00:00:31.240 - 00:01:19.260

Oh, mhm. Mhm. Okay, Yeah. Mhm. Mhm two. Yeah. You Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Hi, I'm Senator Lawton Child's, and I want to welcome you to the Lawton Child's update. Today we're going to visit North Florida, home of the Apalachicola River, the last free flowing major river in the Southeast, and we'll see how it's oyster industry is recovered from back to back hurricanes.

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We'll also meet some of the people who have been named to the newly created Commission on Infant Mortality. But first, let's talk about a few of the issues facing many of our retired Floridians. Back in 1965 the Older Americans Act became law and opened many doors to our senior citizens.

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Meals on wheels, senior centers, legal assistance and unemployment opportunities are just some of the services the law created. The House of Representatives has just reauthorized the older Americans act for another five years, and the Senate is going to be acting on it soon. Congressman Claude Pepper of Miami is America's Mr Senior citizens.

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He's been a member of the House and the Senate for over 40 years in his past chairman of the aging committee, and is now chairman of the House Rules Committee. He was first elected in 1936 and became an adviser and confident to President Franklin Roosevelt. Claude Pepper has been an advocate for older Americans for a good many years.

00:02:18.050 - 00:02:33.400

He and I recently talked about some of the issues facing older America. Sure. Well, Senator, I thank you for being with us. Uh, you and I have been in the Senate quite a while, uh, in the Congress, and you've been here a lot longer than I have.

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We're going to renew the Older Americans act this year. We passed that acting back in 1971. It seems like that time has gone awful fast. Of course. Uh, that act is where we cover the meals on wheels and visiting nurses care and a lot of our elderly services.

00:02:52.590 - 00:03:09.460

How What's your opinion of how that act has worked over the years? And, uh, I was here in 65 when we started the first version of it. And then, as you said, we moved it on through the years for several amendments, including one that passed the house recently Would be before you very shortly.

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I call this afternoon to the area office on the aging in Miami just to get a fresh report from that office as to how the Older Americans act was helping the elderly people. And he gave me an enumeration of the many services that it was rendering to the elderly people, all of which are very meaningful.

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For example, transportation, education and better training, for example, a care in the home to the people that are chronically ill, like somebody with Alzheimer's disease, for it doesn't provide medical care for them, but it does about, uh, personal care, but they help them to feed themselves, bathe themselves and the like.

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And then, of course, there's a so many other services included. As you say, the Meals On Wheels program, including uh, the community centers is a very important I jumped under this act, so it's been a very meaningful program, and I think we can all be very proud of the service it renders, I asked the gentleman in charge of the area office on the aging.

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I said What is the major deficiency at the present time of the act? Well, he said, I would think that the long term care for the for the elderly people. I think people care. I think that is the major problem. I held a hearing in Orlando recently, and I found the same thing.

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Uh, everybody was very pleased with the positive results of the act. I think that's certainly something that Congress is gonna reauthorize and see how we can make it better. You and I have also work together to sponsor some some legislation dealing with Medigap insurance. We know that there's a a room for that insurance to cover that difference where Medicare doesn't cover.

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And yet, uh, you held hearings and I did, too, showing that, uh, some unscrupulous, uh, people and companies had come in and really defrauded older people With that, uh, do you think it's time we looked at that issue again? We've had a lot of people retire since we held that insurance.

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My understanding is we still got some people out there that preying on, uh on older people and giving them insurance. It isn't worth anything that doesn't cover anything. Senator, you're so right about that. Uh, in my hearings, we found that about a large number of people every year basically elderly people, so many of them elderly women.

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You have a little money and in their desperation to try to provide protection in case they have long term chronic illness. They buy these policies that too often sold by persuasive salesman. In some instances, I regret to say, encouraged by their companies not many, but in some instances encouraged by their countries, companies to use any kind of tactic that they can to get the money for the premiums from these elderly people who have a fear that they'll have these trying to kill decision won't be in too many instances are when they do have to go to a nursing home.

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Do have to pay the Catastrophic Cares and Spencer's. These policies don't cover it, and I think the insurance companies are trying to improve those policies. But these Medigap policies are essential today until we perfect our system of care for the elderly so that they won't be afraid that we made the beginning and the bill you passed the Senate and the bill we passed in the house.

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I think so, and I think it is the subject that we are going to have to look at again. I wanted to ask you again from your perspective and the time that you've been. Watch this, Uh, do you think society is sort of changing its views?

