 | | Drawing on her 35 years of professional experience with the state's Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, Mary then went on to give a powerful demonstration of how individual client stories can be mobilized to change minds and build support for the programs Elder Services’ operates. She spoke about working with a woman named Rose to have her guardianship overturned after she’d recovered from an acute and grave illness. Once recovered, she wanted to leave the nursing facility, but her guardian wasn’t keen on that. Mary talked about the persistence and patience it took to overturn the guardianship and restore Rose’s right to self-determination. She then talked about Peg, whose agitated behavior was misunderstood by nursing home staff who hadn’t had the time to understand how Peg’s work experiences continued to influence her interpretation of sounds and lights. And, she recalled a gentleman who complained of the extensive paperwork required to enroll his mom in Medicaid so that she would have coverage for nursing home costs. As Mary tried to explain that the application was rigorous to ensure that taxpayer’s money was well spent, this gentleman asserted that he “didn’t want his taxes paying for his mom’s care, he wanted the government to pay.” She reminded us that “we all need to do a better job educating people about how their tax dollars impact the services and programs they have come to rely on for themselves or someone they love.”
Mary’s remarks were followed by those of Betsey Crimmins, Executive Director of Mass Aging Access. Betsey praised the leadership ESCCI CEO Maryanne Ryan and her willingness to do the hard work needed to strengthen the state network of Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs). After describing some of the challenges facing programs that rely on state funding, Betsey summed up the impact of those programs noting, that these are “critically important services and supports that older adults and people with disabilities need to remain living with independence and dignity in their homes and communities – where they want to be, at a lower cost, with better health outcomes, and a higher quality of life. A win, win, win, win.” We then heard from ESCCI Board Member Bob Blancato who works in Washington on behalf of the Elder Justice Coalition and the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP). Bob gave us an insider’s peek into Congressional deliberations on the budget reconciliation bill and FY26 budget.
This past March, in response to deficits in state and federal funding, Elder Services found it necessary to contract its Senior Dining Program for Barnstable County and more recently we’ve made the very difficult decision to discontinue Meals-on-Wheels deliveries on Tuesdays in Barnstable County. We took these moves so that we’d remain in a position to continue operating. But, we also know that other funding cuts and shortfalls are likely, affecting both our Federal Title III funded programs and state-funded programs like Home Care. In the face of these financial challenges, the agency doubled down on its appreciation for our creative and tenacious employees, many of whom have been with ESCCI for over a decade.
CEO Maryanne Ryan reminded us of the importance of our work, noting that all ESCCI employees are “leaders in the community . . . ambassadors of services for older adults. They help guide, counsel, and navigate people in need and their caregivers daily.” She noted that she is “the lucky one who gets the thank you emails and the thank you calls from those we serve.”
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