Risk Less / Do More: Top US Government Advocate emphasizes Covid, Flu and RSV Vaccines [with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging Kari Benson]

Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars

In this episode of the podcast, we were honored to meet with the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, Kari Benson. Her entire career has been focused on the promotion of Home and Community Based Services for older and disabled individuals.
I asked the secretary what the most important message was that she needed to share in this podcast episode and without hesitation, her answer was to say thanks to our industry and to all that you do to enable our older and disabled neighbors to continue living in their homes.
But her message and mission on the episode were to emphasize the importance of vaccinations to keep our clients safe. She shared the following compelling statistics from the past year:

• 900K older Americans were treated for COVID and those without vaccines suffered more
• 400K older Americans were treated for the FLU and those without vaccines suffered more
• 200K older Americans were treated for RSV and those without vaccines suffered more

The message is clear! We need to make sure that our clients and our caregivers are vaccinated.
The secretary also told us a great deal about her role and her organization: the Administration for Community Living (ACL) a hidden GEM within the department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She also wanted to share the following resources with us:

• Elder Care Locator: 1-800-677-1116 or https://eldercare.act.gov
• Disability Services Locator (DIAL): 1-888-677-1199 or https://DIAL.act.gov

I'd also like to offer a special thanks to our friends at the National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) who arranged the interview and introduced us to the Risk Less / Do More promotion.
Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars is produced and sponsored by Ankota - If you provide services that enable older or disabled people to continue living at home , Ankota can provide you the software to successfully run your agency. Visit us at https://www.ankota.com.