Even if I adjust for the White House factor and the amazing opportunity to hear the President address attendees of this once in a decade event--it was spectacular. I blogged about the daily logistics here.
Walking out of the White House complex after the conference I was hopeful. A day spent discussing social determinants of health, supporting caregivers, and strengthening our commitment to aging with dignity hit the right notes. The analogy of an orchestra was pulled through morning discussions and into the final moments of the day. Like musicians, our efforts measure up beyond individual contributions. Together we are better...
Aging is more than just a "woolly sweater and leaning on a walker" stated David Hyde Pierce as he facilitated a panel on Caregiving in America. We met Barbara Beskind a working designer on behalf of elder americans at the age of 91, and Diana Nyad the brilliant swimmer in her 60s has been a hero of mine since watching her documentary. "Never give up" has been my mantra ever since and really allows a full life of possibility. Bernard Nash attended the original WHCOA in 1961 and as a spirited nonagerian launched the day long conference in 2015. His eyes sparkled when escorted by a decorated officer from the podium with a slightly unsteady gait he chuckled, "Awww it isn't that bad".
Aging is more than just a "woolly sweater and leaning on a walker" stated David Hyde Pierce as he facilitated a panel on Caregiving in America. We met Barbara Beskind a working designer on behalf of elder americans at the age of 91, and Diana Nyad the brilliant swimmer in her 60s has been a hero of mine since watching her documentary. "Never give up" has been my mantra ever since and really allows a full life of possibility. Bernard Nash attended the original WHCOA in 1961 and as a spirited nonagerian launched the day long conference in 2015. His eyes sparkled when escorted by a decorated officer from the podium with a slightly unsteady gait he chuckled, "Awww it isn't that bad".
The social determinants of health (SDH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems. --World Health Organization (WHO)
In the shadow of accomplishments such as 50 years of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act (OAA), and the 80th anniversary of social security--our generation has an obligation. The passing of the Affordable Care Act is a step in the right direction but the OAA was last reauthorized in 2006, and Congress failed to pass reauthorization legislation in 2011. Secretary Tom Perez of the US Department of Labor described our obligation as the unfinished business of our goal for a more perfect union. He also gave a nod to the complexity of differentiating senescence from dementia by describing the likely solution as "solving a puzzle'.
The conference follows the importance of quality of life--access to care, housing, nutrition, socialization, education, transportation, and funding for retirement in overall health outcomes. An important consideration for managing chronic diseases and their shared mechanisms in pathways of brain health as we age. Not once was a "cure" for dementia or Alzheimer's Disease misrepresented as a search for an elusive monotherpay or pharmaceutical solution
The conference follows the importance of quality of life--access to care, housing, nutrition, socialization, education, transportation, and funding for retirement in overall health outcomes. An important consideration for managing chronic diseases and their shared mechanisms in pathways of brain health as we age. Not once was a "cure" for dementia or Alzheimer's Disease misrepresented as a search for an elusive monotherpay or pharmaceutical solution
“While neuroscientists, geneticists, and biochemists have mapped out the disease’s multi-causal nature and its immensely complex genetic-environmental interaction, the public seems determined to find an easy out."--David Shenk and Rudy Tanzi, Wall Street Journal
Presidential Address
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Thanks to the determination of millions of hardworking Americans, our economy has come a long way since the financial crisis seven years ago. Our businesses have created more than 12.8 million new jobs over 64 straight months — the longest streak on record. Our high school graduation rate is at an all-time high. More Americans are finishing college than ever before. And more than 16 million additional Americans have health care — and the uninsured rate is the lowest on record.
That’s real progress. But we need to do more to help ensure that our recovery reaches every American. And that means putting retirement within reach for more Americans. A secure retirement is a key part of what I call “middle-class economics” — the idea that we do best when all of us get a fair shot and each of us plays by the same set of rules. It’s at the heart of the choice we face today: Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do extremely well? Or will we work toward an America that says we’re all in this together, and hard work should be rewarded? To me, the answer is clear. We need to uphold the basic tenet that says, in America, a lifetime of hard work should be rewarded with a retirement that is secure and dignified. Earlier this year, I visited the AARP headquarters in Washington to announce a new proposal that will go a long way toward protecting people’s retirement savings: cracking down on conflicts of interest in retirement advice. This is a serious problem — bad financial advice resulting from conflicts of interest costs American families about $17 billion every year. If you’re doing the right thing and putting away money for retirement, you should be rewarded, not taken advantage of. So we’re putting in place rules of the road for financial advisers guided by a simple, commonsense principle — they have to put your best interest ahead of their own profits. Protecting Americans’ retirement savings is crucial, but at a time when one-third of the workforce lacks access to a retirement plan at work, it’s not enough. We’ve got to do more to empower hardworking Americans so they can save for their families’ future. That’s what we’ll do today at the White House Conference on Aging. In addition to other concrete steps to help hardworking Americans, I’ll announce that the Department of Labor will propose rules this year to clarify the path forward for state savings initiatives passed by some states and under consideration in many more. Some states are proposing an idea similar to what I proposed in my budget — every employer over a certain size would be required to automatically enroll workers in an IRA if it doesn’t already offer a retirement plan — and this rule would assist these efforts. So we’re taking on this problem from two directions — empowering more Americans to save and protecting those who already are. It’s important we get this right. Because a secure retirement is a critical component of what it means to be middle class in our country. This is about more than bank accounts or bottom lines. It’s about the values that make America great — honesty, fair play, dignity. And it’s about our commitment to each other and respecting everyone’s value, no matter how young or old you are. That’s how we’ll build a better future for our parents, our families, ourselves — and our country. |
The final moments of the conference were eloquently captured by Hubert Humphrey's quote:
"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
I am interested in exploring these topics with deeper granularity in the weeks to come...join the discussion!
"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
I am interested in exploring these topics with deeper granularity in the weeks to come...join the discussion!
