Date: July 23, 2001
For Immediate Release
Contact: Ed Long, (310) 533-1996

H.E.L.P. - How it All Started

H.E.L.P. (Healthcare and Elder Law Programs Corporation) is a non-profit information resource for older adults and their caring families and friends. It provides information, planning and problem-solving services on subjects that older adults specially care about. H.E.L.P.’s mission is to “help people meet aging-related legal and care challenges.”

H.E.L.P. was founded in 1996 by Ed and Pat Long, who continue to work full-time on its staff. 

H.E.L.P. was created because of what Ed and Pat learned while trying to help Anne and Duffy Petragnani (Pat’s Mom and Dad). Anne and Duffy lived most of their lives in Syracuse, New York. They were married in 1937. They raised three children (two sons, one daughter). 

Starting in 1990, a series of health problems for both Anne and Duffy created a need for a wide range of services - medical, social and legal. These were difficult times for Anne and Duffy and the family. As part of helping, Pat and Ed searched for needed services and answers. They repeatedly found little or no reliable information to be available. 

It was clear that there was a great need for reliable information and advice on the subjects that older adults specially care about – and that information and advice needed to be accessible. 

After thinking about all this and discussing it with Pat, Ed left his "big firm" law practice. He “hit the books” and attended numerous classes. He tucked himself away in an 8' x 10' executive suite space for several months, studying estate planning, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, Medicare, Medi-Cal, SSI and more, all focused on the needs of older adults. In April 1994, Ed and Pat opened his private “elder law” practice - a “first year” elder law attorney with twenty-three years of other legal experience. After two+ years running the private elder law practice, learning much more while helping 200-300 people a year, Ed and Pat shut down the private practice. At the same time, they founded H.E.L.P. - with the goal of helping thousands of older adults and caring family members and friends each year.

Anne died in 1993; Duffy, after two years living with Pat and Ed in California, died in 1996 (a day before his 87th birthday). 

The experience of difficult times for Anne and Duffy (and their family) has also had a very positive side:

-Starting out as a "mom and pop" effort, H.E.L.P. has grown to the point where more than 50 "aunts, uncles and godparents" volunteer their time to help older adults through H.E.L.P. Many more individuals, couples and families generously donate to support this work for the community. 

- Since September 1996, H.E.L.P. has directly assisted thousands older adults, family members and friends through its mix of classes, private consultations, and telephone, written and Internet services.

About H.E.L.P.’s Founders

Ed and Pat Long have been married to each other since 1968. They met in 1963 during their pre-admission interview at Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York. Each graduated from Le Moyne in 1967, Pat with a B.A. in Sociology, Ed with a B.S. in Business

Immediately after college, Pat became a case worker serving older adults. She worked for public agencies in Syracuse, New York, and Washington, D.C. Her clients included residents at church-run homes, small personal care homes, and the ill-named “Washington Home for the Incurables.” Her clients were typically poor and institutionalized. Many client situations were grim. Other situations showed wonderful achievements in independence and dignity. Pat learned much about the needs and lives of older adults and their families during those experiences.

Pat’s work in Washington, D.C. supported Ed’s law school attendance and achievements. Ed received his law degree in 1970 from the law school at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He graduated third in his class, and was an editor of the Law Review. 

Upon Ed’s graduation, Pat and Ed moved to the New York City area, where he went to work as an associate with the Wall Street law firm then called Mudge Rose Guthrie and Alexander (previously the law firm of Richard Nixon and John Mitchell). He worked in corporate and municipal finance, and became a partner in the firm in 1980. His work included financings for cities, counties and states. He also helped create and finance major municipal power projects in the Southwest U.S. (projects that today place Southern California’s municipal utilities in a positive position despite the current California energy crisis).

In 1971, Pat and Ed’s son Christopher was born, and Pat became a “full-time mom.” Christopher is now an adult, and Pat and Ed are quite proud of who he is and what he is accomplishing. With undergraduate work at UCLA and UC – Berkeley, and doctoral work at M.I.T., Christopher is now doing post-doctoral research (in hearing) in Cambridge, England.

Ed and Pat moved to California in 1982, to open the Los Angeles office of Mudge Rose. During Ed’s leadership of that office, it grew from three people to a staff of 50. He left Mudge Rose at the end of 1993, to work with Pat and create a private elder law practice.