view these issues as trivial. But for transgender elders they are fundamen-tal to their sense of identity and digni-ty. Many transgender elders report that they would rather forego care alto-gether than live in such a facility.

To avoid dealing with bullying by other residents, and because transgen-der elders are different, some facilities will segregate them. An ombudsman official reports that in one California

nursing home, a transgender resident was “prevented from eating with other residents, talking with them or being involved in social and recreational ac-tivities with other residents.” Nursing home officials also employ this tactic against lesbian, gay and bisexual el-ders. Jane Gross of The New York Times

AGING TODAYVol. xxxii, No. 2 The Bimonthly Newspaper of the American Society on Aging March–April 2011

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INSIDE

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New Training for California’s Direct-Care Workforce page 3

The 2011 MindAlert Award Mines a JEWEL page 4

Marc Freedman on Mid-Life Migration and the Big Shift

page 5

In Focus: The Might of America’s Mature Women page 7

America Is at the Nexus of Aging and Multiculturalism By FErNANDo TorrES-GIL

and DIANA LAM

The United States, like other nations, is now experiencing a “silver” tsunami. And, as has occurred in other countries, we’ve seen this tidal force coming, but are not prepared for it.

Millions of native-born baby boom-ers started turning age 65 this year. By 2032, there will be more people alive over the age of 65 than under the age of 15: there will be more older adults than children. And between now and 2050, the entire age 65-plus population will increase from 13% to 20%.

Beyond the realities of these num-bers, there is the fact of diversity to con-

sider. For America, broad diversity among older population groups is an enormous factor—one that hasn’t been adequately addressed. The native-born population of baby boomers is augment-ed by people who have, in recent years, migrated to America. This immigration is expanding the number of baby boom-ers—most notably, there is a cohort of 8 million baby boomers hidden within the rapidly growing Latino population.

According to research, Hispanic, Asian and black populations all will experience major growth by mid- century. Projections indicate Hispanic growth by 188%, Asian growth by 213% and black population growth by 71%. Around the same time, non- Hispanic whites will cease to be the majority population in America.

Longevity: the Upside

and downside

On one hand, it’s exciting that peo-ple are living longer and, for the most part, healthier lives. Many people well

past age 65 have no thoughts of retire-ment. As we recover from the reces-sion, some older adults have come out of retirement, searching for employ-ment to bolster diminished nest eggs. Switching careers, returning to school or taking on volunteer opportunities in

hopes of landing a new position—or simply staying engaged in their com-munities—have become part of the “new normal” for people over age 50.

Yet, on the other hand, living longer inevitably raises a host of unique con-cerns. Longer lifespans mean increas-ing healthcare costs and needs as peo-ple become more susceptible to chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Increased longevity raises concerns about outliving financial re-sources, loss of independence and con-trol, and fears of isolation.

Bonus years for the largest senior population ever also mean there is an increased need for in-home care pro-viders—especially family caregivers, who may have health issues of their own and are often overlooked as key players in the caregiving network. Caregivers need guidance and assis-tance to care for loved ones’ needs. But

America has seen the silver tsunami coming

but is not prepared for it.

Fear, Discrimination and Abuse: Transgender Elders and the Perils of Long-Term CareBy DANIEL rEDMAN

Phyllis Frye is a long-time lawyer and a judge in Houston. She is also a prominent transgender activist. To transition from male to female—her true gender identity—she underwent several medical procedures and takes estrogen. In Phyllis’s life, she chooses where and how she lives without fear. Looking to her future, she is adamant she would not feel safe living in a nursing home.

Transgender elders are afraid of long-term-care facilities. As Frye puts

it, “A secret fear of all transgender peo-ple, surgical or not, is to grow old and be psychologically abused, day after day, by the staff of a nursing home.” Transgender elders are afraid staff members will refuse to let them live consistent with their gender identity, deny them appropriate medical care (such as hormone therapy), violate their privacy and leave them vulnerable to harassment and mistreatment.

These fears are widely prevalent in the community. In a study published in 2010 in the Journal of GLBT Family Studies, and conducted by FORGE/

A Vibrant New Look for Aging TodayASA is pleased to announce that the pages of Aging Today will soon have a

new look! Beginning with the May−June 2011 issue, you’ll see a major trans-formation to a brighter, bolder, more vibrant design. We’ll still bring you the same timely, useful and engaging stories by experts in the field of aging—but with the added touch of eye-catching four-color photography and graphics. The new Aging Today will debut at the 2011 Aging in America Conference and will arrive in your mailbox in early May.

Transgender Aging Network, executive director Loree Cook-Daniels says, “People reported that they would rather kill themselves than enter a nursing home and be at the mercy of staff. That’s how afraid some people are at the thought of being unable to defend themselves from transphobic health-care providers.”

erasing identity

Nursing home staff members have enormous power to ignore—and thus erase—a transgender elder’s identity. For transgender elders, one of their worst fears is being placed in a facility that tries to force them to live in their original sex. By using the wrong pro-nouns or names, a staff member essen-tially negates a lifetime of struggle.

Transgender elders also fear staff will refuse to provide them with hor-mone therapy, force them to wear the other gender’s clothing or prevent them from using appropriate rest-rooms or showers. Facility staff may l continued on page 4 l

‘People reported that they would rather kill

themselves than enter a nursing home and be at

the mercy of staff.’

AGING TODAY2 March–April 2011

caregivers also need support with respect to income, respite, and physical, emotional and mental health.

Elders who have recently come to America, or who have significantly different backgrounds, may find dealing with these challenges while trying to navigate an un-familiar culture overwhelming—not only for themselves but for younger family members who may not speak English.

As the elder population grows larger, so does the gaping hole, a rift caused by out-of-date policies and a lack of products, services, benefits and resources necessary to serve older Americans. America has been stuck—polarized about what, when and how to implement overarching social changes to address the needs of a swelling older population.

What will it take to fill the hole in this new and changing America—a place where aging and multiculturalism are dovetailing to create a critical 21st century test of our compassion, support and care for our oldest populations?

steps to shape the FUtUre

Closing the hole will take nothing less than proactively advocating for extensive social change. On many levels, that’s a profound challenge in the current economic and political climate. But one size won’t fit all. There is no “business as usual” with a task of this magnitude. We’ll be making history, but time is short, with leading-edge boomers turning 65 this year.

As we embark on the massive undertaking of changing laws and policies (which rarely happens quickly), we shouldn’t miss out on taking the following common-sense steps that can go a long way toward shaping future changes:

Train geriatric specialists. We’ve never had a greater need for people specializ-ing in elders’ health needs. We must address the shortage of geriatric specialists: doctors, researchers, social workers, administrators, therapists, nurses and aides. We need geriatricians just as we need pediatricians.

Train in cultural competence. Care providers responsible for older patients and clients, whether these people are served in hospitals, private homes, nursing homes or community settings, will increasingly interact with people from different cultures. Providers must be able to interact effectively by learning to manage language barri-ers and demonstrating sensitivity, understanding and respect for cultural differences. These skills improve provider effectiveness.

rethink housing options. Most people prefer to stay in their own home or com-munity as they age. AARP research consistently finds that this is the preference of nearly nine out of ten households. Family or private caregivers can make this possi-ble and, increasingly, Medicaid funding for home- and community-based services rather than nursing home care is available in some states. Village models, which rely heavily on volunteers from within and outside the community, add another twist: community members (who don’t have to be elders) incorporate into a nonprofit and pay a yearly fee, with the monies used for providing support and services, such as transportation, meals, in-home care and housekeeping, to older members.

Increase nonprofit involvement in elder programs. The level of compassionate care provided to patients can be improved by removing the profit element present in most nursing home administrations. Local agencies, religious groups and charities engaging in these programs would create additional opportunities for people to re-main in their communities and receive services delivered with greater care.

Tap into the value of older workers. Increased longevity and better health mean that people over age 65 may have many more years of productive work ahead. Older workers can help cover the approaching dearth of younger workers, filling jobs va-cated by retirees. AARP has long acknowledged companies that value older workers through its Best Employers for Workers Over 50 awards. These companies utilize best practices to hire, retain and retrain older workers.

Encourage volunteerism. Older people should be championed as a valuable volunteer resource, but younger people also should be encouraged to volunteer to work on behalf of senior programs and services or other civic programs in a formal service corps.

Share responsibility. Caring for elders in our society with dignity and respect isn’t just the government’s job, the private sector’s job or the individual’s job. It’s a shared responsibility and everyone needs to be involved.

These recommendations are not the far-reaching and necessary policy shifts re-quired to revamp laws affecting social programs, civil rights, disability issues, health-care or financial security. But they are examples of constructive approaches we can take—as private citizens, community groups, businesses, educational institutes and professionals—that move us closer to the inevitable and herculean task of shaping laws to better serve our changing society.

America isn’t the only nation experiencing phenomenal growth of cultural diversity and an older population: we can look beyond our borders for workable solutions. What we must not do is wait, for the nexus of aging and multiculturalism is already here. v

Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil, an expert in health and long-term care, aging, social policy, ethnicity and disability, serves on AARP’s Board of Directors. He is professor of social welfare and public policy director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs. Diana Lam is a graduate research assis-tant at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs.

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Pamela J. Larson, Executive Vice President, National Academy of Social Insurance, Washington, D.C.

Trudy Lieberman, Director, Heath/Medicine Reporting Program, Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY, New York, N.Y.

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Aging and Multiculturalisml continued from page 1 l

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Aging Today articles and to guest com-mentaries, which present the opinions of their authors and not necessarily those of the American Society on Aging. Letters should be no more than 350 words long. Submit them by mail to Aging Today, “Letters,” 71 Steven-son St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938; by fax to (415) 974-0300; or by e-mail to ahood@asaging.org.

As the elder population grows, so does the gaping hole caused by out-of-date policies and the lack of resources

necessary to serve older Americans.

Kaiser Study Clarifies Level of Healthcare

Reform Confusion

One of the bigger stories not covered in the press in 2011 has been how bi-partisan bickering over healthcare re-form leaves the public mightily con-fused. On February 24, the Kaiser Family Foundation published key find-ings from its Health Tracking Poll that succinctly clear up the misinformation.

It turns out that 52% of Americans are unaware healthcare reform is still law; 22% think the law has been re-pealed; and 26% have no idea what’s going on when it comes to healthcare reform. Forty-eight percent hold an un-favorable view of the law; and 43% favor it. When broken down along party lines, 66% of Democrats like the law; and 84% of Republicans oppose it.

Among older Americans, their oppo-sition remains strong, with 59% hold-ing an unfavorable view, which repre-sents a 19% increase from December. This level of opposition mirrors what elders thought right after the law passed in late March 2010, and turns around what had been a lessening of opposi-tion seen just three months ago.

When it comes to the marketplace, 14% of Americans claim to have bene-fited from the law, while 17% say they have been negatively affected, citing increased costs that could be pegged to fluctuations in the market that the pub-lic attributes to the law.

