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|  | | | Minnesota Board on Aging: Showing Respect for Older People
Many people think I’m crazy to want to go to
a nursing home everyday when I don’t have to—but I really enjoy it. I
love meeting people: the people who live there and the ones who visit
their family there, and the people who work there.
A few years ago when the new Medicare prescription drug coverage plan went into affect I wasn’t sure exactly how it could benefit me. I began to ask around the nursing home where I volunteer, and one of my friends who works there told me about the Senior LinkAge Line, one of the services that is provided by the Minnesota Board on Aging.
This toll free hotline is like a best friend, or son or daughter for anyone with a question about government services for elderly people: anyone can call to get information about health related issues for the senior citizen community. I called it and received information about the new Medicare drug coverage and have told my friends to do the same if they have questions.
As someone who spends so much time around older people, and especially because it is in a nursing home setting, I can see how the Minnesota Board on Aging provides services that are important to a lot of people, even if they don’t know it because the Board on Aging makes sure the state legislature doesn’t overlook older people when they are drawing up the laws.
Even more importantly, the fact that such an agency exists shows that our state government has respect for and cares about aging people. The volunteer work I do at the nursing home everyday has been one of the most important things I have ever done, and the Minnesota Board on Aging has helped myself and many of the people I see everyday. It encourages feelings of respect towards older people and I think that is extremely important.
Esther T.
Retiree, Volunteer
St. Louis Park
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