Advocacy

Iowa’s primary elections will be Tuesday, June 5, and every statewide office is up for grabs, with contested primaries in each race.

On Wednesday, AARP announced Iowa Senator Charles Grassley as a recipient of AARP’s 2017 Congressional Award for his legislative leadership during the first year of the 115th Congress on an issue area that will benefit the lives of the 50+, our families, and our communities.

In case you missed the 2018 Iowa CARE Act teletown hall from Tuesday, April 3, the full recording of the call is now available online at the link below:

By Chuck Betts

Today, AARP Iowa, Alzheimer's Association Greater Iowa Chapter, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Inc., American Heart Association Midwest Affiliate, Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa, Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Iowa CareGivers, National Multiple Sclerosis Society Upper Midwest Chapter and Older Iowans Legislature sent an open letter to Iowa state lawmakers urging passage of the 2018 Iowa CARE Act this session.

As state lawmakers near a key deadline, the 2018 legislative session’s first funnel of February 16, AARP leaders and activists descended on the State Capitol this morning for the Association’s annual lobby day, urging lawmakers to pass the 2018 Iowa CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act. The bill (HF 2289/SSB 3123), with no cost to the state or taxpayers, would provide vital support for Iowa’s more than 317,000 family caregivers who help their older parents, spouses and other loved ones live safely and independently at home.

When Irene Olson was unexpectedly discharged from the hospital on a wintery Saturday afternoon after a short stay following aortic aneurism surgery, she phoned her daughter Sue, 175 miles away in Ames, telling her to come and pick her up. With minimal information from hospital staff regarding the discharge, Sue drove five hours through blizzard conditions. Arriving at the hospital, Sue’s mother was waiting in a wheelchair to be taken home. No instruction was provided to Sue on how to administer her mother’s medications or how to tend to a wound that remained from the recent surgery.

The Iowa General Assembly convenes Jan. 8, and AARP Iowa is continuing to press for legislation that can ease the transition from hospital to home for patients and family caregivers.

AARP Iowa is working with employers to help them understand and support employees who also serve as unpaid family caregivers. The goal is to identify resources that can help not only caregivers but employers, as well.

The Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would make health care unaffordable and inaccessible for millions of Americans.