketplace right now to try

01:35 - 30.016 and offer different solutions for meal delivery

01:35 - 32.653 I would stress the importance of that wellness

01:35 - 35.996 check on top of the meal delivery as a service

01:35 - 38.356 in addition to that I wanted to ask you

01:35 - 39.896 one more question.

01:35 - 45.172 How will the office of Alzheimer's dementia and related disorders how will that

01:35 - 49.066 office utilize new and existing partnerships to execute a robust

01:35 - 51.920 public aware in this effort about brain health

01:35 - 55.076 early detection and diagnosis in the commonwealth

01:35 - 57.466 thank you I know some of the work they've already

01:35 - 00.256 gone to to to to work doing is refreshing

01:36 - 02.836 our state plan on Alzheimer's that has sat dormant

01:36 - 03.256 since

01:36 - 03.766 about

01:36 - 04.966 two thousand and fourteen I'd

01:36 - 06.776 add correct me on my date I'd have to get

01:36 - 07.916 a double check that

01:36 - 11.302 it sat dormant you know we've resurrected and were rich crashing and we're working

01:36 - 12.955 with our stakeholders and we are working with

01:36 - 15.019 members of the assembly that sit on those committees

01:36 - 18.736 to to make that modern to make that relevant to make that actionable

01:36 - 22.726 across so I I think what we've done in a very short period of time

01:36 - 24.086 with our team

01:36 - 28.456 building that committee making sure we're already doing robust work and looking at

01:36 - 30.286 things that we had in place in Pennsylvania

01:36 - 33.676 and making them come to reality has been incredibly important for all of us

01:36 - 37.642 thank you and I really do appreciate that I want to thank you for your work I want to

01:36 - 40.526 thank you for your help for older pennsylvanians across.

01:36 - 42.346 Our entire commonwealth and

01:36 - 43.976 thank you for your team as well

01:36 - 44.836 thank you mr chairman

01:36 - 45.956 thank you.

01:36 - 48.496 Sure thanks gentlemen and recognizes representative Kale

01:36 - 49.996 thank you mr chairman

01:36 - 53.986 thank you mr secretary for being here today I want I wanted to follow up a little bit

01:36 - 56.486 on some previous questions

01:36 - 03.436 regarding your agency's ability to investigate and potential abuse happening to

01:37 - 05.386 to our our seniors

01:37 - 10.546 helped me understand what your agency's function is as it relates to investigations

01:37 - 13.126 we do not conduct investigations at the department of aid.

01:37 - 18.172 So you don't do any type of investigation there's mentioned earlier about how

01:37 - 20.956 investigations and once somebody ends up

01:37 - 23.936 deceased and it's not carried out to it's function.

01:37 - 26.966 The local agencies do is what.

01:37 - 28.486 Just like child welfare they do

01:37 - 32.482 the investigatory work happens through our fifty two area agency on aging they have

01:37 - 35.716 protective services units within each of their agencies and they were

01:37 - 37.786 required to have those units so

01:37 - 40.475 we do not do investigations at the department so

01:37 - 42.386 within those agencies

01:37 - 46.336 helped me understand that process and the investigations and how they work out

01:37 - 50.156 if an investigation is followed through it's logical conclusion.

01:37 - 54.136 Do a local agencies have the ability to cite define

01:37 - 57.476 what's the accountability mechanism that's in place.

01:37 - 01.825 To cite to find whom and most of the the abuser

01:38 - 04.816 what's the accountability met magazines they do not

01:38 - 05.206 so

01:38 - 07.966 Let's just use an example if

01:38 - 10.616 an older adult reports financial exploitation

01:38 - 14.986 are being financially exploited by a neighbor for for lack of a better example

01:38 - 19.342 we don't have the ability to punish that neighbor we don't have the ability to find

01:38 - 21.736 that neighbor we don't have a consequence for that neighbor

01:38 - 23.820 that is why it's essential for us to be working

01:38 - 25.906 with district attorney's offices and law enforcement

01:38 - 30.016 it takes the information we gather in our investigation and then can prosecute

01:38 - 34.612 and do the that part of the system so you work with local partners and hand over the

01:38 - 37.156 investigation I'm I'm just a little bit concerned because

01:38 - 39.716 you mentioned the hypothetical medical situation

01:38 - 43.376 if investigation was ongoing and a patient.

