Elaine Ryan, AARP’s Vice-President of State Advocacy and Strategy Integration

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is fast becoming a key part of our annual awards luncheon. Last year’s Community Collaboration Award recipient was the AARP’s Lester Strong.  He is followed this year by Elaine Ryan, AARP’s Vice-President of State Advocacy and Strategy Integration (SASI) in its Government Affairs group.  Elaine’s record of accomplishment has been stellar.  She has been involved in the enactment and implementation of such important laws as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Medicare Modernization Act, the Ticket to Work Act for persons with disabilities, the McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the creation of the first federal office of Women’s Health Research.  In addition, Elaine was instrumental in pushing through the AARP’s Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act.  Under this law, before a hospital can release a patient, it must first  identify a family caregiver and educate them of the medical tasks necessary to properly care for the patient at home. At least thirty-three states already have approved a CARE Act, including California, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey.

During the luncheon, Elaine Ryan spoke about her own experiences as an unofficial caregiver for her ailing parents. She described how she had to travel every other weekend from Washington to upstate NY to prepare meals and dispense medicine.  During her speech, she also reminded us of the indefatigable human spirit when she told us the time her father first became a homeowner – at age 83.  He lived in that house for 9 years until he died.  She also talked about before the advent of the mechanical lift and how her father once jerry-rigged a device to lift his wife from her wheelchair to the bed.

At AARP, Elaine focuses on a 50-state effort to pass legislation and regulations to help family caregivers (the majority of whom are unpaid) fill the big gaps found in the U.S. long-term health care system.  One study shows that 90 percent of long-term care in the United States is provided by family caregivers.

To  help bridge that gap, Ryan’s group works on a broad range of legislation that includes bills that will give nurses more authority to provide care, including writing prescriptions.  This bill will save time and money spent on unnecessary doctor visits.  Other bills would broaden access to respite care, sick leave, and job protection for workers who are forced to take time off from work to care for a loved one.

Once again we salute Elaine Ryan for her lifetime of service and achievement in health advocacy.  It is with great pleasure and honor that we recognize Elaine Ryan as our 2016 recipient of the Diana Gregory Outreach Services Community Collaboration Award.