Elder Law News

Baldwin Names Area Leaders to White House Conference on Aging

Helen Marks Dicks and Diane Lanaville will represent Wisconsin

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has selected two senior citizen advocates to represent Wisconsin at the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.

Helen Marks Dicks, Director of the Elder Law Center of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, and Diane Lanaville, Director of the Verona Senior Center, will represent Wisconsin seniors at the conference, which will be held in December in Washington, D.C.

“It is important to me that Wisconsin has strong representation at the White House Conference on Aging,” Baldwin said in making the announcement. “With issues such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid at the forefront of policy discussions, it is critical the President receive input from seniors and those working as their advocates on these and other important issues,” Baldwin said. “Helen Marks Dicks and Diane Lanaville have many years of experience as advocates for Wisconsin’s seniors. It was a pleasure to nominate these strong and effective voices as participants at this year’s conference.”

Helen Marks Dicks, who will serve as a delegate to the conference, has served as the Director of the Elder Law Center (ELC) since 2001. The Center provides legal services to seniors through the Wisconsin Benefit Specialist Program, Pension Rights Project, Guardianship Support Center, and Financial Elder Exploitation Project, as well as the Medicare Integrity Project. Prior to assuming the leadership at the ELC, she was in private practice as an elder law attorney.

Helen also serves as a lobbyist advocating for the rights of elders and the preservation and expansion of senior programs with particular emphasis on low income and other disadvantaged seniors.

Diane Lanaville, who was named as an alternate to the conference, has worked at the Verona Senior Center for nearly 15 years. Throughout her career she has been a strong activist in support of enhancing the lives of older people on the local, state and national level. She recently presented a program entitled “National Senior Centers Respond to the Changing Face of Caregiving” at the joint conference of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on the Aging, in Philadelphia.

The White House Conference on Aging occurs once a decade to make aging policy recommendations to the President and Congress, and to assist the public and private sectors in promoting dignity, health, independence and economic security of current and future generations of older persons.

For more information:
White House Conference on Aging: whcoa.gov
Elder Law Center (Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups): cwag.org
Verona Senior Center: ci.verona.wi.us/senior.htm

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	Did You Know?
	Estimated that 820,000 elders became victims of elder abuse in 1994 The National Aging Resource Center on Elder Abuse (now the National Center on Elder Abuse) estimated that in 2004 there were 820,000 elders became victims of elder abuse. 106 percent increase in the number of reported cases between 1986 and 1994, from 117,000 to 241,000.