This piece was contributed by Adrienne Omansky from the Stop Senior Scams acting program, one of our Community Partners at The Wallis.
On March 7, 2018 I testified in Washington, DC before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging for a hearing titled “Senior Scams.” I was invited to provide testimony about the effectiveness of the Stop Senior Scams℠ Acting Program, which is a peer-to-peer education program that educates seniors about senior scams and prevention through the use of theater. I was invited by the office of United States Senator Susan Collins from Maine, Chair of the Special Committee on Aging along with Co-Chair Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania. I founded the Stop Senior Scams℠ Acting Program nine years while I was a teacher-advisor for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Our program consists of senior volunteers ages 65-100 who are from a variety of different backgrounds and professions.
I testified about the effectiveness of using theater in our program and the importance of collaboration with different organizations which included the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. My seniors and I have seen many performances at The Wallis which have inspired many of our skits. One performance in particular was 946: The Amazing Journey of Adolphus Tips performed by the Knee-high Theater. The creative use of a cat puppet in this production led me to write a skit about A Dog Scam using a puppet. This skit brings awareness about animal scams to our audience and the importance of animal adoptions. I am very pleased to be a part of GRoW @ The Wallis under Mark Slavkin, Director of Education, and Debra Pasquerette, Manager of Community Engagement. On May 15th, the U.S Senate Declared May 15th Senior Fraud Awareness Day. I received a signed official copy by Senator Collins of the Congressional Record.
My testifying at the senate hearing. Senator Susan Collins and me. Senator Bob Casey and me. Representative Karen Bass with my husband and me.