about actions of administrative agencies (employees, divisions, or officials. of State or local governmental agencies).

The office, which began work in February, will investigate a problem and help solve it. But "before accepting or investigating a complaint," Ernest Kramer, executive director of the new agency, said, "OHFC must be assured that the complainant has pursued other available channels of complaint open to him and that reasonable efforts have been made to communicate and resolve the issue."

Mr. Kramer emphasized that the new office is primarily an investigative rather than policing agency. He said that although complaining parties are not required to identify themselves, if they do so it makes the agency's investigation easier. OHFC will not reveal the identity of the complainant to others, he said.

Judy Sivak, Nursing Home Ombudsman Developmental Specialist with the Governor's Council on Aging, serves on a 15-member advisory council to the new office.

Roy Davidson, the Executive Director of the Mideast Area Agency, cited this development as an example of how a program of demonstrated effectiveness can be coordinated into a larger program. The Jewish Employment and Vocational Service of Greater St. Louis, in turn, has not only absorbed "Handyman" into its Title III Home Helper program, but has also extended this service through the Mayor's Office on Aging.

New Mexico

The New Mexico Commission on Aging is giving special service awards to city and privately sponsored projects that serve the elderly.

According to Commission director Roberto Mondragon, the awards are certificates of merit for innovative and unusual services for older per

sons.

Among recipients for Commission awards are:

• The "Los Arcos Gang" of the town of Truth or Consequences. The "gang," comprised of the owner and employees of the Los Arcos Restaurant, repairs houses and cleans yards of the elderly and needy of the community. Each month the crew takes on a new project, using their own tools and supplies;

The City of Aztec for passing an ordinance which provides reduced electric and water rates for qualifying city residents who are 65 and older;

The City of Artesia Commission on Aging for supporting a 7-day-aweek transportation service for the elderly;

• The Belen LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) for the first LULAC sponsorship of a

Title VII nutrition program for the elderly, and

The Alamogordo Meals-on-Wheels program which supplements Title VII funding through private donations to serve additional homebound elderly.

State Commission recognition of special projects "over and above the call of duty is one way to congratulate local communities and civic minded individuals who do something extra for the elderly," Mr. Mondragon said.

New York

In an innovative move to deliver improved transportation services to older persons, a Memorandum of Agreement has been signed jointly by Commissioner Adelaide Attard of New York's Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs and Martin Gach, Director of New York's Nassau County Office of Public Transportation.

The agreement between the two departments is intended to pool mutual expertise in planning and implementing programs to improve transportation for those 60 and over in Nassau County. It calls for the development of joint funding proposals to establish model demonstration projects.

Research and evaluation studies will be coordinated by liaison staff members of both Departments, in order to maximize delivery of transportation services to senior citizens who lack mobility.

The two Departments will be working together on the development of a proposed study financed by a $90,000 grant from the Department of Transportation. The study will determine the feasibility of con

solidating existing, underutilized special facilities for the transportation of the elderly and handicapped.

"Mobility for senior citizens can make the difference between a useful and meaningful life or one of utter desolation, and too often, unnecessary institutionalization," said Commissioner Attard at the signing ceremonies. Adding his signature to the document, Mr. Gach commented, "Transportation is the catalyst which ties people to services. With the signing of this agreement, we hope to be in a better position to transport the elderly to where they need to go."

Rhode Island

Some 10,190 people called, wrote, or dropped by the Rhode Island Division on Aging's Information Unit last year for information or assistance with a problem concerning an older adult.

Currently, the Information Unit is responding to over 40 people a day who want to know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, where to look for homemaker and companionship services, how to apply for public housing or food stamps, or other information about programs for older adults. The Information Unit received 82.4 percent more requests for information last year than in its first year of operation.

The Information Unit aims at being a one-stop center for helping to reduce confusion that has resulted over the past dozen years with the rapid growth of programs for the senior population.

Skip Centazzo, a statistician with the Division on Aging, said that nearly 4 percent of the requests for services could not be filled by any agency or program. Thus the needs of many older people remain unmet.

