Serving as South Carolina’s primary advocate for seniors is a truly rewarding opportunity and I am pleased with The Palmetto Scoop’s invitation to be today’s Sunday Guest Post contributor.
In the few years that I have had the pleasure of leading the good folks at the Office on Aging, we have made great strides in laying a solid foundation for the coming Age Wave. It is our goal to make sure that our seniors are able to grow old gracefully, living well and doing so in their own homes.
To do this more effectively, we have set goals and made changes to the way the office works for seniors. I want the Office on Aging to be the most efficient and productive unit of state government. We have been cutting the fat out of payroll, rent, antiquated programming and refocused the staff to prepare for the challenges before us.
We have created SCACCESS, an electronic directory of 14,000 services specific to the county level. We have created an incentive program for geriatric physicians that has become a national model, attracting 14 geriatricians to serve our seniors. We have testified to Congress and are now about to launch a campaign to put people who scam our seniors out of business.
I have also personally led prevention and wellness activities throughout our state, and will host our fourth annual Lt. Governor’s Wellness Walk at the State Capitol on May 8. Just last weekend, Dr. Steve Blair of the University of South Carolina showed the 2008 South Carolina Aging Research Conference how just four 20-minute periods of exercise per week will result in improvements in personal health and longevity.
“ [O]ur senior population is growing exponentially because our climate is a magnet for the immigration of affluent retirees similar to that of our neighbors in the Sunshine State. This growth is so significant that we have issued 120,077 first-time driver’s licenses to people 50 and older since 2002. ”
This brings me to a major demographic shift impacting our state, our country, and the world, the Age Wave. The Age Wave will bring change to the makeup of our country that will have an impact not only socially, but economically as well.
To bring into prospective the significance of this demographic shift, simply consider that half of all people since the beginning of time who have reached their 65th birthday are alive today.Advances in medical science have extended the average American’s life expectancy from 47 years in 1900 to 77 in 2000. When you combine this with the Baby Boom that followed World War II you end up with 78 million Americans, 1.3 million of which are South Carolinians rapidly approaching retirement.
Here in South Carolina, our senior population is growing exponentially because our climate is a magnet for the immigration of affluent retirees similar to that of our neighbors in the Sunshine State. This growth is so significant that we have issued 120,077 first-time driver’s licenses to people 50 and older since 2002.
South Carolina seniors are a marketer’s dream. They are dominant consumers when it comes to the purchase new automobiles, remodeling or selling their homes, vacation travel and as grandparents, they are the largest consumers of toys and games.
Simply stated, seniors generally have and spend money and having these funds flowing into our economy will certainly have a positive impact.
Dr. Andy Felts of the College of Charleston recently estimated that the annual economic impact of seniors in the Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester area was more than $2 billion annually.
Another major factor of the Age Wave is how it will impact employment numbers. Not only are Baby Boomers expected to retire from 14 million more jobs than Generation X can fill, new jobs are being steadily created to serve this retirement market. Ranking high on the top 10 job opportunities forecast for the next few years are health care, home remodeling, and retirement communities.
According to a report last summer in the online South Carolina business magazine, SCBIZ, there are major implications for our construction industry as South Carolina’s 65 and older population doubles over the next two decades. “Many veterans in the industry are in their 50s and approaching retirement. … In the 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the industry would need to hire 200,000 employees per year to replace those who are retiring or facing retirement and to meet the growing demand.”
Our seniors have done great things for this state and our country as a whole. It should be our goal to honor what they have done and continue to build on it. That is what we are doing at the Office on Aging, and I hope that you will all join us learning and growing as the county grays and the Age Wave rolls in.
André Bauer is the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. His office oversees the S.C. Office on Aging, which works with a network of regional and local organizations to develop and manage programs and services to improve the quality of life of South Carolina’s older citizens, and to help them remain independent in their homes and communities.
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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Lt. Gov. André Bauer and his staff for taking part.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Sunday Guest Post Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
My parents are elderly and I deal regularly with the Office on Aging and I can attest that they are very efficient and consumer oriented. If all state government was like the Office on Aging, we would be better off.