01:38 - 47.816 Passed away from something unrelated to that investigation

01:38 - 53.486 then the investigation stops and there's no real follow through on that.

01:38 - 56.666 What happens to an abuser in that situation you just

01:38 - 59.446 hand over what you have to the local law enforcement

01:38 - 01.996 continue working through the process

01:39 - 04.276 we we end our process that's

01:39 - 05.456 that's by

01:39 - 05.836 you know

01:39 - 08.506 the law that we have to fight we end our process

01:39 - 12.682 and we hand over what we need to to law enforcement and help them in any way we can

01:39 - 14.486 to facilitate their investigation

01:39 - 17.266 of you remember we have limited authority over facilities

01:39 - 18.916 so I mean it would really really

01:39 - 21.916 it would really have to be a very specific instance that

01:39 - 23.176 we're speaking of

01:39 - 25.916 about a referral about a facility

01:39 - 31.372 does local law enforcement use somebody within the aging department to a continued

01:39 - 36.082 investigation at any time or is it just you guys are by law not allowed to continue

01:39 - 38.046 looking at something if someone's deceased we are not

01:39 - 40.666 criminal invests the gators were social workers so

01:39 - 42.646 we'd give them what we have

01:39 - 46.546 and that benefits their criminal investigation that's that's that's the part

01:39 - 50.326 they help us maybe with intervening they come with us on a response

01:39 - 52.786 are there to to support us in discussion

01:39 - 55.366 but as far as the next level that prosecutes

01:39 - 56.686 prosecutorial level

01:39 - 57.016 at

01:39 - 58.006 In their hands

01:39 - 59.356 at least support there were

01:39 - 02.549 yeah and it's just it is a little bit concerning to

01:40 - 05.296 me just because those social workers are on the ground

01:40 - 06.916 they're working with

01:40 - 10.136 the potentially abused individual

01:40 - 14.122 that individual passes away they have all of this background all of this information

01:40 - 15.706 they know where to look they know how to

01:40 - 19.535 go through with the process and you're telling me by law

01:40 - 23.056 that that investigation has the end once they are deceased

01:40 - 25.036 our investigation has to at

01:40 - 26.236 yes the the

01:40 - 28.418 the other investigation that's being conducted

01:40 - 30.556 by law enforcement district attorney's office

01:40 - 33.166 that is on them if they're going to end it or not

01:40 - 35.806 we can share our information with them

01:40 - 39.136 to enhance it doesn't matter we can share whatever information we have

01:40 - 40.666 to support their work

01:40 - 44.006 we end our investigation though at that time.

01:40 - 47.146 You know there is no older adult to serve there's no older adult to offer

01:40 - 47.776 adult

01:40 - 50.276 older adult protective services to.

01:40 - 54.352 Okay and you you've touted the multi disciplinary team that brings together local law

01:40 - 56.986 enforcement agencies is that something that's

01:40 - 59.836 you're using to address these types of issues and

01:41 - 00.676 to

01:41 - 02.896 Make things safer for our seniors

01:41 - 05.034 multi disciplinary teams are not a creation of the

01:41 - 07.786 department of aging multi disciplinary teams have existed

01:41 - 11.356 in multiple human services and in particular child welfare

01:41 - 13.646 and proven to be successfully.

01:41 - 18.742 Implementing policy changes on the local level to enhance investigations like you're

01:41 - 20.488 you've been describing that's the

01:41 - 23.308 that's the benefit that's why district attorney's offices

01:41 - 25.028 victim services

01:41 - 26.188 aging offices

01:41 - 27.418 medical community

01:41 - 29.968 legal community that's why local law enforcement

01:41 - 31.208 the banking community

01:41 - 34.318 that's why there are essential components of multi-disciplinary teams

01:41 - 37.498 to handle complex cases to answer complex answers

01:41 - 40.018 to bring solutions to the table more quickly

01:41 - 44.194 as it relates to these types of matters abuse for seniors is there anything that we

01:41 - 46.708 could be doing as a legislature to fix

01:41 - 51.358 a law to give you all more ability to to protect our seniors

01:41 - 51.988 we can

01:41 - 53.910 continue to be at the table looking to update

01:41 - 56.888 the older adult protective services act together.

