Opposition MP Louise Jackson is not impressed with the Premier?s sense of humour.

?The Premier makes statements like he has to take an aspirin to listen to us,? Mrs. Jackson said yesterday. ?First of all, it?s insulting. Why does anyone have to take an aspirin to listen to seniors??

Premier Alex Scott had said that he was ?duty bound? to listen to Mrs. Jackson?s concerns ? even though he may have to take an aspirin ? and to embrace good ideas for addressing the needs of the Island?s seniors.

Yesterday, Mrs. Jackson said that she had spent a year offering good ideas and no one in Government had listened.

Premier Scott?s well-worn slogan that ?Bermuda works best when we work together? is hollow, she suggested.

Mrs. Jackson said that she had brought up many issues ? including the fact that many seniors had inadequate medical insurance or none at all.

?We?ve been putting forward a litany of plans and ideas for seniors,? she said. ?You?ve heard me standing there and pleading with Government about increasing pensions.

?At Lefroy House, the roof is still not repaired, there are still areas that cannot be used. We?ve been asking for a clinic and free eyeglasses for needy seniors, a geriatrician and nurses. We campaigned on this ? we said we would do this if we were elected and become the Government and, at least once a month, I have asked Government to do this. I stood up there and pleaded with them and others to raise the ARV for Financial Assistance.

?To say that we haven?t put forward any plans for seniors is ridiculous. I asked for the Minister of Health and Family Services? (Patrice Minors) resignation because nobody was listening.?

Mrs. Jackson said last weekend?s conference on seniors, organised by her party, had been a ?tremendous success?.

?We had hundreds of seniors there all day long and we had speakers who are really involved with seniors,? Mrs. Jackson said.

She continued: ?The National Office for Seniors and Physically Challenged is not working. I said it wasn?t working, that?s one of the reasons I asked for her (Minister Minors) resignation.?

And she pointed to the recently concluded Fordham University study on ageing which found that just two percent of younger seniors and one percent of older seniors used the National Office.

?It?s not working ? no one knows it?s there,? she said. ?Nobody?s ever heard of it, they don?t return calls. It?s not used.?

She said she had also pleaded with Government to do something for the people in Hope Homes ? many of whom are seniors.

?They were living in abysmal conditions there ? and the response I got was that they were spring cleaning on the day that I went down there,? she said. ?It?s another example of the fact that we have been saying these things and nobody has been listening.?

Mrs. Jackson added that the only response to her party?s suggestions was that seniors should leave Bermuda if they couldn?t afford to live here.

?I could spend all day telling you of plans that could work, and the only response we?ve had, is seniors should leave Bermuda if they can?t afford it here or I?ll take an aspirin and listen to Mrs. Jackson.

?This is not good enough. It?s making light of a very serious situation. And to say that we haven?t given them ideas or plans ? that?s been my lot to do for the last year ? and we?ve done it through the media, by standing up in the House. We?ve done everything.

?I?ve even had to go so far as to ask for the resignation of the Minister because, if she was listening, she certainly didn?t do anything. The best I have got from her is no response.?

She added that it was time Government got serious and that it was ?bizarre? that it was starting a social agenda six years into power.

Government has announced plans to amend Financial Assistance regulations which penalise seniors who own their own homes ? another issue brought to light by Mrs. Jackson.

But Mrs. Jackson said that Government?s decision came in response to the Fordham study.

?It?s saying the things that we have been saying all along,? she said of the study. ?They couldn?t very well ignore them. They had to say something. I don?t think they were listening to me. I don?t get that impression at all. But I understand, for some reason, it hasn?t been on their priority list.?