Arkansas’s seniors and their families have questions and concerns about important issues that affect so many decisions in their lives. Questions about their health care and financial planning that AETN hopes to help answer.

Consider just a few of the following issues facing Arkansas seniors today:

• Living on a fixed monthly income, now made harder with the current economic depression and investment losses.
• The alarming rise of healthcare expenses and the need for Medicare gap insurance
• The rising cost of living (gas, utilities, food, etc)
• Scam artists that target the elderly
• Many seniors need employment... what companies hire staff over 60 years old
• The need for both partners to comprehend estate taxes/planning, power of attorney issues and personal finances
• If one partner needs institutional care, many families now have to support two households
• Having to suddenly divest yourself of assets to qualify for social services and the trust issues that brings up
• Depression, chronic pain and loneliness

Golden years indeed!

Protecting the Health and Finances of Arkansas's Seniors is a multi-media initiative designed to facilitate dialog with, educate, engage and ultimately protect Arkansas's senior citizens, a group that we found to be more adversely affected by the current national economic recession. The project originated and is funded in part by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with the goal of helping stations like AETN convene civic leaders, community partners and citizens in a dialog – on-air, on-line and in-person – about economic issues facing Arkansas's seniors today.