01:41 - 58.328 Thank you.

01:42 - 03.638 Chair thanks the gentleman and recognizes representative nice.

01:42 - 04.678 Thank you chair

01:42 - 07.688 happy women's history month welcome secretary

01:42 - 12.904 I have brought up this one question or share this one great example of how we can

01:42 - 15.728 care for our mall most vulnerable seniors.

01:42 - 18.538 Who are identifying as LGBTQ plus

01:42 - 23.918 I've talked about the amazing mosaic apartments project.

01:42 - 28.178 That is located in my district and the city of Pittsburgh.

01:42 - 31.138 Near the university of Pittsburgh's campus is a

01:42 - 33.538 a beautiful forty eight

01:42 - 36.868 unit apartment that is

01:42 - 43.048 a welcoming space away welcoming place for LGBTQ plus seniors to call home

01:42 - 47.668 it was a public private partnership with some of our dollars from the state

01:42 - 49.588 going towards that project

01:42 - 52.014 and I'm proud to say that not only was there

01:42 - 54.118 groundbreaking there was a ribbon cutting

01:42 - 58.268 and now the units are completely full.

01:42 - 01.898 Can we we could you can you talk about how we can replicate

01:43 - 04.228 this kind of model for

01:43 - 07.978 LGBTQ plus seniors across the commonwealth and.

01:43 - 09.428 I know that

01:43 - 13.088 my colleague has a senior.

01:43 - 17.398 Homes and in his district or rep waxman out of Philadelphia

01:43 - 20.624 are there other models like this for LGBTQ plus

01:43 - 24.098 seniors that we can replicate in the commonwealth

01:43 - 27.308 thank you that there's there's models of housing like this.

01:43 - 30.598 You know in other parts of Pennsylvania and I really think

01:43 - 33.328 how we stand up better housing for older adults

01:43 - 37.018 in general is we need to continue to be at the table working together

01:43 - 39.467 this isn't just something that the department of

01:43 - 41.758 agent can solve on its own this isn't something that

01:43 - 43.639 the department of human services and the

01:43 - 45.628 department of agent console can solve on its own

01:43 - 49.904 this is a multi department multi-state like this is something

01:43 - 52.888 that we all need to be at the table focused on together

01:43 - 55.876 we know there's a housing crisis in Pennsylvania we know

01:43 - 59.108 that we need more affordable housing for older pennsylvanians

01:43 - 00.958 as everywhere in every way

01:44 - 05.704 and that in order to find those solutions we have to be creative we need to work with

01:44 - 07.738 stakeholders from outside of government

01:44 - 12.808 we have to look at how we make sure that each community also has a seat at the table

01:44 - 15.542 and standing up the solutions because we can't do it

01:44 - 18.088 from Harrisburg we have to do it with the local community

01:44 - 19.198 so again

01:44 - 22.708 we are are here as partners and we will support the work in any way we can

01:44 - 25.978 however the department of aging can be helpful in this space we will

01:44 - 26.938 and

01:44 - 29.188 again we will do everything we can to support

01:44 - 31.558 additional resources and accessibility

01:44 - 34.898 for housing for for older pennsylvanians everywhere

01:44 - 40.018 but would you agree that we need to find more housing not only for everyone one

01:44 - 41.798 far seniors

01:44 - 44.858 but just that there's a specific vulnerability

01:44 - 46.978 if you're identifying as LGBTQ plus

01:44 - 49.288 family structure may not be the same

01:44 - 50.908 income may not be

01:44 - 55.408 what they need to take care of themselves most seniors are living on a limited income

01:44 - 58.684 I I think there's a specific approach with this

01:44 - 01.828 kind of model and I re really want you to talk about

01:45 - 05.578 the need for this and expect how we can expand it

01:45 - 09.544 and are there places in this region and in this commonwealth are there regions in

01:45 - 11.698 this commonwealth where we need to be focused

01:45 - 16.268 where there isn't this kind of housing for LGBTQ plus seniors.

