ElderWeb

Gabriele Doblhammer and James W. Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research studied remaining life expectancy at age 50 of people in Denmark, Austria, and Australia, and found that in northern hemisphere countries, people born in the fall months of October-December had longer life expectancies than those born in the spring months of April-June. They found that the pattern was repeated in the southern hemisphere, where everything shifted by six months so that, again, those born in fall months had the longest life expectancies. The researchers reported that these findings are based on population data with more than a million observations. They also found a correlation between the month of birth and chronic diseases related to the cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems, as well as for infectious diseases such as pneumonia and influenza. They speculate that these differences may be partly due to the fact that many years ago people were likely to eat much better in the summer than in the winter, thus mothers who gave birth to babies in the fall would have had better nutrition throughout most of their pregnancy than those who were pregnant during winter months. The report was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

A new gerontology page for The Netherlands (NL) was started up in January 2001. This initiative was taken to improve access to the field of gerontology in The Netherlands to stimulate and intensify international contacts for education, science and research in the domains of gerontology and geriatrics. (http://gerontologie.pagina.nl)

By Dr. David Lansdale, PhD

This section of the ElderWeb newsletter features national organizations serving consumers, professionals, legislators, and others interested in the aging space. This week, we interview Dr. Jeanette Takamura, Assistant Secretary for Aging in the Department of Health and Human Services. During her tenure of office, from 1997 to the present, Dr. Takamura was instrumental, among many other accomplishments, in helping get the Older Americans Act signed by President Clinton on November 13, 2000. Prior to coming to Washington D.C., Dr. Takamura served for four years as First Deputy of the Hawaii Department of Health. From 1987 to 1994, she was Director of the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging. Dr. Takamura has also served on the faculties of the School of Medicine and the School of Social Work at the University of Hawaii, where she has been Director of the College of Health Sciences and Social Welfare's Health Team Development Program.

Q. You have some significant accomplishments to look back on during your tenure, most notably the passage of the Older American Act. Can you tell us a little bit about this Act, and what you hope it will accomplish in the lives of older Americans?

A. We are indeed pleased with the enactment of the Older Americans Act as P.L. 106-501. Our intention was to increase opportunities and resources that can be utilized by the Aging Network to better serve our nation's growing older adult population and their families. The most prominent new provision in the Act establishes the National Family Caregiver Support Program, which was introduced by the Administration on Aging as a part of the Clinton Administration's long term care initiative. Our long range aspiration is that the Caregiver Support Program will grow over time. Our hope is that it will be funded to support more and more caregivers who are offering invaluable assistance to loved family members - young and old alike. We know that all too often, in the course of providing care, caregivers find themselves physically and mentally stressed juggling multiple work, family, and other responsibilities. We are also pleased that there is recognition within Title IV of the Act of the important potential work that can be done by the Network to better prepare persons of all ages for long life. This has, as you might guess, tremendous implications for women and minorities, who tend to live longer and be at greater risk of becoming poor, frail, and vulnerable in their older years. Tied to this, we are pleased that there is continuing general recognition of the special risks that confront older Americans of the greatest economic and social need, particularly minority elders.

Q: Let's talk about the Aging Network. How were they started?

A. Through various amendments to the Act, the Aging Network of state and local agencies on aging and tribal organizations were made the official structure through which Older Americans Act goals and programs are to be implemented. The governor of each state is responsible for designating a state unit on aging to be a focal point, advocate, leader in system development, and the entity to lead in the coordination and integration of relevant services and programs. We are pleased that in many states, state units have taken on responsibilities that go beyond the administration of Older Americans Act services and programs. States are managing Medicaid waiver programs and are involved in developing program innovations to better serve their older adult population.

Q. What is the mission of the Aging Network across the country?

A. State and local agencies on aging and tribal organizations serve as advocates for older Americans in states and communities across the nation. They plan for, design, and deliver services and programs to older persons. However, it is important to remember that Title I of the Older Americans Act articulates ten objectives which reflect transcendent values and a vision for the attainment of a quality of life for all older persons to which the Aging Network is to aspire. These include, for example, an adequate income in retirement, the best possible physical and mental health that is may be attainable, participating in meaningful activity, efficient community services, and others

Under the program titles of the Act, the Aging Network provides home and community based services including information and assistance, meals, transportation and other supportive services, the long term care ombudsman program, and legal services development. Beginning this year, the Network will also be implementing the new National Caregiver Support Program.

