Honorable members of this committee, may I ask: Do you know that many of these parents suffer and die in miserable and understaffed nursing homes? Do you know that millions live alone in substandard housing? Do you know that many, many thousands fill our mental hospitals? Do you know that millions spend the entire time of their retirement years in a constant state of agonizing worry about where they will get the money for surgical and hospital care in the event that such becomes necessary? Do you know that the vast majority of these people depend upon social security payments for their existence and that these payments do not begin to keep pace with the rapid increase in today's living costs? Do you know that in our culture it is a stigma to be labeled "old" and because of this the opportunities for employment are negligible? Do you know that to these people a home of their own is precious above all things? The homes of our young people today are small, their families large. There can be no happy permanent home for them there without disrupting the harmony of all concerned. Do you know that the modern teachings of preventive medicine are of little practical value to these people for they can barely afford to go to a doctor or clinic when really ill? And finally, do you know that countless numbers of these people are homebound because traveling even in their own communities is difficult and expensive? Recreation centers, where the interests of older people are paramount, are few and far between. Today they share these centers usually with young people, and these young people, as is understandable and correct, come first. I hope I have made it clear to this committee in human and personal terms why we enthusiastically support H.R. 10014. We are people who are in a hurry. Thank you for your kind attention. Mr. BAILEY. Thank you for your appearance and for your frank and open statement of the facts of this situation. I believe the committee has a grasp of the situation and we are trying to find legislation that will be satisfactory. Mrs. SCHATZ. Thank you very much. Mr. BAILEY. Thank you very much. The committee will stand in recess until 9:45 o'clock tomorrow. (Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., Wednesday, April 18, 1962, the committee adjourned, to reconvene at 9:45 a.m., Thursday, April 19, 1962.) 87006-62-pt. 1——25 PROBLEMS OF THE AGED AND AGING THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1962 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, GENERAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 429, Old House Office Building, Hon. Cleveland M. Bailey (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Bailey, O'Hara, Hansen, and Frelinghuysen. Present also: Robert McCord, subcommittee staff director; Dr. Deborah Partridge Wolfe, education chief, Committee on Education and Labor; and Ted Ellsworth, special consultant on aged and aging to the General Subcommittee on Education. Mr. BAILEY. The subcommittee will be in order. The committee is convened this morning to take further testimony in the field of problems of the aged and aging. We have a series of bills for consideration and a long list of witnesses for today's session. If we hear all of the witnesses who have indicated a desire to be heard, it will keep us moving right along; and we shall not delay for too much consideration from any of the witnesses, because of the limit of time. Our first witness this morning is Dr. Mary Mulvey of the Rhode Island Commission on Aging. Dr. Mulvey, will you come forward? Will you further identify yourself to the reporter and proceed with your testimony? STATEMENT OF DR. MARY MULVEY, RHODE ISLAND COMMISSION ON AGING Dr. MULVEY. I am Mary C. Mulvey, administrator of the Division on Aging, Executive Department, State of Rhode Island. I was chairman of the Governor's Committee on Aging from my appointment in 1953 until March 1961, when I became administrator of the division on aging. This is an independent unit on aging, responsible only to the Governor. I was a member of the National Advisory Committee for the White House Conference on Aging, and a member of the Planning Committee on State Organization. I hold a doctor of education degree from Harvard University. I have affiliations with many professional and other groups and organizations. I state the official position of His Excellency John A. Notte, Jr., Governor of the State of Rhode Island, the division on aging in his department, the advisory committee to the division on aging, and the people of Rhode Island, when I say that this proposal, H.R. 10014, represents a logical method for planning and programing for our senior adults at the Federal level and deserves prompt passage. The joint bill, H.R. 10014-S. 2779, introduced by Congressman Fogarty and Senator McNamara, presents a new and promising approach to the solution of the problems of our older persons. The aims of the bill signify an effort that will give strength to program development at the National, State, regional, and local levels, and also to individual endeavors. The proposed bill will go far toward helping us achieve goals that will measure up to standards befitting our Nation's values. It will also recognize the dignity and worth of our senior citizens to a degree that will bring reality to the dictum emanating from the White House Conference on Aging: "The test