Requests for housing assistance totaled almost half the 404 callers who couldn't be helped last year. Transportation, employment, finances, and companionship were other areas where gaps in service existed.

Zeroing in on the housing gap, Mr. Centazzo listed several conditions contributing to the problem: the high cost of adequate housing for those on fixed incomes, long waiting lists for public housing, lack of housing in the area where the older person prefers to live, and structural barriers which prevent frail elderly persons from obtaining suitable housing.

"The Division on Aging can't do too much to alleviate the long public housing waiting lists or to eliminate structural barriers, but something we have done is to charge our housing specialist, Charlie Kettlety, with trying to locate suitable low-rent apartments whose landlords wish to rent to older people," Centazzo said. Kettlety is always on the lookout for new listings, particularly in communities around Providence such as East Providence, Cranston, Pawtucket, and North Providence.

Terri Pare, another Information Specialist in the Information Unit, has spearheaded the drive to promote pre-retirement planning among State employees. She has helped train about 60 State employees from various departments over a period of 13 weeks to be pre-retirement counselors for their co-workers who are approaching retirement age. A new course for State employees also began in April.

The Information Unit uses both a mass media and an individual approach to letting older Rhode Islanders know about the availability of its information and referral services. Its

weekly newspaper column, "Seniors Ask," is carried by half a dozen newspapers and a half-hour radio program, "First Sunday," is aired monthly over WPRO-AM. Radio and television public service announcements also encourage seniors to call the Information Unit collect, if necessary, for help or information.

In addition, outreach workers canvass neighborhoods to seek out isolated older people and let them know help is available.

Single copies of Information Report Number 6, "Information and Referral: 1976 in Review," are available from the Rhode Island Division on Aging, 150 Washington St., Providence, R.I. 02903.

South Carolina

Results of the 1977 needs assessment conducted by the S.C. Commission on Aging's Division of Planning and Research indicate that the following are priority needs in the field of aging in the State: transportation (first priority in all but one of the 10 regions), congregate meals, homedelivered meals, low rent housing, outreach, home repairs, light household help, companionship, recreation, home health services, information and referral, private physician or clinic, and health checkups.

Legal services, bedside care, counseling, day care, and alcohol treatment were not ranked in the top five by any region.

South Dakota

Persons looking for care for themselves or a family member can contact the family home care program supported by the South Dakota De

partment of Social Services (DSS).

Family home care is available to older persons at $200 per month compared to nursing home charges two and three times greater for private paying citizens. DSS Medicaid clients receive family home care through the State.

Many older persons are no longer able to live in their own homes but do not need the medical care provided in a nursing home. In a family home they pay only for what they need assistance in daily living.

A DSS study completed a year ago revealed that older persons like the independence of remaining in their own homes with help from

homemakers. The possibility of participating in community activities was frequently cited along with proximity to friends and relatives as reasons older persons wanted to remain independent as long as possible.

The same study showed that 18 percent, or 659 of the 3,600 South Dakota Medicaid clients in nursing homes, had entered the homes as private paying patients but used up most of their funds within two years, becoming DSS Medicaid clients. In total, 30 percent or 1,100 had entered as private paying patients.

The survey also showed 34 percent of persons who are now Medicaid clients and who entered as pri

vate paying patients could have had less costly care. The study shows 23 percent could have had their needs met in family home care.

The family home care program offers care at lower costs than a nursing home and thereby saves a private paying person's funds for the time he or she may really require the medical attention of a nursing home.

The DSS Resource Development Office's current certification process for family home providers assures older persons that family homes have met safety and health requirements.

employed by the State Department and other Federal agencies is "unconstitutional and void." The decision is thought to be the first in which an entire mandatory retirement system has been struck down.

The State Department argued that mandatory retirement at age 60 for those in the Foreign Service was justified to create advancement opportunities for younger employees and because overseas assignments created "unusual physical and psychological difficulties."

The panel of Federal judges, however, rejected both of these arguments. The practice of promoting younger personnel solely because of their age was "inherently discriminatory," they said.

In rejecting the second argument, the judges noted that Federal Civil Service employees on overseas assignments can work to age 70 and observed that Peace Corps volunteers over age 60, "unlike Foreign Service personnel, often live among the poorest segments of the local populace and face any adverse conditions that may exist."

