Well, tomorrow is April 15th -- tax due date! If you've filed your taxes already, then congratulations. If you haven't, then I imagine your stress level must be fairly elevated. Today I want to talk about a portion of our population that doesn't have to file taxes, but whose stress levels is most likely higher.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Vera Haile of the Advisory Committee for San Francisco's Department of Aging & Adult Services and of the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council of the Human Services Agency of SF. As a former senior center manager, Vera has experienced first hand the dilemma of the elderly poor.

I am not going to tug on your heartstrings and relay sentimental human-interest stories -- we'll leave that to broadcast TV. I just want to lay out the facts, specifically for high cost areas like San Francisco. For 2009 the Federal Poverty Line for a family of one or two is between $10,800 to $14,500 per year. However, according to the recently published UCLA Health Policy Research Brief, the cost of living in San Francisco County for an elderly couple renting is $37,000 per year. Even for seniors that owns their home, the cost of living for a couple is 27,300. These costs factor in only their basic needs such as housing, food, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and transportation.

What this means is that over 60% of all elders age 65 or older do not have sufficient income to support their basic needs. In San Francisco County, this translates to more that 65,000 elders below "our" poverty line. The elderly poor cuts across ethnic lines: 6 in 10 Latinos, 8 in 10 African Americans, and 7 in 10 Asians. If we use the Federal guideline, only 9% of elders are considered poor. But try living on $10,800 in San Francisco. And no, the answer is not to relocate elders out of San Francisco.

So what is the answer? I wish I knew. But I do know that people like Vera Haile are working fervently on the problem. I think the first step is building awareness of it. She and her compatriots are advocating passage of AB324, the Elder Economic Dignity Act in California. AB324 will assist policymakers in better allocating limited resources, prepare for the needs of aging baby boomers, and help us make more informed decisions about our own retirement decisions.

So, while you go to file your taxes, cursing at the complexity and the cost, reflect, be thankful that you have sufficient income to rant about your taxes, and take a deep breath.

Hello, World!

"Hello, World!" I thought this simple declaration of being would be a good way to start my new blog. So, what are these Elder Care Chronicles? Well, I recently started a new website: CareMinds.com. We're all about being a resource for senior care. The first thing we're doing on the site is listing elder care providers across the US, including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

In the course of my day, I come across a lot of interesting people, ideas and initiatives related to elder care. This blog gives me the opportunity to jot down and share my experiences and opinions.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a senior care symposium organized by Born To Age, a publisher of senior resource directories in the Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Marin-Sonoma and Solano counties. The event was held at the Christian Brothers Mt. LaSalle Retreat in Napa. What a great place to get away for a day.

Yvonne Baginski, the president of Born To Age, kicked off the proceedings by emphasizing the opportunity and the need for us in the industry to connect, cooperate and collaborate. After an hour and half of introductions and suggestions, Greg Weinerth of Enterprising Solutions provided an overview of what is going on in our country,

our economy and how that’s going to affect our industry.

My takeaways from Greg’s presentation is that given the collapse in housing prices, seniors will be hard-pressed to sell their homes to move into assisted living or continuing care communities. This bodes well for home care and home health care operators. Greg also emphasized that we need to do a better job utilizing the internet for marketing and networking. He

suggested we all get on LinkedIn and that we consider blogging. I offered to be the “IT guy” for the group. As a parting message, Greg encouraged us all to be environmentally responsible.

The next speaker was Julie Brown. Founder of Illumina Productions, Julie is an accomplished film/TV/theatre actor, singer, author, speaker and entrepreneur. She’s an amazing motivational speaker. Aside from her statuesque beauty, she has incredible positive energy and is a

wonderful storyteller. The core of her message is that before all else and especially in these troubled times, you have to accept and love yourself. Positive energy will flow from that. I couldn’t agree more.