Q. What is the Aging Network strategy for addressing the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as a result of significant gains in longevity, both in the United States and abroad?

A. The Aging Network has always worked within communities with all of the various sectors to identify the needs of older persons and their families, to advocate for essential responses, and to provide critically necessary services and programs. With new resources and a newly reauthorized Act, the Aging Network is now poised to play a significant role in helping to meet needs associated with the provision of long term care to older persons by their families. As growing numbers of people are realizing, most of the long term care provided to older Americans is offered in the home and in the community by relatives and friends, not in institutions by formal caregivers.

Q. What role do you see the Internet playing for our aging population, and in helping the Aging Network and the Administration on Aging accomplish its goals?

A. There is no doubt that the Internet will be a major vehicle for the dissemination of information and for interactions with growing numbers of older persons and their family members. We are already heavily reliant upon the Internet to convey messages to our many publics in a timely manner. I do hope that your readers will visit AoA at http://www.aoa.gov. We have two new sites, among others, that can be accessed via that address. One provides an electronic caregiver manual that we have entitled, "Because We Care." The other provides information that is intended to assist professionals to better serve minority elders.

Q. How might ElderWeb help your office and the Aging Network achieve their mission?

A. I appreciate all that ElderWeb is already doing and am grateful that it has made information on how to get to state level agencies on aging available. We know that much can be accomplished through our continuing collaboration. Thank you for all that you do.

The Alabama Legislature recently approved SB418 that changed the name of the Alabama Commission on Aging to the Alabama Department of Senior Services. This was done with the support of the Governor's office, Area Agencies on Aging and legislators. With this new name, the state's older citizens and other interested persons can more easily identify them as the state's focal point for aging services.

A new report from the International Longevity Center USA (ILC-USA) finds that the quality of life people experience as they age varies depending on their sex and nationality. The report, The Consequences of Population Aging for Society, is drawn from a 1999 international seminar in Luxembourg.

The average woman not only lives longer than the average man, she also remains more active in daily activities like shopping and household chores. The longer, more active lives women lead, however, often prove a mixed blessing. Women are more burdened by caregiving than men. Wives who are caregivers for their husbands report higher levels of stress and depression than those who take care of older women. Older single women ? unmarried, widowed or divorced -- are more likely to live in poverty than older single men. Despite their more active daily lives, when it comes to retirement, women turn out to be followers, not leaders. When a regular source of income is assured, a woman is apt to make her husband?s retirement a joint affair and retire too. But a wife?s decision to leave the workforce seems to have no affect at all on her husband?s choice to continue working.

Nationality plays a role, too. The Netherlands has the lowest poverty level among families with an elderly single woman as head, while Australia, the UK and the USA have the highest poverty levels among families with an elderly single woman as head. The most aging-oriented countries in terms of social expenditure are Japan, Greece, Italy and the USA. But despite the large percentage of its GDP the U.S. spends on older people, the United States has the most pronounced income inequality of any nation studied.

By Dr. David Lansdale, PhD

I am excited about this new section on ElderWeb, where I will feature national organizations that serve consumers, professionals, legislators, and others interested in the aging space. In this first article, I will interview Dr. Rita Ghatak, the recently appointed West Coast liaison for the International Longevity Center (ILC), an organization with headquarters in New York City. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Ghatak served as CEO to Older Adults Care Management, an organization which provides geriatric care management services for elderly people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Ghatak also has over 14 years experience in the field of gerontology, with a focus on direct services, research, and care management.

Q. Thank you for you time, Rita. Congratulations on your new appointment! I have been looking forward to this interview with you, featuring the ILC. Let's begin with the mission of the ILC.

