Risk Less / Do More: Top US Government Advocate emphasizes Covid, Flu and RSV Vaccines

In this episode of the podcast, we were honored to meet with the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, Kari Benson. Her entire career has been focused on the promotion of Home and Community Based Services for older and disabled individuals.

I asked the secretary what the most important message was that she needed to share in this podcast episode and without hesitation, her answer was to say thanks to our industry and to all that you do to enable our older and disabled neighbors to continue living in their homes.

But her message and mission on the episode were to emphasize the importance of vaccinations to keep our clients safe. She shared the following compelling statistics from the past year:

• 900K older Americans were treated for COVID and those without vaccines suffered more
• 400K older Americans were treated for the FLU and those without vaccines suffered more
• 200K older Americans were treated for RSV and those without vaccines suffered more

The message is clear! We need to make sure that our clients and our caregivers are vaccinated.

The secretary also told us a great deal about her role and her organization: the Administration for Community Living (ACL) a hidden GEM within the department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She also wanted to share the following resources with us:

• Elder Care Locator: 1-800-677-1116 or https://eldercare.act.gov
• Disability Services Locator (DIAL): 1-888-677-1199 or https://DIAL.act.gov

You can listen to the full episode by clicking on the podcast player below:

I'd also like to offer a special thanks to our friends at the National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) who arranged the interview and introduced us to the Risk Less / Do More promotion. 

Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars is produced and sponsored by Ankota - If you provide services that enable older or disabled people to continue living at home , Ankota can provide you the software to successfully run your agency. Visit us at https://www.ankota.com. 

Here's a Transcript:

We have awesome government officials advocating for our clients and our industry. On this episode, Kerry Benson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, talks about the importance of getting vaccinated for respiratory diseases, especially COVID, flu and RSV. This is how we can help our clients. Welcome to the Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars podcast. If you provide services to keep older or disabled people living at home, then this podcast is for you.

00:29

Now here's your host, Ken Accardi. Well, hi and welcome to the next installment of the Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars podcast. So this is a podcast for folks who are helping keep our older and disabled people living in their own homes, either with home care services or day services. And we appreciate all of you very much. We have an incredible guest today. We actually have with us, Kari Benson, who is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging.

00:58

And mostly we're talking to people in the industry. We're talking to people who are receiving care services. We're talking to people who are providing care services, but in order to have an opportunity to speak with Carrie is a really special treat today because of all the things that are happening on the government side to support these programs. And with that as a brief intro, let me kind of ask you Carrie, I mean, you have such an impressive base of experience.

01:26

that's been so dedicated to keeping older and disabled people living in their homes. Just tell us a little bit about your background and how you have traversed your journey to ultimately becoming the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging. Oh, thanks so much. And it's really such a pleasure to be on the podcast with you today and to share some important information that we want to get out to your listeners. And first off, also want to.

01:55

extend my sincere thanks to the work that all of you do each and every day. Incredibly critical in terms of helping older adults and people with disabilities stay in their own homes, live independently, and get the services and supports that they need. And that's really where it started for me was through personal experience.

02:19

both with my father and my grandparents needing pretty intensive assistance, with their activities of daily living and managing some pretty complex medical conditions in particular for my father. And seeing that at a young age, he started developing the need for service when I was still in high school. And so that was just such a formative experience for me. And...

02:45

I saw just this incredible impact that the individuals who provided care for him and supported my mother and her role as a caregiver and really supported the whole family through that process. And even when he moved into a nursing home, eventually, you know, just was incredible to see that outpouring of support. But I also saw where we have work to do. We had work to do back then that that was many years ago.

03:14

And we have work to do to continue to improve our system of supports and services and just make it work easier for older adults, easier for people with disabilities as well as their families, and really to support the workforce that's making that happen every day. Well, thank you for that. Yeah, I mean, this is the workforce that you're speaking to today. So there it's great for them to hear you directly. So I'm not sure that a lot of the listeners have heard,

03:43

Candid hadn't heard myself of the Administration for Community Living. I'm sure I've seen the impact of your work, but could you just explain a little bit about the agency's role? Absolutely. You know, we are a pretty well-kept secret, I have to say, and our counterparts at the state level are as well. So we are never surprised when we hear from folks that they've not heard of us. We are probably one of, if not the smallest agency

04:13

But we like to say that our agency is small. It's a few hundred staff, but we have an incredibly important impact and far reaching impact. Our mission is centered around community living, right in our name of our agency. And this is something that most of us take for granted, you know, the right to live in your own home, in the community of your choice, and to be a full participant of your community.

