Published in Senior Digest on December 2005

Forty-seven years ago, Rhode Island Congressman John Fogarty successfully pushed legislation through Congress to create a national conference on aging issues. As a result of his forethought, the fifth White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) will be held this month.

Scheduled every 10 years this nationwide citizens’ forum focuses public attention on aging issues and consolidates all the policy recommendations originating from the WHOCoA into a report sent to the president and Congress.

According to WHCoA staff, leading up to this conference scheduled for Dec. 11-14, there have been approximately 400 local, state and national events held across the nation, involving more than 130,000 people. The events included WHCoA listening sessions, solution forums, mini-conferences and independent aging agenda events.

The theme for the 2005 WHCoA is “The Booming Dynamics of Aging: From Awareness to Action.” The them reflects the changing face of aging in America. The conference, mandated by the Older Americans Act, focuses on the interests and needs of current seniors as well as the 78 million baby boomers who will begin to turn 60 in 2006. (Rhode Island is home to more than 152,000 seniors who are 65 and older and has the sixth highest concentration of people in this age category in the nation).

Corinne Calise Russo, director of the state Department of Elderly Affairs (DEA) said her staff gathered information about the concerns of seniors by conducting listening sessions during May and June to in Newport, Cranston, Wakefield and Woonsocket.  Russo said 150 seniors attended.

There were seven members of the Rhode Island delegation attending the WHCoA. Russo was appointed to attend the upcoming conference by Gov. Donald Carcieri. She said her experience as a 1995 delegate was “very exciting” and that she is looking forward to going back to D.C>

Other delegates are: Kathleen Connell, director of AARP Rhode Island appointed by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed; Joan Crawley, director of the Leon A. Mathieu Senior Center in Pawtucket appointed by Congressman Patrick Kennedy :William Finelli, a retired teacher and librarian appointed by appointed by U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee; Ann Gardella, chairwoman of the state Commission on Aging appointed by Gov. Carcieri;  Angelo Rotella, chairman of the American Health Care Association and a nursing home owner, appointed by Congressman James Langevin; and Dr. Terrie Fox Wetle, associate dean for public health and policy at Brown Unversity and policy at Brown University; appointed by WHCoA officials.

According to Russo, the grassroots input gathered at the four listening sessions was hammered out into nine policy recommendations at a resolution development workshop in September. The 12-page  document was forwarded to the WHCoA policy committee charged with planning the agenda for the conference. That committee will bring 50  resolutions gathered from pre-WHCoA events to the conference floor for a vote.

“The submitted resolutions would have to impact the largest number of seniors and also translate into issues that would affect a large number of baby boomers,” Russo noted.  She believes that some of Rhode Island’s resolutions have a good chance of being selected for consideration by the delegates.

“It is probably the one opportunity in a 10-year period of time that local advocates and seniors from Rhode Island can provide input that could become national policy that could effect future generations of seniors,” the DEA director said.

Russo says that it is important to plan for future generations of people who will choose to remain at home for the rest of their lives. She noted that the No. 1 priority that came out of Rhode Island’s listening sessions was the need to provide for a continuum of care to keep older persons in the community.

Other resolutions include a call for increased access to employment opportunities for seniors, supporting caregivers, adequate funding for chronic disease management programs with an emphasis on prevention and maintaining the independence of older disabled adults by providing programs and services to allow them to successfully “age in place.”

In 1995, the number of delegates was almost double the umber that will be attending the 2005 WHCoA. But Russo has no concerns that this reduction of delegates will diminish seniors’ input and the quality of recommendations that come out of the conference. “Every state this year was concerned with the reduction of delegates,” she said, noting that what it ultimately did was provide the opportunity to gain input form older people and baby boomers via the listening sessions.

Connell does not believe that the WHCoA report will sit on a dusty shelf in federal agencies or in the offices of bureaucrats.

“Much of the future policy direction of the country will be affected by this final report. Because of this, the report carriers the weight of its congressional mandate,” she said.

State Wants its Resolution Debated in Washington

The state Department of Elderly Affairs (DEA) submitted nine resolutions to the White House Conference on Aging Policy Committee. It is hoped that the Policy Committee will recommend some of the resolutions for consideration during the conference. The resolution for national policies that:

1. Establish standards for Medicaid coverage of both facility-based and community-based services; long-term care insurance portability; incentives for excellent care; federal support for assisted technology; an aggressive campaign to educate employers, caregivers and the public about community-based health care and social service options; state and federal coordination of services.
2. Encourage employees through incentives to: hire and retain older workers; offer flexible work schedules; allow older workers to buy into benefits and adopt attitudes that value the older workers.
3. Support proactive and informed retirement and long-term care planning for seniors and caregivers, including tax incentives for professionals who look after or provide services to the elderly.
4. Establish comprehensive care programs for diverse elders, including education about prevention; accessible immunizations, screenings and treatments without regard to ability to pay; nontraditional culture-specific treatments; culturally sensitive end of life care; and an initiative to require that cultural proficiency be included in basic medical education.
5. Encourage a proactive approach to the conversation within families regarding the preferences and responsibilities of care giving; mandate the Family Medical Leave Act for all workplaces; support caregivers through tax breaks and other financial incentives; design services that are more sensitive to the needs of caregivers.
6. Promote flexibility and innovation in services, provide adequate same-day urgent medical transportation; support volunteer driver programs; expand community options such as delivery services and coordinated group trips to consumer destinations; and improve coordination of exiting public transportation.
7. Address education about healthy lifestyles , which government should support along with chronic disease management. The support should include subsidized gym members and  home adaptation.
8. Form a task force to review and revise standards of the Adults with Disabilities Act (ADA) to more closely reflect the needs of disabled adults; promote aggressive publicity and posting of ADA standards.
9. Develop a response to housing needs for the next three decades that will include education of caregivers and baby boomers about housing options and the need for long-term financial planning; incentives for universal design to support aging in place, proximity to services; a commitment to esthetics and opportunities for social interaction.