Author Archives for Herb Weiss

Retiring Senior Advocate Played Key Role in Shaping Long-Term are Policy Debates  

Published in Pawtucket Times on November 18, 2002

Sheila Cabral Sousa, a long-time and well-respected senior advocate, leaves her post as executive director of the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging to become a broker with statewide Residential properties.

Sousa has played a key role in shaping the Ocean State’s long-term care policy during her 12-year tenure representing nonprofit providers who operate nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and senior housing sites.

Sousa’s professional life experience would help her to successfully lead a major statewide nonprofit provider group, providing a continuum of  long-term care services to Rhode Island’s vulnerable elderly.

As a teenager, Sousa dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Once she received her bachelor of education degree from Rhode Island College, the young woman entered the Suffolk University School of Law in Boston.

Ultimately, she would complete a four-year night program, receiving a J.D. in 1971. Eight years in private practice would sharpen her legal skills, skills that would become valuable in helping her to lobby and shape public policy.

In 1979, a job offers given to her husband brought the young couple to Washington, D.C. Briefly, Sousa owned an operated an antique and collectible store in Alexandria, Va., until she found employment in the federal government.

While working for the Veterans Administration, her experience working on the Board of Veterans Appeals gave her a working knowledge of medical issues.

After the couple divorced, Sousa came back home to Rhode Island in 1986, where she would become the field manager for the Richard Licht campaign.  Her efforts helped him to become Lieutenant governor. From there, she became executive director of the Rhode Island Mental Health Association, a position that would give her an understanding of mental health issues in Rhode Island and a familiarity with the state legislature.

In 1989, Sousa would take the helm of the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging (RIAFSA)

For 13 years, she would give credibility and recognition to the views of the nonprofit provider group to lawmakers, state policy makers and to the general public.  As executive director, Sousa would not represent one segment of the long-term care continuum, but the full spectrum, from nursing facilities, assisted-living facilities to senior housing.

Sousa leaves her position with many admirers.

“Enormously intelligent,” “quick-witted” and “a very committed advocate for social justice, women’s issues and the elderly” are traits used to describe Sousa, as quoted by Maureen Maigret, director of public policy for Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty.

“Sousa was not afraid to push people to really examine all the policy issues. She really forced one to take a look at all the angles of an issue to make sure the best results happened,” said Maigret, whose personal and professional friendship with Sousa spans back to the 1970s.

According to Maigret, Sousa has a strong interest in elderly housing issues and has called for the need of supportive housing services to be offered to the residents.

“Through Sousa’s efforts, the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission wrote a report looking at the need for supportive housing for the elderly and those with disabilities,” Maigret stated, adding that this report will be released in the near future.

Adds Susan Sweet, a consultant to nonprofit agencies and an elder rights advocate who is also a longtime friend of Sousa, “She can pierce the babble of irrationality with her quick and sharp wit and is never afraid to do so. She is fearless and funny, smart and compassionate. Quite a combination, adds Sweet.

“Wherever she spends her time, she will bring her considerable strengths to it and it will do well and do good things,” added Sweet.

Steve Horowitz, CEO of East Greenwich-based St. Elizabeth Community and RIAFSA’s past president told All About Seniors that Sousa is “a dynamic person” and a “visionary,’ and that she was the nonprofits first and only executive director.

“She was instrumental in bringing RIAFSA to the table when the state discussed policy issues,” he said.

“She didn’t look at an issue as to how it would affect us today, but how it would impact RIAFSA down the road,” said Horowitz.

Furthermore, Sousa had a tough job because she worked with only a part-time assistant.

“If you see her accomplishments over the years, you would think we had a staff of five people-based on all the work that was done,” noted Horowitz.

Roberta Hawkins, executive director of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care and the state ombudsman, called Sousa a tireless woman who worked extremely hard on behalf of her nonprofit providers without ever losing sight of the elderly clients that they served.

“I will miss her tenacious nature and wonderful sense of humor. Her sense of humor brought levity to intense policy decisions, observes Hawkins.

While Sousa worked hard, she also enjoyed life, too. She is a great cook and has a love for Irish country dancing and music and playing poker, her colleagues say. She is also quite an interior decorator, with an eye for color, too.

Sousa, 60, is not  turning her attention toward her new challenging mountains to climb.