01:45 - 17.368 You know

01:45 - 19.288 specifically that data

01:45 - 21.255 were were lacking at the department so I I

01:45 - 23.471 would not be able to speak specifically to to

01:45 - 24.778 to data that serves there

01:45 - 26.488 but again with with

01:45 - 31.018 this population with any population of older adults we we are the we are the

01:45 - 33.058 ultimate advocate for those needs

01:45 - 34.328 regarding.

01:45 - 36.658 We do have specialized older adult communities we have

01:45 - 39.598 villa adjust we work with the villages across you know

01:45 - 40.918 the Philadelphia area

01:45 - 45.394 trying to expand the village model across Pennsylvania we work with other housing

01:45 - 48.238 partners to expand their role in an important but I think

01:45 - 50.381 any vulnerable community we should be looking at

01:45 - 52.888 and making sure that we're working to to solve

01:45 - 55.168 their housing needs and additionally other needs

01:45 - 57.658 but again in a broader sense since

01:45 - 00.868 older Pennsylvania's have told us this is a concern for them

01:46 - 04.348 in every part of Pennsylvania and we have to do

01:46 - 05.758 we are responsible as

01:46 - 08.878 the advocacy group or for older pennsylvanians

01:46 - 11.008 to fight for those resources for them

01:46 - 13.078 regardless of their vulnerability

01:46 - 14.848 regardless of how they identify

01:46 - 16.648 older adults need better housing

01:46 - 18.658 older adults need us to be at the table

01:46 - 20.458 to fight for better housing for them

01:46 - 22.118 in every capacity.

01:46 - 25.558 Thank you my next question about another group of vulnerable seniors

01:46 - 26.858 and it's those

01:46 - 30.308 who are returning citizens they may have been incarcerated

01:46 - 34.372 for twenty twenty five thirty or more years and they're coming.

01:46 - 38.368 Home from being incarcerated as seniors and older adults

01:46 - 41.322 I talked with a group of formerly incarcerated

01:46 - 43.798 seniors and they talked to me about the fact

01:46 - 49.388 that they are barred from senior housing and I wanted to get some clarification.

01:46 - 54.118 From you about whether that's the case or what other circumstances would a senior

01:46 - 56.518 who is as formerly incarcerated be

01:46 - 58.168 prevented or process at it

01:46 - 01.108 from being able to reside in a senior

01:47 - 02.368 and a senior facility

01:47 - 03.758 accurate and you know

01:47 - 05.878 there are significant challenges for those

01:47 - 07.118 individuals.

01:47 - 10.021 Experiencing reentry and we see many are restricted

01:47 - 11.848 from living in communities because of their.

01:47 - 15.178 Distance from a school or zone that they are not allowed to be in.

01:47 - 19.708 We have to handle those cases individually and in the community that relocating to

01:47 - 21.838 have because it is a challenge and as well as

01:47 - 23.198 individuals.

01:47 - 23.913 Or as

01:47 - 24.688 people

01:47 - 27.898 do not want to rent in some instance to these individuals so

01:47 - 30.538 there's a lot of barriers there's a lot of hurdles

01:47 - 35.074 and every really requires a lot of local intervention on our part to talk through

01:47 - 37.388 those challenges and to find a solution.

01:47 - 38.998 Thank you second Terry offer

01:47 - 40.618 my help and support and assistance in

01:47 - 41.027 any way

01:47 - 44.468 I can with both of those populations thank you chair.

01:47 - 48.448 Sure thanks gentle lady and recognizes Germans Jersey

01:47 - 50.168 thank you chair.

01:47 - 53.338 You mentioned the multi disciplinary teams

01:47 - 56.774 several times a day and I know my colleagues have as we've talked about some of the

01:47 - 59.605 situations that unfortunately ended in tragedy

01:47 - 02.668 and I appreciate that you came to Indiana county

01:48 - 05.528 a couple of months ago to sort of.

01:48 - 10.708 Want to say unveil something new but there was some funding allocated to our area

01:48 - 15.128 agency on aging to sort of pilot a more formalized approach to that.

01:48 - 16.878 Can you just talk a little bit about that.

