Florida Senior Day 2017

Raven Garris

Since its inception in 2014, Florida Senior Day has successfully convened seniors, caregivers, and stakeholders to celebrate and advocate for more than 5.2 million Florida seniors.

Better Medicare Alliance had the honor of attending the Florida Senior Day on March 29th, as well as the Florida Senior Day Reception Dinner on March 28th. Four senior BMA Advocates from Tallahassee were our guests at the reception dinner where policymakers, legislators, and leaders of organizations gathered to share their accomplishments dedicated to improving the lives of seniors.

Florida Senior Day began the following morning with a Town Hall sponsored by Better Medicare Alliance. More than 200 seniors joined us at City Hall to hear from a panel of statewide leaders and experts on important issues facing Florida seniors. Members of the panel included: Karen Campbell (Executive Director of the Office of the Public Guardian, Inc.), Randall Hunt (President & CEO at Senior Resource Alliance), Jeffrey Bragg (Secretary of Florida Department of Elder Affairs), Gil Ziffer (Tallahassee City Commissioner), and Tracey Aittama (Memory Disorder Clinic Coordinator at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare).

Each of the panelists spoke to the audience about the work they do for seniors, and then provided members of the audience the opportunity to ask questions. Several of the questions posed were about caregivers, nursing homes, and combatting memory loss. There was also a question on the growth of Medicare Advantage enrollees in Florida, and what motivates seniors to choose Part C over Traditional Medicare. The event was moderated by media icon Anna Johnson and live-streamed through FloridaSeniorDay.org and WCOT.  A full video of the one-hour program is available here.

Following the Town Hall, more than 2,000 seniors convened in the State Capitol courtyard to learn more about the organizations in attendance by visiting their booths. Adjoa Adofo (Director of Communications) and I, Raven Garris (Community Manager), represented Better Medicare Alliance at Florida Senior Day, and had the pleasure of engaging with hundreds of seniors on Medicare Advantage.

We were pleased to find that many seniors who visited BMA’s booth are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage and were eager to learn more about advocating for the program. We provided educational materials to interested seniors, and explained Medicare Advantage to seniors who were unfamiliar with the program. More than 60 seniors signed up to become BMA Advocates!

Following the booth exhibition, Adjoa and I had an interview with WCTV-CBS to discuss the work we do at Better Medicare Alliance and why seniors should advocate for Medicare Advantage. The interview can be viewed here.

We thank our Florida allies and partners for working with us to make Florida Senior Day 2017 a successful event, and we look forward to next year!