“It’s tie to try new career options,” she said.

Some people say that everyone is replacement.” But in Sousa’s case, and to those who have come to love and admire her, the person who takes the helm of RIAFSA will have big shoes to fill.

A farewell party for Sousa will be held on Thursday, Nov 21, 2002, from 4 to 6 pm, ag Green Tea, 5600 Post Road, East Greenwich. For more information, call Steve Horowitz at 471-6069.

Hall of Fame Inductees Make Great Role Models

Published in Pawtucket Times on October 28, 2002

Hundreds of people gathered Friday evening at Bobby’s Banquet Hall on Newport Avenue to celebrate the honors bestowed to six people with strong ties to Pawtucket who became the latest inductees into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.

Since 1986, the Pawtucket Hall of fame Committee, ably led by Raymond S. Dalton, Sr., has recognized more than 60 persons for their love and positive contributions to the City of Pawtucket.

Over the years, the Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee has selected and recognized those who were either Pawtucket-born residents , persons whose reputations were made while they resident in the city, Pawtucket business owners or those persons who have made an impact on the community.

The varied life experiences of the new inductees to the Pawtucket Hall of Fame can be an inspiration to both young and old, but more importantly to the city’s younger generation.

Although Abraham “Cappy” Asermely, 73, excelled in his life long profession as an educator in the Pawtucket School Department, he was recognized by making the city of Pawtucket a better place to live through organizing sports opportunities for all ages.

His love for basketball led him to create the first “three-on-three” elementary school basketball program in 1968.  Several years later, the three-on-three basketball concept would be used by Asermely when he created an “over-21 league” for the Pawtucket Recreation Department.

Like Asermely, William “Billy” Hulme, 92, had a very strong work ethic, working as a service man at Blackstone Valley Gas and Electric for 35 years. Hulme’s great love for music began at age 5 and continues to this day, when at the drop of a hat, he would write a song or pull out his harmonica and play. The World War II veteran is a shining example that creativity can be tapped during your later years. Although in his 90s, his creativity and passion for his music are still strong.

Born in Pawtucket in 1922, the late Captain Conrade E. LaGueux would later leave to defend his country during World War II. Parachuting into Nazi-controlled southern France, the Pawtucket resident and his fellow commandos joined up with the French underground to destroy a German supply train.

Meanwhile, LaGueux would later go into China, where he was given responsibility of training China’s Parachute Division. With the war ending, the Pawtucket war veteran would eventually join the CIA, where his French language skills and experience gained in the Chinese theater would be valuable for the CIA’s East Asian Division.

In the early 1970s, LaGueux would become the deputy chief of station in Saigon. Ultimately, he would be responsible for the planning and implementation of the evacuation of key Vietnamese leaders.  While residing outside of Pawtucket for most of his adult life, LaGueux would never forget his early ties to is hometown, his wife told the crowd in the room during the induction ceremony.

Last Friday, Patrick McCabe also joined the rank and file of the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.  Called the “Father of Irish in Pawtucket” the 96-year-old inductee was a strong supporter of his church, St. Mary’s Parish in Pawtucket. His work at Kaiser Shipyard during World War II brought him to Pawtucket.

His love of his Irish homeland led to purchase the Irish Social Club in Pawtucket, and the place quicky became the focal point of Irish get-togethers and events. As the grand marshal, McCabe led Pawtucket’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Commitment to his Irish heritage and to the parade led him to save the popular Pawtucket event when support for it dwindled.

At age 53, Louis C. Yip is one of the youngest inductees into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame. A native of Hong Kong, Yip came to America and now stands as Pawtucket’s shining example of the American dream. Along with running one of the best Chinese restaurants in New England, the China Inn. Yip has brought vitality to the city’s downtown by turning an old bank building into the Registry of Motor Vehicles and an old vacant mill into a thriving commercial property.

As a promoter of his Chinese culture, Yip provides strong support to the Rhode Island Association of Chinese Americans. He continually looks for ways to promote his adopted hometown, Pawtucket.

Lastly, William Meiklejohn, born in 1861, became a historical inductee to this year’s Pawtucket Hall of Fame. Coming to Pawtucket from Scotland, Meiklejohn was the founder of the Pawtucket Board of Trade, which ultimately became the Pawtucket Chamber of Commerce.

