President Trump has called for an all-of-America approach to combating COVID-19. Especially on an issue like protecting the elderly, we need coordination among all actors, from federal leadership to state and local governments and community-based partners.
As you are keenly aware, concern for older Americans has to be at the center of our COVID-19 response. We need to protect older adults whether they live in the community or in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility.
As Prepared for Delivery
Good morning, and welcome to the first meeting of the Elder Justice Coordinating Council in 2020.
I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to chair this council in person at the SEC headquarters in 2018, with the Attorney General and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton present.
It’s unfortunate that this meeting could not occur in person, but I am glad that our 14 federal departments and agencies have still found a way to come together.
I’m excited to see the efforts that will emerge from this and future meetings to protect older Americans, especially during these unprecedented times.
President Trump has called for an all-of-America approach to combating COVID-19. Especially on an issue like protecting the elderly, we need coordination among all actors, from federal leadership to state and local governments and community-based partners.
As you are keenly aware, concern for older Americans has to be at the center of our COVID-19 response. We need to protect older adults whether they live in the community or in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility.
By one estimate, 42 percent of deaths from COVID-19 have been in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, which is why we have put such a focus on these settings.
We now require nursing homes to report cases of COVID-19 directly to CDC so that this important information is transparent and available to residents, family members, and the public.
Through Medicare and Medicaid, we’re increasing penalties for facilities with persistent infection control violations. We’ve expanded funds to purchase digital tablets for residents of nursing facilities to visit with family, carry out telehealth appointments, or, if needed, contact their State Long-Term-Care Ombudsman.
To protect older Americans wherever they live, we’ve required states to provide a specific focus in their testing plans on vulnerable populations, which includes the elderly.
We’re also working on the specific needs of older Americans who live in the community, who may be encountering special challenges due to social distancing.
HHS’s Administration for Community Living has pushed out more than a billion dollars in funds for services like nutrition that older Americans need to stay in their homes.
We also know that isolation can make some older Americans more susceptible to abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.
That’s why it’s so critical that the EJCC, with all of its members, meet during the pandemic, to work together to protect older Americans, to inform them how to protect themselves, to ensure they have the resources to do so, and to make families aware and to let scammers know that they cannot prey on older Americans, that we will prosecute them for these crimes.
We have made great progress in strengthening and improving our federal responses to elder maltreatment in recent years, and we have not ceased this work despite the additional challenges we all face during the COVID-19 crisis.
ACL’s work has not let up during the pandemic. Programs like ACL’s State Long-Term Care Ombudsmen and state Adult Protective Services programs are bravely and creatively continuing services.
Ombudsman have coordinated with nursing home staff to do “virtual walk throughs,” where the staff walk with a tablet from room to room and offer residents the opportunity to meet virtually with the Ombudsman.
Ombudsmen in many states are holding video meetings to update families and residents with the information they need several times a week, including in the evening when families are available.
I want to recognize the work of all 14 EJCC member agencies, each of whom has played an active and vital role in protecting Americans from the effects of COVID-19. That extends from Treasury providing unprecedented amounts of economic aid to DOJ’s work putting criminals on notice that we are on the lookout for scams, which can present a particular risk to the elderly.
All of our EJCC partners in our 14 member agencies are doing impressive work in these extraordinary circumstances.
Individually, I applaud your efforts. Collectively, we can be a tremendous force for good—a force that can be truly effective in addressing elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
Again, thank you to each and every one of our EJCC member agencies, your staff, our presenters, and the courageous frontline workers who ensure the health, welfare, and safety of older Americans, and all of us, each day. I wish you a productive rest of the meeting today.
