Central Oregon residents stressed the need for better public transportation when they met with state officials Tuesday to discuss the future of Oregon’s aging population and the services that help them stay at home and live healthy lives.

“There’s just not enough transportation options out there,” said Judy Williams, who manages the Rockin’ Chair Cottage Adult Foster Home in Redmond and has spent several years working in the state’s long-term care industry.

Williams was one of several dozen people who attended two of public meetings officials with the Oregon Department of Human Services and its Aging and People with Disabilities Program held to discuss the state’s Long Term Care 3.0 initiative.

Designed to address the fact one out of every five state residents will be 65 or older by 2030, Long Term Care 3.0 is a multiyear planning effort the state government is taking on to make sure it can meet the needs of the state’s seniors.

It marks the second major effort the state government has taken to improve its system of long-term care services and supports since 1981, when it received a special Medicaid waiver that gave older Oregonians the right to receive care in their homes, an adult foster home, an assisted living facility or any other environment outside of the traditional nursing home setting.

DHS Operations and Policy Analyst Ann McQueen said the project started in earnest last year when the Oregon Legislature passed a law, SB 21, that created a 19-member steering committee and tasked it with coming up with a comprehensive plan that outlined what changes would be needed during this transition.

McQueen and other state policy analysts are holding a series of hearings in 16 cities across the state so they can discuss this document and the steering committee’s recommendations with seniors, caregivers and other interested parties. Her office will present the information it gathered from each of these community meetings and a copy of the long-range plan to members of the state Legislature when it convenes in February.

“We want to know what you want,” McQueen said as she spoke to Williams and the other people who attended a Tuesday afternoon Long Term Care 3.0 meeting at Bend’s Community Center. “What do you think the next 10 to 20 years should look like?”

Williams and just about every other person at the afternoon meeting said better transportation services — particularly in smaller communities such as Prineville and Madras — were important because many seniors cannot drive or do not feel comfortable driving.

Her comments were echoed by Devonna Tafalla, a member support specialist with PacificSource who attended a Tuesday evening hearing at the Downtown Bend Public Library. Tafalla said she often runs into situations where people who live outside of Bend cannot find a way they can get into town for their medical care and that creates a huge burden for them.

“We hear this all the time in smaller towns and smaller areas,” McQueen said, explaining better public transportation services was listed as a priority in just about every community she and her cohorts have visited east of the Cascades. “How do we make it possible for people to get the services they need without leaving their communities?”

Other priorities mentioned by the people at Tuesday’s meetings included creating a law that would guarantee older Oregonians’ right to receive long-term care services in their home or a community-based setting, something McQueen said could disappear if the state lost its 1981 Medicaid waiver; providing support services to paid and unpaid caregivers; and creating a system that would better educate Oregonians about the long-term care services and supports that are available to them.

Williams said this last item was one of her top priorities because even though she spent most of her career working in the state’s long-term care industry, she was still learning about new services that can make a difference in people’s lives, particularly when it comes to helping family caregivers, who watch after the loved ones at home.

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, mmclean@bendbulletin.com