AARP Salutes Hannon for Leadership in Helping Millions of NY Family Caregivers

Honors Senate Health Committee Chair for Spearheading Passage of CARE Act

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – AARP saluted State Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon at a celebration today with a plaque for his leadership in helping establish a new law that will support millions of family caregivers across New York when their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home.

Dozens of AARP volunteers and other advocates for family caregivers attended the event at Borelli’s Italian Restaurant to celebrate New York State’s enactment of the CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act.

AARP’s top 2015 legislative priority, the CARE Act was signed into law this fall by Governor Andrew Cuomo and takes effect in April. It will ensure hospitals allow patients to designate a family caregiver and offer those caregivers instruction and demonstrations of health-related tasks they will be expected to provide for their loved ones at home, such as administering multiple medications and dressing wounds.

Senator Hannon sponsored the CARE Act ( S.676) and guided the bill to a unanimous, 59-0 vote in the Senate before it won approval by 119-0 in the Assembly ( A.1323).

The CARE Act is expected to help more New Yorkers age in their own homes – the most cost-effective approach and the one most New Yorkers want.

“The CARE Act was the most important health bill of 2015 and will significantly improve patient care and health outcomes,” said Senator Kemp Hannon. “I want to thank and congratulate AARP for their help in making sure this bill became law. The CARE Act requires identification of caregivers while the patient is still in the hospital, includes caregivers in the discharge plan and provides instructions on caring for the patient once they are home, thus ensuring caregivers can and do play a very important role in improving the patient’s health while reducing costs to the health care system.”

“We’re enormously thankful to Senator Hannon for recognizing the importance of the CARE Act and demonstrating bold leadership by making it a priority in the Legislature this year,” said Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP in New York State. “With this bill, the Senator adds to his impressive list of initiatives that have helped New Yorkers and made a dramatic and positive influence on public health in our communities and across the state.”

“Kudos to AARP and Senator Hannon for advancing the CARE Act legislation that meets the critical needs of a growing population of Long Islanders,” said Eric Alexander, Director, Vision Long Island. “It wasn’t hard to have this common sense bill garner support of small businesses, labor and community organizations that comprise the 75 member Long Island Lobby Coalition that endorsed its passage.”

New York is the 18th state to put a version of the CARE Act on the books. AARP and New York’s hospital associations worked together on the bill.

The CARE Act, sponsored in the Assembly by Linda B. Rosenthal, will help many of the nearly 2.6 million New Yorkers who provide unpaid care to family and loved ones, plus as many as 1.6 million adult New Yorkers who are discharged home from hospitals every year. The value of this unpaid care is estimated at $31.3 billion a year.

The CARE Act will also ensure the family caregiver is informed before the hospital patient is to be discharged. It enjoys broad support among New York voters 50 and older, with 92% saying hospitals should “explain and demonstrate” to family caregivers tasks they’ll have to perform when their loved ones are sent home from the hospital, a 2014 AARP survey found.

“Information is power, and the CARE Act will empower millions of family caregivers,” Finkel noted.

The needs and the ranks of New York’s family caregivers are only expected to increase as New York’s population ages - yet AARP found that in the coming years, fewer family members will be available to provide care for more older loved ones who will need it. In 2010 there was a potential pool of 6.6 people aged 45-65 for every person 80 and older who would likely need care at some point. That number will shrink to 4.8 by 2030 and 3.5 by 2050.

About half of all family caregivers perform health-related and nursing tasks for loved ones. And most care recipients don’t receive home visits by health care professionals.

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia have enacted similar CARE Act laws.

Contact: Erik Kriss, ekriss@aarp.org

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AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of more than 37 million, that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employment and income security, retirement planning, affordable utilities and protection from financial abuse. We advocate for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name as well as help our members obtain discounts on a wide range of products, travel, and services.  A trusted source for lifestyle tips, news and educational information, AARP produces AARP The Magazine, the world's largest circulation magazine; AARP Bulletin;  www.aarp.org ; AARP TV & Radio; AARP Books; and AARP en Español, a Spanish-language website addressing the interests and needs of Hispanics. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity of AARP that is working to win back opportunity for struggling Americans 50+ by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face today: housing, hunger, income and isolation. AARP has staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Learn more at  www.aarp.org .

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