Tax credits to small business remain a popular provision of healthcare re-form, with 84% of Americans approv-ing of their retention. Seven out of 10 would retain the provisions that close the Medicare donut hole, subsidize in-surance for low and moderate income earners, and prohibit insurance compa-nies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. They would also retain the CLASS Act provisions.

The individual mandate, however, still comes in for a stinging 67% disap-proval rating, despite experts’ concern that the system may not work well without it. v

It turns out that 52% of Americans are

unaware healthcare reform is still law.

AGING TODAY 3March–April 2011

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Assisted Living and Medicaid: Exploring the Unanswered Questions

By ErIC CArLSoN

Increasingly, state Medicaid pro-grams are offering to cover personal and healthcare services provided by assisted living facilities. But it’s a new model, which means many poli-cy questions remain unanswered, pos-ing challenges for states, providers and beneficiaries.

In order to better understand these unanswered questions, the National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) conducted a study of states that cover assisted living services through a Med-icaid Home and Community-Based Ser-vices (HCBS) waiver. (The study was funded through a grant from The Com-

monwealth Fund and formed the basis of several papers based on the findings.)

Through an HCBS waiver, a state is authorized to provide long-term ser-vices and supports to Medicaid benefi-ciaries whose healthcare needs would warrant nursing home admission. The

waiver funding should be a win-win for both the Medicaid program and beneficiaries—the state spends less for HCBS than it would for nursing home services, and beneficiaries re-ceive services and supports in a less institutional environment.

what’s Considered

CommUnity-Based?

But the first question is whether as-sisted living care should be considered “community-based” in the first place. An assisted living facility is almost al-ways less institutional than a nursing home, but an assisted living facility is more like a nursing home than it is a

private home. Living units are often shared with people other than family members, staff is allowed in and out of units without requiring permission and residents don’t have access to private bathrooms or a kitchen.

So far the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has consid-ered assisted living services communi-ty-based when it comes to an HCBS waiver, but there are indications that the CMS’s position may be shifting. For ex-ample, in the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program —designed to transition nursing home residents into community-based settings—an assisted living facil-ity can only be considered community-

based if it provides single-occupancy units with a lockable front door.

Also, in 2009 the CMS requested public input on the interpretation of the term community-based, and it is ex-pected to announce a broad policy on this issue during 2011. The NSCLC and its partners in the Assisted Living Consumer Alliance (www.assistedliv ingconsumers.org) support an interpre-tation similar to the policy applied in MFP programs.

Quality of care is another important issue. When the Medicaid program covers nursing home services, the nurs-ing home must comply with compre-hensive quality standards set by the federal Nursing Home Reform Law. In sharp contrast, when it comes to assist-ed living, the CMS generally defers to state assisted living licensure standards. In most cases these standards don’t recognize that HCBS beneficiaries have care needs warranting nursing home admission. The NSCLC recom-mends the federal government take a more active role in oversight of assisted living facilities.

mediCaid and the

‘who pays’ ConUndrUm

On the financial side, the fact that Medicaid cannot pay for room and board in an assisted living facility causes various complications. Room and board is the resident’s responsibil-ity, and, under Medicaid rules, resi-dents have a limited amount of monthly income available to pay for it.

In Arkansas, for example, a resident is allocated $612 for room and board

Training California’s Direct-Care Workforce of TomorrowBy AThAN G. BEzAITIS and

VICTorIA r. BALLESTEroS

California is home to more than 150,000 certified nursing assistants and home health aides who provide paid care and support for older adults and persons with disabilities. These critical laborers, a skilled infantry of profes-sional caregivers, make up approxi-mately 30% of the state’s direct-care workforce and are employed in nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, home health and health welfare agencies. These fully trained and licensed workers pro-vide vital daily care (including assis-tance with bathing, dressing, eating and medication management) that is a life-line for those who depend upon their services.

Over the next few decades as the aging tsunami peaks, researchers pre-dict a major shortage of these workers. Challenges exist to the recruitment and retention of home health aides and cer-tified nursing assistants, and their most significant labor pool—women of color of ages 25 to 54—is declining.

Research from surveys and focus groups of direct-care workers shows the lack of adequate training as both a concern and a factor that influences

their decisions to stay in the field. To help address this need, The SCAN Foundation supported the development of five continuing education courses for California-state-certified nursing assistants and home health aides.

“A highly trained direct-care work-force is critical in allowing those with functional impairments to live with dignity and independence, in the envi-ronment of their choice,” said Dr. Bruce Chernof, president and CEO of The SCAN Foundation. “We envision these curricula leading to improved job satis-faction, while addressing the need to help train, retain and expand this vital workforce in California.”

Following their initial launch in March, the five programs will be rolled out over the next few months and avail-able via download for free on The

SCAN Foundation’s website (www. TheSCANFoundation.org). The courses are based on established adult learning principles, and cover themes such as understanding and responding to be-haviors of dementia; strengthening communication and problem-solving; end-of-life care; medication and falls; building partnerships with family care-givers; and pain management. They are divided into modules, which include detailed teaching guides for course in-structors, and each curriculum includes PowerPoint presentations, handouts for participants, case studies and videos.

Coping with end-oF-LiFe Care

San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine developed the “Care at the End of Life” course, a se-ries of three modules that are specifical-ly designed for use in a long-term-care setting. Available in both instructor-led and Web-based formats, courses can be delivered in 15- to 20-minute sessions.

The first module focuses on helping workers understand patient and family choices as the time of death nears, with particular emphasis on understanding cultural differences. The second module trains workers on how to engage family members by developing coping mecha-

nisms during this often difficult time. “Many times families have difficulty

knowing their role with their loved one when [he or she] is unresponsive,” said Paula McMenamin, clinical field in-structor at The Institute. “Participants will learn communication strategies and ways to support families during this transition through [culturally com-petent] conversations.”

The third module describes the most effective methods for dealing with death and grief as a process. “Death impacts other residents and the direct-care work-ers themselves in their work life,” Mc-Menamin said. “This curriculum ad-dresses ways…[to] bring about closure within the facility [residents and staff].”

CommUniCation CompetenCies

are Key

Another course curriculum devel-oped by the New York-based PHI (www.phinational.org) provides six one-hour in-service training sessions in commu-nications protocol and how to uphold the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “resident-centered” practices.

“Communications and problem-solv-ing competencies foster the ability to build effective relationships,” said Peggy

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Increasingly, state Medicaid programs may

cover personal and healthcare services provided by assisted living facilities—but there are challenges with this new model.

As the aging tsunami peaks over the next

30 years, researchers predict a major shortage of direct-care workers.

AGING TODAY4 March–April 2011

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Transgender Eldersl continued from page 1 l

The JEWEL program in action: preschool children and their “grandpa” friend help germinate the seeds that will be used for the outdoor “generations” garden.

reported in 2007 that it was a “com-mon” practice to “move gay residents to placate others” if other residents were homophobic.

In addition, transgender elders fear rejection and loss of privacy. Many worry they will be ostracized, ridiculed or harassed if residents learn they are transgender. Some would prefer to keep their transgender identity private, and may be devastated if staff or resi-dents disclose that information. Others want to live openly, but may be pre-vented from doing so.

tUrned away at the door

Sometimes, because of discrimina-tory attitudes, nursing home officials will bar a transgender elder from their facility. In late 2007, an older transgen-der woman who was homeless contact-ed Chicago’s Center on Halsted—a community center serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender commu-nity. She needed emergency brain sur-gery, but doctors refused to operate on her unless she had somewhere to go af-terward. She had already contacted three nursing homes, but they had all turned her down.

“It was really blatant refusal,” says Serena Worthington, former director at Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) in Chicago. Worthington worked with the center’s Volunteer Transgender Community Liaison, and together they found a long-term-care facility that would take her. When Wor-thington shares this story with people who don’t work with LGBT elders, she says, “They cannot believe it hap-pened.” But when she tells those who work with LGBT elders, she says that “each of them has a similar story. Un-fortunately, people are refused medical services and housing and treated badly all too often.”

Even medical providers can be un-welcoming—or worse. According to Injustice at Every Turn, a study re-leased in February 2011 by the Nation-al Center for Transgender Equality and

the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, nearly a fifth of transgender people report that medical providers have refused to provide care for them. Fear of disrespect or harassment by medical professionals leads transgen-der elders to delay or avoid seeking needed care. According to Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults, a 2010 report by SAGE and the Movement Advancement Project, 30% of trans-gender people put off or avoid seeking medical care for this reason.

hopeFUL signs

While all of this is cause for alarm, there is cause for hope. Thirteen states, the District of Columbia and more than 100 cities have transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination laws. Where those laws include public accommodations provisions, they can be used to bring lawsuits against nursing homes discrim-inating against transgender people.

To change the climate of California nursing homes, in 2008 the legislature passed a law mandating that the state Department of Public Health design and institute an LGBT-inclusive train-ing program for certified nurse assis-tants and other personnel. Advocates in the District of Columbia are currently working toward passing a similar law. A nursing home in Chicago conducted focus groups and is currently working toward developing a policy that will ensure that transgender elders receive proper respect and care.

These efforts are in their infancy, and much more must be done. But with more robust cultural competency train-ings, vigorous litigation against dis-criminatory facilities, increased activ-ism both inside and outside nursing homes, and more widespread nondis-crimination laws across the country, we can hope for a time when no elder will fear the inside of a nursing home. v

Daniel Redman is an attorney in the Elder Law Project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Fran-cisco, Calif.

A JEWEL of a Program Earns the 2011 MindAlert AwardBy ALISoN BIGGAr

JEWEL (Joining Elders with Early Learners), a joint program of Family Services of Westchester and the Mount Kisco Child Care Center, is the winner of the 2011 ASA-MetLife Foundation MindAlert Award, a national award pro-gram that recognizes innovative ap-proaches to maintaining older adults’ cognitive fitness. MindAlert annually provides a way for nonprofit organiza-tions to showcase older adult mental fit-ness programs that demonstrate innova-tive and effective application, and are accessible to diverse communities. The 2011 MindAlert award will be given on April 27 at the National Forum on Brain Health, during the 2011 Aging in Amer-ica Conference in San Francisco.

It used to be that school kids would come home to a grandma eager to help with homework or maybe trounce them in a game of gin rummy. Today, with families spread across continents, many kids rarely interact with elders. The JEWEL, a joint program of Family Services of Westchester (FSW) and the Mount Kisco Child Care Center, which practically stumbled upon the immense benefits of intergenerational interac-tion, now sees these benefits and inter-actions daily.

