For the past two years, my office has worked on the To Life! campaign with the Alliance for Aging and the Health Department’s Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade to promote wellness and safety for seniors.

• We educated thousands of seniors on the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
  
  
• We trained dozens of senior service caregivers on fall and fire prevention so they could share this information with the elderly.
  
  
• We held workshops for medical and health professionals on educating seniors about hurricane preparedness, healthy eating and how to properly take their medications.
  
  
• We held one-day Health Expos in the cities of Miami, Miami Beach, Goulds, North Dade, West Dade, and Little Haiti, where seniors got blood pressure, bone density, glucose and cholesterol screenings.  They also participated in chair aerobics and tai chi classes.  Additionally, seniors took home health and safety information, as well as free product samples, like protein bars and nutritional drinks.
  
  

The second phase of this program is now beginning.  For the next two years, the focus will be on repairing the deteriorating and hurricane-damaged homes of seniors in conjunction with the County’s Senior Housing Assistance Repair Program (SHARP). SHARP was created in 2006 by Team Metro Melrose employees to assist elderly low-income uninsured homeowners who suffered extensive property damage.

Seniors are people who deserve to live in an atmosphere of dignity and respect.  Whatever I can do to help them, I will.