THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT AND THE RURAL ELDERLY HEARING BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION WASHINGTON, D.C. APRIL 28, 1975 * Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 55-714 WASHINGTON: 1975 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 -Price $1.35 SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING FRANK CHURCH, Idaho, Chairman HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, Jr., New Jersey HIRAM L. FONG, Hawaii JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia CLIFFORD P. HANSEN, Wyoming EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Maine EDWARD W. BROOKE, Massachusetts FRANK E. MOSS, Utah CHARLES H. PERCY, Illinois EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ROBERT T. STAFFORD, Vermont WALTER F. MONDALE, Minnesota J. GLENN BEALL, Jn., Maryland VANCE HIARTKE, Indiana PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island BILL BROCK, Tennessee THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Missouri DEWEY F. BARTLETT, Oklahoma JOHN V. TUNNEY, California LAWTON CHILES, Florida DICK CLARK, Iowa WUILAm E. ORIOL, Staff Director DAVID A. AFFELDT, Chief Counsel VAL J. HALAMANDARIS, Associate Counsel JoHN GUY MILLER, M11inority Staff Director PATRICLA G. OsIOL, Chief Clerk (II) CONTENTS Page Opening statement by Senator Dick Clark, presiding- 1 Statement by Senator Pete V. Domenici-- 34 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Pryor, Hon. David H., Governor of Arkansas, accompanied by Raymond L. Scott, director, Arkansas State Office on Aging and Adult Services---- 3 Morris, Woodrow W., Ph. D., associate dean, College of Medicine, Uni- versity of Iowa, and chairman, Iowa State Commission on the Aging- 13 AFTERNOON SESSION Bryan, Harry R., executive director, South Carolina Commission on Aging, Columbia, S.C - 35 Lloyd, Mary Ellen, director, title VII nutrition project, Christiansburg, Va -_- 36 Madden, Patrick, Ph. D., Department of Agricultural Economics and Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa - -38 Myers, Elizabeth, director, Georgia Mountains Area Program on Aging, Gainesville, Ga -- 41 Brotman, Herman, consultant, Senate Special Committee on Aging- 54 APPENDIXES Appendix 1-Material submitted by individuals and organizations: Item 1. Statement of Jack Ossofsky, executive director, National Council on the Aging _ ; _ 61 Item 2. Research pertaining to the elderly: Report of progress; sub- mitted by J. Patrick Madden to Office on Aging, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare -64 Item 3. Industrial development and the elderly: A longitudinal analysis; by Frank Clemente and Gene F. Summers -73 Item 4. Letter and position paper from Aaron E. Henry, National Center on Black Aged, Washington, D.C., to Senator Dick Clark, dated May 9, 1975 -78 Item 5. Letter and statement from Tony T. Dechant, president, National Farmers Union, to Senator Dick Clark, dated May 6, 1975 - 85 Item 6. Statement and enclosure from Rev. Thomas C. Cook, Jr., project director, Research and Demonstration Project, National Interfaith Coalition on Aging, Inc -88 Appendix 2-Letters from individuals and organizations: Item 1. Letter from Dan P. Kelly, chief, Aging Services Bureau, Social and Rehabilitation Services, State of Montana, to Senator Frank Church, dated April 23, 1975 -94 Item 2. Letter from Robert B. Robinson, director, Division of Serv- ices for the Aging, Department of Social Services, State of Colorado, to Senator Frank Church, dated April 23, 1975 -94 Item 3. Letter from John B. McSweeney, administrator, Division for Aging Services, Department of Human Resources, State of Nevada, to Senator Frank Church, dated April 24, 1975 -95 (M) F IV Appendix 2-Continued Item 4. Letter and enclosure from Richard S. Michaud, director, Bureau of Maine's Elderly, to Senator Frank Church, dated April Page 28, 1975- 96 Item 5. Letter from Cyril F. Brickfield, counsel, National Retired Teachers Association-American Association of Retired Persons, to Senator Dick Clark, dated April 29, 1975 -97 Item 6. Letter from John R. Allen, acting director, Area Agency on College, Rio Grande, Ohio, to Aging, District 7, Rio Grande 9 7 Senator FrankChurch, dated May 1, 1 5 -99 Item 7. Letter from Edward Sage, director, District 8 Area Agency on Aging, Medford, Oreg., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 2, 1975-100 Item 8. Letter from Dr. Florence S. Brand, president, Yuma County Council on Aging, Yuma, Ariz., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 1, 1975 -101 Item 9. Letter from Dorothy Hester, planner, Atlantic County Office on Aging, Atlantic City, N.J., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 5, 1975-101 Item 10. Letter and enclosure from Adelina Ortiz de Hill, assistant professor of social work, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, N. Mex., to Senator Dick Clark, dated May 5, 1975 -102 Item 11. Letter from Eleanor Thomas, executive director, Meigs County Council on Aging, Inc., Pomeroy, Ohio, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 6, 1975 -105 Item 12. Letter from Nancy Stiver, AAA