BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Lander County Commissioner Patsy Waits, a 21-year Austin resident, was appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval to fill a vacancy on the Commission on Aging and then to fill a whole term after that from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015.
The commission has 11 voting members and four non-voting members. Waits, who was appointed Feb. 4, will be serving as a voting member.
Its purpose is to determine and evaluate the needs of seniors and to establish priorities for the work of the Division for Aging according to the most pressing needs of older persons as determined by the commission, according to the Nevada Revised Statutes.
It was also established to promote programs that provide community-based services necessary to enable a frail elderly person, to the fullest extent possible, to remain in his or her home and be an integral part of his or her family or community.
Waits said she received a phone call from the governor's office on Jan. 18 asking her to be a part of the group and gladly accepted, she said.
She said she has a passion for seniors and has worked with them throughout her life. She added that they have so much insight and history to offer.
Waits said she is hoping to bring to the commission knowledge and expertise on issues involving the senior population. She is looking forward to identifying the special needs and programs that might be implemented to help seniors in Lander County and throughout the state.
Waits said she feels honored to be appointed and is excited to serve on the commission. She served as the first program director in the state of Nevada for the Medicare Counseling Program, administered through the Division for Aging and the Division of Insurance.
She has spent her whole life being active in the America Red Cross, serving as the disaster action chair in Clark County and on the Western Board of Advisors.
She was the president of the Junior Red Cross at Mauston Public High School in Mauston, Wis., and the group used to visit the veterans hospital in Tomah, Wis., and work with the patients.
She served on the Battle Mountain General Hospital Board for 13 years, taking a special interest in the seniors at the long-term care facility. She worked with long-term care patients for many years in the different areas she lived in around Wisconsin.
Waits served on the Nevada Health Centers Board of Directors. She is a member of the American Legion Post 18. She served on the Nevada State Diabetes Council for around six years and worked for 10 years with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and served as president. She served as an EMT in Austin for five years.
Waits took office as a Lander County commissioner on Jan. 7. She said she is really enjoying it and learning so much new information.
She serves as a commissioner liaison on the Lander County Regional Transportation Commission, the Austin Airport Advisory Board, the Lander County Public Lands Use Advisory Planning Commission, the Nevada Association of Counties, the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority, the Policy Committee for the Naval Air Station Fallon Joint Land Use Study and as a Department of Energy Board representative.
Waits, who was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, has one son, Rick Crawford, of Elko, who owns T-Rix Bikes. She has numerous pets and her husband is Pat Waits.
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