01:48 - 17.818 Thank you

01:48 - 18.478 to

01:48 - 20.038 The department of aging has

01:48 - 21.338 endeavored to build

01:48 - 22.948 multi-disciplinary teams with

01:48 - 25.928 those identified communities all across Pennsylvania.

01:48 - 28.168 We we used fifty thousand dollars

01:48 - 30.208 in consulting fees to help

01:48 - 33.598 identify areas like yourself who went through a competitive process

01:48 - 36.128 and had the best applications

01:48 - 39.934 to to draw down these resources and consulting stand up the teams in those

01:48 - 42.628 communities and support the work being done at the local level

01:48 - 45.418 five areas were identified and

01:48 - 47.128 in those they were awarded with

01:48 - 49.751 with these consulting hours they weren't given

01:48 - 52.904 funding directly they were giving hours of of work

01:48 - 54.946 work they can draw down to support what they

01:48 - 57.088 need to stand those teams up in their communities

01:48 - 00.390 would that create more of a formal process than something

01:49 - 03.028 that could be replicated in other areas of the commonwealth

01:49 - 04.148 yes we're hoping so

01:49 - 04.429 we

01:49 - 07.408 We we want to see this grow to every corner of the commonwealth

01:49 - 10.288 this is something that we we feel very strongly about

01:49 - 11.008 you know

01:49 - 12.958 why we are required to have task forces

01:49 - 13.648 right no

01:49 - 15.791 task forces are not multi disciplinary teams

01:49 - 18.028 and multi-disciplinary teams aren't as courses

01:49 - 20.408 task forces have a responsibility

01:49 - 22.578 to make sure that they're educating and providing

01:49 - 25.268 a platform of communication to the community.

01:49 - 29.314 There are a broad group of stakeholders of many state representatives and many

01:49 - 32.308 senators sit on task forces all across around sylvania

01:49 - 33.808 and they support that work

01:49 - 34.648 everywhere

01:49 - 36.148 in all parts of yet

01:49 - 38.878 multi-disciplinary teams are very specific

01:49 - 39.998 they are designed

01:49 - 40.468 we're

01:49 - 42.028 working with across

01:49 - 42.448 the

01:49 - 44.938 law enforcement district attorney's offices

01:49 - 48.448 the medical community victim services the legal community

01:49 - 53.404 the area agencies on aging to find solutions on complex issues and complex cases

01:49 - 56.188 quickly it's not they're very different

01:49 - 58.558 purposes are very different and they said these

01:49 - 01.978 of very two distinct functions it's not a duplication in any way

01:50 - 04.198 it is it's really making sure that

01:50 - 06.758 like like the community we visited.

01:50 - 09.508 Those the connections with the district attorney are strong

01:50 - 12.788 so that we can continue to support their work prosecution

01:50 - 16.174 and that they can support our work and making sure our social interventions are in

01:50 - 17.728 place to protect those older adults

01:50 - 19.258 so it could be preventative

01:50 - 20.968 yes it absolutely can be provoked

01:50 - 24.718 so the agencies would work together and maybe in a situation where

01:50 - 27.928 you know an area agency on aging doesn't feel that it

01:50 - 29.728 warrants law enforcement

01:50 - 30.878 involvement

01:50 - 33.238 having that disc gush and having that communication

01:50 - 35.548 throughout the process could ultimately lead to

01:50 - 38.642 earlier intervention by the district attorney's office

01:50 - 41.488 or law enforcement to prevent additional abuse or

01:50 - 42.788 tragically death

01:50 - 45.448 our our guidance to our area agency on aging it

01:50 - 46.348 is if you

01:50 - 48.268 think law enforcement should write up

01:50 - 50.008 communicate to law enforcement

01:50 - 52.498 that we want law enforcement in va sooner

01:50 - 54.238 because the sooner they get involved

01:50 - 56.308 the better their investigations can be.

01:50 - 59.428 If there's a situation that an area agency on aging

01:50 - 00.838 needs to be educated

01:51 - 01.648 as to

01:51 - 03.508 oh you should have called this in or

01:51 - 05.968 we should have talked about this again yes you're right

01:51 - 09.298 that's a platform for us to correct that at a community level

01:51 - 10.258 train it

01:51 - 12.198 and make sure it doesn't happen going forward

01:51 - 13.478 okay good

01:51 - 17.218 the older adult protective services act one is the last time it was updated

01:51 - 18.045 there was

01:51 - 20.468 an update i.

