plus the fact that the price of registered physiotherapists is beyond our reach, but there is one of the doctor's wives in town that is a registered physiotherapist. The people come into Grand Acres at the request of a doctor, they give a prescription for the treatment. Now, the type of patients that we try to take care of are the fresh strokes, fractured hip or some diseases, cardiac disease or something where they are physically incapacitated, then we try to take those people and rehabilitate them back to some degree of self-care. We have had wonderful results.

With our limited means of the registered physiotherapist that will come out and give our registered nurse instructions- by the way, we do have a registered nurse at each home-then she, in turn, takes the exercises, they work with these people, and as long as they show any improvement we continue to work with them. We have saved quite a few that ordinarily would, up to, say, 10 years ago, have been hopeless bed patients.

In both places we do not, under any circumstances, as long as a patient is able to get up, and we are criticized for it, but if people could only see it from our side and realize that we try to do the best for the patient, we will get these patients out of bed, we will set them in a wheelchair. We have dayrooms where there are televisions, and, believe me, that's a wonderful invention for the old people. But these people raise cane about it, to begin with, but eventually, when they are up and out of bed, it makes much easier the nursing care. It gives the patient a different outlook on life to where if you take him and you set him in bed, they are there for 24 hours a day, they eat, they sleep, they have all their meals, everything in that one room, why, it is not long before they lose all interest in life.

Now, we do have a little bit of occupational therapy. We find it quite hard for some of the older people to try to teach them something, some kind of work with their hands. The rule of "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." There are some of them that are real pleased to have something they can do where others feel we are trying to cram something down their neck. So it relates to the general treating of the individuals.

Now, I have made mine just as short as possible. I have tried to give you a nominal sketch of what we try to do, and if there are any questions I welcome them.

Senator LONG. Mr. Longston, I have no questions, although I would like to go into more detail with you, but due to the time I can't. I do want to salute you for the great job that is being done here. It is certainly indicative of what the local community can do with a dedicated man, who, as Congressman Hall tells me, you are in this work, the local medical profession and the community as a whole can do toward solving our problem. I wish we had many more of them in other sections of the State and country. So I salute you for this great work that's being done here and appreciate your coming down here this morning. I wish we had more time to go into it.

If you do have a statement or other information perhaps some of the staff would like to talk to you so we can have more detail of your plan in our permanent record.

Mr. LONGSTON. I'd be glad to.

Senator LONG. Unless there is something else, our committee will stand in recess until 2 o'clock this afternoon, at which time we will have the town hall session for the senior citizens.

(Whereupon, at 12:15 p.m., the committee adjourned.)

AFTERNOON SESSION

The hearing was resumed, pursuant to the taking of the recess, at 2 p.m.

Senator LONG (presiding). The committee will be in order.

As it was announced before, the meeting this afternoon will be what we call the town hall for the senior citizens. I am told that this committee is the only committee of the Senate that has followed this practice, but it does give our senior citizens, those 65 years of age and over, the opportunity to appear before a committee of the U.S. Senate and tell us their problems and their suggestions for their improvement. As I have indicated before, in my judgment the senior citizens are people who know more about the problems of the aged and the aging than anyone else. They have thought more about the problem, they are more conversant with it and who have given more attention to it. The senior citizens represent a great reservoir of talent and ability and the committee desires to use all of that to every advantage that we can in solving this problem that is serious to all of us.

I am particularly delighted to have my friend, Congressman Hall of the Seventh District from here in Springfield, with us again this afternoon.

It will be necessary that the committee adjourn by at least 4 o'clock as I leave here immediately after that to go to the airport to go to Hannibal where we have another hearing there of this kind tomorrow.

