Media Advisories

For Immediate Release
Friday, March 3, 2006                                                    

Contact: AoA Press Office
202-357-3507

HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging (AoA) Josefina Carbonell will join Alabama Governor Bob Riley and other state and local officials in a groundbreaking ceremony for the nation’s first Safe Center on Tuesday, March 7, 2006, in Guin, Alabama.  

Media availability will take place at Marion County High School, 8115 U.S. Highway 43, immediately following groundbreaking ceremony

For More Information: John Matson, Alabama Dept of Senior of Senior Services, 334-353-8712

Background: The Safe Center is a new concept for senior centers developed by the Alabama Department of Senior Services in partnership with AoA, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Safe Centers, which will operate as senior centers throughout the year, will provide specially-designed, safe and immediate shelters for vulnerable and at-risk seniors in the event of a disaster. Guin is located in Alabama’s “tornado alley” where severe tornadoes frequently hit. AoA has worked with Alabama to provide funding for critical services to communities that continue to recover from hurricanes and tornadoes that have hit the state in recent years.

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The AoA is a Federal agency dedicated to policy development, planning and the delivery of supportive home and community-based services to older persons and their caregivers through the national aging network of state and local agencies on aging, tribal organizations, service providers and volunteers.