A melding of two programs—the Mount Kisco Child Care Center and the My Second Home Adult Day pro-gram—JEWEL is housed in one 20,000-square-foot residential facility in Mount Kisco, N.Y. When the Mount Kisco Child Care Center wished to ex-pand into its own home after renting a series of sites in dour basements, an anonymous donor offered land on which to build a new facility. When the donor came up with the idea to build one facility to accommodate both pro-grams, a good idea was born.

mULtigenerationaL memories

mine a JeweL

Dorothy Jordan, executive director of Mount Kisco, was just beginning to learn the benefits of intergenera-

tional activities, and was responsive to the proposal.

The more she researched the idea, the more she heard people fondly re-calling their youth in multigenerational households, some of which, like Jor-

dan’s, supported a working mom. Jor-dan’s relatives were of all ages, but they weren’t necessarily healthy or en-gaged. Yet Jordan still enjoyed and felt their support. So she took “a leap of faith,” and agreed to work with FSW on the design and development of the shared site, plus collaborate on the JEWEL program.

Today, Jordan hosts 160 kids from three months to 11 years old at Mount Kisco, and Rina Bellamy, director of My Second Home, has 90 adults, ages 60 to 97, with some level of impair-ment, either physical or mental, com-ing to My Second Home on a daily basis. Several times a day the two pop-ulations get together for joint activities, which can range from elders watching children sing, or actively helping them with painting projects.

One of the beauties of JEWEL is that parents of the children in daycare can go off to work knowing that their kids are in doubly good hands, and

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The JEWEL preschoolers saw elders as healthy,

‘not grouchy.’

AGING TODAY 5March–April 2011

By MArC FrEEDMAN

We need a new map of life. We’ve been making do with one that was fashioned for an expected human lon-gevity of 70 years. At one time such a lifespan constituted progress, but we can’t stuff a 21st century lifespan into a life course designed for the 20th century—or stretch the old model so that it accommodates a task well be-yond its intended capacity.

Though it starts with the numbers, the story really is about the nature of lives.

In 1900, the lifespan in the United States was 47 years. Today, it is ap-proaching 80 (although great disparities persist across class and race). Overall, that’s an increase over a 100-year span that approximates all the gains since the beginning of time. And the length of life may well be growing, headed toward the century mark. Some think the up-ward rise will be even more precipitous.

Yet while we’ve been remarkably adept at extending lives, our imagina-tion and innovation in remaking the shape of those longer lives have been struggling to keep pace. In the words of anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, we’re “living longer and thinking shorter.”

THE ENgAgED AgE

The Mid-Life Migration, the Big Shift and a New Social Imperative

The situation is beginning to fray, especially in the period of life that is emerging between traditional mid-life and what used to be occupied by retire-ment and old age. It’s fair to say that this condition constitutes a longstand-ing problem, one that existed even be-fore longer lives and changing demo-graphics made it a much bigger one.

goodBye to the ‘goLden years’

It took ingenuity to redesign lives to keep up with changes in longevity and society in mid-20th century America, but we rose to the occasion. We plugged the purpose gap with something called the “golden years,” a stunning innova-tion that almost overnight turned an arid economic institution—retire-ment—from an anteroom to the great beyond into a core component of the American dream.

But now we’re looking at 30-year re-tirements in the era of the Great Reces-sion. A “golden years” retirement is simply not going to work, nor is it de-sirable. Does it make sense for our so-ciety to throw away the most experi-enced segment of its population that is a long way from obsolescence?

The way to make the most of the coming reality of 100-year human lifespans is not to stretch and strain the contours of a life course set up for a by-gone era. This would be an effort akin to performing plastic surgery to make a 70-year-old face look like a 40-year-old one—the result is unnatural and the in-tention wrongheaded. Likewise, the an-swer to unsustainable 30-year retire-ments is not substituting endless middle age for endless old age, which is the al-ternative some are proposing to the much longer life.

Middle age, like all good things, eventually must reach an end. No use in denying it.

The reality is that for most people, the end of middle age is no longer at-tached to the beginning of either retire-ment or old age. Individuals entering this new stage are faced with an unsta-

ble space that has no name, no clear beginning or end, and no rites or routes of passage. In trying to navigate this uncertain territory, they face a contra-dictory culture, incoherent policies, in-stitutions tailored to a different popula-tion and a society that seems in denial that this stage of life even exists.

a seCond ChanCe,

a soCiaL imperative

Coping with this new life stage—while a deeply personal experience—signifies more than a conundrum to be faced, alone, by an individual. The prob-lem is much larger: what we’re facing is not a solo matter, but implies a social imperative—an urgent one that must be solved as the great mid-life migration gathers scale and momentum.

We need a call to action for creat-ing an “encore” stage of life charac-terized by purpose, contribution and commitment, particularly to the well-being of future generations. But in-venting a new stage of life won’t happen by itself, not easily or auto-matically, even as social conditions improve and become auspicious. If we choose to act, this new life stage could well become a destination—even the new crown of a life—and the flood of people heading there could offer the human-capital solution to much that ails American society.

We are in the position to make a monument from what used to be the leftover years. There can be a second chance for people of all stripes to as-cend the ladder of contribution and ful-fillment, offering society the opportu-nity to “grow up” along with its population. This will mean nothing less than changing the patterns of lives and reshaping the nature and possibilities of every progressive life stage.

It’s time for a shift in our thinking and in our culture, our social institu-tions and public policies—a shift from what worked in the past to what can carry us into the future. v

Marc Freedman is president and CEO of Civic Ventures (www.civicven tures.org), a San Francisco-based think tank on baby boomers, work and social purpose. This article and accompany-ing sidebar are adapted from Freed-man’s new book, The Big Shift: Navi-gating the New Stage Beyond Mid-life (New York: Public Affairs, 2011).

Making the Shift: A Call to ActionHow do we ensure that the best thing that ever happened to us as individuals, the

prospect of extended and healthier lives, is a boon to the broader community, now and into the future? Here are a few ideas (for more ideas, visit www.encore.org):

Create a gap year for grown-ups. The gap year, often an important rite of pas-sage for youth moving into adulthood, could offer older adults a chance for reflection, renewal and redirection—a possible foundation for starting a new stage of life.

Establish school for the second half of life. Let us develop a new kind of edu-cation suited to the new stage of life—learning that blends vocational preparation, personal transformation and intellectual stimulation.

Expand national service opportunities. Many older people are looking to na-tional service programs, such as AmeriCorps, as a way to give back and get a leg up on a new career.

Fund Encore Fellowships. Encore Fellowships—paid internships for those in their encore years—are highly effective in delivering new sources of talent to the nonprofit world while helping Fellows transition to encore careers.

revamp human resources policies. Employers can get in on the innovation act more fully by creating new policies and practices (such as flextime, part-time work, training, anti-ageism hiring policies) that help employees transition to the new stage.

Create Individual Purpose Accounts (IPA). With tax credits and other mecha-nisms, Congress could support IPAs as distinct packages designed to make switch-ing to encore careers easier, just as 401(k)s facilitated retirement saving. Financial institutions could offer IPAs that facilitate the processes for taking advantage of tax treatments, employer matches, investment options and loan programs.

reform Social Security. Social Security could become a source of seed capital to help individuals invest in life’s next stage. Why not allow people to stop and start their Social Security payments as circumstances change?

Develop a comprehensive Encore Bill. Let us help people in the new stage to develop their human capital, transition into new roles and cope with the financial challenges by creating policy measures to ease the transition.

—Marc Freedman

We’ve been remarkably adept at extending lives, but our skill in reshaping

those longer lives has not kept pace.

Middle age—like all good things—eventually

must reach an end.

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AGING TODAY6 March–April 2011

The Campaign for Better Care is led by the National Partnership for Women & Families, Community Catalyst, and the National Health Law Program and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Nine out of 10 older Americans suffer from at least one chronic health condition, like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis or Alzheimer’s disease.

Unfortunately, the daunting task of care coordination falls on patients and their families.

It’s hard enough to do this when you’re healthy, and nearly impossible when you are dealing with multiple problems or facing a health crisis.

There is a better way.

The Campaign for Better Care is working hard to ensure health reform is implemented effectively so that our nation’s new health care system focuses on what’s best for patients and their families.

We get it – you’re not on your own. Join us today.

Better coordination means better care.

www.CampaignForBetterCare.org

When it comes to health care, you shouldn’t have to fend for yourself.

AGING TODAY 7March–April 2011

IN FOCUS

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The Power, Might and Influence of America’s Mature Women

Women now are living longer and healthier lives, and represent a new po-litical and economic force in America. March is Women’s History Month, and this In Focus section highlights the emergence of older women as a cohort of influence in America, and their tran-sition from mid- to late life. Featured articles are from speakers at the April 28 Mature Women’s Summit at the 2011 Aging in America Conference (for more information visit www.agingcon ference.org), as well as from experts in the areas of finance, workplace issues and caregiving.

Women Are the New Economic Powerhouse

By MADDy DyChTWALD

We’ve seen amazing technological and political evolution across the past century, but the single most powerful economic change has not been caused by technology or the rise of developing nations. It has been created by women.

A hundred years ago, the world looked very different. Cars and tele-phones were scarce, television not in-vented and apples were just a tasty fruit. Women couldn’t vote, own prop-erty or even open a bank account in their name. Education was available primarily to wealthy women, and a woman’s path to personal success was often extremely limited.

Even with all that technological and global change, women’s influ-ence has had an even larger impact on our economy. The Economist in 2006 wrote that over the past two de-cades, “women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new gi-ants, China and India.” And that’s just the beginning.

Last year, 72% of all high school valedictorians were women. For every 100 men graduating from college, there are 133 women, giving women the tools to succeed in the new economy. And they are. For the first time in his-tory, women make up more than half of the workforce. While men’s earning power has remained flat over the last several decades, women’s earning power has grown exponentially. In fact, today nearly a quarter of wives out-earn their husbands.

sUper spenders

And women are taking that earning power and spending it in the market-place. In fact, women represent a whopping 83% of consumer purchases, including 90% of food purchases, 80% of healthcare spending, 93% of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, 55% of consumer electronics, 53% of stock market investments and 62% of new car purchases. They’re the primary market for just about everything.

With increasing speed, women are unleashing their influence to reshape

our world. For example: in the United States, women start their own business-es at twice the rate of the national aver-age, and are the leaders in bringing our country out of the recession. In devel-oping nations, 90% of women who earn income reinvest it in families and communities—by sending kids to school or buying clean water and elec-tricity for their communities—com-pared with only 30% to 70% of men.

staBiLity Leads to sUCCess

The first step for these successful women is to achieve financial stability, because self-reliance is key to emo-tional well-being and security. When women rise above the stress and pres-sure of making ends meet, they gain the time and space to figure out how they want to live their lives.

Once they have established financial stability, women can turn their sights outward—to get involved in their com-munity and help improve others’ lives. Take Joan Ahimbisibwe, an HIV- positive mother of three in Uganda. For most of her life, she has lived on less than $1 a day, which is not enough to feed her family, let alone buy school uniforms necessary to send her chil-dren to school—and certainly not enough for any investments.

