Senior Day at the Indiana Statehouse Tuesday provided senior citizens an opportunity to talk with lawmakers, tour the Statehouse, participate in town-hall discussions and get information about resources available to senior Hoosiers.
Caleb Crockett | TheStatehouseFile.com
Tuesday saw the largest-ever turnout for Senior Day at the Indiana Statehouse. Sponsored by CICOA, it boasted 24 vendors and almost 100 registered attendees.
Senior Day has invited senior Hoosiers to the Statehouse every other year since 2019 and focuses on giving them a voice.
Attendees were given topic cards with information about several bills that may affect them. They were encouraged to write about which ones they supported and which ones they were against. The responses will be shown to lawmakers in each senior’s district.
The seniors also visited the House and Senate and were given opportunities to speak to multiple legislators throughout the day.
Steve Gerber, chief development officer of CICOA, formerly known as the Central Indiana Council on Aging, said that politics should not influence how we take care of the elderly population.
As of 2022, seniors made up 26% of Indiana’s total population and, according to Indiana University, that number is expected to increase to 46% by 2030.
“Health care should not be partisan,” Gerber said. “We all grow old and we all want to be taken care of. Eventually we will all get to the point where we need aid in figuring it all out.”
Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, spoke about what she hoped the seniors would get out of the day.
“I think it’s a good day for them to interact with each other because sometimes when you talk to each other, you get ideas that you hadn’t necessarily thought of before,” Jackson said, “because other people could be experiencing the same situations that you have, and then they can help you and tell you what you need to do in order to work out those indifferences.”
Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, has played an active role in Senior Day since its conception in 2019, and she expressed the day’s importance.
“To me it’s about giving a stage, a platform, for our seniors—for one, to be seen, and two, so we can hear their issues,” Shackleford said. “For some of them, it’s their first time and they’ve never been here, so it’s about being welcoming to our seniors and making sure that they understand that we understand their priority.”
Shackleford is motivated to ensure senior voices are heard by the legislators.
“I hear them all the time; they say, ‘we feel like we’re not seen, we feel like we’re forgotten,’” Shackleford said. “So I would make sure they feel like they’re not forgotten, and I hope they take away that their voice is truly being heard.”
Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, doubled down on Shackleford’s sentiments by welcoming each senior as they came in.
“We want to make sure that our seniors know that here in the Indiana General Assembly, this house is their house and that they have access to it and are welcome,” Summers said. “(I want them) to know how to approach their legislators, to get their thoughts together to talk to them. Just to know their way around, know that they’re welcome here, and meet some of their representatives.”
Regardless of political position, Shackleford believes Senior Day empowers the elderly to remind legislators of their societal status.
“I hope they take away that legislators do care about their wellbeing,” Shackleford said. “That they actually have the power, that this is their house and that we work for them.
Caleb Crockett is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
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