FOCUS - July/August 1999

Celebrating the International Year of Older Persons: Meeting the Challenges of a New Millennium," an all day conference held April 28, 1999, at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered insights on how to deal with quality of life issues affecting seniors.

OPM Director Janice Lachance, in the introductory remarks said, "We cannot afford to ignore the issues of aging and their impact on our families, the workplace, and our productivity. So, what are we going to do? At OPM, we are seeking ways to improve the quality of life and health for ourselves and those in our care by continuing to develop and promote family-friendly programs and personnel flexibilities in very specific ways."

Director Lachance reviewed several OPM initiatives designed to support working care-givers, starting with two publications to help employees deal with elder care issues.

One publication directs caregivers to the resources and referral sources available in local communities where they live. OPM is also working with the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau on a publication called, "Public and Private Employers: Elder Care Best Practices at the Workplace" to help employers learn from each other.

OPM is leading another exciting initiative by helping agencies to establish work-site support groups. "Support groups," she said, "are a great way to bring people together who have similar concerns or difficulties to share personal stories, helpful information, or even a shoulder to cry on." Support groups, she said, are easy to start, inexpensive, and a cost effective way to support workers, but most importantly, they really work.

"We are working on legislation to permit Federal agencies to use appropriated funds to support adult day care centers, similar to our current legislative proposal for Federal agency child care centers," Director Lachance said.

Keynote
Speaker
Diane
Justice

"Are We Ready for the Millennium?," the keynote presentation at OPM’s Older Americans conference, presented by Diane Justice, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Administration on Aging (AoA), offered insight into the kind of foreseeable changes our aging population faces in the next century and the challenges they present.

Demographic factors, she said, must be considered in planning for the aging population. "The older population will continue to increase in numbers. Life span is increasing, up 27 years in this century. It took 2 millenniums to reach that kind of increase before. Today a 60 year old has to plan for living 25-30 years longer," Ms. Justice stated. "By the year 2020, there will be more than 70 million older persons in this country or more than twice the number today."

As the Baby Boom generation ages and reaches retirement, our community institutions and programs, she said, need to address how they will take this population into account. But it’s not the only consideration: ethnic diversity will be enhanced. From 1990 to 2020, the white population will grow by 60%; elderly African Americans will grow by 100%; the numbers of Hispanic elderly will triple; and a 350% increase for elderly Pacific Islanders.

"As the minority elderly community experiences tremendous growth, it will become even more important to remove cultural, ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and language barriers that reduce access to senior services," she said. AoA is also putting greater energy toward the consideration of family caregivers. "The considerable weight of long-term care," she said, "continues to fall squarely on the shoulders of families, whom have always been the major providers of long term care in the US." All factors taken together, the duration of caregiving and the demands on caregiving resources may increase substantially due to very real dynamics which will make family care-givers less available, despite their desire to be of help.

AoA found that, of caregivers in the US, 75% are women, approximately 50% are over age 65, 41% are also caring for children under 18, and 1/3 of all caregivers work full-time. Many caregivers report being in fair to poor health themselves and there are higher rates of depression among caregivers than non-caregivers. These statistics only hint at the enormous physical, emotional, and financial burdens experienced by caregivers.

A factor worth considering in the outlook for Baby Boomers is that they have smaller families, leaving them with fewer younger family members to care for them. And with greater mobility today, there are weaker systems of support since the family may be located at a distance and the

community where they reside may not be close knit. The White House and the AoA are currently striving for a more multi-faceted approach to caregiver needs. Several initiatives are proposed:

•	giving tax credits for families with members who need long-term care;
•	launching a national campaign to educate Medicare beneficiaries to evaluate their care options and be aware of their coverages;
•	providing private long-term care insurance program for Federal employees;
•	expanding Medicaid eligibility for individuals with long-term care needs;
•	and (unprecedented) creating national family caregivers support program.

Thankfully, earlier AoA efforts created or championed systems of support in place now. The AoA supported the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which gives employees the opportunity to care for their family members without the threat of job loss. The Eldercare Locator, a toll-free national and information assistance directory, helps caregivers to locate the appropriate local area agency on aging for services.