|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Agenda Taking Shape for White House Conference on
Aging
Aug. 23, 2005 – A draft agenda for the White House
Conference on Aging has been released. It focuses on six areas:
retirement planning, working in later life, livable communities for
older Americans, health and long-term care, social involvement and the
change in the marketplace for seniors.
The 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA)
will be held December 11-14, 2005 in Washington, D.C.
These conferences occur every ten years to make
aging policy recommendations to the President and Congress, and to
assist the public and private sectors in promoting dignity, health,
independence and economic security of current and future generations of
older persons.
Mini-conferences have been held across the country
to help develop the agenda for the meeting.
Following are excerpts from the agenda planning document
with some of the ideas being considered for each subject area. This was
originally prepared in May and updated in August.
I. Planning along the Lifespan
A cornerstone of a successful retirement is
planning for that event during a lifetime. It is essential to save for
retirement starting at an early age when the miracle of compounding
provides optimum leverage. We want to be sure we have the right
incentives and the right financial education to provide workers with
tools to plan for retirement. But, merely accumulating savings does not
guarantee a secure retirement. Managing those assets through longer and
longer life spans is a key component. Americans must plan and prepare
for the risk of having assets depleted because of a long-term care
episode. Moreover, retirees must be on guard against becoming victims of
financial fraud and exploitation. Financial literacy is the essential
component to enable Americans to plan for, and guard against, these
risks.
II. The Workplace of the Future
For as many decades as we can remember, there has
been a younger workforce on the heels of those planning to retire. With
declining birthrates those demographics will change dramatically and
will have a tremendous impact on the workplace of the future. In
addition, Americans are living longer which means they will need more
assets for longer retirements or work longer so that retirement assets
last a lifetime.
Because the workforce is shrinking, older workers
will be valuable members of the job bank of the future and, older
workers will need the income that working longer will provide in order
to fund their retirements.
III. Our Community
An important issue of livable communities for older
Americans is the possibility for and desirability of aging in place. In
order for this to happen there have to be available social and health
services for people as they pass through the different phases of aging.
Resources not only have to be in place but information describing them
must be readily obtainable by service clients. A secondary effect of
Baby Boomer parents moving from cities to suburbs after World War II,
has been to make it more difficult for themselves and their children to
remain in lifetime homes as they age. The suburban spread of the elder
population makes it harder to deliver services and harder for residents
to get to services especially as they become unable to drive. Some
relatively obvious suggested solutions to the problem are better
coordination between health and aging networks, improved information
management systems, and finding ways to keep older drivers on the road
longer, safely.
IV. Health and Long Term Living
Americans are living longer. That ever increasing
life span, combined with the significant increase in the population
reaching age 65, as the baby boomers age, will be major factors in
shaping health care policy for the next ten years and beyond. The whole
spectrum of health care, physical and mental health, will be impacted by
these two factors. The importance of prevention, including personal
responsibility for life style choices and adherence to preventive care
protocols, are more important than ever as we strive to decrease or
eliminate the negative impact of preventable illnesses. When acute or
chronic illnesses do occur, the issue of access to appropriate medical
and mental health services will also need to address issues of
coordination of care across multiple settings and continuity of care
over time. Living longer while afflicted with chronic illnesses will
also require attention to choices that maximize function, quality of
life, and independence in the living environment of choice for the
individual. Research, particularly more focused on issues associated
with aging, and the widespread dissemination and adoption of the
information that the research reveals, will be a major contributor to
the quality of health care.
V. Civic and Social Engagement
Social engagement is crucial to the physical and
psychological well-being of elderly citizens. Being engaged in such
activity is important for older persons in maintaining physical vigor
and for getting the type of social interaction and mental stimulation
necessary to continue living a full, robust life. It is just as
importantly a way in which senior citizens can contribute to their
communities. There are a wide range of available activities that may be
helpful individually, to other citizens and more generally, to sustain
the quality of civic life. There are opportunities for volunteers in
hospitals, schools, and museums and with religious and service
organizations, as well as in many other non-institutional settings. Key
questions to be addressed regarding Baby Boomers as they age are, what
will be their level of participation in volunteerism and, what types of
activities will attract them.
VI. Marketplace
There are an increasing number of new products and
operational practices that intend to help the elderly cope with life
circumstances that have become difficult. They include personal mobility
and communication devices, housing and vehicle design, and
pharmaceutical advances. Some of these are beginning to be marketed and
others are in development. But some with potentially dramatic impacts on
older persons, and the rest of the population, are completely unknown.
For example, at the 1981 White House Conference, would it have been
predicted that by 2005, travel agencies, libraries and stockbrokers
would be on the brink of obsolescence? Or, would it have been predicted
that the internet would exist and be as pervasive as it is?
For a pdf copy of the current agenda draft -
Click Here
For more information on the mini-conference being
held to help develop the agenda for the White House Conference on Aging
–
Click Here
Home Page of White House Conference on Aging –
Click Here
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
