March 16, 2006 CONTACT: Susan Straub
Harper Angel continues
fight to help elderly caregivers
FRANKFORT -- Senator Denise Harper Angel is taking her fight to help elderly citizens who care for adults with mental retardation down to the wire in the legislative session.
Carrying through on a bill she passed in 2005 to study the issue, Harper Angel is speaking out for funding for a one-stop center to assist these elderly citizens. "Preliminary results of our study indicate that there are over 10,000 adults in Kentucky with developmental disabilities who live with a parent or caregiver over the age of 60," Harper Angel said. "These folks live with worry about what will happen after they are no longer able to provide daily care for their loved ones. They need help."
Unable to get action on the bill she filed to establish the center, Harper Angel has now attached her idea as an amendment to Senate Bill 174, a bill that concerns assessment of people with mental retardation.
Funding for the center -- $400,000 -- is included in the House budget proposal. She is hoping serve the entire state by marrying that funding to an $800,000 federal grant that is designed to address the problem in several northern Kentucky counties.
"The center would throw aging caregivers a life line," Harper Angel said. "It will provide them with a central resource for information and referral to community programs and resources. They need peace of mind, and this would help with long-term planning, as well as short-term problems."
Harper Angel said she first became interested in the issue by volunteering and because of an acquaintance with a couple in their 90s who had a son in his 60s with Down Syndrome.
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Note: For a high-res. JPEG photo file of Senator Harper Angel please log on to www.lrc.state.ky.us/pubinfo/ephoto.htm.