Then Ahimbisibwe began making beads out of recycled magazine paper with a group of other women and sell-ing them through BeadforLife, a non-profit started by two women in Colora-do, Ginny Jordan and Torkin Wakefield. They sell the beads via private parties and on the Internet. Ahimbisibwe start-ed making $5 or $6 a day—about what a Ugandan policeman earns.

With her new financial stability, she saved enough money to buy a pig, which she raised and then resold at a mark-up. With those profits, she moved her family into a storefront, from which she sells vegetables and sugar, again upping her earnings. Ahimbisibwe’s daughter is in private school, which means she has a chance to escaping the cycle of African poverty.

This is only one such story from my book, Influence: How Women’s Soar-ing Economic Power is Transforming Our World for the Better. Many more stories abound of women who have used their influence to change the world. Imagine what could happen if all women wielded their influence to make the world a better place? v

Maddy Dychtwald is author of Influ-ence: How Women’s Soaring Econom-ic Power will Transform Our World for the Better (New York: Hyperion Voice, 2010), cofounder of AgeWave and an expert in the changing demographic trends of the marketplace.

Women have contributed more to

global GDP growth than have either new

technology or China and India.

From Success to Significance: A Woman’s Place in a

Post-Retirement WorldBy hELEN DENNIS

In her recent book, When Every-thing Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2010), The New York Times columnist Gail Collins relates an inci-dent involving Lois Rabinowitz, a 28-year-old secretary for an oil company executive. Rabinowitz, dressed in a blouse and slacks, went to traffic court to pay her boss’s speeding ticket. As she approached the judge, he grew irate over her appearance and sent her home to change her clothes. Rabino-witz got her husband to pay the fine. And she promised that she would burn all of her slacks.

In the 1960s, many American laws rendered women invisible: a husband controlled his wife’s property and earnings, and co-signed her credit cards; a woman had to have her hus-band’s permission to launch a busi-ness; and in some states, women could not serve on juries.

The workplace also made women invisible. Typically, women held be-hind-the-scenes jobs as office work-ers, receptionists and part-time book-keepers. They cleaned offices and homes and were cashiers. If they were college graduates, they usually held low-paying jobs as teachers, librarians and nurses.

When it came to work, 1960s women were compliant. In her book Collins writes, “When Nora Ephron graduated from college and applied for a job at Newsweek she was told, “‘Women don’t become writers here.’” Accord-ing to Collins, Ephron recalled that it never would have occurred to her to be outraged or object to such treatment.

women: FiFty years on

Things have changed considerably in the last 50-odd years: today, half of medical and law school students are women. They dominate pharmacy and veterinary medicine. They represent 40% of dental school graduates. And

women now outpace their male peers in graduating from college.

From the 1960s and on through the women’s movement, work has become an increasingly significant part of women’s identity (despite the fact that women in the American workforce still earn less than men—about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men).

So now we face the question: What happens to that identity as this large generation of women retires from their careers and jobs? For many, leaving the workplace for retirement often means leaving behind their identity—an inte-gral component to a sense of purpose. And few, if any, role models exist for these women.

Although feelings of lost or mis-placed identity are not shared by all pre-retirement or retired women—many of whom look forward to lei-sure, rest and time to devote to other important pursuits—there are women who love or had loved their work, and who are uncertain about their post- retirement identity. They defy the ste-reotype that a woman can always re-turn to a traditional domestic role for her life satisfaction. If living life ex-clusively in this role was insufficient for many women 30 and 40 years ago, it’s unlikely that a full-time return to it would be fulfilling.

oF downtUrn, demography

and a Bright FUtUre

Today’s uncertain economy points toward looming anticipated shortages of retirement income. For many women and men—exploring a new identity in retirement may be an unaffordable luxury. The Center for Retirement

‘In the 1960s, many American laws rendered

women invisible.’

Maddy Dychtwald

AGING TODAY8 March–April 2011

Ageism and the Mature JobseekerBy rEBECCA KLEIN-CoLLINS

and PhyLLIS SNyDEr

When Michelle, a 63-year-old work-er from Washington was recently laid off, she worried she’d never find anoth-er job at her age. And she was right. For months, she pursued leads and heard nothing back. Finally, she sought help from the state’s WorkSource Cen-ter. She was offered an opportunity to learn new skills, and finished four com-puter-training courses.

Michelle’s story is an increasingly common one. At an age when she could be coasting toward retirement, Michelle had to make herself more marketable to employers. Leading up to the recession, we saw increasing numbers of retirement-age workers delaying retirement and continuing to work well into their 60s and even 70s. For many, it was a choice: “I’m still healthy, I enjoy working, my job keeps me active and engaged with other people, so why not?” But dur-ing this recession, continuing to work past retirement age has become a financial necessity.

oLder JoBseeKers in dire straits

Mature jobseekers face a number of challenges. Like Michelle, many lack the technology skills required in the workplace, and also face employers’ age bias. Surveys of employers have revealed a clear reluctance to hire older workers. That reluctance, com-bined with the decrease in available jobs, has resulted in a dire situation for mature jobseekers.

The most recent data show that older jobseekers stay unemployed about 30% longer than their younger coun-terparts, and greater percentages of older unemployed workers remained unemployed for a year or more. When asked why they have a harder time finding a job, these older workers firm-ly believe that age discrimination is the main factor. (See sidebar for find-ings from recent studies.)

These issues can be compounded with mature women workers. Older women often appear to have less work experience than men because they have taken time off to attend to family is-sues, or have found meaningful work later in life. As a result, they may have a harder time convincing employers that they have the necessary skills and competencies. Once employed, recent research has shown that the gender pay gap is even greater for older women—they earn only 68 cents to every dollar earned by men the same age.

training heLp For matUre

worKers

In recent years, many programs na-tionwide have been designed to con-nect mature workers to skills training and work opportunities, reach out to employers to sell them on the contri-butions and value of mature workers, and help those wanting to start their own businesses.

Some programs have been launched by postsecondary education institu-tions, nonprofit organizations or pub-lic sector agencies. Since 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor and The Atlantic Philanthropies have collabo-rated on a new mature worker initia-tive, which has provided funding and assistance to 10 grantees across the country. The grantees are developing strategies and programs to make their mature workforce an effective asset for their regional economies, and the Council for Adult and Expe-riential Learning is working with the Council on Competitiveness to pro-vide technical assistance to the dif-ferent sites (for more information visit www.cael.org).

The assistance these grantees have been working to provide includes guid-ance in career and educational choices; computer training; retraining for new careers; training and support for new businesses; short-term work experienc-es in new fields; engaging employers in new ways; and raising awareness in the community about the contributions of mature workers.

what maKes a matUre worKer

attraCtive?

Mature workers often benefit from support groups to help them cope with job loss and their struggles to interest potential employers. The 10 grantees are helping to provide moral support during the job search, and identifying how to help mature workers become more attractive to employers. Often, even the most industrious mature work-er needs to develop basic skills for em-ployability: computer skills, interview skills and English language skills are the most valuable.

Mature workers often need help un-derstanding how to job search in to-day’s market. They may not understand the importance of using existing con-tacts, informational interviews, social media and other newer job search strat-egies. And since they may be put at

ease by the sight of another older face, many of the grantees have older staff.

One of the biggest lessons from these programs is that they can transform lives. After her training, Michelle began to get interviews. Finally, she was hired as a receptionist and office administra-tor at a sign and design company.

“When we met Michelle, we knew we had the right person,” says her new employer. “She not only had a great per-sonality, but she had so many computer skills that we decided to hire her on the spot—plus we increased our budget for the position by $4 per hour.”

Michelle says the training she re-ceived gave her both the confidence to apply and the skills to get a job she loves. “If I had not taken the classes, I

wouldn’t be working now. Or I would probably have another data-entry job,” she says. Not only does her new job pay much more, Michelle says it is “a much more interesting job. I couldn’t praise the program enough—I have a second lease on life and I’m in a bet-ter place.” v

Phyllis Snyder is vice president for Healthcare Services and Mature Work-er Initiatives at the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL) in Chi-cago, Ill. She has conducted research for the Conference Board and Civic Ventures, helped to develop and imple-ment the Tapping Mature Talent proj-ect, and created the Mentors 4 STEM program. Rebecca Klein-Collins is CAEL’s director of research.

Ageism in Black and WhiteIt takes older jobseekers more time than their younger counterparts to

find a job during this recession. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate that the average period of unemployment for job seekers ages 55 and older was 40.6 weeks, compared to 31.6 weeks for younger jobseekers. Survey data found that 67% of older unemployed workers had been looking for work longer than a year, compared to 43% of workers under age 55. www.bc.edu/research/agingand work/archive_pubs/IB25.html.

Many older workers have taken part-time jobs because there is no other choice. The AARP Public Policy Institute reported that in December 2009, 1.4 million older workers were working part time because they had no choice. They had take those jobs for economic reasons, either because of “slack working condi-tions” or because they could not find full-time work. AARP reports that the pro-portion of older workers who were in part-time jobs for economic reasons was double the proportion doing so at the start of the recession. www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/info-01-2010/fs165-employment.html.

older jobseekers believe that age discrimination is one of the main reasons they have trouble finding a job. According to a 2009 MetLife survey of workers and jobseekers ages 55 to 70, 43% of those who are looking for work say that the primary reason they have not been able to find work was because they could not find an employer who would hire someone their age. www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-buddy-can-you-spare-job.pdf.

Some employers acknowledge that an age bias exists in their employment decisions. A 2007 survey by the Boston College’s Sloan Center on Aging and Work found that 25% of surveyed employers say that they are reluctant to hire older workers. www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/research_sites/agingandwork/pdf/publications/FS21_Recruit_Retain_OldrWrkrs.pdf.

— Rebecca Klein-Collins and Phyllis Snyder

Mentoring Builds Bridges, Enriches Lives and Supports Tomorrow’s Leaders

women who are at an earlier career stage. Their mentoring sends a powerful message by building bridges with the next generation of leaders, demolishing stereotypes about age and strengthening organizations and professions.

“Mentoring was one of my most sat-isfying professional experiences—I connected with amazing women and enjoyed passing along my career’s worth of knowledge to help smooth their paths,” says Ann Mitchell, a woman in her 60s who has mentored several women in the financial services field. Mitchell is also a member of the Transition Network, a community of professional women ages 50 and over whose changing life situations lead them to seek new connections, resourc-

es and opportunities (www.thetransi tionnetwork.org).

mentoring 101

I have had the wonderful opportunity to mentor at least a dozen women at all professional levels, and have collected a portfolio of practical information on how best to make a mentoring relation-ship work.

Mentoring is a developmental rela-tionship in which a more knowledgeable person shares information and provides encouragement and constructive criti-cism to a less knowledgeable person. Mentoring can be highly structured, with formal matching, satisfaction sur-veys and defined timeframes. Or it can be informal—a breakfast with someone who heard you speak on a panel, which leads to sporadic e-mail exchanges.

