Our Journey of Self-Correction

I met 3 dedicated and courageous women last week. Not in person, but in the pages of The New York Times.

Paula, a home health aide, works 12-hour shifts for a care recipient in Manhattan. She carefully disinfects herself after work each night because she cares for a person who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Paula can’t protect herself adequately at work because her supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) consists of “one gown, and a few masks and gloves,” which she received with “vague instructions on reuse.”

Yolanda, a home health aide in Queens, watched a beloved care recipient die from COVID-19, and then got sick herself. She lost 6 weeks of income because she had little paid leave to fall back on.

Sonya provides daily care to an older adult living in an assisted living community on Long Island. She takes the same risks as other caregivers in that community, but is excluded from weekly, state-mandated testing of workers for COVID-19 because she is employed by an outside agency.

Meeting these women, and hearing their stories, reinforced what I know about the home health aides and certified nursing assistants (CNA) who work in nursing homes, assisted living communities, and in the homes of older adults.

They are dedicated professionals whose jobs are becoming increasingly demanding and complex.

They create strong bonds with the people to whom they provide care. They know these care recipients well because they spend more time with them than anyone else. And they often recognize and respond to emerging health concerns sooner than medical clinicians ever could.

And what do they get in return? Compensation that hovers around minimum wage. In too many cases, they’re forced to seek public assistance to make ends meet. They often don’t receive the training they need to do jobs that each year require more advanced skills. Most have little hope of moving up the career ladder.

These facts are hard to swallow under normal circumstances. But add in the risks associated with providing care and companionship to older adults during a pandemic, and these facts become even more disgraceful.

Times writer E. Tammy Kim rightfully maintains that aides and CNAs have become “as indispensable as nurses and doctors” during this pandemic. And yet, the nation continues to undervalue the important work they do, even to the point of ignoring their need for PPE and testing—both vital to keeping them safe and healthy as they travel between care recipients and workplaces during these dangerous times. These caregivers also aren’t getting the comprehensive hero pay, paid sick leave, and health care coverage they deserve.

Paula, Yolanda, Sonya, and so many of their caregiving colleagues are working at the epicenter of this pandemic. They rose to this occasion, setting aside their own fears about the coronavirus, coming to work each day to care for those most in need and most at risk for contracting this deadly illness. And they do this largely without recognition, adequate protection, or fair compensation.

This doesn’t make any sense to me. It makes me angry. And it can’t continue.

The pandemic offers LeadingAge, its state partners, and its members an unprecedented opportunity to go to bat for the caregivers who are essential workers in every aging services organization.

We need to continue doing what we can, at the organization level, to provide the compensation, training, and support aides and CNAs need to provide high-quality services and supports to vulnerable older Americans. But we also need to work tirelessly at the state and federal levels to make sure policymakers understand the need to support these essential workers with more than empty accolades.

I don’t understand why our government is not helping direct care workers and older adults stay healthy during the current crisis. I hope you will join our Act for Older Adults campaign to change the government's apparent indifference into life-saving action.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

COL (Ret.) Paul W. Bricker and Stephen P. Fleming don’t have much good to say about the months they’ve spent on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bricker, chief operating officer of Knollwood, a life plan community in Washington, DC, calls COVID-19 “a pernicious enemy.” Fleming, president and CEO of the Well•Spring Group in Greensboro, NC, observes that “never have we had a situation that has literally been life and death like this has been.” Both agree that the virus hit their organizations “like a ton of bricks.”

During last Wednesday’s virtual press briefing to kick off our Act for Older Adults campaign, the 2 LeadingAge members told reporters harrowing stories about what it’s been like to lead their organizations through the worst public health crisis to hit our nation in more than a century.

They described in detail their efforts to get their hands on personal protective equipment (PPE) and to offer the robust testing they knew would help contain the spread of COVID-19 among residents and staff.

Fleming shared his discovery, early in the crisis, that the government wasn’t going to help providers of aging services protect older adults from COVID-19, even though the virus had taken the lives of more than 80,000 people over age 65 in only a few months.

“When you know that 50% of the deaths are occurring in long-term care settings, why are you not allocating resources to those organizations?” Steve asked rhetorically with a palpable sense of incredulity.

Why indeed.