In conducting this hearing let me say to you that I think it is a great thing that we do have the opportunity to have meetings of this kind where people of different views and different opinions on the matter can meet together and attempt to solve them. There may be people that will testify whose views aren't like yours, or your views may not be what they think, but let's don't show our feelings too strongly one way or the other because everyone has the right to their opinion and this is America and the place where we may not agree everyone, but we certainly would all agree with every person's right to express their opinion, so let's be patient with each other under those conditions.

with

Now, the procedure we will follow in this hearing, we try to limit these statements from 2 to 3 minutes, and that's for the purpose so that all of the senior citizens that desire to speak may have the opportunity to do so. We will not permit anyone under 65 years of age to speak. This is the town hall meeting for the senior citizens, we want to have them have that opportunity to do that. Now, after all of the senior citizens have spoken who desire to do so, and if there is sufficient time, then we will be glad to hear from anyone else who desires to use 2 or 3 minutes for that purpose.

I won't require that your birth certificates prove to me that you are past 65 years of age, I might well look at your social security card, but I am sure we will have no difficulty that way because we do want to make this first part of the meeting strictly the senior citizens' part. The members of our staff will be on the floor and if you will hold

up your hand to indicate to them that you would like to speak on the program and give them your name, then we will be glad to hear you. Here is a gentleman right here that has held up his hand first. Would you get his name and have him come to the microphone here. And remember, try to limit your statements to 2 and not over 3 minutes.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM K. MARSH, OF SPRINGFIELD, MO.

Mr. MARSH. Senator Long, and staff

Senator LONG. Would you give us your name, please.
Mr. MARSH. William K. Marsh.

Senator LONG. Of Springfield?

Mr. MARSH. Yes, 1409 Mount Vernon.
Senator LONG. You may proceed.

Mr. MARSH. I qualify. I won't show you my social security card because it is not supposed to be used for identification, but I will be 69 years this month.

I have some other qualifications to speak on insurance by virtue of experience in the statistical department of the School of Hygiene in Johns Hopkins Hospital and 9 years as the head cashier of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. My experience with insurance and people who can and can't pay their bill is rather broad.

I find that the greatest trouble with our insurance, and I carry insurance the only income I have is from my social security, and I am thankful it is more than the average that we have in this State or in this city. I carry Blue Cross insurance, but to my opinion it isn't a sufficient coverage. I am covered by insurance for hospitalization and for surgical. The main point there is diagnosis, in my opinion. I firmly believe in preventing disease rather than insuring it, especially in old age. I think all our insurance policies should have a clause for a periodical examination of diagnosis in case of heart trouble, kidney trouble, or any other diseases that will strike the elderly people, and I think that is very, very necessary.

My insurance costs me close to $70 a year, and it takes a big hunk out of my social security, but still I am not covered on that diagnosis, and I don't feel in the position that I can every year go down and pay for a good physical examination, I mean a good one, but I do feel that if I could get a physical examination each year that I wouldn't need one for many more years. I think the preventative there is much

more.

I do want to say this, that the people I have contacted here, and I am a member of the I don't speak for them-but I am a member of the senior citizens club here and I have contacted many people in that age area, that it is a shame that these widows and some of the widowers are victims of low income husbands and their social security money is so low that they can't do anything with it. They can't call a doctor, they can't go to the hospital, so consequently not having a diagnosis available to them through the city, State clinics, or insurance that they carry, why, they have to go on until they are in a position where they have to go to these homes.

Senator LONG. Mr. Marsh, thank you so much.

Mr. Marsh indicated the new problem of the aging when he indicated that some of the widows were victims of low income husbands.

I view that as a problem, but I have never heard it so expressed before. Thank you so much.

I think perhaps my wife thinks she is a victim of a low income husband, too. Mrs. Winnie L. Nelson.

STATEMENT OF MRS. WINNIE L. NELSON

Mrs. NELSON. It seems to me that the past 8 months, at least, there has been such terrific criticism of the aged. I have been following it on the radio and in the magazines and in the newspapers. There is an article in the Look magazine on welfare which comes out of Washington, D.C. I don't know how many of you have read this. It is a complete they call us cheats, chiselers, and everything that they can think of that is adverse, and against us for receiving help, and I would like to just make one little quote out of the magazine here. Later, if you would like this magazine, I will give it to you. It says:

To adopt the rule nationally now followed in some localities of not paying all welfare money to reliefers themselves, but paying rents and grocery bills directly, thus curbing wasteful spending.