I don’t know much about the Office on Aging…but it sure is nice to read something by a politician that is a straightforward assessment of the fact of a situation, and the efforts made to make the situation better.
I think we could use that same approach on many other issues. Personally, I am tired of the partisan politics and am glad the Lt. Governor is taking this approach.
I needed help with my elderly aunt. I called the Aging Office and within two days her problems with another state agency were solved.
2 weeks later her problems reappeared and the Lt. Governor personally intervened and ever since then I have had no problems. My aunt is very happy, and that means I am happy.
Kyle
How about that, a politician that did not ask for money.
How about an adviosry council to the office on aging, made up of a cross section of seniors and about- to- be seniors.
Aging issues may be dealt with timely and efficiently but this office likewise serves the disabled population of our state. Hopefully we can all agree that disabled people need as many if not more services than ” the elderly” and hopefully everyone reading this blurb believes disabled people have rights . Both of these groups are vulnerable citizens.
My experience with this office has not been like the ones posted here. I am still dealing with being enrolled in two then three Medicare Part D plans concurrently for the past two years.None of the plans were my choice so I paid over seven hundred dollars a month out of my pocket for a single prescription last year as a result. I also went without medications last year because I couldn’t afford anything other than the seven hundred dollar prescription. The Office on Aging hasn’t helped. The SCAccess hasn’t helped and P&A hasn’t helped. No one has helped.
Old people and sick people in SC get taken advantage of on a regular basis with the blessings of the people who are paid to care. I am living proof of it, and my stories literally curl hair.
Liz,
Concerning your first point, the Medicare issues you mentioned are federal ones, and we have little or no say over their decisions though we are very interested in advocating for seniors and adults with disabilities.
On your second point, our office receives a very small amount of funding for our work with adults with disabilities. We greatly overspend that amount on a regular basis, and while we are not the lead agency in this area we are pleased to be known as an effective advocate for their issues.
Please do not hesitate to call me personally at 1-800-868-9095. Lt. Governor Bauer has given me the task of making sure this office is effective and tireless on behalf of the people of SC.
Curt Loftis, Jr.
Director
I have the found the office of Aging to be useless, when I was trying to offer them some constructive criticism on a problem that I found in the system.
I am repeating a summary here for anyone who may have a similar problem and for the Office of Aging to try to get the point.
The Medicaid, Medicare system is dumping old age hospital patients into nursing homes that the nursing homes are not equipped to handle. Some nursing homes are not properly caring for these patients and sending them back to the hospital emergency room with bed sores and open flesh wounds.
The particular case was a knee replacement operation with Parkinson. When you have knee replacement surgery you need to start rehab right away. The hospital would not provide rehab and sent the patient to the nursing home for rehab. The nursing home rehab appeared to be a part time operation.
The nursing home was not providing assistance to the bathroom or properly changing diapers in the evening. Yes these old men have urology problems also.
The great Office of Aging and their Ombudsman decided that their was no problem with the nursing home because there was no record of bed sores and open flesh wounds from the nursing home and the emergency room at the hospital. 24 hours later when the patient was transferred to a hospital room, the admitting doctor noted the bed sores and flesh wounds, and that they could not have occurred in 24 hours in the emergency room. I was told to report this and I did.
The Office of Aging and Ombudsman stated that there was nothing they could do since there was no record of these sores and wounds in the Nursing Home records or the Emergency Room records. I made other complaints such as sending the patient to see a doctor with a clean diaper and urine soaked clothes and this was ignored.
My request was SIMPLE: There should be a requirement that emergency rooms look for and report such sores and wounds when nursing home patients are brought to the emergency room.
I even reported these problems to the nursing home and they still claimed that they did not have a record. I told them that it appeared that the patient had a urine infection and nothing was done. LESSON, put everything in writing.
The nursing home claimed the patient was mentally deranged and had him admitted to the mental ward for analysis. Everyone with experience knows that when you have a urine infection from not being properly treated that it affects your mind.
The hospital wondered why he was sent to the mental ward as there was nothing wrong with his mind. His problems were treated and of course, the patient was sent to a different nursing home. The difference was like night and day. The other nursing home had wonderful care and rehab services. The patient is now back living at home.