If you want to be a mentor, you can start the process by checking with your employer or professional organizations to find out what mentoring programs are available in your area. Colleges and graduate schools often organize mentor-

By BETSy WErLEy

In our modern world of work, job stability is uncertain and career paths are more fluid. And for many, the cur-rent economic outlook dictates that many older adults will extend their work lives indefinitely.

When faced with a major life transi-tion—whether it is influenced by job loss or voluntary retirement—people often seek ways to regroup, to re-ener-gize. Mentoring can have that rejuve-nating effect: it can make us feel wise, feel satisfied to be recycling our knowl-edge and can enrich our lives through helping someone to grow, learn and succeed. Mentors can provide day-to-day support along with a crucial long-term view, access to their networks and offer practical tips on how to stay em-ployable for the long haul.

Women leaders have a vital role to play as both formal and informal men-tors. They understand the special chal-lenges women face as they rise in their professions while juggling work and home responsibilities. They can balance empathy and tough love in guiding

Surveys of employers have revealed a clear

reluctance to hire older workers.

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As mentors, women leaders can enhance

their legacy and revitalize their lives.

AGING TODAY 9March–April 2011

Tackling the Traffic Jam on the Work Highway: Wise Work Practices Can Ease Intergenerational Clash

By PhyLLIS WEISS hASEroT

It’s not just Britain’s Prince Charles who suffers from a worklife “waiting in the wings” syndrome: many work-ing women, waiting interminably to take over the reins, fear that their chance may have passed. Some may be thinking, “Why won’t those baby boomers realize it’s time to go?”

My experience working with four generations of both genders in today’s work settings shows this is not solely a women’s issue, but one that affects men equally. There are aspects that have a uniquely female angle, however.

Specifically, some older women feel that younger women don’t recognize and appreciate how hard they had to fight for changes in the workplace that provided the worklife flexibility young-er women take for granted. (Not to sug-gest workplace policies have reached anything near nirvana—just that some major changes have come about.)

This lack of appreciation, however, is not the crux of the matter. Baby boomer women are sticking around for two credible reasons: they like the ful-fillment, challenge and social opportu-nities that work brings; and they may need the money. In some cases there is a third reason: an uncertainty that suc-cessors are well-prepared to shoulder their greater responsibilities.

eConomiC reaLity meets

Career desires

The recession has given many orga-nizations a breather from brain-drain threats because employees are afraid to leave and fewer are needed. At the same time, many baby boomers would like to keep working, even if they can afford to retire. Surveys by Merrill Lynch and other financial firms in 2004 and 2005, when the economy was ro-bust and retirement funds healthy, re-vealed that about 80% of baby boomers wanted to keep working in some capac-ity after age 65.

While personal priorities will domi-nate decisions, there’s a bigger-picture need for restructuring. Even in a flour-ishing economy things won’t go back to what they were 20 years ago in terms of structural hierarchy, patience for “paying dues” before expecting promo-tion and management styles—all be-cause different generations have differ-ent expectations.

And, significantly, the different generations don’t understand each other’s perspectives and influences very well. Generation X and Genera-tion Y don’t seem to recognize the im-pact of the women’s movement and the civil rights movement on the de-gree of diversity in today’s workplace. And they have never experienced the loyalty that, in earlier years, Tradi-tionalists got from employers.

The Generation Yers also don’t have a clear sense of why Generation Xers

see themselves as “survivors” and so value autonomy. And the Traditional-ists and baby boomers can’t perceive what it’s like to be born into a world with “e-everything.” Knowing these things rationally doesn’t create the same mindset as experiencing the for-mational influences that created each generation’s worldview. When that un-derstanding is achieved and accepted, we can move to greater cross-genera-tional respect and collaboration.

removing potentiaL ConFLiCt

I do not favor involuntarily remov-ing productive people. But in order to provide opportunities to the generation waiting in line, the roles and responsi-bilities of senior professionals ap-proaching traditional retirement age must shift. This could mean cutting back hours, job sharing with a protégé, and filling a coaching, mentoring and training role, or another creative and needed role.

Shifted roles must come with respect attached. The transition requires em-ployers to rethink value and compensa-tion for functions that were assumed to be provided gratis in the context of professional roles. Too often financial

rewards come only from performing functions that leave little time for knowledge transfer, mentoring, train-ing and coaching. Financial disincen-tives for taking on training roles need to be eliminated to reduce conflict.

The trick is to capitalize on baby boomers’ knowledge and experience without alienating the bottlenecked Generation Xers and later, Millennials. One answer is to pay those baby boom-ers still in place to pass on their valu-able acquired wisdom, contacts and skills before departure. That will pre-pare Generation Xers to thrive when the bottleneck opens.

If knowledge transfer and coaching are not built into transitioning roles (which are made attractive by accord-ing them respect and providing work-life flexibility and engaging challeng-es) how will the next generation of leaders and managers prepare to suc-ceed? Some of the large accounting and consulting firms, and other private sector employers, have built these functions into job descriptions, per-formance evaluations and compensa-tion decisions. What is measured and reinforced with financial reward and recognition gets done and has benefit-

ted the bottom line. These companies are creating cultures where the value of institutional knowledge and putting people first are reflected in financial results. But this practice should be ex-panded to meet the current and future replacement needs.

The enduring challenge is to build sustainably strong organizations that engage and retain the most productive talent of every generation. It will take frequent dialog, listening, mutual men-toring and empathy. Organizations must assess and rethink the connection between attitudes, expectations, poli-cies, and financial and non-financial incentives in order to prevent genera-tional tensions and provide continuing opportunities for all. v

Phyllis Weiss Haserot, president of Practice Development Counsel, busi-ness development and organizational ef-fectiveness consulting and coaching, fo-cuses on the profitability of improving intergenerational relations and transi-tioning planning (www.pdcounsel.com; www.nextgeneration-nextdestination.com). She is the author of The Rain-making Machine and The Marketer’s Handbook of Tips & Checklists (Eagan, Minn.: West Thomson Reuters 2010).

Long-Term Care Is Every Woman’s IssueBy LAurA WEBEr roSSMAN

There are some phone calls you never forget.

“I found your Dad unconscious on the floor. The ambulance just left. I’m going to the hospital. What are we going to do?”

That early afternoon phone call from 1,800 miles away changed our lives for-ever. What we only came to realize later was how caring for a stroke victim would profoundly affect the next 12 years of my mother’s life, and my own as a long-distance caregiver. And, how ill-prepared we were to face the ever-changing issues of long-term care.

Stories like this happen every day. And most of us are not ready for the resulting emotional and financial havoc. As professionals in the field of aging, many of us provide direct assis-tance to help families cope, make deci-sions and plan for the future. Yet we too often don’t have a plan for our own long-term-care needs. Long-term care is a woman’s issue—one that too many of us ignore.

women and the stats on

Long-term Care

Women are particularly hard hit by long-term-care needs. First, they are often called upon to be the primary caregiver for elderly family members or their own partners. That may mean cutting back on or stopping work earli-er than planned, reducing the financial resources they will have available for their own care.

Second, because women live longer than men, they are more likely to re-quire care for a longer period of time. And third, women save less for retire-ment than men. Whether this is because of lower income or more conservative savings, they end up with fewer funds to support their long-term-care-needs as they age.

“Long-term care is a critically impor-tant issue for women,” says Jesse Slome, executive director of the American As-sociation for Long-term Care Insurance (AALTCI), a national trade group. “The vast majority of women who are age 50 or older considerably underestimate the risk and have no plan in place.”

According to the Association’s publi-cation, A Woman’s Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance Planning, women are far more likely to reach an age when they will be the recipients of long-term care. Some 980,000 women ages 65 and older are nursing home residents, com-pared with only 337,000 men.

Nearly three-fourths (73.6%) of as-sisted living residents are women. And twice as many women ages 65 and older are being cared for in a home setting than men (3.27 million versus 1.68 million).When it comes to long-term-care insur-ance, women account for nearly two-thirds of the $6 billion in annual benefit dollars paid, according to AALTCI.

women mUst pLan For

the FUtUre

On average, women fall behind men when it comes to saving for retirement and long-term-care costs. A recent study by LIMRA (Life Insurance and Market Research Association), Gender Matters: Retirement Savings of Working Men and Women, found that average defined con-tribution (DC) plan balances of working women ages 50 years or older are below those of working men of the same age by nearly $63,000.

While retirement savings and insur-ance are important, they shouldn’t be confused with having a long-term-care plan. A long-term-care plan is far more comprehensive and includes identify-ing services and support; housing op-tions; funding long-term-care assis-tance; and legal issues, such as advance directives and a living will.

Where do you start? The National Clearinghouse for Long-term Care In-formation has a wealth of information that can help your clients or your fami-ly; or you can walk yourself through the steps of creating a long-term-care plan (see “Resources” sidebar on page 15).

Begin by asking yourself how you would answer the following questions:

Who will help care for you? We make assumptions about this, but rarely do we talk with our family about it di-rectly. It is difficult to imagine our-selves in need of care—and even more difficult to ask for help. Yet one of the greatest gifts we can give a partner, child or sibling is clear guidance about how we want to be cared for. Ask any caregiver how much easier caregiving would be if that conversation had hap-pened ahead of time.

Where would you live? We know most people want to stay in their home for as long as they can. Is your home wheelchair accessible; can modifica-tions be made if needed; would you take out a reverse mortgage to help finance your long-term-care assistance at home? Will you need to move closer to family members? If so, the right time to move is when you are still independent.

how would you pay for your care? There is a misconception that long-term care is paid for by Medicare. Beyond a few weeks of rehabilitation, if you have the financial resources, you’ll be on your own to pay for long-term care. Do you have enough money earmarked in your retirement savings for long-term care?

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About 80% of baby boomers want to keep

working in some capacity after age 65.

Because women live longer than men, they are more likely to require care for a longer period of time.

AGING TODAY10 March–April 2011

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Women Face Extreme Multitasking When Balancing Caregiving and Career

By CAroL LEVINE

In Anna Quindlen’s novel One True Thing, Ellen Gulden quits her job as a reporter at a New York magazine to take care of her dying mother. Her boss warns her that this is a bad career move. “Not to be crass,” he says, “but a sick mother gets you three weeks off and a nice flower arrangement from the staff.” This being fiction, however, Ellen then becomes a better person, is accused of (but not indicted for) giving her mother a fatal dose of morphine, enrolls in med-ical school and becomes a psychiatrist.

Few caregivers experience their role this way. Yet the work-versus-caregiving dilemma is common. According to the 2009 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP survey, 57% of respondents who were caregivers in the preceding 12 months were currently employed. Even though more men are becoming caregiv-ers for their family members, women still make up the majority of the coun-try’s estimated 52 million caregivers, especially when it comes to hands-on care and emotional support.

