“Senior Shield … Dial 800-868-9095″
August 26th, 2008: Lt Governor Andre Bauer gave a stirring speech on South Carolina’s task force to prevent senior citizen abuse.
In the past, “aging initiatives” were buried in the Agency for Human Health and Services. After realizing that SC has a growing population of senior citizens migrating from colder climates, each representing an average of one million dollars of assets and one hundred thousand dollars of annual income, SC established an agency to protect our senior citizens and placed it directly under the control of the Office of the Lt Governor.
Andre represents this group of senior citizens as the “Andy Griffith generation:” very trusting and an easy target for unscrupulous individuals. As such, in April 2008, the SC Legislature passed a resolution that empowers over 70 SC agencies, under the responsibility of the Lt Governor’s office, to protect our senior citizens by:
1. Establish an educational campaign
– For every one reported incident, 15 don’t call/report “the bad guys”
2. Establish a “Senior Shield” Program to:
– Pre-qualify vendors who market to Seniors
– Ensure the vendors are held to a higher standard
– Conduct background checks on vendors
– Make this information readily available to non-internet/computer savvy seniors
Lt Governor Bauer ended our meeting with a rousing Q&A session highlighting key “senior initiatives.”
Submitted by Bill Crowe, Keyway Committee Chair