Seniors Say County Ignores Their Needs

They are the fastest-growing segment of Orange County’s population, but senior citizens feel they’re being ignored by those in government who should be providing for their transportation and health needs.

“This last year, county government completely ignored us, left us hanging,” said Brenda B. Ross, mayor of Laguna Woods, which consists of Leisure World retirement residents whose average age is 76.

“We don’t want to be presumed as greedy geezers,” Ross said. “We may sound defensive, but we have a lot of seniors who have outlived their money. You hear about [budget] cuts to parks departments? Well, you can ignore a tree for a year and a half. But if you ignore an elderly person and come back in a year, he’s dead.”

Ross and other elderly advocates recently converged on the Board of Supervisors to complain about the county’s transportation system, lack of affordable housing and lack of priority for the county’s Area Agency on Aging, which funnels more than $8 million in federal funds for senior nutrition and other services.

Many say the agency has allowed senior needs to stagnate, especially after the county’s 1994 bankruptcy. Once a powerhouse with a staff of 23, it has dwindled to a crew of barely more than a dozen, advocates said. In addition, the agency has not had a permanent director for nearly a year.

Meanwhile, the agency’s budget has remained flat for more than five years while service needs at the county’s outlying social service and senior centers have risen dramatically.

Shirley Cohen, the 81-year-old executive director for Feedback Foundation, which provides meals for 6,000 elderly people and gets its money through the county agency, stepped down from her job late last month in part to step up lobbying efforts by reactivating the county’s Gray Panther chapter.

“I went and had a talk with Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who gave me the advice that nothing’s going to happen until we rise up and tell people we need better services such as transportation,” Cohen said.

Cohen said she had a call recently from an Anaheim Hills woman who didn’t have much food in the house but couldn’t drive because she’s losing her eyesight.

“She was sad because she has never asked for help before and she felt like a beggar,” Cohen said. “For us, her problems are an everyday situation.” About 375,000 seniors age 60 and over live in Orange County and will represent half the increase in the county’s population through 2004. In the next 20 years, the population will double.

Donna Biro, executive director of the Garden Grove-based Senior Meals and Services organization, said that in her northwest corner of the county, 25% of the elderly residents live at or below the $8,350-a-year poverty level.

“Everyone is excited about the current boom in the housing market,” Biro said. “But many of those renting on a fixed income are having to make choices between food, medication and paying the rent.”

Cohen said the Gray Panthers, once active, have been dormant. But she is confident she can tap into a senior population that, according to statistics, is growing and likely to live longer than generations before them.

“Not only will the numbers of the elderly increase, but they’re living longer, creating new issues such as health care,” said William A. Baker, director of the county’s Community Services Agency, which oversees the Aging agency.

As a result of seniors’ frustration, county supervisors authorized Baker to hire a permanent aging agency director. The director will then meet with Baker and develop a plan to identify new funding sources and advocacy opportunities.

Chairman Charles Smith, who agreed with some of the seniors’ arguments, said he believes the board also wants to rebuild the aging agency and its staff back to prior levels.

“Ever since the [agency] director retired, no one has made any attempts to hire a new director and that’s the responsibility of the CEO’s office,” Smith said. “But it was the board that got the [need] for a new director up on our agenda.”

Despite pleas for more funds, Smith said county staff first needs to revitalize the agency, which has suffered from organization.

“If [seniors] come in and ask for a funding increase, we won’t just give them more money without first getting the organization back in place and rebuilt,” Smith said.

High on the county’s advocacy list is having senior groups lobby Congress to reauthorize the federal Older Americans Act of 1965, the largest source of revenue to elderly Americans, Baker said. California receives $92 million from the act, which is distributed among 33 aging agencies statewide.

Seniors also want the county to increase its matching share for millions in federal funds. The county pays $358,000 toward matching grants, but that is “dead last” for support of senior programs among large counties in the state, said John MacGregor, chairman of the Senior Citizens Advisory Council, a 40-member advisory body to supervisors and the aging agency.

Bernard C. Jasper, president of Feedback’s directors, said the county should be more aggressive in ensuring that seniors programs grow with the population.

“This is a problem that if we don’t put an infrastructure down right now, then over the next 20 years, the county will be swamped because there will be seniors living in the street,” he said. “I can’t imagine a worse scenario for anyone in Orange County.”