I-Team In-Depth

Low-Wage Workers See No Relief From Uncertainty Of Pandemic

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Ruben Ortiz admitted he was concerned the first time he picked up takeout from the New Haven restaurant where he worked until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state in mid-March. “I walked in and thought, I can’t do this,” the New Haven resident said of his concerns about transmission of the virus that has killed more than 4,400 residents statewide. “I was inside, and it was making me uncomfortable.”

Like millions of employees throughout the country, particularly those working low-wage restaurant, hospitality, retail or cleaning jobs, Ortiz has no idea what the future will bring. He was out of work for 13 weeks. Then the Cast Iron Chop House began to see enough customers to schedule four waiters a night, compared with the eight to 10 who worked nightly before the pandemic.

Sex And The Senior Set

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If you Googled “elderly sex” recently­—in Connecticut, at least—up popped an August news story about the arrest of six seniors in connection with group sex in a Fairfield nature preserve. The people ranged in age from 62 to 85, though charges against two were dropped. Morning radio had a field day. When it comes to sex and the senior set, those jokes write themselves. And that’s unfortunate.

I-Team In-Depth

Elder Abuse Investigations More Than Doubled In Seven Years

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State investigations of elder abuse, ranging from neglect to emotional abuse to physical abuse, more than doubled in Connecticut between 2011 and 2017, from 3,529 to 7,196. In 2017 alone, the state Department of Social Services (DSS) received 11,123 reports of elder abuse and decided that 7,196 warranted an investigation. That year, self-neglect—when adults are unable to provide for their own basic care—was the most common type of elder abuse reported to DSS, at 30 percent, followed by neglect by others, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and abandonment. “It’s all trending up,” Dorian Long, DSS director of social work services, said. Some of the recent cases investigated by DSS Protective Services for the Elderly are chilling.

aging

Studies Could Help Keep Elderly Drivers On The Road Longer

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As the number of elderly drivers steadily increases, the decision about when it’s time to stop driving often falls to their children, who must make the gut-wrenching choice to take away the car keys, and often, their parents’ independence. But two Connecticut doctors are studying various aspects of elderly driving and their findings could eventually make the decision-making process easier or perhaps even keep elderly drivers on the road longer. At Yale New Haven Hospital, geriatrics researcher Dr. Richard Marottoli is studying driving longevity in women compared to men. He’s working to identify gender differences, determine whether women are more likely to stop driving sooner than men, and whether there is any relationship between brain volume, adverse driving experiences and medical history as it relates to the ability to drive safely. At UConn Health Center on Aging in Farmington, Dr. Kevin Manning, a neuropsychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry, is conducting a separate study using a Patterson Grant, defining what aging factors affect driving ability, identifying correctable difficulties that could help extend the driving lifetime and measuring how loss of a driver’s license is associated with the risk of depression and mortality.

Elderly Care

Aging Boomers Highlight Need For More Geriatric Specialists

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Health experts are struggling to narrow the gaps in Connecticut’s geriatric care to meet the needs of the state’s rapidly aging population. The state needs more professionals to focus on geriatric care while also addressing other ways to meet the increasingly complex care needs of older residents, says the American Geriatric Society (AGS). In Connecticut, only 134 certified geriatricians are currently practicing—caring for a 65-plus population that topped 577,000 in 2015, according to the AGS. And that population will continue to grow, the AGS says, with an elderly population of 956,000 expected by 2030. That’s a 40 percent increase, and will require an estimated 340 geriatric specialists to meet that treatment need.

Disparities

Legislature Asked To Raise Asset Level for Medicaid Spouses

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Allowing the spouse of a person in a nursing home to keep enough money to live on independently is, in many ways, a moral issue. But in a tight budget year in Connecticut, it’s a fiscal issue. A proposal that would increase the minimum assets that a spouse living in the community can keep — from $23,844 to $50,000 – in order for his or her partner to be eligible for Medicaid nursing home care is being backed by elder advocates, who say the increase would help seniors, especially women, remain able to live independently. But the move is being opposed by the Department of Social Services on the grounds it will shift millions in costs to the state-funded Medicaid program. The proposal would affect couples with combined assets of between $23,844 and $100,000.

Disparities

Study: Older Drivers Benefit From Exercise

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Doug Crocker knows a thing or two about driving. The 74-year-old former Hartford police officer and his wife have navigated the continental U.S. three times in their motor home. Even experienced drivers feel the effects of aging when behind the wheel. “It’s harder to turn around now to look for blind spots,” he said. “Backing up is a real issue too,” especially when he drives the Jeep they tow along for in-town use.

Disparities

Silver Tsunami Alert!

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Boomers have always been an impressive bunch. After going to Woodstock together (or pretending to), they marked each milestone as a loud, unwieldy group. And now? They’re aging together, in such large numbers that futurists warn of a silver tsunami. In Connecticut, the group is, says Julia Evans Starr, executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Aging, “almost impossible to wrap your arms around.”

But someone has to.

Disparities

Report: Seniors Saw Big Savings On Prescription Drugs Under Health Care Law

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Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted three years ago this week, Connecticut seniors have saved a total of $84 million on prescription drugs, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday. Connecticut Medicare recipients have saved an average of $1,174, according to the HHS’ press release. Nationally, HHS said the savings have hit more than $6 billion for 6.3 million people with Medicare since the ACA became law on March 23, 2010. Advocates say the health care law is making Part D prescription drug coverage more affordable by gradually closing what is known as the “donut hole.”  This is the gap in coverage where beneficiaries were paying the full cost of prescriptions out of pocket while also paying premiums.

Frances G. Padilla, president of the Universal Health Care Foundation, said the announcement was good news. “This is one of the real advantages of the Affordable Care Act,’’ she said.