Well, the reason that I bring that up is because of what it would do to me. I have a terrific medical bill, Dr. Hall knows about it, he has been my doctor for 10 years. Last month alone my doctor bill was $32, just my medical bill. That didn't take in my doctor bill at all. And if this money was taken out of our hands where I couldn't switch around and go without groceries occasionally, I'd never have any money to buy hose or shoes or anything like that or medicine over the counter, such as aspirin and things like that, which I have to have for arthritic condition and complications, and I need every dime that the aged can possibly be given.

Thank you so very much.

Senator LONG. Thank you, Mrs. Nelson.

These statements that are made by our senior citizens are taken down by the reporter here and will become a part of the permanent record of this committee and will be studied and evaluated by the staff and by the full committee.

Mr. R. S. Wilson.

STATEMENT OF R. S. WILSON

Mr. WILSON. Greetings, Honorable Senator, ladies and gentlemen, I am not a senior citizen but I am getting up that way.

Senator LONG. Are you 65?

Mr. WILSON. I am 56.

Senator LONG. Would you mind just withholding your statement until we are sure that all the 65's have had their opportunity.

Are there any others, anyone now over 65 years of age, who desires to testify?

Mr. Fred De Armond.

STATEMENT OF FRED DE ARMOND

Mr. DE ARMOND. I am Fred De Armond of Springfield, not a member of the senior citizens organization, but I have my application in, and while I am not, I don't admit that I am one of the aging as yet. The time will come.

I just want to say this about what Congress might do for the aging. It seems to me the most important thing would be to get inflation under control. There is no one suffers so much from our present inflated currency situation as the people of fixed income who don't have any escalator clause in their income, and we are dealing now with dollars that are worth somewhat less than 50 cents. And its seems to me that if this inflation were kept under control and we were to take a realistic view toward the thing that so many people have called growthmanship, that there wouldn't be a great deal in the way of fraternalistic legislation necessary for our elder citizens. Just give us a chance to have our money go as far as possible. I don't mean to roll back the situation existing today and have hundred-cent dollars, but let's try to avoid having 25-cent dollars within 10 years or 15 years from now, and that is something I think the Congress can do because it is partly a matter of the physical situation. It is keeping our expenses within their proper limitations and cutting down our taxes, and if we do that I don't think they are going to have to do a great deal more with most of us who are trying to pay our own way. We are asking no special advantages, but at present we are under a decided disadvantage because we are the people who suffer most from this badly inflated situation, and I hope the Congress will keep that in mind.

Senator LONG. Mr. De Armond, certainly all of us are aware of the value of the dollar today, but we do face this problem. Do you have some suggestions how we could meet it today, an inflated situation, something we can't change overnight? There is a need now for assistance; do you have any suggestions?

Mr. DE ARMOND. Senator, the most I hope for us to do is to hold the line. I think we could do that. We could be content with a continued growth of 2 to 3 percent a year as we have had and keep those prices down so that they won't rise any higher, the cost of living will not go up any more. I don't hope for much else. But it seems to me we could balance this budget and perhaps reduce the national debt a little and let interest rates stand at what is a natural figure. Interest is nothing more, in my opinion, than the price, the current interest price of money. And let's don't have artificial interest rates, let's let them stand at the natural figure and attempt, as far as we can, by the Federal Reserve Board's controls, leave the Federal Reserve Board independent of the Treasury, which it presumably is at present, I don't know for how long, and through the physical controls keep this budget as nearly balanced as possible. In fact, it should be balanced now of all times. If we do that it seems to me we will hold the line and at least that's some accomplishment.

Senator LONG. Thank you, Mr. De Armond, for a very helpful

statement.

Mrs. Gladys Wheeler Rose.

STATEMENT OF MRS. GLADYS WHEELER ROSE

Mrs. ROSE. Well, sir, I wish we could have some kind of a law that the aged could stay with their folks and still get assistance. I think it is a very sad affair that they have to be away from their folks. They can't see them very often and the latter days of their life is spent very lonely. That's one thing that I think that it would be a