Members/Partners

Member Profiles


Marilyn Pace Maxwell

Name: Marilyn Pace Maxwell

Title: Executive Officer

Company/Organization: Mountain Empire Older Citizens, Inc.

ODP Member Since: December 10, 2007

ODP Committee Affiliation: Shared Database Research

Summarize your professional background relevant to Age Wave preparedness.

Since 1974, has served as Executive Director of Mountain Empire Older Citizens, Inc. (MEOC), the area agency on aging, public transportation body and Aging and Disabilities Resource Center for far southwest Virginia. For the past 35 years, has worked with a wonderful team of colleagues in developing 37 different programs and services for persons in Central Appalachia, specifically Lee, Wise, Scott counties and the City of Norton. MEOC's latest achievement was implementing one of the nation's first rural PACE Programs (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly). MEOC's most recent national recognition came from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation for its coordinated health and human services transportation system. Presently serves on the Governor's Commission on Alzheimer's Disease, State Executive Committee/Virginia AARP, Virginia Tech Gerontology Futures Board and the Board of Directors of a Regional Health Information Organization covering Virginia and Tennessee. Is the ninth District Congressional appointee to the last three White House Conferences on Aging.

What expertise or other strengths do you bring to the Older Dominion Partnership?

An advocacy voice for the strengths and concerns of rural Virginians, the perspective of those Virginians who live closer to eight other state capitals than they do to Richmond, a 35 year history of planning, developing, funding and managing programs for older citizens and their families, a philosophical belief  in the principles of  asset based community development, an understanding of the importance and necessity of broad based, collaborative partnerships in bringing about positive social change and MEOC's long historical commitment to community based long term care services including  comprehensive support  to family caregivers.

What do you believe are the most pressing issues in Age Wave-preparedness in Virginia today?

Regardless of where Virginians live, they should have equitable access to age appropriate health care. Unfortunately, this has never been the case; people who live in rural areas have never enjoyed the same level of access to quality health care as people who reside in non-rural areas. Rural Virginians are more likely to be poor, more likely to be uninsured, more likely to live in medically underserved areas, and more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses as a result. The age adjusted mortality rate in rural southwest Virginia is much higher than the rate in Virginia as a whole. In the best of all possible worlds, as we prepare for the age wave, we would reconfigure health care to eliminate these health disparities between rural Virginia and the rest of the state. If we do not reform our health system, these disparities are going to become even more exaggerated when the aging tsunami hits.

What advice do you have for age wave planning in Virginia?

As we reform the health care system to accommodate the coming age wave, we should look to put in place a coordinated, inter-disciplinary health care model that integrates acute health care and community based long term care as exemplified by the PACE model. In PACE, all disciplines coordinate their services to keep frail elderly people living safe and secure in their own communities. This model of coordinated care that enhances the quality of life for frail elders would be equally effective for all older Virginians. The PACE model is a cost effective way to provide care in the least restrictive setting. The model should be embraced not only by public insurers such as Medicare and Medicaid, but also by the private market as well. Experience has taught MEOC that there is a huge, untapped market for this model of care.