Our Act for Older Adults campaign is designed to change that reality. We’re demanding that Congress enact comprehensive relief to help providers of aging services care for Americans who are most susceptible to the deadly coronavirus.

The past 4 months have been a living nightmare for older adults, their families, and LeadingAge members who provide long-term services and supports to the nation’s most vulnerable elders. Yet, government officials have continually ignored our collective cries for help. Now, our nation’s leaders seem eager to put the pandemic behind them, even as 12 states recorded their highest numbers of new COVID-19 cases during the past week alone.

LeadingAge members who fight the coronavirus on a daily basis know this pandemic is far from over. It’s time for our national leaders to reckon with this uncomfortable truth.

Unfortunately, those leaders are doing exactly the opposite. They’re congratulating themselves for “winning the fight” against COVID-19 when they should be actively leading the way through this crisis. They’re turning a deaf ear to our cries for assistance when they should be prioritizing older Americans in their pandemic response.

We’re using our advocacy campaign to demand Five Essential Actions for Older Adults and staff in nursing homes, assisted living, affordable housing, hospice, home health, and community-based services:

Immediate access to ample and appropriate PPE for all providers who serve older Americans.
On-demand and fully funded access to accurate and rapid-results testing for older adults and their care providers.
Assurance that states will consider older Americans’ health and safety as they reopen.
Funding and support for aging services providers across the continuum of care.
Pandemic hero pay, paid sick leave, and health care coverage to recognize heroic frontline workers.

These are big asks. But we face big challenges. Weathering the current coronavirus wave—and the future waves that scientists tell us are likely to follow—will take determination and decisive action from all of us, especially our policymakers and national leaders.

Paul, Steve, and other LeadingAge members around the country have done their very best to fight a pernicious enemy and to care for its victims. LeadingAge is proud of all of you. And in your name, we are sending a strong message to our national leaders that you, and the older adults you serve, can no longer fight COVID-19 by yourselves.

It’s time for all of us to stand up and demand that Congress enact comprehensive relief for older Americans. Please join our Act for Older Adults campaign. Add your voice to the voices of your colleagues around the country. Visit our campaign website to find out how you can help us make a difference during this most important time in our history.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Almost one-third of COVID-19 infections nationwide have affected black Americans. News articles use words like “extraordinary,” “disproportionate,” and “cataclysmic” to describe the supporting data.

But is it news?

Racism is not new. It has plagued our nation for 400 years. And the never-ending inequalities have carried that plague from generation to generation.

The coronavirus pandemic and the killing of George Floyd have forced us to look hard at what racism is doing to people of color in cities and towns across our country. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that “New York City identified death rates among black/African American persons (92.3 deaths per 100,000 population) and Hispanic/Latino persons (74.3) that were substantially higher than that of white (45.2) or Asian (34.5) persons.”

The CDC report explained how living conditions in communities of color “may contribute to underlying health conditions and make it difficult to follow steps to prevent getting sick with COVID-19 or to seek treatment if they do get sick.” CDC then listed several insidious factors that led to the disproportionate number of cases and deaths. Among them are:

Members of racial and ethnic minorities may be more likely to live in densely populated areas because of institutional racism in the form of residential housing segregation.
Racial residential segregation is linked with a variety of adverse health outcomes and underlying health conditions.
Many racial and ethnic minorities live in neighborhoods that are farther from grocery stores and medical facilities, making it more difficult for residents to receive care during times of illness and to stock up on supplies that would allow them to shelter in place.

LeadingAge members know first-hand that those who are black or brown make up more than three-fifths (59%) of our direct care workforce. Together with those who are black or brown and are receiving long-term services and supports, these workers are affected disproportionately by COVID-19.

We may not be able to correct the underlying causes of these COVID-related disparities, but we ought to do more than wring our hands. We can act alone or in concert with others. But act we must. Our moral leadership in the communities we serve is absolutely vital to ending 2 inseparable, heartless pandemics: the COVID-19 pandemic and our pandemic of racism.

In our own LeadingAge communities, we can address an obvious disparity among our workforce: lack of access to the key social determinants of health, including a living wage, nutritious food, affordable housing, health care, sick leave, transportation, and education.

We need to ensure — now rather than later — that all direct care workers, including workers of color, have access to better training, fair pay and benefits, chances for career advancement and leadership development, and the assurance that we will do everything possible to make sure they can fulfill their dreams for themselves and their families.

