CARIBOU, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins returned to her hometown Friday to deliver a keynote address during the Aroostook Agency on Aging’s 45th annual meeting at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.
Joy Barresi Saucier, the agency’s executive director, said Collins was an excellent choice for the event as she is currently chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in addition to being a County native.
Collins touched on several issues related to the elderly, ranging from the isolation they can experience to challenges with prescription drug costs, but she focused on the frauds and scams directed toward vulnerable senior citizens.
She said combating fraud is one of her top priorities with the committee, telling the packed room of about 200 that “our parents and grandparents have worked hard, their entire lives, to save money for retirement,” only to be exploited by criminals “who want to rob them of their hard-earned savings.”
She said this epidemic costs the country “nearly $3 billion annually,” and cited a case this February in which roughly 250 defendants were charged with scamming over one million victims to the tune of half a billion dollars.
Even Collins has been targeted by these frauds, she said, sharing an anecdote about when she received an email from someone posing as her nephew and asking for money.
Her “nephew” explained that he was robbed overseas, losing all of his money along with his ticket and passport, and concluded the email by asking Collins to immediately wire him $2,000.
“I guess maybe I’m not as good an aunt as I should be,” Collins joked, “because even though I did truly think it was him, I wrote back and said, ‘You need to go to the American Embassy immediately to get a new passport, and then call your father.”
After dwelling on the email, she called her nephew’s father herself and “sure enough, he wasn’t overseas; he was at work.”
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- Protesters stand on the road outside the Caribou Inn and Convention Center on Oct. 12 as U.S. Sen. Susan Collins delivered a keynote address for the Aroostook Agency on Aging inside. The protesters expressed their displeasure at the senator’s support of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Chris Bouchard)
Collins said this is a variation of what is called the “grandparent scam” in which people pose as grandchildren in an effort to manipulate seniors into sending out large amounts of money.
“We had a hearing on the grandparent scam with a couple in Portland who sent thousands of dollars to a person they thought was their grandson calling for help,” she said, warning the audience to always “be very wary” of these calls.
She also shared some startling data regarding Maine’s status as the country’s “oldest state.”
“Everyone thinks it’s Florida,” she said, “but it’s Maine, and as you know Aroostook County has a higher median age than the rest of the state.”
The senator said that by 2035, the “number of Americans 65 and older are projected to outnumber those under 18,” but “right here in Maine, we’re expected to reach that milestone by 2020.”
While those in attendance were primarily in support of Collins, a group of protestors stood by the road outside the Caribou Inn holding signs expressing their displeasure at the senator’s support of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mistie Smith said she chose to protest because she wanted to “let Senator Collins know that we felt she did not listen to her constituents because of the way she voted on Kavanaugh.”
“We felt that, during her speech on the Senate floor she told blatant lies, cherry-picked the facts, and victim-blamed a sexual assault survivor,” Smith said. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say you believe her and then not trust that it was 100 percent Brett Kavanaugh and say that she was mixed up.”
Smith said she and a group of about 20 Mainers were in Washington, D.C., the previous week in hopes of meeting with the senator, but were refused.
“That’s the way she’s been,” said Darrell Adams, another protester outside Friday’s event in Caribou. “It’s the same with [U.S. Rep. Bruce] Poliquin. You can’t even talk to their staff; they just block the phones.”
Adams said his main issue with the Kavanaugh vote was the “double standard” between men and women in regards to sexual assault.
“When men came out against the Catholic priests,” he said, “there was never a question of why they waited so long or if their memory was correct, but as soon as a woman comes out, that’s the first thing politicians come up with, all the way up to Trump.”
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- Protesters stand on the road outside the Caribou Inn and Convention Center on Oct. 12 as U.S. Sen. Susan Collins delivered a keynote address for the Aroostook Agency on Aging inside. The protesters expressed their displeasure at the senator’s support of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Chris Bouchard
Saucier said she didn’t have a comment on the protest outside the convention center, as she felt it wasn’t related to the Agency on Aging, or issues facing the elderly community.
“I would expect that they’re not protesting issues on aging,” she said. “We’re really focused on celebrating our agency today, and talking about how we want to continue doing a better job in the future.”
During the event, Saucier said that in the past year, the agency totaled “113,000” units of service, defined as any interaction with an elderly resident, such as a phone call, a delivered meal, or a personal visit.
She also discussed three new initiatives — Age-Friendly Communities, the Reframing Aging project, and Healthy Living for ME.
A few County communities already have obtained age friendly status, such as Limestone and Caribou, and Saucier said the initiative will link towns to resources like AARP that will help local officials “assess their community and develop an action plan to make the community friendly to people of all ages.”
The Reframing Aging project, according to Saucier, is a statewide effort that helps communities and residents “examine how we think, feel, and communicate about aging.”
“Our goal is to learn how to help others understand that every older person is valued in their community,” she said of Reframing Aging, “and to ensure that decision makers understand the services and programs out there to improve the quality of life for older adults.”
The third new initiative, Healthy Living for ME, is a “statewide network of providers, leaders, and volunteers committed to offering evidence-based wellness programs,” Saucier said, adding that “these programs provide those in need with the tools they need to improve their quality of life.”
Any senior citizens in need can call the Aroostook Agency on Aging’s confidential answer line to receive help at 764-3396 or 1-800-439-1789.
