Senior Legal Helplines: Bridging the Justice Gap for Ohio Seniors
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December 16, 2022
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By Mary Day
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“We’re pleased that Mike Walters, our Helpline Manager, is active in the National Association of Senior Legal Hotlines (NASLH) and has been selected to serve as Chair in 2023”, says Dimity Orlet, executive director at Pro Seniors, “and we’re grateful to Mike for investing his time and expertise in the important NASLH mission to promote the development and continued operation, funding of, and education about, statewide senior legal hotlines.”
The Justice Gap Study (2022) reveals that 62% of low-income seniors (aged 65 years and older) and 70% of low-income senior households experienced at least one civil legal problem in the past year. The most common problems related to consumer issues, health care, and income maintenance. Low-income households seniors sought legal help for 26% of the problems that substantially affected them.
Walters says, “With over 8,000 calls to Pro Seniors’ Legal Helpline in the past year, we recognize that seniors’ legal needs are greater than the current capacity for senior legal services. A legal helpline is a perfect mechanism to bridge the justice gap. Still, many states do not have a senior legal helpline, making the NASLH mission more essential than ever for the growth in the older segment of our communities.”