A. The ILC-USA, Ltd. is a not-for-profit research, policy and education organization whose mission is to help societies address longevity and population aging in positive and productive ways and highlight older people's contribution to their families and society as a whole. The organization is part of a multinational research and education consortium, which includes centers in the US, Japan, Great Britain, France, and the Dominican Republic.

Q. Who founded the ILC?

A. The ILC was founded in 1990 in the USA by Robert N. Butler, M.D., and in Japan by Shigeo Morioka, Chairman of Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Company. The ILC-USA, Ltd. is a non-partisan 501 ?(3) corporation affiliated with the MountSiani-NYU Health System. Dr. Butler was the first director of the National Institute on Aging from 1975-1982, and in 1982, founded the nation's first department of geriatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. An internationally recognized leader in the fields of gerontology and geriatrics, Dr. Butler is also a Pulitzer Prize winning author for his book, Why Survive? Being Old in America. The ILC also enjoys the dedication of wonderful Board and Honorary Board members that include John Glenn, Rosalyn Carter, Christine Cassel, and Rose Kleiner locally.

Q. What is the ILC strategy for addressing the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as a result of significant gains in longevity, both in the United States and abroad?

A. The ILC achieves its mission by:

Conducting research and educational programs in the areas of health, work, family;
Drawing on the expertise of scholars from many disciplines, including demography, sociology, economics, humanities, ethics, medicine, and public health;
Working within the context of the total life cycle, taking into consideration the needs of all age groups, and encouraging intergenerational contact and understanding;
Raising awareness among public and private sector leaders, the media, and society in general about the impact of longevity and population aging on individuals and society.
Dr. Butler and Mr. Morioka have launched centers in France, the United Kingdom, and the Dominican Republic to achieve the mission of the ILC in additional locations around the world. Dr. Butler is currently working on several international projects in France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and has recently embarked on an ambitious project to study health care and social services in older adults and children in Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and Santo Domingo.

Q. ElderWeb is delighted to be co-sponsoring the launch of ILC-USA West on October 26 with SeniorNet -- tell us about this event, and your vision for ILC-USA West.

A. Dr. Butler is scheduled to visit the Bay Area on October 26. He will be making a public presentation at Fairchild Auditorium at Stanford University from 5-7 p.m. on "The Promise of Longevity". I also plan to organize meaningful discussions between him and leading individuals in the valley Here in the Silicon Valley we are celebrating a dynamic economic boom. We are also witnessing the need to build the infrastructure for the societal support for the parents and grandparents of young entrepreneurs and baby boomers. Longevity is here to stay, and how we address it will determine how we spend the remaining years of our extended life. Our intention in launching the ILC-USA West is to increase awareness in the Bay Area and the western United States of our mission, and to invite the collaboration of leading individuals and institutions in the this part of the country.

Some of my objectives are to increase awareness of productive aging and longevity and to empower the professionals in the valley to gear for social changes in aging, to establish a base for the ILC on the west coast, to start sound collaborative research and outcomes work with educational institutions and corporations, and to raise funds for the ILC and the World Assembly on Aging in 2002.

Q. What role do you see the Internet playing in the aging space, and in helping the ILC accomplish its goals?

A. This is the first time in human history that the prospect of living a long, healthy, and productive life is a reality for the majority of people in the industrialized world and for many in the developing world. We must recognize the opportunities and address the challenges posed by these developments with creativity, with the collaborative efforts of experts from many different fields, and with public and private partnerships to endure the best quality of life for people of all ages. The Internet is a powerful tool that facilitates communication, allowing for greater collaboration to address significant challenges that are local as well as global. It also can be a vehicle for coordinating resources and activities that will improve the quality of life for isolated elders.

Q. How might ElderWeb help the ILC to that end?

A. ElderWeb has a wonderful reputation and track record as a leading authority on aging and caregiving, and has been a wonderful resource since its inception for professionals and lay people since Karen first launched the site in 1994. We look forward exploring creative new venues through which the work of the ILC can be published and disseminated through the Internet to your constituents in the United States and abroad.

For more information on the October 26 presentation by Dr. Butler, please contact Dr. Rita Ghatak. Visit the ILC-USA website at http://www.ilcusa.org.

