Patricia “Pat” Jones

On June 6, 2019, at age 89, Patricia “Pat” Jones secured a tremendous legislative victory for Louisiana seniors. She and a team of advocates, along with the state legislature, nearly tripled the funding available for Parish Councils on Aging. 

With more than a million people over age 60 in Louisiana, the Councils provide much needed services, and this was their first major funding increase since 2007. 

Ms. Jones has worked with seniors for decades – seeing their needs, feeling their concerns. But it’s her lifetime of experience that gives her the ability to get the seemingly impossible done. She and her husband owned a printing company and, later, a newspaper before she became a Council on Aging director. She’s driven.  Dauntless. And over her life, she’s developed an easy way of connecting with people and building relationships – important traits when asking Louisiana’s legislature for money. 

“Everyone has a voice,” she says. “It’s just that most people don’t use it. You have to assert yourself.” 

One things for sure: Louisiana seniors are fortunate to have Ms. Jones speaking up for them. We call that excellence through experience. And that what makes Pat Jones a Peoples Health Champion.