AARP Leaders, Citizen Advocates Urge Lawmakers to Improve Iowa’s Support for Family Caregivers

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AARP Iowa Lobby Day News Conference Set for Feb. 25th

What:   
AARP lobby day news conference on an important measure the Iowa Legislature can take this year to assist the more than 540,000 unpaid family caregivers who make it possible for their family members or other loved ones to live independently at home.

Who:
Martha Willits, AARP Iowa State President
Kent Sovern, AARP Iowa State Director
Anthony Carroll, Associate State Director for Advocacy, AARP Iowa
Iowa Family Caregivers share their stories
60+ red-vested AARP citizen advocates from across the state

When:  
9:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Where:  
East Rotunda, Iowa State Capitol, 1007 East Grand Avenue, Des Moines

Why: 
Today in Iowa, a silent army of unpaid family caregivers makes up the backbone of our state’s long-term care system providing more than two-thirds of home and community-based care for older Iowans and adults with disabilities, valued at $4.1 billion. “If you’re not a caregiver now, you either were one in the past, or you’ll likely be one in the future,” says AARP Iowa State Director Kent Sovern. “Supporting caregivers would go a long way to ensuring that unpaid family caregivers can continue to safely care for their loved ones at home, out of costly institutional care, often funded through Medicaid.”

(SSB1182) would support family caregivers when their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home, measures more than 84 percent of Iowa registered voters age 45 and older support enacting in Iowa. Despite this over whelming public support, less than half of Iowans surveyed say they received instruction on how to care for their loved ones after hospitalization.