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“Dr. Donna Yee has consistently fought for our region’s seniors and has a longtime track record of service, advocacy, and care within our community. I am pleased to have her join me as my guest to this year’s State of the Union address,” said Congresswoman Doris Matsui in January. 

Donna Yee, PhD, is the former CEO of ACC Senior Services who served for 17 years.

Each year, Members of Congress can invite one guest of their choosing to attend the State of the Union address with them. These guests are often used to highlight key community members, their contributions, and issues of importance to the Member and their work in Congress. 

President Donald Trump delivered his address on February 4, 2020. “It was my honor to join Congresswoman Matsui at the State of the Union tonight,” said Donna. “Her voice and leadership in Congress clearly reflect her tireless dedication to our country’s seniors and their families. I am happy to share this time together to discuss solutions moving forward.”

Congresswoman Matsui has been a leader on key issues including the passing of the Affordable Care Act and mental healthcare reform. She says that the Trump Administration, despite vowing to strengthen and protect Medicare and Social Security, has continuously attacked these essential programs by cutting spending, shifting costs onto beneficiaries, and limiting choices for seniors and their families. 

Congresswoman Matsui is a champion of H.R.3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. The bill gives Medicare the power to negotiate prices directly with drug companies.

In the first six months of 2019, the prices of more than 3,400 drugs increased in the U.S. The average increase was 17%. From 2012 to 2016, the annual cost of insulin for a single patient increased from $2,864 to $5,075.

In October 2019, Congresswoman Matsui tapped on ACC President/CEO Darrick Lam to appear with her at a press conference in Sacramento where she announced H.R. 3 to her district. Darrick gave his perspectives on how much this bill is needed for seniors. The bill passed the House on December 19 and is now in the Senate.

Congresswoman Matsui invited Donna to the State of the Union Address not just to attend the speech, but also to advocate with her. “I was given a chance to speak about the bill’s impact on not only those with low incomes and in poverty, but more so for the majority of seniors who have moderate incomes and who are not wealthy,” says Donna. “I was asked to participate in an interview in a huge hall jammed with reporters, cameras, and all manner of networks and independent news outlets.” 

ACC is proud to have current and past CEOs who are shaping national healthcare legislation. Darrick is also a member of Governor Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

When asked about what she thought about her trip to Washington, Donna replied, “It was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed ‘hanging out’ with the Congresswoman.”

Congratulations to ACC Care Center for being featured in a 42-page report entitled “Measuring Light Exposure and its Effects on Sleep and Behavior in Care Center Residents” issued by the U.S. Department of Energy.

View and download the report.

This study examined the effects of the tunable lighting system implemented at ACC Care Center. The objective was to test a strategy for measuring and documenting light exposure for typical residents and to evaluate the collected data in terms of multiple metrics for human circadian responses over the course of a day.

The research team hypothesized that residents were more likely to be affected by the nighttime tuned lighting than by the daytime tuned lighting, because the tunable lighting system was effective at dropping light levels and the blue-cyan content of the lights in corridors at night.

A BIG KUDOS to the Care Center Team and Dr. Scott Stringer, Medical Director, for their involvement with the ACC Tunable Lighting Project that was completed by the Brown University and the U.S. Department of Energy .

ACC would also like to give special recognition to SMUD for getting us involved with this project more than 5 years ago. Dave Bisbee and Connie Samla were key to getting us involved in Human Centric Lighting and providing us with grants funding from SMUD to do the lighting.

The ACC 12th Annual Crab Feed is this Saturday! Thank you Co-Chairs Debbie Seid and Lori Lee and all the sponsors who are making this awesome event possible. This includes an anonymous sponsor who gave $10,000!

EVENT SPONSOR – $10,000
Anonymous

PLATINUM SPONSOR – $5,000
Edge Electrical Consulting | Watch their sponsor video)

GOLD SPONSOR -$2,500
Maria Chin

SILVER SPONSORS – $1,000
CA State Senator Richard Pan, M.D.
Walmart
Mas Hatano
Rodney Ryugo

BRONZE SPONSORS – $500
CA State Assemblymember Jim Cooper
Klumpp’s Funeral Home

Proceeds will be used to fund ACC services for older adults including skilled nursing, memory care, home visits, transportation, and lifelong learning. Click here to make an online gift.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-6), Co-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families, announced that her guest to the State of the Union will be Dr. Donna Yee, former CEO of ACC Senior Services and policy director of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging. Dr. Yee has spent her career advocating for Sacramento’s seniors.

“Dr. Yee has consistently fought for our region’s seniors and has a longtime track record of service, advocacy, and care within our community. Her story is truly inspiring, and I am pleased to have her join me as my guest to this year’s State of the Union address,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “America’s seniors have spent a lifetime contributing to our society and economy. Despite vowing to strengthen and protect Medicare and Social Security, the Trump Administration has continuously attacked these essential programs by cutting spending, shifting costs onto beneficiaries, and limiting choices for seniors and their families. It is now more important than ever that we lift up the voices of those in our communities who are advocating for real improvements and solutions. I am proud that in Sacramento we have those like Dr. Yee who have the knowledge, experience, and personal stories that we can amplify as an example to the rest of the country.”

“It is my honor to join Congresswoman Matsui at the State of the Union tonight,” said Dr. Yee. “Her voice and leadership in Congress clearly reflect her tireless dedication to our country’s seniors and their families. I am happy to share this time together to discuss solutions moving forward.”

Each year, Members of Congress can invite one guest of their choosing to attend the State of the Union address with them. These guests are often used to highlight important community members, contributions, and issues of importance to the member and their work in Congress.

The House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families (formerly known as the Seniors Task Force), focuses on the needs of our nation’s older Americans, their families and future generations looking ahead to retirement. Their work reflects an inclusive focus on the needs of caregivers and will also focus on how aging impacts an entire household.

On November 6, piano movers delivered a Kimball baby grand piano to the lobby of ACC Care Center. Donated by Chris Tomine, the vintage model had been in his family for decades and is in excellent condition.

The piano has a beautiful wood finish. It is a welcome addition to the Care Center’s activities program and a great way to greet visitors when they enter the building.

Residents and guests can sit down anytime and make music. “The piano will be so happy to have someone play it again!” said Chris.

By Councilmember Rick Jennings, City of Sacramento

On September 14th, I was proud to award 14 “keys to the city” to Sacramento-area citizens over 100 years old at at ACC Care Center’s “Celebrating Our Centenarians” event.

In truth, only four of those incredible individuals were ACC residents but nevertheless, ACC went through the trouble of putting on the event, inviting all centenarians regardless of affiliation and even going to their homes to interview them all individually so that their personal stories could be told. As an organization, ACC has always been committed to making the Sacramento region a place where all senior citizens can be proud to call home.

ACC is clearly succeeding in that regard. By providing services to people in the latter years of their life, ACC aims to bring out senior citizens from all-too-common isolation and to make Sacramento, and specifically the Pocket area, a more aging-friendly community.

In addition to their well-known independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing facility, I encourage you to visit the new Maple Tree Village Center where ACC is breaking new ground in memory care.

ACC Ride provides transportation for people in ten ZIP codes. Bridge to Healthy Families provides a range of social services including home visits. Meals on Wheels by ACC hooks those same people up with vital food services. ACC’s quality of service and attention to detail has made them well-known and well-regarded among medical professionals and social workers.

The event planning committee has decided to host another “Celebrating Our Centenarians” next year. I have no doubt that more centenarians will find their way to this amazing event as ACC continues its nearly 50-year history of selflessly serving our community.