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Uh, and how far do you think they've gone in their their attitude towards, uh, senior citizens, you know, used at one time, we thought you had to retire. People at, uh, 63 or 65. They couldn't be retrained, or they'd be absent, or they'd be sick. Do you think the whole society is just taking a different view?

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Now on Senator, there's a very, very important change in public opinion. In the days of my youth, there was hardly any care provided for the Celtics. That may be an old poorhouse somewhere. They didn't provide very much care for them there. Along with the Roosevelt administration, we began to do something for the elderly people, and that program has been expanded from time to time since you and I've been here in the Congress.

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Now then, uh, the people not only determined to do more to meet the needs of the elderly people, but they're taking a more generous attitude towards the needs of the elderly. And we are finding out as I said the other day. The elderly, the seniors are getting more junior, and the juniors are getting more senior all the time.

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We are finding out that the elderly people are not to be pushed aside because they get to be 65 years of age. They are having a rejuvenation, a revitalization period that's coming along and the experience of the elderly. And in Florida. I found out the other day from a big company that provides a facilities for high tech industry, that there are two plants already in Florida wanted Melbourne and wanted Ocala, where they provide part time jobs for the elderly.

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And today I think there's an enormous reservoir. You know, those people out there that are retired, we're running America a little while ago. That's right, And it's the idea that they tell me that the absentee rate on them is better, uh, and that their work rate is far as mistakes they make is even better.

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So we're glad to see that one of the problems I think has come up and I've been hearing about this in Florida and I think you've been working on this and thats elderly people, their ability to get credit. What have you all done on the house?

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You know, we we passed. We added a provision in the last amendment of the older Americans act forbidding any discrimination on account of age and respect the credit. And we added another provision that you were interested in. Senator, that is, we put $5 million in the last bill that we've changed, providing for protection against abuse for the elderly, their million cases of abuse.

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My committee has found out of the elderly too often by members of their own families. And now this is intended to give the federal government the means of trying to help the state protect the elderly against abuse. And that, and they protection against discrimination on the kind of credit with two of the last editions that we put in.

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Well, I think that's important. Where do you see us going from here? In regard to our programs, obviously, we know we've got to work more towards prevent preventive care, uh, and trying to, you know, keep people well, and I think while we always talk some about the programs for the elderly that are sick, uh, we should talk about that there's really only a small percentage of the elderly that is sick or goes to nursing home.

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Most of them are out there in our will. But where do you see us going from here? And the two great points of emphasis, I think in the future and respect to the elderly offers, as you say, prevention, give them the right to get a check up anytime.

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I found out the other day that a young 33 year old fella in the house who was getting a free check here in the capital discovered that he had a high cholesterol, uh, count endangering his life. Really? Yet he'd never been getting check up. And there's many of the elderly people that just don't have the money.

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They think to go in and get a check up. That's one of the things preventive care. The other one is long term care. We must provide long term at least home care and later on nursing home care and eventually comprehensive care for everybody. But for the elderly, we need long term home care, and that's what I'm hoping that we can get into the built.

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Sometimes a little later stage I didn't want to jeopardize the bill that we passed the other day. Well, that brings us to that subject of the catastrophic health coverage. I know the house has passed that bill, uh, and you provided in there for a study? Uh, and and that sounds like a good idea to me.

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I want to help you try to keep that study Before, I had much encouragement from you to get that provisions put into the bill, namely to provide a bipartisan commitment like the Social Security Commission we had in 82 83 which would make a study of how much it would cost and where the money would come from to provide long term home care and later, long term nursing home care for the elderly people, indeed, for all people that are chronically ill and eventually, after another six month study, how much it would cost to provide comprehensive care for the people.

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But for the first time through that bipartisan commission, we'll be able to labor for Congress the fact as to how much it cost and where we could get the money to provide that needed long term. Well, I think that's awfully important. And I do want to support you on that.

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As you know, from my perspective, is being budget Committee chairman. A lot of times I have to say no. Uh, but we know this is a great need. And as you say, trying to get the facts and figure out how do we can do it? How we can even if we have to phase it in or do it over a period of time, it certainly makes sense.

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You see, Congress never had that data before it before those data before. And this is going to enable Congress to move intelligently more effectively into this critical field. Well, the leadership you provide helps us go in that direction. And I I think we need to senator you and I've been partners in this enterprise for a long time.

00:13:05.840 - 00:13:21.910

And I hope we can continue to wait together that way for a long time because, well, I hope my health holds up so I can continue to be your partner. I'm sure you'll be here for a long time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Do you have your passport for the third time?