04:40

But that's not necessarily the case and the experience for older adults and people with disabilities. We know from history that without supports for community living, many of us can end up in institutions or just having unmet need for services and supports while still living in the community. And so we administer a range of programs across both.

05:08

disability and aging services within ACL that are really seeking to provide more access to community services and other programs that can help older adults and people with disabilities live independently. So some examples we like to share to really show that range of supports and in programs that we administer include

05:35

things like helping people make their home safe from fall hazards. And we have a bunch of different falls prevention initiatives that we administer. Our senior nutrition program, most often people think of that as home meals on wheels, but it includes home delivered meals and congregate meal programs. Our funding, we support the Centers for Independent Living, which serve people with disabilities.

06:02

in many ways in all states and territories, we're also the agency that helps support social services for older adults and people with disabilities. Much of that funding for older adults comes through, flows through the states and they are charged with developing and overseeing a network of regional and local service providers.

06:28

And then we work to support Native American elders, as well as their family and paid professional caregivers in the tribes across the country as well. So a small agency, but with quite an impact that we see being felt across the country in all states and territories and most of the tribal nations as well, as far as the services for older adults. Yeah.

06:57

And I, you know, I'm sure this one catches a lot of people's eye, but we'll bring it to the forefront now. When I looked at the administration for community living website, it did say that you actually distribute over a billion dollars in grants to state and local governments and nonprofits and institutions of higher education and that type of thing. So if somebody has, I guess, you know, what would make somebody eligible for those kinds of grants and you know, what are, what are some of the types of grants that you put forth?

07:27

Absolutely. And so, you know, we, ACL was created 12 years ago by bringing together various disability and aging programs that were kind of scattered throughout the federal government. So as we've been able to come together and build out our portfolio of these grant programs, we've increased the range of different services and supports that individuals can receive.

07:55

through any one of these programs. So now we're funding through grants to states or either directly to local organizations, you know, tens of thousands of organizations to deliver services an individual can get by being eligible for that service by either functional eligibility need, you know, need for the service and demonstrating that.

08:24

through some pretty streamlined assessment processes, or for the Older Americans Act programs for older adults and family caregivers, it really is based on being age 60 and older, and in need of one or more of the services. And so we have grant programs that range from very targeted to certain.

08:52

types of in-home services, supportive services, health promotion, disease prevention, care management, counseling, a range of supports for family caregivers. So we really try to make it as easy as possible for people to be aware of those services, but also to be able to access them. Yeah, no, fantastic. And yeah, and there's so many.

09:20

pipes of organizations that provide the services. And as a matter of fact, I guess on the disability services side, there's programs like the Centers for Independent Living that help point people in the right direction on the older folks. There's the area agencies on aging, and I'm sure you're involved with all of those at different levels. I'm gonna go on a tangent for a quick second here. We were actually brought together today by some friends I have at a group called NADSA, which is the

09:49

National Adult Day Services Association. And so my tangent here is that I see adult day services or adult daycare programs or day habilitation programs as being so critical because really, if you look at just the demographics of wonderfully how long people are living and just the shortage of caregivers, having an adult day program is a way of providing services to more folks with fewer

10:19

care providers and also in addition to having somebody that is giving them care or supportive services, they also are there and they're getting a meal and they are making friends and they have camaraderie and it's also combating social isolation and all these types of things. So I'm a real fan of NADSA and of Adult Day Services in general and I wanted to just kind of say, thanks for bringing us together because I think that our whole audience is gonna love.

10:48

everything you're doing. But I think, you know, part of the inspiration was that they have an initiative now, which is called risk less, do more. And the whole point of it is, you know, it's about having folks get vaccines. And I, you know, I guess I put myself in a position where, you know, I, a lot of people in my life are like, oh yeah, COVID that was 2020, that was 2021. But actually my wife got COVID for the first time this year.

11:15

And I had it in 2021 myself. I think it was the Omicron variant or something like that. And then I actually had it again for the second time this year. So I guess, I mean, can you tell us like, I think a lot of us think, oh yeah, COVID that's not a thing anymore, but could you put some perspective on how serious COVID still is and how especially it affects folks who are older or disabled?

11:41

Absolutely. It is still very much an issue of concern and an important area for us to continue to stress to everyone the need to get vaccinated. In particular, like you said, older adults and people with disabilities who are at greater risk for developing negative complications, you know, from getting

12:10

COVID-19. And so as you mentioned, the US Department of Health and Human Services, of which we're an agency and so proud to partner with CDC and others in this effort to get the word out during their campaign to risk less and do more. And it really is an effort to make sure that folks remain aware of the presence of COVID-19.

