Feb. 14 session at Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center
State leaders will discuss issues of interest to seniors in Iowa City on Feb. 14. The Johnson County Taskforce on Aging will sponsor a public forum at the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, 28 South Linn Street, at 2 p.m.
The taskforce is a part of the Heritage Area Agency on Aging. Guests for the forum will be the newly appointed Director of the Iowa Department on Aging, Donna Harvey, and Iowa State Ombudsman Jeanne Yordi.
Director Harvey has been asked to share her hopes for the Department on Aging in the new Branstad administration, her hopes as to what the Iowa Assembly will do this year, plus what she anticipates Congress will do in relation to reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.
In comments made at her appointment, Gov. Branstad said, “Donna brings a rich background to this position. She has served as the Director of Hawkeye Valley Area Agency on Aging since 1987. In addition, Harvey is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services and is the past president of both the National Association of Area Agencies and the Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging.”
Jeanne Yordi has been Iowa’s State Ombudsman for six years. In November 2010, she received the National Association of State Ombudsman Advocacy Award. Yordi has spent the past 11 years working to protect older Iowans. In May 2010, she was involved in action that resulted in Governor Culver issuing an Executive Order that assured the autonomy and independence of the Ombudsman Office.
At the forum Yordi will be asked to address the role of the State Ombudsman and how her office can assist persons in licensed facilities in Iowa as well as their families. She has also been asked to address the ten most common complaints regarding care facilities and what changes in the state rules and regulations she feels would to help protect the health, safety and welfare of older Iowans.
There will be an opportunity for those present to ask questions and share concerns with these two state leaders.
This program is the first of a series that will bring state officials to Johnson County. On March 14, Director Rod Roberts, Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals, will be speaking. The series is designed to help the citizens of Johnson County to know the new leadership in our state, to learn of their vision, and to share with them our concerns and hopes.
The forums are free and open to the public. For further information, please contact Bob Welsh, chair of the Johnson County Task Force on Aging, [email protected] or 354-4618.