By The Star Staff
Sens. Keren Riquelme Cabrera and Juan Oscar Morales Rodríguez on Monday announced the creation of a task force to address the urgent problem of elderly people in Puerto Rico being abandoned in hospitals, long-term care centers, and even in their homes.
The task force’s members are the directors of the Justice Department’s Office of Family and Minors’ Affairs; the Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development of Puerto Rico (ODSEC); the Governor’s Office on Faith-Based Affairs, Pastor Luis Roig;the departments of Justice and Housing; the Office of the Women’s Advocate; the Office of the Advocate for the Elderly; and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), among others.
“This is an issue that we have been working on for some time. It is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed promptly, transparently, and with concrete and consistent action,” Riquelme said. “The [Office] of Family Affairs has been effective in many areas, but the reality is that dealing with the abandonment of our elderly is a big task and more resources are needed. That is why we are proposing the creation of a permanent Task Force to develop new legislation, identify needs and the resources to address them, and guide citizens on the importance of not abandoning our elderly.”
“The reality is that in Puerto Rico we have a senior population that exceeds 770,000 inhabitants according to data from the United States Census Bureau in 2022,” said Morales, the senator for District 1 (San Juan). “The abandonment figures of our elderly are alarming, over 4,000 since 2017 in hospitals alone. We cannot sit idly by. The ‘task force’ that we are proposing would come into effect immediately. We are calling for a meeting this week to start working on real and applicable solutions with the resources we have. We have to think ‘outside the box’ to solve this problem that will only get worse, since the average age on the island is 44.5 years old and we have one of the lowest birth rates in the world.”
The New Progressive Party senators said the initiative is part of broad efforts, which also include a request for funds from the Financial Oversight and Management Board to cover an increase in the allocation for the housekeeping program.
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