Advocacy

A new year and the year just past…Hello WACCRA Members and Friends,

Welcome to 2024. 2023 was a year of notable events for WACCRA and 2024 looks to be even more full of possibilities.

The Year Behind ---. 

1.  The best news of 2023 is that our #1 legislative priority passed, and we secured more funding to continue the work started by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner in 2022. The legislature appropriated $300,000 of the general fund to the Office of Aging and Long-Term Support Services (ALTSA), a division of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The DSHS, in collaboration with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) and the Attorney General’s Office (AG), has been tasked by the Legislature to create a regulatory oversight plan for Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Work on this next step is already underway with WACCRA’s active participation. None of this could have happened without all of you, our members and supporters.

2.  WACCRA supported several other bills during the 2023 legislative session– a number of which passed the Legislature that affect seniors. Those that passed include:  

• Appropriations for the development of advance care and legal planning toolkit for persons and families living with dementia and increased community-based dementia education and support activities.
• Increase in funding for the operation of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program.
• Clarification that meals furnished to residents in senior living communities are not subject to sales and use taxes.
• Modernization of Washington’s anti-robo calling law including making it a violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
• Enhancement of the Death with Dignity Act to expand qualified medical providers.

For additional details, see the June 21st News-Mail posted on WACCRA.org/ABOUT US/News-Mails for Members.

3.  WACCRA continues to increase in membership and grow activity. As of December 1st, there are slightly over 1,200 members from 16 CCRCs in the state. We will be focused on growing our membership as well as increasing the number of communities from which we draw our members.

WACCRA also continued our support of the informal quarterly meetings of the Washington CCRC Resident Council Presidents’ Roundtable. The Roundtable is an opportunity for folks around the state to share issues they face in their CCRCs and has proven to be a useful forum to share information and developments among resident community leaders.

4.  To improve member communication, we undertook an extensive “listening campaign” soliciting input from members in focus group meetings and in written surveys. Thank you to those who participated! As a result, we have re-vamped our News-Mails with a more contemporary approach. News-Mails will now give you the “headlines” and provide links to our WACCRA.org website for more detailed information. Please let us know how you like the new approach! 

5.  At our 2022-year end Board of Directors retreat, the Board committed to a return of holding Board Meetings at various CCRCs to facilitate participation by residents. In all honesty, not having to travel with the advent of Zoom meetings made it all too easy to meet virtually. We also decided to bring programs on issues WACCRA members are interested in to those meetings, including updates of legislative activity. Please let us know if you are interested in hosting a Board meeting at your CCRC in 2024. 

6.  Our annual meeting featured Katherine C. Pearson from Penn State’s Dickenson School of Law, a nationally recognized Elder Law expert. Her topic was “Challenging Roles for Regulation and Resident Advocacy for Continuing Care” and was particularly relevant to our ongoing work on building better consumer protections. A recording of the meeting is available on our web site WACCRA.org/ABOUT US/Annual Meeting.

7.  We also conducted our first ever on-line membership survey and want to thank those of you who participated! We have the results available and are sharing them with you this month.

The Year Ahead…

1.  We will continue our work advancing our legislative goals. The Department of Social and Health Services’ timeline calls for preliminary recommendations to be forthcoming in the Spring. The report will then be refined and submitted to the Legislature in the Fall. In addition to our work with DSHS, we will be continuing to build support from legislators across the state, educating them on the issues residents of CCRCs face. 

Once the preliminary report is available, we will be enlisting members to react and to reach out to build legislative awareness. Stay tuned for details and how you can help. 

2.  A key focus in 2024 will be building membership both within and across Washington CCRCs. We want to increase the awareness of the need for better consumer protections for seniors who have often committed their lifetime savings to provide protection for themselves and their families as they age. 

3.  We will continue our participation with Senior Lobby and our advocation of bills in the upcoming legislative session that advance causes for senior citizens.

None of these activities will be possible without your involvement and support. I want to especially thank our current board:  Nickie Askov (Mirabella), Barb Horrell (Timber Ridge), Barbara Knight (Horizon House) Carlos Calguait (Emerald Heights), Donna Kristaponis (Emerald Heights), Jim Crim (Emerald Heights), Kim Hickman, Monica Clement (Timber Ridge) and Rick Baugh (Skyline). In addition, our work is not possible without the CCRC liaisons:  Susan Dillon (Mirabella), Jerry Tuttle (Park Shore), Tom Sakata (Skyline), Mandy Wertz (Mirabella), Celie Brown (Timber Ridge), Irene Gendron (Horizon House), Laura Saunders (Hearthstone) and Donna Kristaponis (Emerald Heights). Please reach out to our Board Members and Liaisons with questions, comments, or advice.

In closing, I want to take a moment to thank Donna Kristaponis for her service as the President of for the last three years. These were challenging years for all of us, and Donna’s commitment to WACCRA’s goals and objectives meant we were successful despite the roadblocks.

Laura Saunders, WACCRA President

The Hearthstone