Dr. David Lansdale, founder of the Linking Ages program which connects older adults to the Internet, will be conducting a series of interviews for the ElderWeb newsletter. He will speak to representatives of key organizations that serve consumers, professionals, legislators, and others interested in aging and eldercare.

The Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research have approved the names and mandates of 13 "Virtual Institutes" including the Institute of Healthy Aging. The recruitment process for Scientific Directors and Institute Advisory Boards will begin immediately.

The mandate of the CIHR Institute of Healthy Aging is to support research to promote healthy aging and to address causes, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation for a wide range of conditions associated with aging. Research areas include long-term health promotion policies and strategies (individual, community, and population levels); health determinants - to elucidate the multi-dimensional factors that affect the health of aging populations and lead to a differential prevalence of health concerns; application of knowledge regarding health advantage and health risk factor to prevent or postpone functional disability disease, injury, and disability prevention (or postponement; factors which enable the elderly to remain independent: e.g. community characteristics, housing, transportation, volunteers; and geriatrics research: best practice research on care of the elderly (e.g. service delivery, co-morbidity, medication use and mis-use, iatrogenic problems, rehabilitation, palliation).

Henry Aaron, author of numerous books and articles on social security reform, retirement savings, and issues related to the challenges facing an aging population, took questions about the public policy and political aspects of our aging society on the Web site of the Brookings Institution. He discussed the positions of Gore and Bush on aging-related issues, the future of Medicaid long term care, and a variety of other topics.

A text transcript of the chat is available, as well as several articles written by Aaron on the topic.

New measures to tackle prejudice and discrimination against older people in the United Kingdom were announced today by Alistair Darling, Social Security secretary. Speaking at the first ever National Listening Event for Older People in London, Mr. Darling said a summit of employers and older workers? representatives will be called later this year to examine ways of fighting age discrimination in the workplace. And representatives from TV, advertising and the media will be brought together to discuss how to tackle negative images of older people.

He pledged to hold meeting with employers to find ways to counter ageism in the workplace, and to meet with the media to identify ways to replace negative images of older people with positive role models.

To complement its new traveling exhibit, Secrets of Aging, the Boston Museum of Science is offering a series of six lectures that will delve into many of the mysteries surrounding how and why we age. This is a special opportunity to hear what the experts say about how genes influence the aging process, why some people live longer than others, and what steps you can take towards leading a long and rich life. These interactive lectures will take place every Wednesday from June 14th to July 19th, from 12:00 noon until 1:00 pm, at the Museum of Science in Boston. This "brown bag lunch" series is free to the public and is sponsored in part by the Lowell Institute. The Secrets of Aging Exhibit also has a special web site.

June 14: "Using the Gift of Long Life," James E. Birren, Ph.D., Associate Director, UCLA Center on Aging

June 21: "Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential at Any Age," Thomas Perls, MD, MPH, Principle Investigator, The New England Centenarian Study and Acting Chief of Gerontology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

June 28: "Healthy Aging through Mind/Body Medicine," Ann Webster, Ph.D., Mind/Body Medical Clinic, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

July 5: "Genes and the Biology of Aging," David Schlessinger, Ph.D., Chief of the Laboratory of Genetics, National Institute on Aging

July 12: "Developing a Personal Exercise Plan for Healthy Aging," Daniel S. Rooks, Ph.D., Be Well! Tanger Center for Health Management, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

July 19: "Aging and Memory: What Changes and What Can You Do?," Margie E. Lachman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Brandeis University

The National Council on Aging released results of a study "Myths and Realities of Aging 2000", which indicated most Americans would be happy if they lived to be 90. Nearly half of the respondents age 65 and over described the present as the best years of their lives. The survey showed that in the minds of many people old age begins with a decline in physical or mental ability, rather than reaching a certain age. The survey indicated that younger people tend to overstate the financial and social isolation problems of older people, and that older people are less worried about their health, their finances, and the threat of crime than they were 25 years ago.

The survey also showed "middle age" is whatever you want to make of it. Half the respondents aged 65-69 and one third of those in their 70's said they still consider themselves middle-aged!