The new inductees in Pawtucket’s Hall of Fame provide us with a road map on how we can make positive changes not only to Pawtucket, but to our daily lives. That is quite a legacy that they leave us and the future generations that come after us.

AARP Works to Get the Vote Out

Published in the Pawtucket Times on October  21, 2002

AARP is flexing its political muscle.

While it’s not endorsing political candidates from either the Republican and Democratic ranks, one of the nation’s largest membership groups is moving swiftly to educate its members on key aging issues and directing  resources to get the vote out on Election Day.

AARP CEO Bill Novelli has begun the mobilization of his 35 million-plus members to hold all political candidates accountable in the upcoming elections. With the bipartisan gridlock that keeps a law from being enacted to lower skyrocketing drug costs and to provide drug coverage in Medicare, Novelli and his aging rank and file are just plan tired of promises. I can just imagine hearing him shout from AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We are not going to take it anymore!”

This month, AARP begins to take steps to prod the political candidates to become more responsive to aging issues before Nov. 5 elections.

Over the next two weeks, AARP will begin a first-ever national voter education campaign on television. Aimed at voters age 50 and over, the advertising campaign’s get-out-the-vote message calls for the need of a Medicare drug benefit and the importance of Social Security to seniors.

On the issue of Social Security, the message says: “After all you’ve done to earn a paycheck, make sure some of it will be there when you retire. Know where the candidates stand on the future of Social Security and vote.”

Meanwhile, 50 candidate forums, like the one recently held in Warwick by AARP Rhode Island have already been held to enable older votes to directly question local candidates. AARP plans to hold an additional 20 events before Nov 5.

Here’s the rationale for AARP hosting the forums – seniors want detailed information and no longer want to learn about a candidate’s position and priorities in a 30-second sound bite or in a paragraph on a glossy campaign brochure.

Additionally, all congressional candidates will be asked to sign a new Medicare prescription pledge, promising that if they are elected, they will enact a benefit that is voluntary, stable and affordable in 2003.

A warning to the incoming politicians – keep your word. The names of candidates who do – and don’t- agree to sign this Medicare drug pledge will be made public, too.

More that 8.5 million AARP voter guides will be printed, detailing up-to-date information where candidates stand on senior issues. Localized election information on state and national races nationwide will also be made available on a comprehensive website  at http:/www.aarp.org/elections2002.

AARP will even fund Election Day polling, where voters in selected districts will be asked about the defining issues that influenced their votes. The results of this polling will signal to those  elected to Congress what priorities they will face when they begin their new terms in January 2003.

Finally, phone banks where an estimated 500,000 telephone calls will be made will assist AARP’s efforts to get out the vote on Election Day.

If AARP is successful in getting its political savvy and educated membership to the polls, political candidates had better listen to their concerns.

“Older voters participate in elections at a higher rate than any age group,” said AARP Director of Grassroots and Elections Kevin Donnellan, noting that the mid-term elections, where overall voter numbers are low, the percentage senior voting is higher.

Furthermore, Donnellan said in the 1998 mid-term elections, more than 60 percent of the voters were 45 and older. More than 70 percent of AARP members typically vote, he added.

AARP grassroots efforts might even become a factor in tight races, specifically deciding who goes to Washington and who stays at home, Donnellan says.

“Now that we are down to the wire to Election Day, AARP Rhode Island joins AARP nationally to urge Rhode Island seniors to demonstrate once again that they are the most dependable and consistent group of voters,” says Kathleen S. Connell, state director of AARP Rhode Island told All About Seniors.

“It is important that seniors exercise the power of the ballot box to convey the message that the time for action is now,” adds Connell.

The political fate of gubernatorial, congressional and state-wide candidates may well rest in the hands of AARP Rhode Island, which is now mobilizing its 125,000 members to get out and vote next month.

Combine the successful Senior Agenda/Election 2002 Project, recently spearheaded by the Gray Panthers of Rhode Island, working in collaboration with the Rhode Island Minority Elder Task Force, and hundreds of thousands of Ocean State seniors have become a knowledgeable and educated voter block.

Understanding the immediate and future needs of Rhode Island seniors may well become the ticket to statewide or national office inside the Capitol Beltway, when the dust settles after the  Nov. 5 election.