Members of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus discuss Community Care Program

Ruth Long (left) and Pat Drennan (right) of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus.

---

Recorded March 22th, 2007
WNUA Broadcast date: March 25, 2007

---

Senior citizens want to stay at home, not be moved into nursing homes. If you have not been through this yourself, or have grappled with the personal care or health needs of an elder, let me say again: seniors want to stay at home. This fact is not only a personal quality of life issue, it also involves money. Nursing home care is seven times more expensive than in-home care. There are almost 2 million persons over the age of sixty in Illinois. To help keep elders at home, the state operates a Community Care Program that provides homemaker services that helps grandma and grandpa stay at home. But like so many other public programs, the Community Care Program never seems to have enough budget to serve all the seniors who’d like to stay at home. So there are efforts underway this spring to expand the program. This is where a feisty group of elders comes into the picture: Jane Addams Senior Caucus!