Chemung Co. Department of Aging holds public hearing

Joe Mason
·2 min read

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – The Chemung County Department of Aging and Long Term Care held a public hearing April 25, 2024.

Speakers spoke extensively on scams targeting older people, end of life care and setting up wills and finalizing healthcare proxies. Speakers also discussed the Older Americans Act of
1965, and the New York State Elder Law. The speakers included: Beth Stranges (Director of the Department of Aging & Long Term Care), John Maloney (Attorney, Keyser Maloney & Winner LLP) and Sheila Brewer-Montero (Fraud Prevention Coordinator, Lifespan of Greater Rochester Inc.). Community members were encouraged to ask questions about the topics discussed.

Chemung County Office of Aging helping seniors combat loneliness

“People want to know about scams or feel like they’ve been scammed. We want to educate the public on these scams that are targeting older adults and today we also want to educate older adults on the importance of end of life planning or your estate planning. What do you want that to look like? Who do you want to make sure can answer questions for you if you are not able to answer medically related questions? So, think about healthcare proxy forms, wills, power of attorneys,” said Director of Chemung County Department of Aging and Long Term Care Beth Stranges.

Chemung County Department of Aging to hold public hearing

“We’re required to hold public hearings so that we can provide insight to our community members and then gather their input on what their needs are as we age in our community. Every community is  a little bit different. So, it’s really important to find out what are the needs of our older adults in our community. What do we want to see moving forward as we’re developing our four year plan? And to really just take into account all of the comments and pieces of information that we’re going to gather today will be reviewed with our advisory council,” said Stranges.

The Department of Aging is putting out a community needs survey online in the coming weeks. For more information on the department of aging, click here.

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