SSI Recipients
Can Now Opt
For Best Deal

Supplemental Security Income recipients can now request termination of SSI payments in order to qualify for other benefits which are more advantageous to them, under new regulations published by HEW.

Previous HEW rules specified that a recipient could withdraw the initial claim, but required repayment of all money previously received.

Another change gives the Social Security Administration authority to

deny or suspend eligibility for Supplemental Security Income. This would occur if an applicant or recipient refused, within 30 days, to furnish information or failed to comply with request to determine his initial or continuing eligibility for the program.

Nursing Homes May Have To Accept Medicaid Patients

The New Jersey Attorney General has ruled that the State Department of Health has authority, within existing State licensing standards, to require nursing homes to accept Medicaid recipients as residents. Formal Opinion Letter No. 15-1977, issued by the Attorney General on June 22, marks the first known instance where a State has formally concluded it could use State licensing authority to require care of indigents by all licensed nursing homes.

Since, at the present time, participation in the Medicaid program is voluntary for nursing home providers and a large number of facilities choose not to participate, the Attorney General's ruling, if implemented, would have a significant impact on increasing access to nursing home care for the elderly poor.

In reaching his decision, the Attorney General referred to the Health Care Facilities Planning Act of 1971, which requires certificates of need and licenses for nursing homes and other health care facilities. Drawing an analogy between nursing homes and hospitals, he quoted a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision which stated that ". . . boards of directors or trustees (of hospitals) are managing quasi-public trusts and each has a judiciary relationship with the public."

The Attorney General concluded his Opinion Letter by stating that the Health Commissioner could require nursing homes "to provide for the care and treatment of a specified number of indigent persons as a condition of licensure." Factors to be balanced would include "the number of beds available in a given area for indigent persons, the time an individual must wait for placement, and the ability of a licensee to make a just and reasonable return on equity."

Persons wishing copies of Opinion Letter No. 15-1977 and additional information should contact Arthur Penn, Director, Division of Public Interest Advocacy, Department of the Public Advocate, State of New Jersey, P.O. Box 141, Trenton, N.J. 08601. Buses Must Meet Needs of Elderly and Handicapped

Beginning Sept. 30 all new buses purchased with grants from the Department of Transportation must be equipped so that they are more accessible to the handicapped and elderly.

New specifications require that buses offered for bid must have a floor height of no more than 22 inches from the ground. In addition, the buses must be capable of dropping to 18 inches above the ground and must be equipped with a ramp for boarding.

Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams said that 21⁄2 years will be allowed for the development of the buses before bidding, and that manufacturers could begin delivery in 31⁄2 years. In the interim, manufacturers must offer optional wheelchair lifts.

New Rules Foster

Home Visits for
Institutionalized

HEW's Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has removed all restrictions on Federal funding for reserving beds in Skilled Nursing Facilities and Intermediate Care Facilities when Medicaid patients are temporarily absent for therapeutic visits.

This includes time spent in hospitals for acute care and authorized home visits for therapeutic reasons.

Previously, Federal funds were permitted to be used to reserve a bed for 15 days for each hospital stay, and for only 18 days during a 12month period for home visits.

"Handicapped people should tell the business community about the new tax law allowing deduction of costs of removing architectural barriers," says Robert Johnson, acting executive director of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.

Mr. Johnson was referring to the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which permits businessmen to deduct the costs of removing architectural and transportation barriers.

The Internal Revenue Code allows the taxpayer to deduct in any taxable year beginning Jan. 1, 1977 and before Jan. 1, 1980, the costs of "qualified" architectural and transportation barrier removal expenses.

"Qualified" costs are those incurred for removing barriers in any facility or public transportation vehicle owned or leased for use in a trade or business. The maximum amount deductible for any taxable year is $25,000 per taxpayer.

The deduction is allowed for the expenses of making a covered facility more accessible to, or useable by, handicapped or elderly persons.

Further information about the new tax provision may be obtained by writing to the Legislation and Regulations Division, Office of the Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224.