BattLing the doUBLe standard

In balancing work and caregiving, women face special challenges. The usually unstated assumption is that men “need” their jobs, while women work for other less important reasons than supporting themselves or a family. Very few men are asked if they are still

working when a friend hears about a parent’s illness. Yet during the 17 years I cared for my late husband while maintaining a full-time job, I heard this all the time. Moreover, many women accept this double standard.

Unlike Gulden, who was in her 20s, most women face this decision much later in life. They may still be caring for children or teenagers and managing a household. Some are caring for grand-children. They may have worked hard to achieve professional success. They may still have personal goals, such as travel, study, or turning an avocation into a sec-ond career. The serious illness of a par-ent or spouse threatens to derail every-thing and adds unknown and often unknowable challenges to their lives.

Most caregivers in their 40s and older are not leaving the workforce but strug-gling to keep up with demanding dual responsibilities. While the strains can be severe, employed caregivers generally report higher levels of satisfaction and well-being than unemployed caregivers. Ironically, many caregivers see work as a form of respite.

Leaving a job, reducing working hours or making some other accommo-dation for caregiving can have both short- and long-term consequences. The initial impulse when a parent has a stroke or a serious fall is to rush to help. And while putting everything else on hold is appropriate in an emergency, it is not a long-term solution. Women who live at a distance from their ill par-ent are caught wanting to be in two places at once and feeling guilty wher-ever they are.

Taking time to assess options, pref-erably in family discussions, is impor-tant to establish who can take on which tasks, how to divide financial responsi-bilities and how to communicate about treatment or other choices.

Long-term FinanCiaL impaCt

For the long term, leaving a job means not only the loss of income but also the loss of benefits. The most ur-gent is health insurance, but contribu-tions to a retirement plan and Social Security credits also count. These loss-es may not be significant if caregiving lasts a few months, for example, while a parent is in hospice. But when it’s a condition like Alzheimer’s disease, the

financial impact can be serious. More-over, many caregivers find it hard to re-enter the workforce.

While most women see their care-giving decisions as intensely personal, there are economic implications for employers whose workers may be-come distracted and less productive. Some caregivers face discrimination in the workplace. In 2007 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis-sion issued guidelines on discrimina-tion against caregivers, particularly singling out gender discrimination; there are local laws too. Bringing family caregiving out into the open in workplaces will help create a more supportive environment.

In its 2008 eldercare survey, the Families and Work Institute found that the three top wishes employed caregiv-ers report are: greater schedule flexibil-ity; time off (especially paid time off); and more understanding of their situa-tion from management. Some forward-looking large companies are already offering more flexible benefits, such as expanding the 12 weeks of unpaid fam-

ily leave required under the Family Medical Leave Act, offering paid per-sonal leave days separate from vacation and sick leave, and arranging flexible schedules or telecommuting.

Women, however, are more likely than men to be employed in small com-panies or nonprofit organizations, which typically do not offer these programs.

Being both a devoted caregiver and a responsible employee involves finding and using an array of paid and unpaid resources, recognizing one’s own strengths and limitations, and setting realistic boundaries. v

Carol Levine directs the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund in New York. She is the editor of Always On Call: When Illness Turns Families into Caregivers (Nash-ville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004).

Resources for Caregiving and Employment The Family and Work Institute’s 2008 report, The Elder Care Study: Everyday

Realities and Wishes for Change; http://familiesandwork.org/site/research/reports/elder_care.pdf.

The 2009 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP Survey; www.nac.org.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute has published several reports on employ-ment and caregiving, as well as retirement planning and advice on legal and fi-nancial issues for caregivers; www.MatureMarketInstitute.com.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Enforcement Guidance on Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities; www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_caregiving.html.

Joseph Coughlin’s “Estimating the Impact of Caregiving and Employment on Well-being,” Outcomes and Insights in Health Management, May 2010; www.healthways.com/success/library.aspx?id=615.

Resources for Navigating the Healthcare and Social Service Systems

The National Family Caregiver Support Program offers information, services and referrals through Area Agencies on Aging. For a state-by-state list, go to www.n4a.org/.

Family Caregiver Alliance, www.familycaregiver.org, has many publications, fact sheets and other resources.

The National Family Caregivers Association, www.thefamilycaregiver.org, offers resources and advocacy for caregivers.

The United Hospital Fund’s Next Step in Care website, www.nextstepincare.org, has 20 guides for family caregivers to make transitions in care settings.

Disease-specific organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org, has many resources for caregivers, including information on legal and financial planning, and support services.

Financial Planning Resources for CaregiversThe following three resources are from the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement:

Financial Steps for Caregivers: What You Need to Know about Money and Retire-ment; www.wiserwomen.org/pdf_files/stepscaregivers10_05.pdf.

The Effects of Caregiving; www.wiserwomen.org/pdf_files/the%20effects%20of %20caregiving.pdf.

Caregivers: Care for Yourself While Caring for Others; www.wiserwomen.org /pdf_files/Caregivers-%20Care%20for%20yourself%20while%20caring%20for%20others.pdf. —Carol Levine

briefs and white papers that explain these and other issues, and make many recommendations that should be con-sidered by federal and state policy-makers. For example, the NSCLC rec-ommends that Medicaid-certified facilities be explicitly required to ac-cept Medicaid reimbursement when an existing resident spends down sav-ings to Medicaid-eligible levels. For more information and for copies of the papers, visit www.nsclc.org. v

Eric Carlson is a directing attor-ney at the National Senior Citizens Law Center. He is a frequent contrib-utor to Aging Today and is a widely recognized author and speaker on is-sues related to long-term services and supports.

Assisted Living and Medicaidl continued from page 3 l

and $61 for a personal needs allowance, with any income above those amounts being paid as a co-payment on the as-sisted living services. In many states, there are two problems—the room and board allocation is insufficient, and some facilities require residents or their families to make supplemental pay-ments beyond the Medicaid-authorized room and board payment.

The NSCLC commends the 16 states that prohibit facilities from re-quiring or soliciting supplemental payments so that residents can use their already meager personal needs allowances to pay for clothing and other necessary expenses.

Based on the study, the NSCLC has developed a series of policy issue

‘Ironically, many caregivers see work as

a form of respite.’

AGING TODAY 11March–April 2011

The following is excerpted from the appendix section of The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Mid-Life by Marc Freedman. Reprint-ed with permission from Public Affairs, a member of The Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2011.

When I went to work for the corpo-rate world many, many years ago, it was exciting, and it was new, and I was doing things I’d never done and learning things. But over the years I lost a sense of purpose.

I was working for the money. I sim-ply became more and more emotion-ally distant, and it was less fulfilling. Still, the president of the company was a wonderful man, and we did good work—we cleaned up the envi-ronment. But I didn’t clean up the en-vironment. I was in corporate.

Then, one day in 1999, we made the decision to dissolve the company. It’s not easy to say this, but I guess I wasn’t invested enough to really feel any grief about it being over. I did re-ceive a year’s salary as severance, which gave me the opportunity to say, “OK, what’s next?”

That year of reflection was an im-portant part of my journey.

I was never a walker before that year, but I started walking every day.... It was a form of meditation for me. I often had what-if-I-win-the-lottery thoughts…. I always had the same fantasy, that if I won the lottery, I would start a not-for-profit dealing with homeless families. I also wanted a house on the ocean, but it was just

pain. It was just this awful building with a dirty stairway going down into a basement. And at the bottom of the stairs there was a desk, and the place was packed with people…men and women and some very sick people and some crazy, inebriated people, and people who were terrified and people who were just terrifying.

And I was terrified on top of it all.I met the woman who was president,

and she took me on a tour. She asked me to join the board that day and then said, “But I need to tell you that at the end of the year, I’m leaving.” I just knew it was the job I wanted.

I joined the board, and five months later, when the president’s position became open, I applied. I almost didn’t get it. Another candidate had a lot of experience in the not-for-profit world, and the story I’m told is that the committee voted for her, but the chairman of the board at the time changed his vote.

It’s been nearly 10 years now, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. We changed the name from Trav-elers Aid to Crossroads. We do a lot of housing now and we’re statewide, and we deal with all kinds of issues that we weren’t dealing with before.

I love my world here very much, and I love this organization. I have learned so much. And mostly what I’ve learned is to appreciate my life so much more.

I’m making all this sound like it’s wonderful and grand, but the one part that hasn’t been easy is the financial

one of those what-if-I-win-the-lottery things. I can’t afford a house on the ocean, and I thought I couldn’t afford to run a homeless program.

One day, I realized that I was being really stupid, that I had been working for money for so long, and it was time that I worked for passion, and I just had to make the money work. Was I going to spend the rest of my life mak-ing money and being unhappy or not making money and being happy?

That’s what it got down to. I knew

what I wanted and wouldn’t listen to anyone who discouraged me. A num-ber of people told me that I should go to a little place called Travelers Aid in downtown Providence. I had never heard of it, and in my mind it was something in a bus terminal. But eventually I called the woman who was president and asked if I could have a tour.

On the day of my appointment, I turned into the building, and I opened the door and—true story—I started to cry. I was overwhelmed by the human-ity of the place and the people and the

part. Let me just say that I’m still try-ing to figure this out. At the same time, I wouldn’t change my position for anything. It’s just so enriching. There’s no way I could ever go back to the corporate world—ever, ever, ever. v

Anne Nolan has been president of Crossroads, the largest homeless ser-vice organization in Rhode Island, since 2001.

National Forum on Brain HealthThe National Forum on Brain Health builds upon the significant work in brain health knowledge and information developed through the MindAlert program.

The Forum will be held in conjunction with the 2011 Aging in America Conference in San Francisco, CA on April 27th, 2011

To register, visit www.asaging.org/aia11

2011 MindAlert Web Seminar SeriesFeaturing Award-Winning Cognitive Fitness Programs with Materials for Their Replication To view MindAlert web seminar schedule, visit www.asaging.org/webseminars/metlife_mindalert_series.cfm

2011 MindAlert AwardRecognizing Innovations in Mental Fitness Programming for Older Adults

The Mount Kisco Child Care Center, Mt. Kisco, N.Y.

To learn more about MindAlert Program, visit www.asaging.org/mindalertBrought to you through a generous grant from MetLife Foundation

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Then; Now: Anne Nolan, Providence, R.I.

‘Was I going to spend the rest of my life making

money and being unhappy or not making money and

being happy?’

The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Mid-LifePublic Affairs, $24.99, 256 pages, ISBN 9781586487850

By Marc Freedman

For more information about The Big Shift, visit www.encore.org/learn/marc-freedman-identifies.

AGING TODAY12 March–April 2011

Home Instead Senior Care® has teamed up with the American Society on Aging (ASA) to present a series of web seminars that address pertinent caregiving issues. This family caregiver support webinar series features a variety of topics that will help caregivers navigate the many issues that arise while caring for an older adult. Continuing education

is available at no cost to attendees. This series is the ideal opportunity to earn CEUs while gaining valuable information that will help you in your work with older adults - all without leaving your desk.

