Commission studying services for older Rhode Islanders to meet Friday
STATE HOUSE – The House commission studying services and programs for older adults in Rhode Island, led by Rep. Lauren H. Carson, will meet Friday with leaders from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
The meeting is scheduled Friday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. in Room 135 on the first floor of the State House.
The agenda includes a discussion on state workforce initiatives with Rick Brooks, director of health care workforce transformation within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services; as well as a discussion on Olmstead planning with James Rajotte, director of strategy and innovation within EOHHS. No public testimony will be taken at this meeting.
The Special Legislative Commission to Study and Provide Recommendations Pertaining to Services and Coordination of State Programs Relating to Older Adult Rhode Islanders has been meeting since last fall to study the state’s resources and services for older adults and ways to improve them as the population of older Rhode Islanders increases. Currently, more than 240,000 Rhode Islanders are age 60 or older. That number is expected to increase to almost 265,000 by 2040.
The meeting will be televised on Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox channel 61, on i3Broadband channel 15 and on Verizon channel 34. It will be live streamed at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv.
Besides Chairwoman Carson, who sponsored the legislation creating the commission (2023-H 5224A), the commission includes Rep. Thomas E. Noret (D-Dist. 25, Coventry, West Warwick), Rep. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung (R-Dist. 15, Cranston), Office of Healthy Aging Director Maria E. Cimini, Nancy Sutton of the Department of Health, AARP Rhode Island State Director Catherine Taylor, Edward King House Executive Director Carmela A. Geer, Warwick Senior Services Director Meg Underwood, Coventry Human Services Director Robert Robillard Jr., Paul Salera of the Rhode Island RI Association of Community Action Agencies, Paula McFarland of the Rhode Island Long Term Care Coordinating Council, James Burke Connell of Age-Friendly RI, Carol Anne Costa of the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island, Robert Marshall of the Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Council, former AARP RI Director Kathleen Connell and Maureen Maigret, chairwoman of the Aging in Community Subcommittee of the state’s Long Term Care Coordinating Council.
The commission is studying key statistics about services for older adults in Rhode Island, examining strengths, vulnerabilities, and demographic and financial statistics; assess the current state, federal and local services currently available, as well as any duplication of services; recommend ways to coordinate services within agencies and focus on better service delivery, including housing options and various living arrangements, health status and health care resources; provide recommendations for the creation of a portal to coordinate aging services in employment, education, independent living, accessibility and advocacy, as well as local older adult centers and services; provide recommendations on mental health, transportation, food access, and health care; provide recommendations for the funding of services through state, federal and private grants and for more efficient distribution and use of these dollars; and explore more regionalization of services.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will vote to advance the GOP's six-month funding bill that passed the House in order to stop a government shutdown Friday night. Schumer said in a floor speech that there are "no winners in a government shutdown," adding that the bill is a terrible option, but that he believes allowing Trump to take more power through a shutdown is "a far worse option." 
