Support Maine’s aging population

To the Editor;

Every day, the rapidly increasing cost of living, the housing shortage crisis, rising food insecurity, and continued impacts of social isolation make it difficult for older Mainers to meet their basic needs. Our team at the Eastern Maine Agency on Aging and the four other state Area Agencies on Aging are incredibly thankful to Gov. Janet Mills and the Cabinet on Aging for working to meet these needs by investing in lifelong communities, as mentioned in Paula Brewer’s Feb. 3 article.

As we continue to work with older Mainers, we know that more older adults need targeted case management services to meet their basic needs. The AAAs are united in asking the state to fund LD 1684, which passed unanimously out of committee last year and will provide older Mainers with critical case management services.

Despite having the nation’s oldest population, Maine does not have the infrastructure to provide much-needed targeted case management services to older adults. With one in six Mainers facing food insecurity and adults 65 and older representing the fastest growing homeless population, now is the time to act. Our AAAs are already utilizing case management to keep Maine’s growing older adult population living safely and securely at home, but current funding only allows AAAs to provide these services to an incredibly small portion of the state’s 400,000-plus older adults — many of whom desperately need support!

The state must fund LD 1684 to help address the unmet needs we’re seeing. Our older community members cannot afford to wait.

Tabatha Caso

executive director

Eastern Area Agency on Aging

Brewer