Let us act now to promote racial justice. For only brave, bold, decisive, and sustained action can defeat the twin, yet inseparable, pandemics facing our nation.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Over the past few months, all of us have found ourselves wishing for a time, in the not-so-distant-future, when “this will all be over” and “things will return to normal.”

That kind of wishful thinking was on full display over Memorial Day weekend, as Americans tried our best to celebrate this national holiday with the same traditions we’ve observed since childhood.

Most of us ended the long weekend with the realization that life as we know it has changed beyond measure, and that we are unlikely to go back to “normal.” Many of us wondered what the word “normal” even means anymore.

I believe LeadingAge members came to this realization much sooner than the rest of the country. Working day and night on the front lines of this pandemic changed all of us, forever.

A recent meeting with several LeadingAge board members and business partners made me realize just how deeply some of these changes will affect us moving forward. Here are just a few of the changes mentioned during our call:

Infection control is here to stay. Management-directed infection control efforts will remain an imperative throughout our organizations. In fact, these efforts will be amplified, not just in nursing homes and assisted living communities, but also in affordable and market-rate apartments.

Employees will be the main event. Having a quality workforce that is well trained, dedicated, and focused is the main benefit we provide to older adults who need long-term services and supports. We’ve always known that, of course. But no one, inside or outside our organizations, is likely to take workers for granted ever again.

New roles are emerging. Over the past few months, we’ve all taken note of people in our organizations who emerged, perhaps unexpectedly, to help us meet unprecedented challenges. Activity directors, in particular, have outdone themselves by engaging deeply with residents, easing their loneliness, connecting them with family members, and journeying with those who, sadly, became sick or died. Perhaps it’s time to redesign the role of the activity director, and give that role a more encompassing title, so that the profound gifts activity directors are bringing to residents during this pandemic will continue to enrich our organizations long into the future.

These and many other observations and changes—the greater acceptance of telehealth, for example—would probably have happened in the absence of COVID-19. But it would have taken 5 years, not 12 weeks.

We’ve learned a lot since March. And we have a lot more to learn. This isn’t over yet.

I’m convinced that looking backward, and hoping for a return to normalcy, won’t get us where we need to go.

Instead, let’s keep our eyes straight ahead, focused on a different future. Let’s resolve to pivot and adapt as needed.

If we can do this, we will emerge from our current crisis as different people and as different organizations. And, I believe, we will emerge stronger than ever.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Anna Jarvis—the founder of Mother’s Day—came to my mind several times last weekend as Americans celebrated our mothers while also trying to protect them from the devastating pandemic that has upended our lives.

Jarvis began campaigning in 1905 to make Mother's Day a national holiday, but it took almost a decade for Woodrow Wilson to sign his 1914 proclamation setting aside the second Sunday in May to honor mothers.

Three things impress me about Jarvis:

She fought hard, and with admirable persistence, for what she believed in.
She was a woman of principle. She spent years railing against the commercialization of Mother’s Day, all the while insisting that a genuine appreciation of mothers must always translate into tangible action.
She respected and honored her own mother. Jarvis believed that a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”

I like to think Jarvis would have been pleased with how LeadingAge celebrated Mother’s Day this year.

First, we invited all Americans to join us in the fight to protect the older people in our lives—women and men who, truly, have done more for us than anyone in the world.

Second, we launched a national social media campaign asking Americans to honor the men and women who have dedicated their lives to caring for our mothers (and fathers). Right now, these workers show courage simply by coming to work every day in nursing home, assisted living, hospice, home care, and affordable senior housing settings. Each day, they demonstrate a keen dedication to our mothers, because they have spent years building deep and caring relationships with them. These aren’t just “workers.” They are part of our families.

Third, we’re calling on states to implement policies that underscore the need for all Americans to make sacrifices for the older Americans who have sacrificed so much for us. Our sacrifice—staying at home to slow the spread of this deadly virus—seems minimal in comparison with their sacrifice. That’s why we’re asking states not to reopen unless they have well-thought-out plans to keep older Americans safe and protected. It’s the least we can do.

Finally, we’re demanding tangible federal support for our mothers (and fathers), and for the people who care for them. We’re not looking for a ceremonial pat on the back for our workers, or Mother’s Day platitudes for our elders. Instead, we’re calling on Congress to act boldly.

