Stewart, Collins advocate for elderly care Senate panel told more, better-trained caregivers needed for aging population

WASHINGTON – Martha Stewart told a Senate panel Wednesday that as the first of the nation’s 78 million baby boomers reach their 60s, their health needs will grow but not the number of trained professionals needed to care for them.

Stewart, who is 66, was among those who testified about the need for more and better-trained caregivers for the elderly at the Special Committee on Aging hearing.

Stewart told of how experiences with her mother inspired her to establish the Martha Stewart Center for Living, a clinic providing geriatric outpatient services at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Stewart donated $5 million toward the project and said she hopes it will recruit more doctors to specialize in elderly care.

The center is located on the Upper East Side of New York City, but Stewart said in her testimony on Wednesday that “it’s difficult, especially in smaller cities and rural locations, to find doctors experienced in the specific needs that arise with age.”

Stewart, who spends her summers on Maine’s Mount Desert Island and has given to local Maine charities, has not indicated whether she would set up in Maine a program modeled after the Mount Sinai program.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the committee, co-sponsored legislation in March that would strengthen recruitment and retention for geriatric caregivers. The AARP, an advocacy group for people over 50, endorsed the measure.

The most rapidly growing segment of the nation’s population is 85 and over, Collins said at the hearing. “Maine is disproportionately elderly,” she said. “I’m very concerned about access to health care as my generation and others join me in this population segment.”

The hearing reviewed the findings of a report issued on Monday by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, which was created by Congress to advise the government.

The report found that there aren’t enough geriatric specialists to care for the growing aging population. There is one geriatric-certified doctor for every 2,500 elderly Americans.

Medicare is also a problem because it does not pay doctors as much as they would get if the patient were not in Medicare, according to the report. This hinders patients from getting the best care because their doctors are forced to treat short-term problems rather than deal with the larger chronic conditions.