00:13:21.910 - 00:13:37.620

Yeah. You have three kids relax. If we weren't grown ups, they wouldn't have let us join the Peace Corps Peace Corps. It's creating food systems in Africa, building homes in Costa Rica and fighting malaria in Asia. It's teaching math and learning French. It's working side by side.

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It's been tough. But for 25 years the Peace Corps has been making a difference in the world. Mom, Dad, I'm so proud of you. Peace Corps, the toughest job you'll ever love. Think for a minute. If every one of us gave just five hours a week, if we gave just 5% of what we earn to the causes we say we care about, it could add up to the biggest volunteer effort this country has ever seen.

00:14:04.840 - 00:14:28.850

And we could accomplish things that right now we only dream about just five hours, just 5%. It's not that much to give, but what we could get back is immeasurable. Mhm. There's a lot of people from private industry, government and neighborhoods working together in North Florida to make sure a while river remains that way.

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The focus of their interests. The Apalachicola River stretches 106 miles from the Florida Georgia border to the Apalachicola Bay, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers joined at Lake Simino at the state line to form the Appalachia Cola. The rivers drain 19,600 square miles in Florida.

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Georgia and Alabama also provide drinking water for the growing Atlanta area. 71 mile long floodplain along the Apalachicola is the largest in the state. It's home to 60 of North Florida species of trees. The rivers advocates wanted to show me what they were doing to keep the river wild and to keep its waters pure.

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While the river is heavily damned for navigation in Georgia, there no dams in Florida. Okay, Mhm. The gym Woodruff Dam at Lake Seminole, where our trip began, is the last, and the river is free flowing from here to the gulf. The survival of the Apalachicola Bay depends on what happens upriver.

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That's why Florida, Georgia and Alabama are now jointly working on a plan to protect the river. Dr. Robert Livingston, a professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee, has been involved in research on the Apalachicola for many years. They're building dams all the way down the Chattahoochee for this burgeoning population in Atlanta.

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They're just going to be a lot of people there, and they're taking a lot of water out of the Chattahoochee, which is the main source for the Appalachian coal. And if we don't have some kind of plan that the rivers stay running, we'll lose. The whole wetland will lose the whole river and the bay and everything else, and we estimate between 30 and 50 years from now 30 to 50 years, we'll have a very small amount of water coming down the river.

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Agricultural interests are using it as well, so it's very important for us to get a plan up now before all this happened because you're trying to do models on that. We're doing it right now. We're trying to figure out how much water we need in the river and the bay.

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Keep all of the various parts of the system functioning. How long will it take you to do that? We've got ahead to think about how you do that. We've got 15 years of data and we've got the data we need. We're now running the models and eventually we'll be able to tell just about how much we need and when we need it in order to make all the systems stay operations.

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We've got the data. We have been working on that for 15 years. The river full of important nutrients creates one of the largest estuaries of its kind. This is going to be one of the first major rivers where almost the entire floodplain is going to be in public hands.

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It's got the biggest, the biggest story in sanctuary in the country, sitting right at the end of it. So you think basically we can save the blood? Yes, sir. With the state and the feds have purchased large portions of the floodplain so far. Bill McCartney's outfit, the various people associated with the department natural resources as well as the Austrian Sanctuary.

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So we've done that tens of millions of dollars and purges, just buying all the wetlands. These aren't purchased. But as we get farther down the river, the main belt of the big wetland systems are having purchased, so there's been a lot of a lot of good things going on here.

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But if the water doesn't come down, everybody is out. There won't be any more oysters we are. Our models will show the entire oyster industry and the shrimp. That's really gone. I read you said something about ST George's Island. It's very important to the also to the bay.

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Yes, sir, as well. We've worked hard trying to get that zone properly. And we think now we have a very good plan for that whole county, Franklin County as well as as well as ST George. And in fact, we won the lawsuits that were challenging it.

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And yes, sir, that was very important to win the lawsuits. And now we feel that ST George will probably properly planned. So that's not as much of a problem of the river. Right now. We're going to concentrate more on the river. Mm. Without the river, the entire coastal system, which depends on it, would be lost.

00:18:22.870 - 00:18:43.150

We lose most of the productivity out of Apalachicola Bay. He would turn into a very different system. Fresh water from the river and the salt from the gulf work together to produce and protect oyster, see the big river flushes down into the system and loots the salt water so that all these organisms can live and without that delusion, they're gone.