Each webinar is an hour in length and provides one continuing education unit of credit.

Mark your calendar so you don’t miss these great webinars:

February 9, 2011: How to Select an

In-Home Care Provider

May 11, 2011: Long Distance Caregiving

August 17, 2011: In-Home Care during a Recession

November 16, 2011: Patient/Doctor Communication

Each of the webinars will be recorded and available for viewing for up to 60 days after the live presentation. Pre-registration is required to attend the live webinars.

Earn FREE CEUs by participating in the Family Caregiver Support Webinar Series

Register by going to asaging.org/webseminars

For information about Home Instead Senior Care, call 877.335.8877

All webinars in the series will be presented by Dr. Amy D’Aprix, Executive Director of the DAI Foundation, and moderated by Mary Alexander, Business Relationships Director with Home Instead Senior Care.

AlexanderD’Aprix

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800 attended!

AGING TODAY 13March–April 2011

Research at Boston College reports that among men and women ages 45 to 59 years old with substantial retirement savings before the downturn, 40% are planning to work longer, delaying re-tirement by four or more years. AARP finds that 88% of those ages 46 to 53, and 87% of those ages 54 to 64, will work during their retirement years.

Assuming that retirement is still via-ble for a large number of women, de-mography may be a powerful guide to anticipating what’s next. Forty million baby boomers are women, and more than one-third of them work in man-agement and other professional capaci-ties. About 10 million are likely to work in occupations that provide re-wards beyond money.

As many of these 10 million women move from success to exploring post-

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Success to Significancel continued from page 7 l

worklife significance, America has the challenge and an opportunity to tap a wealth of talent, knowledge and expe-rience. The options are endless: some women may pursue politics, mentor-ing, an encore career or become advo-cates. Others may teach, mentor, create new movements and organizations, and participate in the arts. Whether found in work or volunteerism, these new roles and identities discovered in life’s next chapter must satisfy these women who have a track record of accomplish-ments and success. v

Helen Dennis is owner and found-er of Aging, Employment and Retire-ment Specialists, Redondo Beach, Calif., and is the chair of ASA’s Busi-ness Forum on Aging. She is the co-author of Project Renewment (New York: Scribner, 2008). Dennis and

Tips on TransitioningHere are few tips on transitioning to new roles:

• Review your work experience and identify aspects of work you expect to miss or actually do miss. You might want an experience that addresses a similar need or value.

• Speak to friends and colleagues who have made a good transition. Ask how they did it and what lessons they have learned.

• Ask yourself if you want to return to work, have an encore career, become an entrepreneur or get involved in something very different from your primary work. Explore a wide range of possibilities.

• Be able to articulate your interests as well as the gifts you bring to an organiza-tion or employer. Try your hand at creating your own position or unique role.

• Explore some women’s organizations and movements that focus on the transi-tion such as the Transition Network, WomanSage and Project Renewment™.

—Helen Dennis

colleague Laura Rossman, members of the ASA Business Forum on Aging Leadership Council, led a March 17 web seminar, “Mature Women: What

They Want and Need and Why You Should Care.” For more information and to view this seminar, visit www.asaging.org/webseminars.

Talking to Wise Women: Stories of Purpose, Meaning and Passion

By PATrICIA GoTTLIEB ShAPIro

Stereotypes about older women abound in modern American culture. Ridiculed in television commercials that advertise dentures and incontinence products, mature women frequently are portrayed as incompetent, dull and stu-pid. But while researching my book, Coming Home to Yourself: Eighteen Wise Women Reflect on Their Journeys, I discovered that this is untrue: I found mature women who are bright, engaged, passionate and wise.

Take Edie Elkan, who gave up the love of her life—playing the harp—at age 22 for financial reasons and yearned for it for 28 years. Today at age 66, she runs Bedside Harp, which brings harp therapy to patients in hos-pitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Her words of wisdom: “It’s never too late to follow your dreams. Allow your-self to go after the things you long for or you’ll die never having done them.”

Valerie Ramsey loved raising her six children and when they left home, she forged a career in the corporate world. Today she is an author, public speaker and runway model. She said, “At sev-enty years of age, I’m comfortable with who I’ve become. I’m doing the things that most fulfill my passion: inspiring other women to continue to grow, to expand their horizons and to reinvent themselves as they move through tran-sitions, especially aging.”

Then there’s Victoria Zackheim, age 65, who wanted to be “somebody” her whole life—somebody famous or some-body who would make her parents proud. In 2008, after a traumatic fall down the stairs in her San Francisco loft, she realized, “After six decades, I finally understand that being a somebody is not the opposite of being a nobody. It has nothing to do with being famous….

Being a somebody simply means being who I am and living that way. Being a somebody is being myself.”

These are just a few of the thousands of older women from across America who want to share their wisdom and experience, if only our society would give them the respect and appreciation they deserve.

the Longevity paradox

Since January 1, 2011, more than 10,000 baby boomers daily have reached the age of 65. That occurrence will continue for the next 19 years, and result in more women living longer, healthier lives than the previous gener-ation. At age 65, we women are no lon-ger in mid-life and yet we don’t con-sider ourselves elderly either. This age group is in a phase of adult develop-ment without a name or an identity.

That’s the rub and the opportunity—that there is no template for this stage in our lives. Our parents died at young-er ages and viewed their lives as “over” once they retired. Not so today. Many of us are still working. If we’re not working, we’re engaged in meaningful volunteer work or in pursuing a pas-sion. We still have a lot of energy and years of life experience to share.

Wise women are ideal role models for the younger generation. They bring a sense of historical continuity, sea-soned judgment, encouragement and a

broad vision. We all have such women in our lives, but most of them go un-noticed and unheralded. My 67-year-old yoga teacher, Sonia Nelson, is a wise woman in my life. Although

The following is excerpted from Coming Home to Yourself: Eighteen Wise Women Reflect on Their Journeys by Patricia Gottlieb Shapiro (Santa Fe, N.M.: 2010 Gaon Books). Reprinted with the permission of Gaon Books.

Elaine Pinkerton, age 68, was adopted at age five after spending her early years in abusive foster care. She finished graduate school, survived two mar-riages, raised two sons, wrote four books and ran nine marathons, but she never felt good enough. Here she describes the turning point that led her to acknowl-edge herself as a strong, wise woman.

My years with my adoptive parents were happy: I felt wanted…and they were proud of me. My parents wanted me to think of them as my “real” parents. I was painfully self-conscious, because I felt I had to wear a mask, so I could be the “real” daughter. Of course, everything was so much better in my “new” life, but the burning questions festered and took on a life of their own. I was just not okay; otherwise how could my mother have given me away?

When I was 11, I received a five-year diary with a red plastic cover and a lock and key for Christmas. That diary became my best friend. I wrote down every-thing, but mostly, I poured out my heart about my shameful secret. And I wrote every day in diary after diary, through my teen years and college, while I was a wife and mother, and even later, as a grandmother….

Four years ago, after my second husband died, I felt lost. I decided to read my diaries…. Going through the journals, my feelings about myself began to shift. Reading my diaries was transformational for me: having more information made me realize, in retrospect, how my life really was and how hard I tried…. I gained a new respect for myself. I had to reach back and symbolically put my arms around myself.

I didn’t know what was in those diaries until I went back and read them. I knew I was looking for a thread—about the adopted me. But now there’s another me that’s wiser, richer, and better.

‘Wise women are ideal role models for the

younger generation.’

she’s only one year older than I am, she brings a different perspective as well as wisdom gained from 25 years of studying yoga philosophy and tra-dition, which she shares as she guides my practice, my teaching and certain aspects of my life.

wisdom—a ForCe For

positive Change

We need nothing less than a societal shift to honor older women instead of scorning or ignoring them. Mentoring programs are an important step but, as with any kind of prejudice, permanent change begins on an individual basis, person to person.

Writing Coming Home to Yourself has been an eye-opening experience for me. In interviewing the 18 women in the book, I saw firsthand how women from ages 55 to 77 years live with purpose,

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AGING TODAY14 March–April 2011

An Intergenerational Computing Model to Empower Older AdultsPresenters: Jean F. Coppola,Ph.D., Barbara A. Thomas, RN, MA, MS, FNP, Lin J. Drury, PhD, RN and Sharon Stahl Wexler, PhD, RN, BC

Computer technology enhances the quality of life and empowers older adults, and when coupled with intergenerational “teachers” energizes seniors for healthy aging in place. Participants in this webinar will obtain best practice insights and lessons learned to repli-cate a low-budget intergenerational computing program in their own agencies.

My Turn—An Educational Program for Adults 60 Years and Older

Presenter: Beverly Collier, MBAThe “My Turn” program is an educational program at Kingsborough Community College for adults over 60 years of age. Students attend the college and take tuition-free courses for credit. This web seminar will provide an overview of the program, including its history, enrollment and registration, and special features.

The Buddy ProgramTM—Pairing First Year Medical Students and Persons with Early Stage Alzheimer’s

Presenter: Darby Morhardt, MSW, LCSW

The goal of The Buddy Program is to provide a mutually enriching experience for medical students and people with early stage dementia by strengthening the knowledge and sensi-tivity of future physicians regarding issues of aging and dementia while offering a mentor-ship opportunity to a person with dementia. This seminar will describe the development and step-by-step organization of the program, share outcomes and lessons learned, and how the The Buddy Program is currently being replicated at other medical schools.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be a Student: The Art and Science of Lifelong Learning Programs

Presenter: Ruth Flexman, Ph.D.Research documents that lifelong learning contributes to the quality and length of life. Learn how effective programs offer opportunities for older adults to expand knowledge, develop new interests and connect with old and new friends. Examples from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Delaware in Wilmington (2100 members per semester), Lewes (450 members), the new Dover program (130 members the first semes-ter) and other programs will be used to illustrate how course content, marketing, adminis-tration, and volunteer contributions support a successful online learning venture.

Memory Training’s Influence on Cognitive Aging and Functional Ability

Presenter: Graham McDougall, Ph.D.As individuals age, many have decreased confidence in their memory, or memory self-efficacy, which is directly related to their everyday memory performance. This web seminar will focus on one efficacy-based memory training program, SeniorWISE, and its longitudinal outcomes on a triethnic sample.

May 19, 2011

May 26, 2011

June 9, 2011

June 30, 2011

BRINGING BRAIN FITNESS TO YOUR COMMUNITY

May 5, 2011

With generous support from MetLife Foundation, ASA offers free educational resources on programs that help older adults maintain and enhance cognitive and mental function in their later years. Speakers Bureau programs have received the MetLife Foundation MindAlert Award and are recognized as innovative community-based programs translating research related to enhancing cognitive function in later life into practical mental/cognitive health promotion activities.

