When Mary Bethel received a state award in May for excellence and outstanding service in the field of aging from the NC Association on Aging, older adults from Murphy to Manteo joined in the applause.
As AARP’s Assistant State Director for Advocacy, Mary led AARP’s considerable efforts to gain recognition for the increasing population of older adults in North Carolina and the silver tsunami to come in less than a dozen years.
The award comes on the eve of her departure from AARP which is a good time to remember the multiple successes she has had working with her partner groups in the corridors of state government, especially the General Assembly, on funding programs like the Home and Community Care Block Grant which keep adults in their home rather than in a retirement home at an increased cost. She worked to prevent cuts to Medicaid for aged blind and disabled adults and championed the Star Rating System for adult care homes.
In recent years, her advocacy efforts protected the interests of older adults in tax reform, ensuring that Social Security benefits and prescription drugs were not taxed, and in election reform, seeing a means to verify identity for adults who were born at home and did not have a birth certificate On the federal level, she organized advocacy volunteers to ensure that Medicare and Social Security benefits were protected.
Prior to joining AARP, Mary worked for almost 30 years with the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services as Special Assistant to the Director and in other positions. As the Division’s liaison for legislative issues, she also worked with the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging and the NC Senior Tar Heel Legislature.
How did she choose advocacy as a career? See the article Mary Bethel on Advocacy for Seniors.