Aging is Our Future: The White House Conference on Aging

The White House Conference on Aging will begin on Monday, July 13, 2015 at 10:00 am EDT.  You can watch live by clicking on the arrow in the picture.  The social media conversation hashtag is #WHCOA.


A new diversity is growing in America, our aging population will scale in the next generation. 
  
If this conversation is not about you it will be in the future.  It is about your family and community those around us who are aging and living longer.  A groundswell of elders across our nation means a time when wise, experiential knowledge can be shared especially in this global age of technology and innovation. Furthermore, advances in science shaping medicine and health care create new possibilities to grow, thrive and live well as we age, but we must set our efforts to make this a reality for more people. 

We need the wisdom of our elders to empower our nation for a better world. 

The fear of getting older including loneliness, frailty, loss of independence can be gripping; paired with fears of illness or navigating a chronic health conditions leaves too many in an overwhelming common place of despair.  A reality of financial instability, food and housing insecurity and mobility often moves seniors to places of unrealized potential as well as vulnerability. Yet, empowering social connection with family and community, living out purpose and dreams in your latter years can make all the difference. We are going to have use creative, novel approaches. 

Aging is our future means we should recognize people are living longer. 

The State of Aging and Health in America 2013 report indicates the growth in the number and proportion of older adults is unprecedented in the history of the United States. Two factors—longer life spans and aging baby boomers—will combine to double the population of Americans aged 65 years or older during the next 25 years to about 72 million. By 2030, older adults will account for roughly 20% of the U.S. population.

Health and well-being across lifespan are important for a robust economy and nation. 

Watch and share:

Here are some questions to consider as you connect and listen:

• In your experience, what are the most empowering parts of aging?  
• What should we be thinking about now to prepare our families, communities and country for the next decade to support older Americans and their families?
• How can the government work with the private sector to expand opportunities for older Americans and their families?
• What are the best ways for multiple generations to stay connected?
  
• What are your strategies for taking part in healthy activities?
  
• What are ways you would like to get more involved in your community?
  
• If retired, have you enjoyed new opportunities for volunteerism, business ventures or public service?
• What advice would you give to someone trying to plan for a secure retirement?
  
• How has new technology changed your aging experience?

Let's connect challenges to opportunities to realize a healthier nation for the days ahead. It's about growing older together in strength and health. Please share and leave your comments.

The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities

I'm checking-in at the 2012 Summit on the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities, which is focused on Building a Healthier Global Society by Integrating Science, Practice and Policy.  The summit has been rescheduled post super storm Sandy from December 17-19, 2012. 

A matter of healing and health: our segregation dilemma

After withstanding the longest filibuster in history, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law on May 6, 1960 paving the way for much stronger legislation includig the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. You can see here progress as an iterative process requiring time and tenacity. Justice is slow, but steady.  The 1964 civil rights laws declared hospital segregation illegal.

Yet, the persistence of racial residential segregation continues to drive disparities in health. [1] Social factors in local settings result in variations of population health across communities. [2,3] The segregation dilemma among African Americans is distinctive because other minority groups have not lived within the historical context of the African American population, our closet kin are Native Americans. The landscape of America is changing rapidly with increasing Latin and Asian populations revealing a new story of complexity.

In growing numbers, people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds are coexisting in communities, workplace settings, schools, playgrounds. While religious and faith centers remain some of the most segregated places in America. A few weeks ago a provocative talk considering “Race and Racism in America: Are We A Color Blind Society?” hosted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation offered some insight into the practice of engaging into this challenging dialogue. For example, while 50% of African Americans have dated across racial lines, 98% of African Americans have experienced have first-hand experiences with discrimination. Discussions about bias, stereotyping and discriminatory practices do help to improve attitudes as well as behaviors. Silence may perpetuate pain and suffering.  Race is an illusion discounted by the the science of human biology and modern genetics, but race is a social reality. A Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report indicates racial inequalities in health care access and quality added more than $50 billion a year to direct U.S health care costs from 2003 to 2006. In Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care physician-educator Augustus White offers that the Unequal Treatment report “shocked the medical world into recognition of what was going on with racial and other prejudices.” [4,5]   Deeply rooted health care disparities are entangled in the larger story in our society.  

“Housing policy is health policy. Educational policy is health policy. Antiviolence policy is health policy. Neighborhood improvement policies are health policies. Everything that we can do to improve the quality of life of individuals in our society has an impact on their health and is a health policy.”  

                                                                                   —David R. Williams, UNNATURAL CAUSES

The public conversation continues next week with a meeting offered via webcast on “America Healing” including Florence & Laura Norman Professor of Public Health, Harvard University sociologist David R. Williams. These professional meetings push beyond anecdotes so that the evidence of disparities can be seen and addressed.  In considering "What determines health?" and the social factors related to healthier lives, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will also host a webinar on “Place and Health: Why Conditions Where We Live, Learn, Work and Play Matter” and the chat continues via Twitter hashtag #healthissocial with an expert panel.[6] These are open-door meetings, offering virtual presence attendance. We all need to consider new possibilities for healing and health in our lives.  Join the conversation.

References

1. Kramer MR, Hogue CR. Is segregation bad for your health? Epidemiol Rev 2009;31(1):178 –94. 
2. Miller DM, Pollack CE, Williams DR. Healthy homes and communities: putting the pieces together.  Am J Prev Med 2011;40(1S1):S48–S57. 
3. Williams DR, Collins C. Racial residential segregation: a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Public Health Rep 2001;116(5): 404 –16.
4. White AA, Chanoff D. Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
5. Smedley B, Stith A, Nelson A, eds., Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington,DC: Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Press, 2003.
6. Lavizzo-Mourey R, Williams DR. Strong medicine for a healthier America: introduction. Am J Prev Med 2011;40(1S1):S1–S3.