12:39

the risks that it poses as well as the flu and RSV. So the upper respiratory viruses and the negative effects that those have on individuals and families, particularly those older adults and people with disabilities. We see that these...

13:02

respiratory illnesses continue to take a heavy toll across the U.S. We are seeing that more than 400000 people in the U.S. just in 2023 were hospitalized for flu. 900000 were hospitalized for COVID-19 and more than 200000 were hospitalized for RSV. In 2023, 95% of people hospitalized by COVID-19 weren't up to date on their vaccine.

13:32

And people who skipped their flu shot were twice as likely to need medical help for the flu. So really it's so important for everyone to keep in mind and share with others that vaccines really do cut your risk of being hospitalized for flu or COVID-19 by about half. And vaccines bring your risks down so you can keep showing up. So that's really where we get at the crux of risk less and do more, right? By getting

14:01

vaccines for flu, COVID-19 and RSV. It helps people risk less severe illness and do more of what they enjoy. So, you know, as you mentioned, for older adults and people with disabilities, this is really of particular importance. For older adults, they have the highest risk of death from flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

14:28

These are in people older than age 65. Of course, the risk grows with age. As people grow older, their immune systems do not work as well. And older adults are more likely to have health conditions that make them more likely to get sick. So we have a lot of detail we can go into here in regarding this, if you would like, but really do want to stress that.

14:53

it's still very much a concern that we all need to be aware of and addressing by getting vaccinated. Yeah, I know I think there's a lot there and I mean just a couple, just to reiterate a couple of the things that you said, I mean 400,000 people with the flu, 900,000 with COVID, and 200,000 with RSV, and a lot of them not having had COVID shots is a big deal. So let's, you know, let's see if

15:23

And so we have folks who are, you know, like probably the typical person listening here has a day center, they have 60 people coming into their center every day, or they are running a home care agency and they're sending caregivers out to the homes of, you know, maybe 80 different older folks each day, or, you know, they're providing supportive services on campuses or in the homes of folks or in the community with folks with various disabilities.

15:50

and that sort of thing. So what can we ask of them? How could we empower them and what can we ask of them to look at the communities that they're serving and try to help make sure that they are aware that they should be getting new flu shots, new vaccines, flu and COVID and RSV. Is there anything you can think of that we could kind of ask them to do to kind of help out?

16:16

Absolutely. The individuals who are listening to this podcast, you all play such an important role by directly connecting with older adults and people with disabilities in your communities, as well as their families, right? Their family caregivers and other members of their network. And so you play a critical role in making sure that they are aware of and taking steps to get vaccinated. So.

16:45

I would say really having that conversation, raising that awareness, asking the question about, you know, whether or not they've been vaccinated. And then in addition to that, and very closely related is when you get those questions from older adults or people with disabilities about, okay, well, I haven't gotten vaccinated recently. Where, you know, what do I do? Where can I figure out?

17:14

you know, more information about the vaccinations and what does it mean for me as an individual. So that's where you can be also then the conduit of information for older adults, for people with disabilities and their family caregivers. And I'll provide you with two resources to help specifically as it relates to getting information about vaccinations.

17:42

But also these are two tools that you can use to make sure that people that you serve and support in your communities know about the vast range of other community resources available to them. So one is for older adults, anyone over 60, to encourage them to call our elder care locator. That's our phone number and website that we have.

18:10

Available Monday through Friday, the phone number is from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. You can call or text them at 1-800-677-1116. And I'll say that number again. It is 1-800-677-1116.

18:35

And you can find them easily also by searching for the Eldercare Locator online or going to eldercare.acl.gov. So for people with disabilities, we have a similar resource available to you, and that is called the DIAL hotline. DIAL stands for the Disability Information and Access Line. The number is 1-888-

19:04

677-1199 and again that is 1-888-677-1199. Dial is also available from 8 a.m to 9 p.m eastern standard time Monday through Friday or of course they've got an online presence as well and you can visit them at dial.acl.gov

19:33

So these are really incredible resources for anyone across the country who is interested in learning more about resources related to vaccines for older adults and people with disabilities. But again, also a resource to get connected to local services in your community. All right, perfect. As you said, that was, I have checked out both websites and yep, the dial.acl.gov.

20:03

And it has the phone number right there, as well as the eldercare.acl.gov. And we'll recap those at the end. I also, I'm just talking about the risk less, do more initiative. They have some nice, uh, I've seen three, you know, kind of one page PDF information sheets, and I'll make sure to attach those to the notes of the podcast. So those are accessible, but you know, it's kind of like reasons, you know, one is like three reasons you should get.