director, Arizona Region Council of Governments, Flagstaff, Ariz., III, Northern Arizona 6 to Senator Frank Church, dated May , 1975 -106 Item 13. Letter from Betty Johnson, planning coordinator, Tri- County Area Agency on Aging, Corvallis, Oreg., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 7, 1975 -106 Item 14. Letter from Lawrence L. Martin, chief, Bureau on Aging, Arizona State Department of Economic Security, Phoenix, Ariz., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 8, 1975 -107 Item 15. Letter from Warren G. Billings, deputy director, New York State Office for the Aging, Albany, N.Y., to Senator Frank Church, dated May 9, 1975 -108 Item 16. Letter from Maurice Daniel Plotnick, coordinator, Office on Aging, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 9, 1975 -109 Item 17. Letter from Duane Willadsen, administrator, Division of Aging, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Wis- consin, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 13, 1975 - 110 Item 18. Letter from Harry F. Walker, executive director, State of Maryland Commission on Aging, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 13, 1975 110 Item 19. Letter and enclosure from Joseph A. Gaida, executive di- rector, State of Nebraska Commission on Aging, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 13, 1975 -_111 Item 20. Letter from L. E. Rader, director, Institutions, Social and Rehabilitative Services, Public Welfare Commission, State of Oklahoma, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 16, 1975 _ 112 Item 21. Letter and enclosure from David C. Crowley, executive director, Ohio Commission on Aging, to Senator Frank Church, dated May 20, 1975- 112 THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT AND THE RURAL ELDERLY MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1975 U.S. SENATE, SPECIAL COMINMITTEE ON AGING, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 5302, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Dick Clark presiding. Present: Senators Clark, Chiles, and Domenici. Also present: David A. Affeldt, chief counsel; Deborah K. Kilmer, professional staff member; John Guy Miller, minority staff director; Patricia G. Oriol, chief clerk; Gerald Strickler, printing assistant; and Joan Merrigan, assistant clerk. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR DICK CLARK, PRESIDING Senator CLARK. The hearing will come to order. Two weeks ago, over 1,100 people from all across the country gathered here in Washington, D.C., to attend the first National Conference on Rural America. That conference was designed to help bring the problems of rural people to the attention of the public, the Congress, and the executive branch of the Government. It gave all of us the opportunity to find out from rural America's delegates what living in a rural area really means. At the conference, there were many accounts of how this Nation's resources and technology have ignored the problems of rural citizens who have been left behind, in terms of goods and services, health care and decent housing, jobs and educational opportunities, public transportation, and public assistance. The conference emphasized the need for our Government to pay more attention to rural Ameiica, and that is one reason for this hearing. We want to listen to the concerns of one very special group of rural Americans-those over 65. We want to find out how well the Federal Government is working with State and local governments to provide these people with the services they need and how we can improve our efforts. At present, there are 5.4 million people 65 and older who live in rural America. and predominantly they live in nonfarm localities. These older Americans often are totally ignored by service programs, not by design, but simply because of their place of residence, the additional costs involved in bringing services to them, and the limited funds for rural services. (1) 2 DECLINE IN RURAL SERVICES The last two decades have brought about a dramatic decline in services to rural areas. Right now, 138 rural counties do not have a resident doctor; 146 bus companies have gone out of business in small cities and rural areas in the past 15 years; and, rural residents do not have employment and manpower services available to them, even though they are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than their urban counterparts. All of these problems have serious ramifi- cations for every rural resident, but they have placed an especially heavy burden on rural elderly. The neglect and the deterioration of rural services may mean that older people become housebouind for months, that they cannot get to the doctor or to the hospital to take care of their health needs, that older workers cannot find a job, or that older people cannot get together with their neighbors and friends. The consequences of being rural and elderly too often are tragic at best, and, as a Nation, we have not done a good job of providing them with much help. In 1965, Congress adopted the Older Americans Act to provide the limited funds to help all of America's needy elderly, including the rural elderly.