Specifically, we want the next Congressional relief package to allocate $100 billion to cover COVID-19 needs and to provide critical support for aging services: hazard pay for frontline workers, federal housing assistance, support to deliver telehealth, access to loans, Medicaid increases, and administrative relief.

We’re going to need your help to send that important message to Congress.

Watch for the Action Alert we will send later today about the relief bill introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday.

Ask yourself, “What would Anna Jarvis do?”

And then speak up—loudly—for our mothers (and fathers).

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Monday marked the beginning of the sixth week that LeadingAge staff members have been working remotely in an effort to protect each other, and our loved ones, from exposure to the coronavirus.

This anniversary is a sobering milestone for all of us here in Washington, including myself. Like most Americans, I miss my co-workers, friends, and family members from whom I am separated as I “save lives by staying home.” I also miss what I consider to be the best part of my job: visiting with LeadingAge members in their communities and at meetings and gatherings around the country.

I’m experiencing other feelings too.

I feel awe whenever I talk with members about the great, albeit challenging, work you are doing to serve and protect older adults, who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. I feel proud of the work that my colleagues at LeadingAge National are doing every day to support you in that work.

There’s some confusion too. Like you, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to wrap my mind around the mounting death toll. Weeks into this crisis, I still shake my head occasionally in disbelief over what is happening to our country and our world. This head shaking inevitably leads to unanswerable questions: How did we get here? Where will we be 6 weeks from now? How will we—and our organizations—be different when all this is over?

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright recently gave me a way to start thinking about these questions.

“It is in the abnormal times that we learn most about ourselves and others,” Albright wrote in an April 12 column in The New York Times. “The shock absorbers that ordinarily shield our emotions and lull our minds no longer work so well. Our schedules are disrupted and our priorities change. We shrink, we grow, we may even die; we do not remain the same.”

Albright describes our world to a tee. Fortunately, she also offers us a way to make sense of that world.

She writes: “It might do well for us to view these abnormal days as an opportunity to ask more of ourselves, to reflect on our relations with one another, and think critically about improving the social, economic, and political structures that shape our lives.”

In short, I think Albright is calling us to figure out what we are learning from our coronavirus experience. This is a hard task, especially during a time that seems more chaotic then reflective. But LeadingAge members have convinced me that it is not impossible.

In every call and email I exchange with a LeadingAge member, I hear implicit or explicit observations, insights, new awareness, and knowledge. I can say, unequivocally, that we are learning every day at LeadingAge, in Washington and around the country.

It’s important that we don’t lose this wisdom as the weeks unfold and our days run together and become a blur. This is a devastating time, no doubt about it. But it is also a time rich in possibilities for growth and change.

I encourage us all to keep track of this growth and change. Create a space—a journal, a diary, or just a running list—where you can occasionally step away from the fray, take a deep breath, jot down what’s happening, what you’re learning, and how that learning might help you improve your life and the lives of others.

A chronology like this will serve you well over the long term. And remember what author Ryan Holiday says about this vital process of taking stock.

“The best journals … aren’t for the reader,” he writes in Stillness is the Key. “They are for the writer. To slow the mind down. To wage peace with oneself.”

In this trying time, that peace is what I wish for you.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Last week’s religious observances of Passover and Holy Week presented us with dramatic symbols of how our lives have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seders held on Zoom? Easter celebrations conducted in empty churches and streamed on YouTube? I attended a lovely and moving memorial service via Zoom with people from as far away as South Africa.

None of us have ever experienced anything quite like this. And, yet, we adapt. We do what we can to keep ourselves connected while staying apart. We do it all in the name of saving lives. But it’s not easy.

The value—and the pain—of social-distancing becomes particularly evident to me each time I talk by phone with a LeadingAge member. Our members are doing their very best to help residents and clients use technology to stay connected with family and friends. But to keep residents and clients safe, the same members are taking steps that appear to go against everything they stand for.

Organizational leaders who have spent their careers promoting independence and interconnectedness among older adults now find themselves implementing rules and practices they would ordinarily view as draconian. And they’re feeling very uncomfortable about it.

Organizations are prohibiting visitors, and many are requiring that residents who leave the community for any reason self-isolate for 14 days—sometimes longer—after their return.