So is the problem with the system or is it with the Office of Aging? The Office of Aging is a part of the system and a part of the problem. The Lt. Governor should know that the patient is back at home and he and his wife are registered and do vote.
Maybe the Private Nursing home company is a big campaign contributor?
I have the found the office of Aging to be useless, when I was trying to offer them some constructive criticism on a problem that I found in the system.
I am repeating a summary here for anyone who may have a similar problem and for the Office of Aging to try to get the point.
The Medicaid, Medicare system is dumping old age hospital patients into nursing homes that the nursing homes are not equipped to handle. Some nursing homes are not properly caring for these patients and sending them back to the hospital emergency room with bed sores and open flesh wounds.
The particular case was a knee replacement operation with Parkinson. When you have knee replacement surgery you need to start rehab right away. The hospital would not provide rehab and sent the patient to the nursing home for rehab. The nursing home rehab appeared to be a part time operation.
The nursing home was not providing assistance to the bathroom or properly changing diapers in the evening. Yes these old men have urology problems also.
The great Office of Aging and their Ombudsman decided that their was no problem with the nursing home because there was no record of bed sores and open flesh wounds from the nursing home and the emergency room at the hospital. 24 hours later when the patient was transferred to a hospital room, the admitting doctor noted the bed sores and flesh wounds, and that they could not have occurred in 24 hours in the emergency room. I was told to report this and I did.
The Office of Aging and Ombudsman stated that there was nothing they could do since there was no record of these sores and wounds in the Nursing Home records or the Emergency Room records. I made other complaints such as sending the patient to see a doctor with a clean diaper and urine soaked clothes and this was ignored.
My request was SIMPLE: There should be a requirement that emergency rooms look for and report such sores and wounds when nursing home patients are brought to the emergency room.
I even reported these problems to the nursing home and they still claimed that they did not have a record. I told them that it appeared that the patient had a urine infection and nothing was done. LESSON, put everything in writing.
The nursing home claimed the patient was mentally deranged and had him admitted to the mental ward for analysis. Everyone with experience knows that when you have a urine infection from not being properly treated that it affects your mind.
The hospital wondered why he was sent to the mental ward as there was nothing wrong with his mind. His problems were treated and of course, the patient was sent to a different nursing home. The difference was like night and day. The other nursing home had wonderful care and rehab services. The patient is now back living at home.
So is the problem with the system or is it with the Office of Aging? The Office of Aging is a part of the system and a part of the problem. The Lt. Governor should know that the patient is back at home and he and his wife are registered and do vote.
Maybe the Private Nursing home company is a big campaign contributor?
Zak,
Please call me with your concerns. I will be happy to review all the files and see if any errors were made and see if corrective action has been taken.
But please remember there are many different groups with differing laws and regulations and funding streams. We can not solve all problems as we do not control the entities involved…but we will energetically advocate for senior. I can assure you that we do that every day, and in virtually all cases we are able to report that all involved are satisfied with our efforts..
The toll number is 1-800-868-9095. I look forward to hearing from you.
Curt Loftis, Jr.
I want to thank the Office on Aging for helping my father when he was in bad shape. I am sure he was difficult to deal with. I lived 400 miles away at the time he was ill.
Andre Bauer has done more positive things with the Office on Aging than anyone would have thought possible. He is starting to look more mature (physically and politically) and I believe he will be our next Governor. Everyone who underestimates him has been left shaking their head in surprise. All of the Republican King Makers better wake up and see that our next Governor is just across the building from the present one.
Community Care Homes have been overlooked. There is a segment of this industry holds much promise for those who can walk and feed themselves but cannot cook, take a bath or pay their bills. They do not need a nursing home but a Residential Care facility. For much less then a nursing home these people can find sactuary.
These type facilities need to be built in higher numbers and interest attracted to broaden the scope of care for homeless, slightly mentally ill and disabled. These homes can become a family setting for those who live there and offer support.
Darryl Mast
Click on Posted by Darryl Mast my name