I am told I am running over my time. I could talk all day long. Folks, this is the way I feel. This is what I think we should be doing for you.

At this time it gives me a great deal of pleasure to introduce this young lady I spoke about, Evelyn Runyon, who knows a bit more about your problems than I do, because she is your ombudsman-she is the one that takes your complaints.

Evelyn.

STATEMENT OF EVELYN RUNYON, OMBUDSMAN, EASTERN

NEBRASKA OFFICE ON AGING, OMAHA, NEBR.

Mrs. RUNYON. Thank you very much, Mr. Magnusson.

Senator Clark, and all of you, my 78 years have been spent mostly in rural areas, although part of the time I have had to be an urbanite, so I see both sides working in Omaha as I have as ombudsman and hearing from people who have moved into a city to get the conveniences they need as older people. Also, I have made visits to many sites the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging has in the rural area. I think that probably the best thing I can say is that Mr. Magnusson has just about covered everything that I wanted to cover. I do feel sure of one thing, and that is that the services that an urban agency such as the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging can offer are altogether appropriate and applicable to those in the rural areas.

RURAL URBAN CITIZENS DIFFER IN FEELINGS

I am thinking particularly, however, that those services must be offered in an entirely different way, perhaps, than we offer them to those in the city. Rural citizens are a little different than urban people in feelings about each other; they have had green spaces between neighbors, and this is very important. This is always pointed up to me when I am called in to help someone who has moved from a rural area into a high-rise in the city.

It is a terrible adjustment because rural people are used to space and friendly neighbors and used to living in a different way than people in a city who live close together and scarcely know their neighbors. I think one of the greatest gifts that a person can have is to have grown up in a rural area. There must be a definite understanding of the mores of the rural area if our services are to be effective.

Health care and nutrition, of course, are prime needs that rural areas have, and Mr. Magnusson has told you about the health maintenance sites. I would like to see those transported into rural areas. I am thinking particularly of a visit I made sometime ago to Valley where I was asked to have some of the nurses come out and do diabetic and glaucoma tests, as well as other uncomplicated laboratory tests that are so needed.

This brings me to something that I thought of vesterday: a man in the little town of Waterloo, very close to here. I think-it is certainly close to Valley-came home from the hospital. He lives alone and the closest relative he has is a niece. He needs a homemaker he needs hot meals; he needs everything that we have to offer. Fortunately, we were able to supply most all of his needs.

The whole thing back of all of this is the need for transportation. We must in some way find a way to either transport those from rural areas to the services or transport our services to them. This is something that I think will be a problem for people like Mr. Magnusson and other officials who have to know how to put budgets to work.

One of the truest things that I know of is that we want to keep rural people in their own homes, and this means also a handyman service. I think that is very possible in most all communities because there we will find older, skilled craftsmen who can help.

I don't want to run over my time. I could talk until 3 this afternoon, but let me stop here and introduce to you a man who probably is one of Nebraska's greatest humanitarians. I say this because he has been helping people from the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, all the way through to senior citizens. The programs that he has been able to start in Platte County are really just overwhelming. It is an honor, and certainly it is a privilege, for me to introduce Mr. Pete Lakers from Columbus.

Mr. Lakers.

STATEMENT OF PETE LAKERS, COLUMBUS, NEBR.

Mr. LAKERS. Thank you very much.

Senator Clark, Congressman McCollister, and friends, I want to devote my time to the business that is most important. I might say to start with we have all the State problems, and we are trying to solve them. I do want to say something about the handyman service. It is not going full force, but yesterday we got a permanent chairman who is retired from the employment service, and that service is thisfor some people, it is a hobby-for instance, one man repairs electric irons at a cheaper cost than what is the regular cost at the service

center.

Last summer my wife had a heart attack-she is an invalid, but does very well for herself because her attitude for life is the same as mine. We needed someone, other than the person we had, to take care of our house. Through the handyman service we were able to get a younger person who comes to our house 4 hours a day and she eats with us, the same as we had for 2 months, which is a great deal of help. This girl was in nurses' training.

