Chairman MARTINEZ. Well, let me put it this way: would you benefit by having somebody on staff that could give you some real expertise when you need it? You have a sensitivity to it, which is very important, but also there is a technical expertise that is needed. Could you as a service provider benefit by having someone like that? MS. WHITE. I think we probably could benefit by that but we would have to sensitize that person to the needs of the Indian elderly. They have to be sensitive, too, and not just the provider. Chairman MARTINEZ. Very good. Thank you. MS. WHITE. The Washington State Indian Council on Aging, with the help of Evergreen Legal Services, applied for and received a grant entitled "Advocates for Tribal Elderly." This organization was formed by many of the elder advocates to examine the delivery of social services to older Indians by a variety of different Federal programs including Indian Health Service, Social Security Administration, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian HUD program. In these areas, we find that there has been difficulty-and I am sure the Hispanic people have found this also-documents of proof such as birth certificates, traditional marriages, work records, and the huge amount of paperwork that any minority elderly has to deal with when they are applying for any type of service. We have SSI overpayments due to lease income is the one thing that we are looking into and want to work with the Social Security Administration in developing some type of tool to make it easier for our Indian elderly who because of overpayments, because of lease income, many times have to go without any funds for three to four months. They are unable to get any money at all and maybe a lot of people cannot believe that but I do know because my mother is one of them. Many times, Indian elders are asked to sell their homes, their vehicles, heirlooms, treaty fishing equipment because they feel that that is excess resources. But that is their living. And our heirlooms are part of our culture and they go from generation to generation and we do not sell those. We find there is a lack of outreach in a great many programs and we do know that Title III has been mandated to provide outreach services but we also know that they do not have enough funds to cover that type of service so it is just on paper. The Indian Health Service has a lack of geriatric care, no inhome health care. Many of our Indian elderly abhor nursing homes. Today, we just finished training our advocates for elderly for our survey that we are going to be doing on ten reservations in six States. We have Title VI directors from local tribes, we have a director from Standing Rock, Sioux, North Dakota, a director from Northern Cheyenne, Montana, a director from Gila River, Arizona and Ronerville Rancheria in California. We have already completed presentations in San Diego, Washington, DC and Oklahoma minority conferences. We are hoping to work with you and others who are concerned about Indian elders. Finally, I have been invited to comment on the Native Americans Program Act. This is somewhat difficult, as the Administration for Native Americans has not, to my knowledge, been involved in Indian elders issues. I suggest that this should change. Tribal elders should be involved in all tribal development processes at a minimum in an advisory capacity. Tribes will only retain their Indian culture if older members are reintegrated into the decision making process of the tribe. The ANA project would do well to have advisory boards of tribal elders. ANA should further take the leadership in developing elderyouth projects whereby Indian youth are teamed with tribal elders on cultural or other work projects. Finally, ANA should be involved with existing senior employment projects to assure that those monies are reaching older Indian people who wish to work. In conclusion, it is widely important to the elders of the smaller Washington tribes that Title VI older American funding be increased. Title III funds as currently administered are unlikely ever to reach this population. It is very important that the Title VI tribes also have Title V senior employment positions for their elders and increased access to the nationwide aging network so that the programs can advance. We thank you for your support and encouragement of our new organization, Advocates for Tribal Elderly, and thank you for this exceptional opportunity to present our issues of concern. Finally, we would urge the Administration on Native Americans to incorporate older Indians into its programs to help preserve the ancient cultures of our tribes and to allow elders to supplement their small incomes in a manner productive to their tribes as a whole. I have been in the field of aging since 1976. I find it hard to believe that the needs of Indian elders that were so accurately identified then still have not been met. It has been a long, hard struggle for Indian aging programs and we have made little progress. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Jackson and with your committees to see that our Indian elderly become better served by the Older Americans Act and other Indian programs. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Betty White follows:] THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE OLDER AMERICAN ACT The Native American Programs Act and the Impact of the Older American Act on Older Indians and Hispanics Hearing Testimony of ELISABETH J. WHITE Washington State Indian Council Before The UNITED STATES SENATE LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE THE HONORABLE BROCK ADAMS, CHAIR AND THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES May 4, 1991 Yakima Nation Cultural Center Toppenish, Washington Hearing on The Testimony of Elizabeth J. White Toppenish, Washington INTRODUCTION Senator Brock Adams, Congressman Matthew Martinez, Associate Commissioner on Aging Yvonne Jackson, and distinguished members of this audience, welcome to the Yakima Indian Nation and allow me to thank you for the opportunity to speak about the needs and concerns of the Indian elders of this state. A brief history of the Washington State Indian Council on Aging: Washington State Indian Council began in 1981 when an elderly lady of a small tribe in Western Washington expressed concern about the two largest tribes of the state being designated Area Agencies on Aging and having open communication lines with the State Bureau of Aging and Adult Services, leaving the smaller tribes without a voice in having their needs heard and met. We see our organization in large part as supplementing and coordinating with the Indian Area Agencies on Aging system in this state. The Washington State Indian Council on Aging (WSICOA) consists of 18 board members who are fifty-five years and older, representing twenty-seven tribes across the state, the majority of those tribes being located in Western Washington. We concern ourselves with coordination of information on Title VI programs and on distribution to all smaller tribes of information on aging gathered from the tribal AAAs and from the state aging network. We also serve as advocates with the state, educating state officials and programs on the special needs of tribal elderly. In addition to being advocates on the state level, in the past year WSICOA has received funding from the Administration on Aging to examine on a nation-wide basis the barriers tribal elders face with various federal program. I will discuss this project and our new organization, Advocates for Tribal Elderly, at a later point in my testimony, but first I will discuss the present status of Title VI programs in Washington. TITLE VI, PART A; Title III NON-PARTICIPATION There are fourteen Title VI programs in Washington, all but three in Western Washington. Due to diminished funding of Title VI grantees over the past decade, many are only providing nutrition services, sometimes on a very limited basis. For example, it is common for grantees to deliver to an older tribal member a week's worth of frozen meals each Monday, one meal for each day of the week. While the frozen meals are much less expensive than preparation of hot meals at a nutrition site, Indian elderly usually do not care for the frozen foods, and, just as importantly, they miss the opportunity for socialization provided by the congregate meals. Other tribes only serve congregate meals one day per week due to geographic isolation and very limited Title VI transportation funds. Tribes who can afford to prepare hot meals commonly serve noon meals four days a week. Many of these tribes have to travel at least 75 miles round trip to purchase their food and supplies for food preparation. Such trips are expensive, and the programs attempt to shop for a full month at a time to conserve meager Title VI funds. The Western Washington tribes have participated in the Title VI program for at least ten years. They have lost more than half of their Title VI funding over this period with budget cuts and with new tribes coming into the Title VI program. These |