New York, N.Y. – AARP saluted Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal today with a plaque for her leadership in helping establish a new law that will support millions of family caregivers across New York when their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home.

AARP has also named Assemblymember Rosenthal one of two “Capitol Caregivers” in New York for 2015, putting her among a select, bi-partisan group of elected officials from across the country to be recognized because they have fought for family caregivers.

Dozens of AARP volunteers and other advocates joined at Manhattan’s Atlantic Grill today to celebrate the state’s enactment of the CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act.

AARP’s top 2015 legislative priority, the CARE Act was signed into law this fall by Governor Andrew Cuomo and takes effect in April. It will ensure hospitals allow patients to designate family caregivers and offer those caregivers instruction and demonstrations of health-related tasks they will be expected to provide for their loved ones at home, such as administering multiple medications and dressing wounds.

Assemblymember Rosenthal sponsored the CARE Act (A.1323) and guided the bill to a unanimous, 119-0 vote in the Assembly following 59-0 approval in the State Senate (S.676). The CARE Act is expected to help more New Yorkers age in their own homes – the most cost-effective approach and the one most New Yorkers want.

“I was thrilled that my partnership with AARP resulted in the successful passage of New York’s CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record and Enable) Act into law this year,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan). “With the number of New Yorkers who will need medical care at home projected to explode within the next several years, it is crucial that caregivers be provided with the support they need to effectively and efficiently administer care to their loved ones. The CARE Act will ensure that New Yorkers receive excellent medical care at home and will also help to keep costs down by reducing complications and readmission to the hospital. I am honored that AARP chose to recognize me as a 2015 Capitol Caregiver; I look forward to continuing my work with them in the future.”

“We’re enormously thankful to Assemblymember Rosenthal for recognizing the importance of the CARE Act and demonstrating bold leadership by making it a priority in the Legislature this year,” said Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP for New York State. “With this bill, the Assemblymember adds to her impressive list of initiatives that have helped New Yorkers and made a dramatic and positive influence in our communities and across the state.”

“Caregivers need support,” said Peggy Hernandez, a Brooklyn resident who attended today’s celebration and provides care for her husband, Carlos, who has Alzheimer’s. “We are not medical professionals, yet we are expected to perform complicated health tasks. We need to be instructed and we need to be told and shown how to take care of wounds, administer medicines in the right dosages, combinations and times, and do all the things we need to do to make sure the person we love is well-cared for. The CARE Act will do this, and we are grateful to Assemblymember Rosenthal for her leadership.”

“Family caregivers, especially those who are new at it, don’t even know to ask” for the information they need, said Jerome Brown, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, who cares for his wife of 20 years, Linda, and also attended. “They’re overwhelmed. It shouldn’t be all on them, especially at a vulnerable and scary time like hospital discharge. The CARE Act will ensure it isn’t all on them. We are grateful to Assemblymember Rosenthal for helping put this law on the books.”

New York became the 18th state to put a version of the CARE Act on the books. AARP and New York’s hospital associations worked together on the bill. The CARE Act, sponsored in the State Senate by New York’s other “Capitol Caregiver,” Health Committee Chair Kemp Hannon, will help many of the nearly 2.6 million New Yorkers who provide unpaid care to family and loved ones, plus up to 1.6 million adult New Yorkers discharged home from hospitals each year. This unpaid care is estimated to be valued at $31.3 billion annually.

The CARE Act will also ensure the family caregiver is informed before the hospital patient is to be discharged. It enjoys broad support among New York voters 50 and older, with 92% saying hospitals should “explain and demonstrate” to family caregivers tasks they’ll have to perform when their loved ones are sent home from the hospital, a 2014 AARP survey found.

About half of all family caregivers perform health-related and nursing tasks for loved ones. And most care recipients don’t receive home visits by health care professionals. “Information is power, and the CARE Act will empower millions of family caregivers,” Finkel noted.

The needs and the ranks of New York’s family caregivers are only expected to increase as New York’s population ages - yet AARP found that in the coming years, fewer family members will be available to provide care for more older loved ones who will need it. In 2010 there was a potential pool of 6.6 people aged 45-65 for every person 80 and older who would likely need care at some point. That number will shrink to 4.8 by 2030 and 3.5 by 2050.

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia have enacted similar CARE Act laws.