There is another instance that I can recall where the person needed the service, because of her husband. This was a young lady who came to her house to make supper, stav all night, make breakfast in the morning, and handle her work. We can expand this service in many different fields.

I also want to mention one other thing. Last Tuesday morning at 7 o'clock-we have what we call the helping hand, of different organization representatives, and we discuss the problems and work to solve them. This meets every month and we have accomplished a great deal in that group. Also, every Tuesday, and now every Wednesday, we serve a TV dinner for 60 cents with something to drink, and usually somebody brings a cake.

Well, I covered some high spots here. There are many others that we have. The reason that we are so successful is because we have 341 members in our association of retired people and we follow the old

theory of the Boy Scouts-do a good turn daily, and help your neighbor.

Thank you.

[An additional statement of Mr. Lakers was subsequently received, and follows:]

ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF PETE W. LAKERS

In addition to what I said at the hearing in Gretna, Nebr., I would like to mention what is available through the American Association of Retired People, which was started 3 years ago here and, as of now, has a membership of 341. We have a handyman program and a halfway house program. We also have other programs in cooperation with our technical college. We had 226 participants in lifetime learning courses as follows: metric system, laymans law, cards-for-fun, printing, defensive driving, mechanics for women, and physical fitness. The courses were for 6 to 20 hours and cost from $6 to $20, enough to defray expenses.

We have bus trips to shows almost weekly; to Omaha and Lincoln at a discount. Also longer tours.

We have groups of four people calling each other four times a day to see if things are all right.

We have a monthly meeting, with an average attendance of 55. We motivate each other and help each other.

Priorities for services are: (1) transportation-we have some, we need more: (2) meals-on-wheels-we should have it in other towns; and (3) handymen or chore people.

We also have complete social security payments at 65.

We are trying to do what we can for senior citizens, but with increased costs, our problems are the same as other counties. Together we must all get more involved and work together.

Senator CLARK. Thank you.

We are going to hear next from Glen Soukup, who is the executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Aging in Lincoln.

STATEMENT OF GLEN SOUKUP, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEBRASKA COMMISSION ON AGING, LINCOLN, NEBR.

Mr. SOUKUP. Thank you, Dick.

I have heard it called the curse of all old farmers-they always move to town. Curse or not, the trend is obvious. Only the urban areas of Lincoln, Omaha, and south Sioux City have a smaller percentage of elderly residents than the countryside.

But when a farm family retires from the farm, they try to remain as close to the farm life as they can. Generally speaking, the smaller the community, the higher the concentration of elderly citizens. Based on 1970 census figures, only 9 percent of the population of our urban areas are elderly. That percentage almost doubles for communities of 2.500 to 10.000. By the time you reach towns of 1,000 to 2,500, you can anticipate about one-quarter of the population to be 65 or older. The small rural hamlets don't even show up on the census figures, yet this is where the greatest percentage of elderly reside. These crossroad communities have become retirement centers for yesterday's farmers. They dot the map in out-of-the-way places-communities of 200 or less-with most of the residents on social security.

These could be Nebraska's retirement utopias-the basis of Nebraska's well-known legacy of longevity. In the past 15 months I have signed certificates honoring 138 centenarians. Enough of these men and women have been farm people to convince me that it is the rural way of life that is the basis of their longevity.

But I said these communities could be Nebraska's retirement utopias. Often these small towns are many miles from the nearest doctor and emergency aid. The residents live in constant jeopardy. Even the simplest consumer needs a grocery store or library-may be in the next town 20 miles to the north. Without adequate public transportation, many are forced to rely on neighbors or their own driving skills or simply stay home.

Not all the rural communities are slowly fading away. Much has been written about the "rediscovery of rural America." This rediscovery might be viewed more realistically as a flight from the cities. Eager for country living, many city workers commute to nearby rural hamlets "for the kids" or for their own peace of mind.

These migrating workers often maintain their finances in the city while increasing the demand for services in the rural communities. Seniors in these "bedroom communities" often find themselves faced with crushing special assessments for public works improvements.