of a people is how it behaves toward the old." The 10-point declaration of objectives for older Americans set forth in the bill aims toward achievement of this goal. Title IV, which describes planning grants, and title V, which describes project grants, offer means toward implementing the 10-point objectives. A major difficulty of program development in the States is lack of funds, for staff, for demonstration in research, and for the many programs and services needed for our older persons. Title IV of the pending legislation for a U.S. Commission on Aging, which authorizes an appropriation to establish and strengthen State units on aging, offers hope to us in the States who are responsible for implementation of the recommendations of the White House Conference on Aging, and for helping to attain the good life for our senior citizens. The need for this help is indicated by the most recent report prepared by the Special Staff on Aging, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, by the recent State Conference of Commissions on Aging held in Washington April 8 to 12. This report, in tabular form, reveals that only eight State units on aging have budget appropriations of $25,000 or more for the fiscal year 1961-62. Eighteen State units have no appropriation, and concomitantly no paid staff. Eight States have no unit on aging at all. Eleven State units are of temporary status and have no appropriation or a very meager one. These data indicate that State governments are not appropriating sufficient funds either to establish a unit on aging or to provide a unit, one established, with funds sufficient to plan or improve programs, assist communities in programing, coordinate and promote programs, and to conduct studies. The Federal Governmentment provides little or no financial help for administration of State units on aging and/or for operating programs in aging, except as the program falls within a few specific areas. Until funds from the Federal Government become available for aging programs specifically, we cannot in the very near future make any significant progress in planning and administration at the State or community level. H.R. 10014 may be likened to the "beep-beep" of Sputnik I, which, you remember, made louder noises in behalf of educational progress in America than all the educators were able to do in a generation. A nationwide demand arose for better educational practices; and concern for the highly talented child's welfare made its appearance. We experienced this "beep-beep" of Sputnik I in the aging field, when Congressman Fogarty caused to be enacted the White House Conference legislation, which had the greatest impact upon furthering State and local programs for the again of any effort up to that time. With the appropriations provided in the White House Conference on Aging Act, units on aging were established in every State, and a great deal of excitement and interest upsurged. The situation changed rapidly with the cessation of Federal appropriations at the end of the White House Conference. On the basis of the experience of the White House Conference on Aging appropriations with respect to what can be accomplished in the States with some Federal financial help, H.R. 10014 merits support and immediate enactment. However important financial appropriations may be, they are not all that is involved in this bill, nor in the problems associated with governmental units on aging, either at the State level or at the Federal level. The devices used to arrive at our goals constitute a most important aspect for program development. Thus, alongside the appropriations aspect of the bill, the provision which calls for the establishment of an independent unit, called the U.S. Commission on Aging, is of major importance. While not much has been written about the structure of the unit on aging at the Federal level, a good deal of attention has been paid to the importance of the structure of the unit on aging at the State level, because of its effect upon relationships between the State unit and other State agencies, as well as nongovernmental agencies, both State and local. The Federal unit on aging may be identified with the State unit on aging, in that its role and functions at the Federal level are analogous to those of the State unit at the State level. This concept of the proposed independent Federal unit on aging is the kind that States have been advised to establish over the years in order to cope with their problems and effect clear and productive interdepartmental relationships and overcome conflicts of interest which might and often do arise when a State unit operates from within an operating or programing department. Many problems on aging transcend departmental boundaries and compartmental divisions within departments and can be solved only by meaningful planning and development of effective ways of implementing these plans, horizontally by interdepartmental cooperation and vertically by moving down to effect interagency cooperation within departments, as well as helping at the State level. This arrangement makes for an effective means of integrated extraterritorial planning and program development. Results of surveys, conferences, and actual experience have indicated that problems of the aging run the gamut of the active State government and thus become areas of operation for individual and joint |