20:29

vaccinated, and then there's some other resources that just kind of talk about the state and the importance of doing so. All right. So we've kind of talked about the risk. And I will say, by the way, that I took it upon myself. I guess I had my RSV last year, so I didn't need RSV again. I guess that's the way that one works. But I did my COVID.

20:52

my flu and then I did a shingles all in the same day. I felt a little bit like I got punched in both arms but other than that it was fine. The needles didn't hurt at all and I got all three of those shots and I'm very happy to be you know protected as a result of that. But just kind of moving forward we've kind of talked about you know these agency owners and what they can do and some resources for them and then even the individuals that are listening.

21:18

that might need those services themselves and where they could get some help and find websites and that kind of thing. I guess, one thing that I love in your bio is that you specifically mentioned about caregivers as focus area that could be professional caregivers, like work for the agency owners that we're speaking to on this podcast, but also family caregivers. And I guess, it just kind of is astounding how big a workforce we have in caregiving these days and how much demand there still is.

21:48

and all of that. But I guess, just kind of sticking with COVID and keeping our community safe and things like that, you mentioned specifically the family caregivers and maybe if they're kind of the family caregiver who's providing care to their mom, maybe that's who they're spending a lot of their time with, but they're also out in the community and that type of thing, and they can spread the word as well. But what do you have to say to, I guess just in general to,

22:16

professional caregivers who might be listening, family caregivers, what are your thoughts on them and maybe anything special they could be with respect to COVID fluid RSV prevention or? Absolutely. Well, the most important thing that each and every one of you can do as a direct support professional or as a family caregiver is to make sure you are taking care of your health and staying safe.

22:45

Right. So as a key part of our risk less, do more campaign in our nationwide effort regarding vaccinations for for the flu, COVID-19 and RSV is to encourage all of you, first and foremost, to get vaccinated. Right. And to really stay on top of that and really put a priority on maintaining your own health and well-being and safety.

23:14

So that, of course, partly you can continue to deliver the incredibly important services you do each and every day and provide the support also to your family and be, you know, really continue that critical role. But also so that you can be able to do what you enjoy doing in your

23:44

ability to do more of that going forward. So I would say that's the biggest piece of the puzzle for caregivers as well as, and I think you alluded to it also in the question of really just being that conduit of information, being sure, you know, asking the question of those you provide services to, of your co-workers.

24:11

Even family and friends, neighbors, members of the community, just as you're having conversations and really making sure you're asking the question of, you know, whether or not a person has gotten vaccinated, you know, are they going to take steps to do so? And being able to point them in the direction of some resources that might be helpful. I think that can go a long way in helping all of us risk less and do more. I love it.

24:40

Okay, well actually I was, I had kind of a wrap up question, which was, you know, asking about where they might be able to get more resources. But so let me take this opportunity to recap those. So for the elder care locator, it's 1-800-677-1116 and that's eldercare.acl.gov. And then for the DIAL program, which is for folks experiencing disabilities, that's going to be

25:09

888-677-1199. And the website for that one is dial.acl.gov. So that's great. So I think as a last thing, when we spoke just for a few minutes before we started recording here, I asked you if there was anything you could share with this community, what you'd wanna share, and you had an important message for the types of folks that we're dealing with, that we're kind of speaking to here.

25:39

on the podcast who are in the provision of disability services, home care, daycare services. What would you like to share with them as a closing note? Absolutely. Well, I first and foremost want to thank all of you for the important work that you do every day to support older adults and people with disabilities.

26:05

living in community and being active members of their communities. And that is really such a critical role that you play and frankly the most important part of our system of services and supports for older adults and people with disabilities. We here at ACL are here to support all of you and to really do our job to make yours.

26:33

as easy as possible, as fulfilling as possible, and as supported as possible. And so we really, you are the direct support workforce and you make the difference in the lives of older adults and people with disabilities. I love it. Yeah. Let me just add to that as well as just, you know, everybody out there. I mean, sometimes you get mired down on hiring and there's

26:58

You know, just everything, you know, everything is hard and there's, you know, filling in open shifts and there's, you know, all these types of things and, you know, and doing billing and doing payroll and all that kind of thing. And sometimes you should never forget just how important what you're doing is and how it's just so critical to our country and, and the folks who are benefiting from your services. So never forget that.

27:19

But with that, you know, time flies more having fun. I think we're going to bring it to a close. So let me say one more time. Thank you so, so much for having the deputy assistant secretary for aging, Kari Benson on the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me.

Thanks for joining us today on the Home Care Heroes and Day Service Stars podcast produced by Ankota. You can listen to back episodes by visiting for homecareheroes.com. That's the number four then the words 4HomeCareHeroes.com.