Young Professionals in Aging

Kelly Sisson
Marketing
ResCare HomeCare
Denver, CO

Kelly is licensed to practice law in the State of New York, but has decided to work in the area of home care. In her job Kelly is responsible for marketing, but has been responsible for a variety of positions and tasks, including scheduling care givers, providing care herself, transporting clients to appointments and doing whatever tasks are required to meet the demands of the older adults using the home care services.

Kelly has been actively involved in the marketing of the Salute to Seniors for the past two years. She has been an avid voice in the community among professionals and older adults promoting the event. She delivered hundreds of flyers and spoke to community residents about the Salute, helping us to reach our highest attendance ever of 2700 hundred attendees in May 2008.

This year Kelly has been involved in developing a 50s movies bingo game for the 2009 Salute to Seniors. She has done untold hours of research learning about the different movies and actors. The game will debut at the Salute on June 3, 2009.

The Society is pleased to present the Young Professional in Aging Award to Kelly to encourage those entering gerontology to continue to increase the professionalism of the field. Her skills exemplify high standards of practice that will continue to benefit older adults in our community.

Robert Semro
Health Policy Volunteer Advocate
Consumer Health Initiative
Littleton, CO

Robert “Bob” has spent the last several years dedicating himself to improving health care delivery systems for older adults. Following a long illness of both his father and his mother, in which he tried to navigate the service delivery system to keep his parents in their own home for as long as possible, Bob learned about vulnerabilities and stresses facing families care for aging parents.

Bob is the typical caregiver: first trying to continue to run an international computer development business, taking time off, interviewing aides to provide home care by phone and feeling very uncomfortable. Finally, he sold his businesses and became a full time caregiver of his parents.

After caring for his parents, Bob became involved in the Alzheimer’s Association with a special focus on the public policy committee. There he became a community voice for that organization in many statewide initiatives on public policy. He joined numerous groups providing leadership in policy development.

He joined the Society team and helped with the passage of several critical pieces of legislation the past several years, including the increase in the eligibility for the property tax and rent rebate, the increase in provider fees for the Old Age Pension program, the passage of a statute to regulate the home care agencies and the increase in penalties for individuals abusing the power of attorney.

Recently he has taken a position as a policy advocate with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. The Society is grateful for all of Bob’s work on behalf of seniors. The Society is pleased to present to him the Al Berger Distinguished Service in Aging Award.

Catherine Benavidez Clayton, RN
Nurse Practitioner and Consumer Advocate
Consultant in Health Care
Arvada, CO

Catherine “Cathy” has been active in the field of aging for her entire career. A rural farm girl from Trinidad, Cathy joined the military to pay for college and start her career serving our country during the Viet Nam era.

She received her Certificate in Gerontology from the University of Denver in 1979 to advance her nursing skills. She is also a licensed nurse practitioner with prescriptive authority. She continues to see patients in the community health setting providing preventive services, health education, and promoting wellness.

Cathy has been a patient advocate for individuals suffering from chronic disease, especially minorities who often suffer from health disparities. She has been a tireless advocate for ensuring access to health care in the areas of insurance, mandatory benefits, improving access to Medicaid services, and working closely with managed care organizations to ensure beneficiaries understand their benefits.

She has been a leading advocate in Colorado for access to prescription drugs, realizing that this is the key to helping individuals continue to maintain health. She is especially concerned about access to health care for minorities. Her personal experience, the loss of her mother when she was very young due to poor health care. In addition, she was not able to take advantage of health care as a small child.

Cathy continues to be a voice for low income minorities, especially at the Colorado legislature. The Society is pleased to present the Distinguished Pioneer Award in Aging to Catherine Benavidez Clayton.

Denver Department of Human Services
City and County of Denver
Denver CO

The Society has a very long history of working with the Denver Department of Human Services. Our most critical working relationship is hosting the Salute to Seniors. With the Department as the host of the Salute to Seniors, the Society is able to bring a first class event to seniors who rarely have the opportunity to experience television and radio personalities at affordable prices.

In addition, on a regular basis, the Department assists with verification of eligibility for the Material Aid dental program. Other joint projects over the years have included distribution of the StaWell News to their clients, promoting low income benefit programs to older adults such as LEAP, Old Age Pension, Medicaid and other programs.

The Department also provides liaisons to help our clients to navigate the sometimes very burdensome task of accessing government benefits.

The Society continued to work collaboratively with the Department on legislation, development of rules, task forces, PALS, and other initiatives. Most recently, Eileen Doherty has chaired the Adult Protective Services Advisory Team, the first time the Denver has had the benefit of community input into solving very difficult cases.

The Society is pleased to present the Corporate Award to the Denver Department of Social Services for 2008 for their continued support of low income individuals, especially their leadership in helping those most in need. The partnership between the Society and Department has been continuous for the entire life of the Society.