New Hampshire's lawmakers could soon hear a lot more from the state's 50-and-older crowd.

About 100 seniors and almost-seniors gathered at Plymouth State University yesterday to discuss how to urge state leaders to prepare for an approaching age boom. They hope to create a corps of volunteers to lobby for better health care, more public transportation for seniors and affordable, plentiful eldercare in their communities.

Their reasons have to do with numbers: By the end of the decade, a third of New Hampshire's population will be 50 or older, and demand for eldercare services will increase 35 percent by 2012. Fewer than half of the nation's communities have started to prepare for the aging of the population.

"The bulk of all elderly people will need some help at some time," said Mary Ruell, who lives in Ashland. "Most families aren't going to be able to do it on their own. Those services need to be in place or someone may desperately need them and they won't be available. I'm 90, and I'm not asking for any services at all, but there will be people who are 55 who need everything."

Ruell and other seniors want to form an advocacy group. Called EngAGEing New Hampshire, the group's leaders plan to search for grants and more volunteers to fuel their efforts. They've already had some luck - the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation footed the bill for yesterday's conference.

State programs serve about 15 percent of New Hampshire seniors, according to the meeting organizers. The rest say they have a hard time getting lawmakers to address their needs and wants. Yesterday, the group learned about the legislative process, discussed ways to contact lawmakers and rehearsed how to testify before a State House committee.

"It's the people themselves speaking about what matters to them that matters to legislators," said Beverly Arel, of Bedford. "They don't want to see the people who represent seniors. They want to see them."

Health care came up in nearly every discussion yesterday, as did the need for more in-home services such as visiting nurses and housekeepers. Seniors also reported trouble finding rides to the doctor's office, the movies or the store.

"If you don't have your own car, you're really stuck," said Chuck Storm, who's from Wolfeboro. "There's a crying need for transportation for seniors."

Most of the plans developed yesterday are broad, but one conferee got specific. Izabella Kautsepolsky, who's deaf, wants more captioning machines like the one provided at the conference. The machines translate spoken words into text, and she says they'll help seniors with hearing loss to better follow meetings, hearings and political speeches.

"Why can't we do that so (seniors) can participate in all the events in all the public places?" she said.

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By MEG HECKMAN

Monitor staff