Some members are removing furniture from common areas as a way to keep residents from congregating and spreading the virus unknowingly. Others are blocking off benches on patios and in courtyards to make sure residents enjoy fresh air while remaining 6 feet apart.

Members are closing dining rooms and leaving meals outside apartment doors. They are locking activity areas and canceling classes and events. They are forcing residents into isolation—the kind of isolation these members have long dedicated themselves to eliminating.

I’m hearing how sad members are to find themselves “unraveling” community rather than building it. “This doesn’t feel like us,” they tell me.

I respect these heartfelt revelations and honor LeadingAge members who remain so dedicated to carrying out their missions, even during this pandemic.

Unfortunately for all of us, these unusual times call for a whole new perspective on the practices we hold dear. The hard-to-accept truth is that fulfilling your mission as a nonprofit provider of aging services now means accepting that you are called to think about community very differently.

The next time you’re feeling sad about this new calling, remember that it is only temporary.

Believe that community as we knew it can and will be rekindled when this pandemic is over.

Trust, as I do, that our shared isolation over these many weeks will make our shared experience of community—and our gratitude for one another—stronger when we come together in person again.

Be well. Stay safe. And let us know how LeadingAge can help you.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

“Where New York is today, you will be in 3-4 weeks. We are your future, and what we do here will chart the course for what you do in your city and in your community.”

We’re not likely to forget this powerful statement, made by Andrew Cuomo on March 24. The New York governor was referring to what’s become known as the “rolling apex” of COVID-19 cases spreading in distinct waves across the country.

The rolling apex is creating a palpable sense of dread in states waiting for their inevitable spike in COVID-19 cases. But there’s also a very small glimmer of hope: as the virus spreads geographically, so do the lessons that early hotspots can teach us about battling this scourge.

This mixture of dread and hope was evident this week when a LeadingAge member shared an ominous prediction with me: she believes her organization is probably about 2 or 3 weeks away from facing the onslaught of COVID-19 cases that LeadingAge members in other parts of the country are now experiencing.

She had 2 important questions:

“What 2 or 3 things should I do to prepare?”

“What do other members wish they had done differently?”

The first question was relatively easy to answer.

I pointed the member to our growing collection of member ideas and inspiration, which now includes 25 stories about how other LeadingAge members are deploying innovative solutions to address COVID-19 challenges in such areas as workforce, communications, and meals.

I also sent her links to the myriad resources LeadingAge has assembled on our main coronavirus page. I urged her to read our daily COVID-19 email updates, register for our daily calls, and tap into peer support through our Member Community COVID-19 group.

The member’s second question was much harder to answer. That’s why I’m passing it on to you:

What do you wish you had done differently? As organizational leaders, what have you learned from inevitable mishaps and mistakes?

I know you are busy responding to this unprecedented health emergency—and likely too busy to reflect on how that response is going. If reflection isn’t possible right now, please tuck this question away somewhere and come back to it when you can.

But if you have thoughts to share—even if they amount to only an ounce of advice—I hope you will send them to me at ksloan@leadingage.org.

Even an ounce of advice could save lives.

Thank you for all you are doing on the front lines of this devastating pandemic. Let us know how we can help you.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Can you do something?

An old friend sent me this plaintive request after spending time with her sister, who is living with dementia. She was clearly distressed, but not about her sister’s cognitive ability. What has her worried is the inability of family members to engage with her sister in a way that is person-centered and empowering.

My friend has more questions than I can answer.

Why do family members routinely argue with her sister about facts like the date of her mother’s death? (Her sister’s insistence that their mother died last week calls for sympathy, not correction, my friend reasons.)

Why do family members treat her sister as if she has a terminal illness? (My friend would prefer they recognize that her sister has a disability, and then search for accommodations to improve her sister’s quality of life.)

And, most important, why hasn’t any health care professional offered family members much-needed insights into her sister’s lived experience? (The doctor simply writes prescriptions for drugs that aren’t helping, laments my friend.)

My friend doesn’t blame her family. She assures me they are very good and loving people who simply are out of their depth. But she does blame those who could help but don’t. Sadly, most people in the family’s support network – doctors, friends, relatives – are pulling away, not coming closer.

