The Place where we talk about the ideas, issues and trends that shape your everyday life.
The Nenana river, is located immediately adjacent to Denali National Park and Preserve. It passes by the McKinley Village where the Host had an overnight stay. The river is glacier fed. There was a sign saying that a Grizzly bear had recently been seen immediately by this property. The area is beautiful yet dangerous. This stream was white from the melting glacier and moved along rapidly.
The White House Conference on Aging: "Healthy Aging"
Meeting Focuses on Illness
by
Bonnie L. Vorenberg Senior Theatre Expert
Check out some of the ideas, issues and trends explored on previous Keeping Kurrent shows.
LINKS
Governor's Commission on Senior Services
Oregon Alliance for Senior and Health Services
As
a ranch girl, I have a great sense of direction and it's usually a snap
for me to find my way around the hundreds of hotels I've visited during
my 25+ years as an expert in arts, aging and Senior Theatre. But none
was more confusing than the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC, the site
of the recent White House Conference on Aging. The hotel has two front
entrances, two lobbies, one with carpet and one with a marble floor, several
staircases, escalators, and elevators-all going to unconnected locations-along
with gift shops and restaurants scattered as if the designer threw them
there with a flip of the dice. After several days of serious concentration
during my "wayfinding," a term used in housing for elders, I finally realized
that the hotel was a symbol for the conference. Confusing .The White House
Conference on Aging is held every ten years to determine aging policy
for the upcoming decade. This December, 1200 delegates from around the
country came to Washington. The publicity before the event proudly boasted
the theme of "healthy aging." But by contrast, most of the top ten recommendations
were about illness and 22 of the top fifty had to do with health care.
Many of us who work with seniors have long fought against the 'illness
model' of aging. Yet here it was again raising its ugly head. The results
of this important conference are a serious disconnect between what is
happening in communities and research studies around the country.
The conference was disconnected with reality, but it seems that the country is also. That's amazing considering that "77 million baby boomers" are coming down the road. I use that number in quotes because it was the most touted number at the conference. Yet, speaker after speaker, from the Comptroller General of the United States, the chief accountant, to Dr. Robert Butler, a leader in the field of aging announced that the country is "not ready" for this huge demographic group. I felt that the first thing I should do when I returned home was to scurry to my financial planner. I heard the message of individual accountability and the "don't plan on the government to be there for you" theme. When we get older, think Katrina and be prepared.
The conference introduced even jaded professionals like me to innovative ideas coming our way. We discovered new programs to encourage volunteerism, now called "civic engagement." We learned how in Europe, caregivers for children and youth earn Social Security credits. We heard about the connection between a person's health and longevity and how they work together to create personal wealth. They demonstrated how obesity and sedentary activities drain both the country's resources, and a person's life energy. We saw how, if their presence at the WHCoA was an indicator, big business is paying attention to the upcoming tidal wave and they want a piece of the action. They courted us with food, drinks, and slick publicity packets along with tables full of trinkets from which we could choose our favorite Made in China take-away.
Technology is waiting to help ease our later years. The Center for Aging Technologies is a national coalition of more than 400 technology companies, aging service organizations, research universities and government representatives. They showed attendees how we will use technology in smart homes, sensors, medical co-ordination, and family-to-senior-to-doctor communication. In addition, we saw how cars will be adapted for older drivers, how home repair companies can learn how to remodel a house for older residents and more in a large exhibit.
The arts were represented for the first time. A resolution, to "Increase awareness of the positive physical and psychological impact that arts participation can have on Older Americans" was the result of a prior gathering that focused on creativity and aging. The resolution, along with the need for intergenerational activities and resources for public libraries were all dismissed when the delegates voted.
But we in the arts are a hearty sort. We keep beating the drum. The arts were represented in style in a special Arts and Creativity reception that featured Marvin Hamlish. He has worked to encourage music resources for children and at the event he promoted arts and aging. In addition, wall size murals created by older artists adorned a centerpiece exhibit with music and speakers that included Paula Terry from the National Endowment for the Arts. Organized by the National Center for Creative Aging, the event repeated another continual theme, to "turn an elder's leisure into legacy."
The three-day event was not all hearts and flowers. Prior to the event, many were disappointed that the people who would chart this important direction for the future did not include leaders in the field of aging. In fact, the delegates were political appointees, often novices to the field. Knowing this, I was not surprised when I heard elevator chat like, "My, isn't it nice to learn so much about old people."
Attendees were also disappointed that the President did not address the group--the first one not to appear at the White House Conference on Aging. Instead, he held a photo op at a gated retirement community for upscale residents to promote his Medicare drug program. Perhaps he sensed that many of the delegates expressed concern about the design and the big-business approach to the program. Attendees also voiced heavy opposition to privatizing Social Security.
Novices or not, delegates grumbled that the resolutions were handed to them. They couldn't make changes from the floor, speak to the whole body or address particular concerns. The delegates were only asked for their input one time--to vote on their 50 favorite resolutions. Many felt it was a closed, planned session and said they felt they were "merely window dressing."
Shut out of important debate, a running theme of the conference was what term should be used when speaking about older adults. This tired old debate pitted words like "elders" against "seniors" vs. "seasoned" and "my timers." The problem isn't with the term. The problem is that ageism in America is a rampant problem. Our short-sighted vision forces us to dismiss large number of our culture who could be contributing members of the society. Age discrimination forces mature workers out of the work force, making younger workers carry a heavier Social Security burden. If the culture valued older adults and their contribution to the culture, there would be no problem as to what to call the group. Baby boomers, who protested the way things were when they were young, will be called upon to fight the age discrimination battle. No matter what you call older adults, ageism needs to join the other 'isms' and be not only politically incorrect, but wrong.
It was the final day of the conference. I had learned my way around the lobby but still was confused by the disconnect between the conference and a senior's true reality. After the healthy lunch where the American Heart Association stroked, nourished, and gave us yes, more trinkets, we were introduced to the Lehman Center Senior Chorus. Dressed in black with all sorts of bangles, the group of 100 plus men and women between age 56 and 93 transformed the audience from silent to spine tingling enthusiasm. Their intense facial expressions were projected onto 30' large jumbo screens scattered around the room. From "Shenandoah," and "American Hymn," to the concluding holiday songs, you could tell as their director had told us moments before, "this group is way past bingo."
I found it interesting that the arts are always "not a priority," as a member of the WHCoA Advisory Committee told me earlier in the meeting. Yet, when you want to move a crowd with an emotional exit, what do you use? You use the arts. It's because at any age, the arts stimulate and touch us in ways that speakers, statistics and facts just can't reach. The arts motivate and inspire. They encourage people of any age to reach for the stars. They bind us together as humans, cultures, citizens. Though the facts that emerged from the White House Conference on Aging were confusing, the arts never are. They're a straight arrow--directly to your heart...and when seniors are the archers, the arrows whiz faster to even brighter targets. The delegates left the room and departed to return to their 'real' lives, humming the message that artists had so gracefully placed on the airwaves, not of illness but of life.
Bonnie L. Vorenberg is the author of Senior Theatre Connections and President of ArtAge Publications. Turn to its Senior Theatre Resource Center for a complete collection of plays, books, materials and workshops for the mature performer. Call 800-858-4998 for a free newsletter, email bonniev@seniortheatre.com, or visit online at www.seniortheatre.com . We help seniors be stars on stage!