00:18:43.330 - 00:18:57.260

It turns into a totally different system. You lose all the oysters, most of the shrink, the combination of the fresh and the salt. And unless the salt is deluded, the prejudice from offer just come in and eat all the oysters before they can grow up so you'll have oysters.

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But they only get that big. I see the shrimp shrimp the same way. They just eat the same way with the little shrimp. So the river and the bay, in fact, the whole system works as one. You got to work with the whole system from all the way from the headwaters of the Chattahoochee, all the way out 160 miles in the Gulf of Mexico.

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It's all tied together. Buy fresh water. Back to back hurricanes in 1985 86 almost wiped out the oyster industry. 80 to 90% of the oyster producing reefs were wiped out following Hurricane Elena alone. The federal government provided a million and a half dollars to rebuild re culture, the damaged Orser reefs, and today the reefs are once again producing or stories.

00:19:40.340 - 00:20:00.860

Dr. Livingston was conducting a study of the oyster industry when the hurricanes hit a year ago. Actually, a little more than almost two years ago, Hurricane Kate and Elena, both of them hit direct hits in this region. Elena came first in September, wiped out 90% of the oysters.

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We just happen to be in the middle of our oyster study at the time so we could document exactly what happened to the oysters. 90% of them were wiped out. It caused an immediate, tremendous harm in the region. A multimillion dollar industry went from being very productive, being nothing for a lot of people out of work.

00:20:19.740 - 00:20:36.760

And at that time, then, uh, the oysters themselves responded. The last of the 10% that were left had a major spawning. We've never seen him spawn like that before. It was probably due to a stimulus of the population by that hurricane, and Kate came along and wiped out another 40%.

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But it didn't really harm remain oysters. So in the past year and a half, these oysters have come back, and now they're right back to or even better than they were before. 90% of the state's oyster crop is harvested at Apalachicola Bay, and it's hard work.

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They use tongs instead of dredges here to keep from damaging the oyster beds. We don't use dredges here. We use what they call tongues, where you actually tongue the oyster, and that saves the bar from a lot of wear and tear. It's tough work, but it saves this bay, and it keeps it at a very high level of productivity.

00:21:13.840 - 00:21:28.860

We have probably over 1000 oysterman now, many more than we've had in the past, because the oysters as they've been knocked out in other parts of the country, becoming very valuable. So if we can maintain, though, it's your productivity down here, it's just gonna get more and more valuable with time.

00:21:29.940 - 00:21:45.460

Dr. Livingston pointed out what we can do to protect the oyster industry. I think it's important that people know that you don't have to kill a system first before you get concerned about it. This system, we got concerned about it because we saw what was happening to other areas.

00:21:45.460 - 00:22:03.610

Like other big rivers. The chest speak system is going down. They lost half of their oyster productivity the past few years and as long as we maintain it and do a little preventive medicine. A few dollars up front has meant that we are going to make millions upon millions of dollars in the future and keep a balanced program in a balanced system and keep the wildlife the way it is.

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And, uh, I think this is a perfect example that should be used more often as a positive incentive for people to do this. Preventive medicine. Yes, there's a healthy combination of people from industry and environmentalists at work in North Florida, and the work they're doing to protect the Apalachicola River is important not only to us but to the generations to come.

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We'll be right back. Charles Bronson isn't happy. Sure takes guts to vandalize parks of beat up on trees. But that's what some jerks are doing to our public lands. Only the land can't fight back, but we can't. We can save our land, you and me. Let's face it, someone who gets his kicks punching out flowers shouldn't be too much of a match for us, right?

00:22:53.380 - 00:23:14.490

Take pride in America Post Office box 1339 Jessup, Maryland two oh 794 Did you know that almost 1/5 of our Navy is made up of civilians who leave their jobs at a moments notice to help defend our country. They are members of the Naval Reserve. They take time off from their jobs to help defend our country.

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But for them to do that job right, they need time to train. If you're an employer, give them the time they need. With your help, our country will remain strong and ready to support the National Guard and Reserve protect their future while they protect yours. There's not a better place in the world who lived in the United States, but strangely enough, there's a list of countries where it's actually safer to be born.

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Nations like Belgium, Iceland, Australia, even Hong Kong all have a lower infant mortality rate than America. The United States ranks 14th on the scale of industrialized countries when it comes to infant mortality and among the states in the nation, Florida's pretty far down the infant survival list.

00:23:59.630 - 00:24:22.680

20 seconds in Florida, almost 11 of every 1000 babies die before their first birthday. Those deaths come in spite of all of our hard work and medical skill, Obviously, we're missing something to find out what it is. I introduced legislation last year to create a national commission on infant mortality.