She also wants to know what LeadingAge and its members are doing to ease the family crises that she imagines are playing out in thousands of kitchens and family rooms, just like her sister’s, around the country.

I assured her that important work is taking place on a variety of fronts.

Dementia Friendly America: As co-chair of Dementia Friendly America (DFA), I’ve seen firsthand how much can be accomplished when businesses, health care systems, housing providers, and governments in the DFA network come together at the community level to support people living with dementia and their care partners. DFA also coordinates the U.S. Dementia Friends program, which educates ordinary people about what it's like to live with dementia. If you haven’t already joined DFA, I urge you to do so.

The Learning Hub: LeadingAge’s Learning Hub, our online education portal, gives providers the tools they need to help people with dementia continue to live well after their diagnosis. I love these resources because they feature lessons people living with dementia have taught us about how they want to live, and how we can help them achieve their goals. I recommend you explore 3 features: Rethinking Dementia: A Positive Approach, Living Well With Dementia, and Dementia: The Lived Experience.

Time Slips: Last year, we announced our investment in the NextGen program pioneered by TimeSlips, a nonprofit creative engagement network serving people living with dementia and their care partners. Through the program, LeadingAge members and other care providers are giving students, educators, and older adults living with dementia an opportunity to engage together in creative pursuits that are good for the soul. In the process, we’re preparing young people to understand, accept, and empower people living with dementia.

I’m proud of the work LeadingAge is doing to reduce the stigma associated with dementia and to raise the bar on supporting people living with dementia and their family members.

Are members doing even more at the local level? Definitely.

It would be impossible to describe here the myriad ways LeadingAge members are supporting people living with dementia and their care partners. But I’ll mention 3 outstanding examples: The Dementia 360 program developed by Presbyterian Senior Care Network in western Pennsylvania; the CARE program at Joy’s House, an adult day provider in Indianapolis; and the Navigating Dementia program at LiveWell Dementia Specialists in Plantsville, CT.

LeadingAge is proud to be associated with these – and many other – member-sponsored programs, which are making a very real and very important difference in the lives of older adults and their families as they navigate the dementia journey.

Is there even more we could all be doing? Absolutely.

We’re open to your suggestions. And we’d love to hear how you are responding to my friend’s request that we “do something” to help families like hers.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

Last week, we celebrated Martin Luther’s King’s birthday. For some, it is a day off from work. For others, a day of service. But for all, it is an occasion to renew hope and to remind ourselves that our nation’s history is a long journey of self-correction.

In many ways, on a narrower scale, as part of our commitment to a quality of life for ALL older adults as they age, we have and continue to be on a journey of self-correction. From “homes for the incurable” or “homes for the relief of homeless and friendless females” of yesteryear, we have created vibrant communities that celebrate age. We have eliminated physical restraints and invented new options—PACE, assisted living, and adult day centers. We are on a path of innovation, reinvention and, yes, self-correction. Our journey is not over.

Research released by NIC last spring was a stark reminder that there are older adults that are grossly underserved. In this case, NIC’s focus was the “middle market”—those with too many resources to qualify for Medicaid and too few to avail themselves of much of what the market currently has to offer. Absolutely, there is a dearth of options for the middle market. However, they are not the only ones who are underserved. Case in point: the increasing number of older individuals who are homeless; those on long waiting lists for an affordable apartment; families in communities that have a paltry array of community services; older individuals living in neighborhoods considered “food deserts” without a grocery store, which undoubtedly means there are few services available to them.

There are vast opportunities to serve, to create, to partner and to network—to support the underserved. LeadingAge members are doing so. Iona Senior Services is opening an adult day program in a vastly underserved part of Washington, DC. St Paul’s Senior Services is providing supportive housing for the homeless in San Diego. Juliette Fowler Communities in Dallas is bringing generations together by providing housing for young women “aging out” of foster care who are survivors of abuse and neglect. The Weinberg Center for Elder Justice at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale provides a safe shelter for older victims of abuse. And, Volunteers of America has, for 125 years, served the nation’s most vulnerable be they older, people living with disabilities, veterans, or others with needs.

These, and others, are the exemplars in our midst. They understand our common humanity, as Dr. King would remind us, and take action every day of the year. I commend you and am humbled to work alongside you.

Associated Blog:

Conversations with Katie

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