Active aging
January 2015 • Vol. 36-No. 2
January 2004 • Vol. 25-No.2
Informing 112,000 55+ readers Southcentral Kansas Serving 80,000 Readers in in South Central Kansas
Fire closes kitchen, Senior center Questions About Services? Central Plains Area Agency on Aging (Butler, Harvey and Sedgwick Counties) 1-855-200-2372 or call your county Department on Aging Harvey County 284-6880 1-800-750-7993 Butler County 775-0500 1-800-279-3655 Active Aging: 316-942-5385 www.activeagingonline.com
By David Dinell Flexibility has been key for the staff, volunteers and clients of Senior Services of Wichita after a Nov. 22 electrical fire shut down many of its operations, including Meals on Wheels. For several weeks, the Meals program operated out of the center’s parking lot at 200 S. Walnut. Staff and volunteers alike worked outside, often in freezing temperatures. Since there was no kitchen, frozen or shelf-stable meals that didn’t require cooking were served to the more than 900 Meals clients. In early December, Meals on Wheels found a temporary home at Premier Catering, southwest of Mid-Continent Airport. Laurel Alkire, executive director of Senior Services, Photos by David Dinell said the community has been extremely helpful. “It’s been Mona Lewis uses one of the giant kettles at Premier Catering to prepare a Meals on Wheels lunch.
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See Fire, page 2 The program is temporarily using the catering service’s kitchen as its base of operations.
Legislation for seniors proposed
By Joan Warren Statewide elections are over. The robo-calls have stopped, and the annoying television ads are back to the car guys instead of mudslinging politics. The Kansas Legislature’s 2015 session in Topeka will open Jan. 12. Wichita-area legislators will meet with constituents at a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the Sedgwick County Courthouse, 525 N. Main. This would be a good way to find out
what to expect when the session begins. Several advocacy groups that lobby on behalf of seniors will present legislation this session. The Kansas Silver Haired Legislators (SHL) plans to bring three issues, according to Carl Williams of Wichita, SHL Speaker Pro-Tem. • Change restrictions on payday loans to limit amounts that can be borrowed, and increase the time to repay loans. Williams says this is a top priority
2015: A transformative year Watch us in 2015. We’ve reached our mid-30s and have decided to make some changes that more accurately reflect YOU, our 50-plus audience. As part of those changes we’ll undergo a name change that more closely reflects the interests of you, our readers, and how you go about your lives. Our website also will be trans-
formed. It will continue to be your online source for our paper but it will be easier to navigate, will offer stories and information that weren’t available when we went to press, and will better serve our loyal advertisers. All of this is happening because of our commitment and mission to serve our readers in Butler, Harvey and Sedgwick counties.
because unsuspecting seniors fall prey to these lenders. (K.S.A. 16a-2-404). • Amend legislation dealing with the mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person to include stronger penalties for those found guilty of mistreatment, and the ability to take disciplinary action against unlicensed employees providing direct care. (K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 21-5417). • Amend motor vehicle liability insurance limits to raise amounts granted for bodily injury or death and destruction of property in case of an accident. (K.S.A. 40-3107). Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D-Wichita) says she supports the initiatives. AARP plans to introduce the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) act, according to Ernest Kutzley, State Advocacy Director. The act “supports family caregivers when our loved ones go into the hospital, and it helps us learn what we must do to safely provide care when they’re discharged
See Legislature, page 4