Rancho Bernardo woman appointed to Senior Assembly
By Elizabeth Marie Himchak
Rancho Bernardan Estelle Wolf will be among eight from San Diego County advocating for seniors’ issues in Sacramento.
Estelle Wolf
Wolf was recently appointed to the Senior Assembly. The 80-member assembly, along with 40 Californians appointed to the Senior Senate, make legislative proposals designed to improve the lives of Californians ages 60-plus, according to the group’s website.
The first time Wolf will attend an annual legislative session in Sacramento will be Oct. 29 to Nov. 1. She received a four-year appointment through the county’s Aging and Independence Services to represent North County.
Since retiring two years ago as a registered nurse, Wolf has volunteered on the county’s Health Services Advisory Board, representing the county supervisor Third District. She is also on the Aging and Independence Services Advisory Board, where she works on senior health and aging issues.
“I am a nurse, so it puts my background to good use,” she said.
As a member of the assembly, Wolf said she will work with local government officials and agencies and take what she learns to the annual meeting in Sacramento. There the 120 members will debate seniors’ concerns and draft proposals for the state legislature to consider.
Last year, topics recommended to state government leaders included identity theft, financial elder abuse, increasing benefits for homeless senior veterans, consumer credit reports, reverse mortgages, Medicare dental services, Silver Alert program and elder abuse reporting.
The California Senior Legislature was established in 1981 as a nonpartisan, volunteer organization with up to 120 members elected by their peers. Senior legislators try to get state lawmakers to author at least 10 of their identified proposals and then adopted. The program is funded through donations, which cover expenses such as Wolf’s travel to and stay in Sacramento.
“Working on issues for the betterment of seniors … is just up my alley,” Wolf said, adding she is particularly interested in issues regarding health and medicine safety. For the latter, she mentioned wanting to get a system in place that leads to better communication and coordination between physicians, pharmacists and patients that results in the creation of a single medicine list for the patient, regardless of the number of physicians or pharmacies involved. With such a list, Wolf said negative health issues could be avoided or reduced since conflicting medicines, for example, would not be dispensed or the wrong dosage amounts prescribed.
The Seven Oaks neighborhood resident since 1997 has also volunteered in other community organizations. These include a recent two-year stint on the Rancho Bernardo Community Council, joining Rancho Bernardo Planning Board six months ago, being an Oasis/SHOK (Seniors Helping Our Kids) tutor at Chaparral Elementary in Poway for two years and assisting with the monthly Backyard Produce Project .
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Short URL: http://www.pomeradonews.com/?p=27214
Posted by Elizabeth Marie Himchak
on Jul 27 2012. Filed under Seniors.
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