The Power to Make It Better" in Delaware"
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2005-12-22 09:57:35
Thanks to our nearly 36 million members, volunteers and community partners nationwide, including the 150,000+ members in Delaware, 2005 was a great year for AARP.
We grew as an organization - meeting the key needs of members and constituents - and grew in our capacity to help others by providing assistance in the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina.
In Delaware, the AARP State Office offered a balanced agenda including successful advocacy work around key items such as outreach and education for Medicare Part D and in preserving the means of assessment for our AARP Driver Safety Program.
In addition, the State Office hosted our fourth Issues and Answers series - "The Road to Retirement Security" for nearly 300 Delawareans and co-sponsored the Celebrating Life Senior Expo and the Delaware Caregivers Expo events. AARP Delaware also invited several legislators from Delaware to travel to Vermont for roundtable discussions with other lawmakers from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine to address the future of health care in our country.
A highlight of the year was the AARP Delaware's "Shining Stars" Celebration where nearly 200 volunteers, including AARP Board of Directors' Richard Johnson and Northeast Regional Volunteer Roland Stoodley, were on hand to recognize the state's volunteer stars, including 2005 Andrus Award for Community Service recipient, Patricia Rust.
Looking forward to 2006, AARP Delaware will embark upon an exciting and important agenda. A top priority area for the state in 2006 will continue to be Medicare Part D outreach and education. While increasing our efforts to provide outreach and leadership to organizations engaged in Medicare Part D awareness efforts, we will focus a great deal of our efforts on reaching low-income beneficiaries. Medicaid is another key area for 2006. We will begin to identify options and barriers, while working closely with key stakeholders on issues addressing coverage. In addition, we will strive to connect with organizations and groups involved in long-term care and caregiving issues.
Another 2006 priority area for the Delaware State Office will be the focus on older workers. We will begin by laying the groundwork for a multi-year campaign focusing on career design options, flexibility, hiring, recruiting and leaving the workplace. We will work to address important financial protections for Delawareans through our next AARP Issues and Answers informational series offered in all three counties.
To continue AARP Delaware's focus on home modifications to help the 50+ population remain safe and secure in their own homes, we will be working with Rebuilding Together Wilmington. We will look to AARP volunteers to help us modify five homes for low-income seniors in Wilmington.
Finally, member engagement will also be enhanced through our diversity outreach efforts. We hope to increase awareness and understanding of AARP among diverse groups in Delaware and provide them with key information on issues that impact their communities.
Effectively driving these and other elements will mean working to maximize every corner of AARP in the Delaware including staff, volunteers, Chapters, key partners and community organizations.
AARP Delaware sincerely thanks all of the members, volunteers, key partners, legislators and community organizations that worked with us in making 2005 a stellar year. We look forward to our continued work together in addressing needs and positively impacting the lives of all Delawareans.
Lucretia Young
State Director, AARP Delaware
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