AARP Volunteers Deliver CARE Act Message to Kansas Legislators

AARP Kansas volunteers and staff fanned out across the Statehouse in the first week of the legislative session delivering messages, attached to cookies, about the Kansas CARE Act that AARP is hoping to get passed into law this session.  The sweet treat delivery was part of AARP’s 3 ^rd annual “Cookie Day at the Capitol,” to call attention to issues important to Kansans as they age.

The AARP volunteer advocacy team, known as the Capital City Task Force, met with legislators from across the state and asked them to support legislation that would benefit caregivers and the people for whom they provide care.  The CARE Act stands for Caregiver, Advise, Record and Enable and would allow a hospital patient to designate a caregiver to receive care instructions once the patient is released from the hospital.

The CARE Act would support the more than 345,000 caregivers in Kansas who are helping loved ones live independently in their own homes and who provide $3.85 billion in unpaid care each year. Most seniors in Kansas who receive assistance at home rely exclusively on unpaid family caregivers for help.

“These lay caregivers have a huge responsibility, and we can take some common sense steps that would make a world of difference to them,” said AARP Kansas Director Maren Turner. “That’s why we’re urging lawmakers to enact the CARE Act to better support family caregivers as they help Kansas seniors stay at home.”

The CARE Act, in the form of House Bill 2058 and Senate Bill 265, features three important provisions:

• The name of the family caregiver is recorded when a loved one is admitted to the hospital;
• The family caregiver is notified if the loved one is to be discharged to another facility or back home; and
• The facility must provide an explanation and live instruction of the medical tasks—such as medication management, injections, wound care, and transfers—that the family caregiver will perform at home.

“By providing care instructions to a caregiver when a patient is discharged from the hospital, the patient has a better chance of not being readmitted to the hospital,” said Turner. “That benefits the patient, the hospital and the person providing care.’

On February 3, 2016, the House Health and Human Services committee held a hearing on House Bill 2058, the CARE Act, but has not taken a vote on whether to pass the bill to the House floor. AARP volunteers and staff continue to meet weekly with legislators to encourage them to support the bill. To show your support for the CARE Act, click here. Or visit iheartcaregivers.org and share your caregiving story.

Kansas ranks 35 ^th in the nation for support of unpaid family caregivers and Turner said she believes the state can do better. The CARE Act is one way to accomplish that.