FEDERAL PROGRAMS DISCRIMINATORY

Rural areas lack the resources to provide necessary transportation, health, community development, and social services. Far from redressing this lack of resources, Federal programs discriminate against rural areas. Rural counties have a disproportionate share of the Nation's poor, aged, and unskilled. Yet a 1970 Government survey of 242 Federal programs revealed that only 27 percent of Federal outlays reach rural areas.

Rural America has three-fifths of the Nation's bad housing, but gets only one-fifth of all Federal housing subsidies. Rural America is served by just 12 percent of the Nation's doctors and 8 percent of its nurses. Rural counties are home for about one-half of the Nation's poor, yet the efforts of these communities to seek solutions to these problems have been frustrated by spiraling costs, economic recession, and requirements mandated by Federal and State programs.

Federal funding formulas have been heavily weighted in favor of the highly visible urban areas. The rural aged are poor and isolated— out of sight and out of mind.

A good case in point might be title IX of the Older Americans Act which provides employment opportunities for seniors. When a rider was attached to the President's swine flu vaccine bill that provided increased funding for title IX, hopes were raised that such senior employment programs as the handyman service could be extended to more rural areas. Of course, the lion's share of the funding ultimately went to the urban areas.

There are certain diseconomies in providing services to rural areas that have held back the development of needed programs. Without the social services, rural citizens have relied upon themselves and each other. But the world is changing. New problems, such as the crisis in the cost of fuel, have made it increasingly unrealistic to expect that the self-sufficiency of rural people can continue to meet these growing needs.

Much remains to be done. Through the use of paramedical personnel and visiting nurses, medical services can be provided to areas that have gone without. We need to expand volunteer opportunities. We must

stay up to date on technological breakthroughs such as improved methods of insulating homes, and we must rediscover old methods with promise, such as windpower, if we are to meet the growing needs with our limited resources.

There are a great many skilled and capable seniors living in rural Nebraska. It is frustrating indeed that so many of these competent workers are unemployed while so many crying needs exist in the country. Elderly residents could be doing much to help improve facilities and services in their communities. For example, there are 120 older workers employed under the federally funded green thumb program in Nebraska working on community improvement programs that would otherwise go undone. Despite the fact that green thumb can serve only a small portion of the State, the program always has substantially more applicants than it can hire. This demonstrates that rural elderly people will seek out the programs that help them to help themselves if they are given half a chance.

Rural America has been last in line for too long. We must begin to extend opportunities to the elderly in both the cities and the country. Probably the most important single step we can take is to promote an enlightened awareness of the rural elderly and their needs.

Sitting next to me is a woman who has done much to promote this enlightened awareness in the Grand Island area of the State, and I am going to now let her tell it like it is on the local level.

I would like to present Marge Stine.

STATEMENT OF MARJORIE G. STINE, DIRECTOR, SENIOR CITIZEN INDUSTRIES, INC., GRAND ISLAND, NEBR.

Mrs. STINE. When I was asked to explain how we got our program started in the rural area, it is a very serious thing. How did we get the older people involved? We were under the OEO-Office of Economic Opportunity. We then went to the grassroots level and talked to the people themselves through intensive outreach. We started with five participants-that, you can imagine-and these five participants went into the areas and helped the people find out what their greatest need was. Their greatest need was additional income. They felt additional income was their greatest need.

At this meeting of these five participants, we asked them how they felt they could supplement their income. The only way they could see it at that time was to start selling their handmade crafts, so we drew on all the resources in the community. We held periodic craft and white elephant sales by some of the stores, some of the county officials, State officials, several of the service clubs, and then we had what we called a flea market that helped raise money for a small store. The store was established and we incorporated as a nonprofit organization under the name of Senior Citizens Industries, Inc. We then applied for delegate agency status from the Office of Economic Opportunity and applied

for title III funds.

After the retail outlet was established, the Senior Citizens Industries, Inc., board of directors applied for a foster grandparents program. Through this funded program, 50 or 60 seniors were able to supplement their income by working 4 or 5 days a week, several hours a day, working with disadvantaged children.