Editor:
Approximately 2,900 seniors and people with disabilities in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties use State-funded services for everyday necessities like transportation, meal preparation, toileting, medication management, and bathing.
These services, provided in their own home or a community-based care community, increase quality of life, help maintain dignity, and reduce costs related to injury, illness, and hospitalization.
The number of people accessing aging services is growing each year as the 65-and-older population increases. The need to continue to fund the care of our neighbors, parents, and partners will be more urgent year after year.
I and my colleagues on the Linn, Benton, and Lincoln County Senior Services Advisory Council see these urgent needs every day. Our job is to advise our senior service agency on how to provide the best care possible with the limited resources available.
We want to thank the Oregon Legislature for the funding of programs in the current biennium. The state of Oregon, our Legislature, and local agencies have been on the forefront nationally of providing long term care services but we must assure that we continue to lead.
I strongly urge every resident of our three counties to contact your state legislators before the 2019 Legislative Session which begins Jan. 22, and remind them of the importance of these programs. It is important to us that the growing number of vulnerable citizens in our state continue to be cared for with the compassion and respect that we all deserve.
Bob Daley
Chair, Senior Services
Advisory Council