01:51 - 22.138 Can't put the exact year on

01:51 - 26.188 to add a provider to it but overall it has not been really

01:51 - 27.838 updated in nearly forty years

01:51 - 28.618 for years

01:51 - 30.088 there was a small addition

01:51 - 32.828 a number of years ago I want to say maybe ten.

01:51 - 33.104 Add

01:51 - 36.644 another provider to the mandatory reporting list I believe and then

01:51 - 38.804 at the overhaul like to identify

01:51 - 40.374 financial exploitation

01:51 - 43.664 it's been nearly forty years so it's long overdue well overdue yes

01:51 - 48.924 and what is the timeline then for the completion of this process we have a bill.

01:51 - 50.804 In the house aging committee that

01:51 - 51.515 we were

01:51 - 53.666 working with the five caucuses to to work through

01:51 - 55.874 we've been working with stakeholders like the bank

01:51 - 57.444 stakeholders like

01:51 - 01.604 home care associations really talking through the challenges of that bill

01:52 - 05.144 and making sure that we're doing our due diligence to be good

01:52 - 05.684 you know

01:52 - 07.874 good negotiators and being you know

01:52 - 08.294 of.

01:52 - 10.794 What how should I say it.

01:52 - 12.004 Now we're there in good faith

01:52 - 15.614 to say okay how do we make this actionable in Pennsylvania we're still at the table

01:52 - 17.601 alright and if we need to bring it back and

01:52 - 19.664 have more discussions we are prepared to do so

01:52 - 21.104 is there a target date though

01:52 - 22.344 a deadline.

01:52 - 23.834 We would love to see

01:52 - 24.954 this we would really

01:52 - 26.504 I think we need to see this

01:52 - 31.194 you know as soon as we can I think we owe it to older Pennsylvania sure

01:52 - 32.444 to update a law that

01:52 - 34.530 we talk about the financial exploitation being

01:52 - 37.104 the number one reported need in Pennsylvania

01:52 - 39.414 and the law that we have that governs

01:52 - 40.554 right yeah

01:52 - 42.914 I hear you loud and clear I think it needs to be

01:52 - 44.594 obviously sooner rather than later

01:52 - 47.066 but when we hear that from governmental agencies

01:52 - 48.944 that usually means whenever we get it done.

01:52 - 53.564 So I think establishing a firm timeline and a goal to to

01:52 - 56.654 get this into place at deadline for all this to come together

01:52 - 57.914 is Paramount

01:52 - 00.224 so I would encourage you to to work towards that end.

01:53 - 01.674 I would love to see it

01:53 - 05.414 in effect by July well I would love to see us ready to roll by July first

01:53 - 07.604 July first of of this current year yes or

01:53 - 08.054 ok

01:53 - 08.504 Alright

01:53 - 10.100 thank you very much thanks for being here

01:53 - 11.394 thank you sir.

01:53 - 13.794 Chair thanks to gentleman

01:53 - 14.874 and I have the

01:53 - 16.874 honor pleasure of being with you and

01:53 - 19.974 of wrapping and wrapping up this hearing.

01:53 - 22.244 Very much appreciate you being here

01:53 - 22.784 and your

01:53 - 25.854 service on behalf of older pennsylvanians.

01:53 - 30.354 Or as our speaker of the house likes to call them our wisest neighbors.

01:53 - 32.834 So I

01:53 - 36.384 thank you very much for your lifetime dedicated to that.

01:53 - 37.304 You know

01:53 - 40.164 budgets and governments more broadly.

01:53 - 42.714 Should be judged on how they.

01:53 - 44.774 Prioritize the most vulnerable

01:53 - 46.254 among us

01:53 - 47.484 and.

01:53 - 52.634 I think this legislature and this administration have a lot to be proud of

01:53 - 53.444 we

01:53 - 56.174 Heard earlier and talked about the establishment

01:53 - 56.834 of the

01:53 - 00.234 office of Alzheimer's dementia and related disorders.

01:54 - 01.304 We

01:54 - 02.054 Passed

01:54 - 03.374 legislation.