00:24:22.690 - 00:24:43.050

The law was passed, the commission has been created, and I've been elected as first chairman. It's a pretty distinguished panel and includes, among others, Senator David Durenberger of Minnesota, Linda Johnson, Rob and representative Roy Rowland of Georgia, the only family physician in Congress. All of us have to do a lot of hard work.

00:24:43.640 - 00:25:06.260

I don't want the commission to become one of those government agency is that hires a large staff and stays in business forever. In fact, part of my legislation required the commission to conduct its research, make its finding and file a report all within one year. On the day the commission formally came into being, I outlined the goals for the year ahead at a press conference at the Capitol.

00:25:07.040 - 00:25:32.770

I want to call attention to the problem. I particularly want the decision makers everywhere to know about infant mortality and what they can do about it, what we can do about it, and I want both the public policymakers and the private sector leaders to know how the problem has an impact on them and their sphere of influence.

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And during this year we will try to put together information and organized hearings in such a way that we generate wide public interest. And we want to plant the picture in such a way that everyone in this country will understand what role they can play in improving the health of mothers and babies fire.

00:25:58.720 - 00:26:15.910

I don't have any doubts about our ability to get the job done. We're fortunate in this country to have the best in medical technology. What we need now is a plan to make sure we bring that technology to the people who need it. We've got to identify the gaps in service and find a way to fill them in.

00:26:16.840 - 00:26:41.560

We've also got to find out where service overlaps or can be better organized. Do we have the right kind of systems to collect information? Are we doing enough to combat teen pregnancy? Representative Roland was very direct in his comments about the aims of the panel. He sees the need to mobilize people in public opinion as crucial elements and he reminded us all of our end objective.

00:26:42.140 - 00:26:55.950

I think that this Commission. The cross section of this commission is a good indication that we're going to be able to address that because I think it has to be addressed not only on the federal level, but on the state and the local level as well.

00:26:56.640 - 00:27:20.840

I think it's fine to have posters up around talking about the problem, but I think it is so important for people to get personally involved and advising those women who don't get prenatal care, that it's important for them to get prenatal care. And I think this is going to work out of the prenatal clinics that provide care for the people who cannot afford this care.

00:27:20.840 - 00:27:41.060

And I hope that we're going to work in that direction to try to keep that baby inside of the uterus until it has reached term. Dr Roland makes the telling point. The figures show that low birth weight babies those under £5.5 or 40 times more likely to die in the first months of their lives and normal infants.

00:27:41.640 - 00:28:04.770

So we need to find a better way to help more pregnant women carry their babies to full turn. But we're up against a lot of problems. Many women simply aren't aware of the importance of key nutrition and regular medical attention during their pregnancies. We have a large number of unwanted pregnancies among the young and unmarried, and the prevalence of drugs is a savage threat to the unborn.

00:28:05.440 - 00:28:25.670

What it comes down to is preventable tragedy. Thousands of infants could have been saved if their mothers had received the proper care during pregnancy. The care is available, but it's not always accessible. It can cost as much as $120,000 in an intensive care unit to save the life of a low birth weight infant.

00:28:26.240 - 00:28:45.560

Of course, it's worth the money. But contrast that cost to Florida, where the average cost of prenatal care during a normal pregnancy is $600. We need to make sure that prenatal care happens to more. Mother, the great scientist Louis Pasteur once spoke of what he called the law of peace and health.

00:28:46.240 - 00:29:03.260

He said, By obeying the law of humanity, we must work to extend the frontiers of life. I suppose we might call that the law of the Children. That's why serving as chairman of the National Commission to prevent infant mortality as an honor. And I'm grateful, but it's more than that.

00:29:03.260 - 00:29:38.130

It's a blessing because it's a chance to help shape a plan to save lives. And that's actually what the commission is really about. I hope you'll join me again next time for the Lawton Child's update. Mm, mhm. Mhm, Yeah, yeah. Mhm. Mhm. I do, too. Yeah.

00:29:47.140 - 00:30:36.700

Mhm, Yeah, yeah! Mhm! On the Lawton Child's update, we look at the last free flowing river in the Southeast, the Apalachicola, and we'll see what's being done to keep it wild and clean. And I'll talk with Florida Congressman Claude Pepper, America's Mr Senior Citizens. I'm Senator Lawton Child's.

00:30:36.810 - 00:30:39.840

I hope you'll join me, Yeah.