Senior Law Day helps senior citizens learn about laws and programs that can assist them
By Bonnie Ralston
The third Senior Law Day is coming up in May. This program was started in 2004 by the Alleghany-Bath-Highland Bar Association. It helps senior citizens learn about some of the laws and programs that can assist them with issues they may face as they grow older.
Samantha Ricci is helping to organize the Senior Law Day program and she’s a member of the Alleghany-Bath-Highland Bar Association.
“I think it’s important to educate people about some of the issues that they might not even know that they are facing right now or that they might be facing,” says Ricci. “In my firm we practice elder law. We have a specific section for that. So many times we get people who come in and say ‘Man I wish I’d known about this a year ago or two years ago’ or ‘I didn’t even know that was an option’. And I think that the Senior Law Day is really important to help get the word out about some of the things people are facing and some of the solutions that they have access to, that they might not realize.”
Senior Law Day is a free event that offers information on a number of subjects including social security, disability, Medicaid, Medicare, wills, powers of attorney, elder abuse, identity theft, reverse mortgages, grandparents rights and long term care.
Bill Wilson is another member of the Alleghany-Bath-Highland Bar Association who is also involved in organizing Senior Law Day.
“We give out a senior citizens handbook, which is put out by the Virginia State Bar, and it’s about three quarters of an inch thick and it has phone numbers, contact places, it has a world of information,” says Wilson. “One of the best things the Virginia State Bar has ever done. We give that booklet out at the beginning of the meeting. We also get information from Social Security and we give that out and anywhere else we can find information that applies to senior citizens. We get it and try to hand it out for those in attendance.”
“It’s not just for senior citizens”, says Ricci. “It’s for people who have senior citizens in their lives. So if you have parents, if you have grandparents, aunts, uncles, anything like that. If you’re a caregiver it would really benefit you to come listen to the program as well, because these issues will be affecting the people that you care about and it’s important for you to be well informed also.”
The program will be videotaped and DVD copies will be available later for those who cannot attend.
“I just wanted to emphasize that it is completely free,” says Ricci. “We’re not charging anything. If you’ll come listen to us talk and get a free lunch out of it, and hopefully people will walk away with a better understanding of the senior issues they they’ll be facing.”
Senior Law Day will be held at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge, Virginia on Wednesday May 21 from 10 until 2:30. Lunch will be provided.
Please register in advance by calling 540- 962-6181.
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