01:54 - 05.694 Signed into law requiring.

01:54 - 08.744 That making sure the bio marker testing

01:54 - 09.644 is

01:54 - 11.454 Covered by insurance

01:54 - 12.134 and

01:54 - 15.011 the first ever state funding for research into

01:54 - 17.804 neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's

01:54 - 18.134 and

01:54 - 19.914 ls and Parkinson's.

01:54 - 25.784 So to that end that is a that's a deal wage a department of health appropriation

01:54 - 27.444 but of course.

01:54 - 29.574 The fact that we'll be researching

01:54 - 31.884 the this dreaded.

01:54 - 33.614 Disease and disorder of

01:54 - 35.534 of Alzheimer's and dementia

01:54 - 37.614 what sort of.

01:54 - 39.864 Cross department collaboration.

01:54 - 40.994 Will will

01:54 - 43.554 you and the department be undertaking

01:54 - 44.754 in light of that.

01:54 - 47.184 That new research funding.

01:54 - 48.404 Thank you and when

01:54 - 49.514 the assembly was

01:54 - 50.694 gracious enough to

01:54 - 53.174 give us the resources necessary to stand up

01:54 - 54.884 the eighty drd office

01:54 - 57.266 we were intentional and how we approach this

01:54 - 00.444 and making sure that the department of health.

01:55 - 02.114 Either chair of that committee and

01:55 - 03.944 secretary doctor bogan is

01:55 - 04.754 vice-chair

01:55 - 07.124 with intention that our offices

01:55 - 08.514 should be working

01:55 - 11.264 in parallels and then supporting each other's efforts

01:55 - 12.684 in this space

01:55 - 17.264 because it can't be handled it's too big for one department to do and really

01:55 - 19.247 lending our work making sure we're supporting

01:55 - 21.014 what they need to get over the finish line

01:55 - 23.415 I'm supporting us getting over things over the finish line

01:55 - 25.514 is a critical part of how we do this

01:55 - 26.384 moving forward

01:55 - 28.364 how we maximize resources

01:55 - 30.564 and make sure that we're putting them to work like

01:55 - 32.774 we are talking about physician education

01:55 - 35.604 happening in our system using our resources.

01:55 - 37.124 Because we believe

01:55 - 40.094 an early detection we believe that we're we're doing the

01:55 - 42.234 work we're doing with our stay call their partners

01:55 - 43.184 and so

01:55 - 46.034 workers like that is just one example of how

01:55 - 48.255 we are going to maximize our resources together through

01:55 - 50.654 discussions through conversations and making sure

01:55 - 52.884 everything that we can do

01:55 - 56.504 to serve this population has been done we talk about those individuals

01:55 - 58.334 we know with lewy body dementia

01:55 - 59.544 and really

01:55 - 01.424 shedding a light on that subject for me

01:56 - 03.614 people that don't understand her no no no that

01:56 - 04.154 happens

01:56 - 05.054 we talked

01:56 - 05.624 we've

01:56 - 08.004 had several conversations with representatives

01:56 - 09.344 that have loved ones

01:56 - 11.453 that have Alzheimer's and dementia making sure that

01:56 - 13.754 they're at the table working with us on committees

01:56 - 16.054 so that their life experiences are also helping

01:56 - 19.074 us make good decisions on how we move forward.

01:56 - 22.104 Very much appreciate that answer and your service.

01:56 - 23.934 In with that.

01:56 - 24.854 On behalf of

01:56 - 27.404 chairman Harris I think the membership four

01:56 - 29.834 of their questions and participation today.

01:56 - 31.944 We will.

01:56 - 33.224 Recess this

01:56 - 35.445 committee until tomorrow morning where we begin

01:56 - 39.084 with the state related universities followed by.

01:56 - 41.894 The state system of higher education schools

01:56 - 43.064 at one

01:56 - 45.474 and the state police

01:56 - 48.144 that will be appearing before the committee at three o'clock just

01:56 - 50.874 make a note of that because that was a rescheduled

01:56 - 53.324 hearing so ten one in three

01:56 - 54.834 and we'll see everyone tomorrow

01:56 - 55.124 thank

01:56 - 56.291 you.

01:57 - 24.784 It.