Senator Patricia Jehlen was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 2005. She represents Medford, Somerville, and parts of Winchester and Cambridge.Senator Jehlen serves as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, and as Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy. Senator Jehlen also serves on the Committees on Ways and Means, Revenue, and Community Development and Small Businesses.
I have been honored to serve as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs for over 10 years as well as the co-chair of the LGBT Aging Commission and the Elder Economic Security Commission. Older adults (60+) currently represent 22% of the state’s total population and that percentage is growing. We all aspire to have the opportunity to live to a “ripe old age,” but the path each of us takes there differs greatly. The question becomes: what must we, as policymakers and as a community, consider in order...