All Seminars begin at 10 AM Pacific Time. Visit www.asaging.org/webseminars/metlife_mindalert_series.cfm for full details on how to access these free web seminars.

MindAlert Speakers Bureau

2011 Web Seminar SeriesASA is pleased to present a FREE MindAlert Speakers Bureau web seminar series delving into the nation’s most innovative brain fitness programs.

MetLife Foundation

Powell, PHI’s director of curriculum and workforce development. “One of the ways people feel they’re being lis-tened to and honored is through core skills of learning how to ask good ques-tions and how to paraphrase a person’s response in one’s own words.”

Similar skills are also necessary for fostering effective dialogue between the individual who requires care, their fam-ily members and the direct-care worker. Aging Services of California, Sacra-mento, Calif., designed four one-hour modules, which include practice scenar-ios, video clips, activity worksheets and detailed instructions to train workers in family communication dynamics.

managing FaLLs, mediCations

and pain

The in-service series “Pills and Spills,” which provides instruction on medication management, the physical environment and fall prevention, was developed by a collaboration between the Fall Prevention Center of Excel-lence at California’s U.S.C. Davis School of Gerontology and the U.S.C. School of Pharmacy.

Six sessions address fall risk fac-tors, aging and falls, medical condi-tions that contribute to falls, and rec-ognizing the links between falls and the physical environment.

“Given their everyday interaction with older adults, direct-care workers have an important role in reducing falls,” said Brad Williams, professor of pharmacy and gerontology, and princi-pal investigator for the project. “These

sessions will help direct-care workers identify fall risks and take actions to reduce them.”

Rounding out the course modules is a one-hour curriculum designed by The University of California, Irvine, on pain management. Between 60%−70% of nursing home residents are in “sig-nificant pain” that is not identified or adequately relieved. This program trains direct-care workers to identify

the signs of pain, how to assess it and effective methods of properly reporting pain in older adults.

The program curricula are supple-mented by other materials, which in-clude a fact sheet on California’s direct care workforce (produced by PHI) and a policy brief (compiled by Dr. Monique Parrish of Lifecourse Strategies, Orinda, Calif.) that presents recommendations from a 2010 convening on strategies to advance the direct-care workforce. These materials can also be downloaded from The SCAN Foundation website. v

Athan G. Bezaitis is a communica-tion specialist with The Scan Founda-tion, Long Beach, Calif. Victoria R. Ballesteros is The SCAN Foundation’s director of communications. The SCAN Foundation is dedicated to improving long-term care for elders.

elders’ caregivers in the My Second Home program get well-deserved res-pite. There has even been a rare occa-sion where a grandparent and grand-child attended at the same time. Both Bellamy and Jordan like to think of the program as a neighborhood, not a daycare center—a neighborhood that duplicates another era when families weren’t so far flung.

Banishing stereotypes,

Bonding generations

New York-based Fordham Universi-ty’s Ravazzin Center on Aging studied participants in the JEWEL program and found that the program’s preschoolers tended to view older adults more posi-tively than a control group that had little interaction with elders. The JEWEL preschoolers also perceived the elders as healthy, “not grouchy,” says Jordan. She thinks that not only is the program beneficial to both populations, but it will improve overall relations between generations as stereotypes are constant-ly broken down.

One preschooler reported, “I like being with [the older adults] because I can see the past in a different way when they tell me.”

Bellamy says toddlers are favorites with the elder program participants, as toddlers’ language skills are still emerging and they are very dependent upon adults. She has seen the joy on elders’ faces when these generations get together. Bellamy observes that the older adults enjoy holding and comforting the babies—and that the

moods in adults who are physically or mentally impaired can change dramat-ically after a quick session of “baby bonding.” One caregiver agreed say-ing that when her parent has interacted with the children “he seems more ani-mated when he comes home.”

Another of JEWEL’s daily bonding programs is Breakfast Buddies, where

preschoolers are encouraged to eat meals with elders. Bellamy told the story of a diabetic older woman who just wouldn’t eat. She was joined at the table by a little girl in pigtails who was also not fond of breakfast. The woman, who had grandchildren, told the young-ster she should eat. The girl refused. When this elderly lady said, “Why don’t you watch me?” and proceeded to pol-ish off her own breakfast, the girl rose to the challenge and did exactly the same.

A shining facet of this program is that old and young populations have definitely formed a symbiotic relation-ship. “JEWEL can fulfill that need to feel needed, valued and validated,” says Bellamy. v

Alison Biggar is a Bay-area based freelance writer and editor. For infor-mation on the MindAlert Awards, visit www.asaging.org/mindalert.

‘…direct-care workers have an important role

in reducing falls.’

JEWELl continued from page 4 l

Training California’s Workforcel continued from page 3 l

JEWEL staff see the program as a

neighborhood—one that recalls another era when families

weren’t so far flung.

AGING TODAY 15March–April 2011

meaning and passion. I hope that Com-ing Home will help dismantle stereo-types about mature women; with each person who reads it and recommends it to another, perceptions of older women may begin to change.

Would the younger generation be open to viewing older women in such a positive light? Some of them have already moved in this direction. Margo Bachman, age 37, an Ayurvedic prac-titioner and mother of two, said, “Wise women are a huge value because they have life experiences and wisdom from living all those years. In the past, we lived in small communities where we had access to village elders. That has been lost in our modern society, so we younger women have to seek

out older ones so we can receive their wise counsel.”

There are many advantages for younger women (and men) to have ma-ture women to guide, mentor and in-spire them. And there are rewards in this process for wise women them-selves: being with younger people can be rejuvenating and a source of new energy and ideas.

Wisdom, whether it is being given or received, is a positive force for our society—one that we collectively need to nurture and cultivate for ev-eryone’s benefit. v

Patricia Gottlieb Shapiro, M.S.W., is the author of Coming Home to Yourself: Eighteen Wise Women Re-flect on Their Journeys, and special-izes in writing and speaking on wom-en’s issues, mid-life and friendship. Writer Victoria Zackheim spoke about her book The Face in the Mirror: Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth and the Reality of Age (Am-herst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2009) in “Reflections on Youthful Dreams and the Wisdom of Age” for the November−December 2009 issue of Aging Today.

Long-term-care insurance is one way to shift some of the financial risk from you to an insurance company. The key to buying long-term-care insurance is to do it when you are younger and healthy—the average age of the pur-chaser of long-term-care insurance is 57, and the average cost at that age is about $1,500 per year.

The older you are, the more expen-sive it is to buy a policy. You can often buy a plan through your employer with less stringent underwriting rules. A new government long-term-care plan for employees, commonly called the CLASS Act, is expected to be avail-able in 2012.

how will you ensure your wishes are carried out? Be realistic: when the

time comes to need care, you may not be in a position to clearly articulate your needs. Having the right legal doc-uments in place helps provide the nec-essary guidance to your caregivers.

If there is one good thing that came out of my own caregiving experience, it is that I took action to get my own long-term-care plan in place and have that conversation with my mother so I know what she wants. Do not wait for the crisis. The tools and resources are available to put your long-term-care plan in place today. v

Laura Weber Rossman is director of insurance and retirement services for variPhase Financial Partners, LLC, and co-chair of ASA’s Business Forum on Aging.

Wise Womenl continued from page 13 l

Women and Long-Term Carel continued from page 9 l

ing programs. If you’re new to mentor-ing, look for a relatively structured pro-gram with a go-to administrative person and fellow mentors who can share tips and well-defined expectations about the roles of mentors and mentees.

While today’s working women have many more options and role models than women had in previous times, they can always learn from a mentor’s experience, network and enthusiastic support. A mentor can provide practi-cal advice on worklife issues that loom large at certain points in a woman’s ca-reer. And women who have their roots in other cultures, first-generation mem-bers of the professional workforce, can benefit from cultural insights and expo-sure to work environments.

One of my mentees, a 28-year-old Chinese immigrant who had two grad-uate degrees and worked in a financial firm, told me that she got had gotten fed up and quit her job the day before. After a long conversation, she realized that quitting wasn’t in her best inter-est, and we worked out a successful strategy for her to immediately with-draw her resignation.

mentoring: ChaLLenges

and rewards

When I talk with potential mentors, some are put off by the imagined time commitment. But even in today’s busy world, spending only a few hours per month with your mentee is both man-ageable and valuable. It’s important to devote in-person time when you begin the process—after that, phone and e-mail are effective ways to com-municate. I invite mentees to profes-

sional events I’m attending; we catch up, and I can help them make net-working connections.

Another concern that prospective mentors have is if they know enough to advise a less experienced person. They do! Years of day-to-day experience co-alesce into wisdom about dozens of top-ics that a newcomer hasn’t mastered—office etiquette, an organization’s history, who’s who in the profession. That knowledge, plus the supportive at-tention of a more seasoned professional, are immensely valuable to a mentee, even if the mentor is retired.

In setting goals for the mentoring re-lationship, the mentor will quickly real-ize how she can help her mentee; a men-tee also sees right away how much the mentor has to offer, regardless of her champion’s age, work status or different professional background. One of my most successful mentoring relationships was with a 28-year-old woman who cre-ated mathematical models for complex financial transactions—even though I am not mathematically inclined.

Women leaders can enhance their legacy and extend their impact through mentoring while revitalizing them-selves in the process. I encourage women step into mentoring and enjoy its life-enhancing effect. v

Betsy Werley began her work life as a corporate lawyer, then moved to the business side at JPMorgan Chase. After 25 years in the for-profit sector, she became executive director of The Transition Network (www.thetransi tionnetwork.org), a nonprofit for women ages 50 and over who are ex-ploring the next stage of life.

Mentoring Tomorrow’s Leadersl continued from page 8 l

CLASS: A New Long-Term Care OptionTucked away in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a plan for a

new voluntary long-term-care program to be administered by the government. It is called CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports). With imple-mentation expected after October 2012, the details aren’t pinned down yet. But it may be an important way for people to fund long-term-care help in the future.

The CLASS program will be available to employees ages 18 and older. The coverage will be on a guaranteed-issue basis, which means health issues won’t keep you from joining the plan. The cash benefit will be no less than $50 on aver-age and will be paid as long as care is needed. You’ll have to pay into the plan for at least five years (three of those years while you are working) before being eligi-ble to collect benefits.

Similar to long-term-care insurance, benefits will be paid when a CLASS enroll-ee is certified as needing care for more than 90 days. Certification will include in-ability to perform a minimum number of activities of daily living (two or three) or substantial cognitive impairment.

What will it cost? Costs have been estimated at $120 to $240 per month. Because of the price, some are concerned that few will participate. But we remain optimistic that this first-ever government program can help ease the financial burden of long-term care in the future. For CLASS details, see this brief from Boston College: http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/IB_11-3.pdf.

Long-Term-Care ResourcesFrom the AALTCI Women’s Guide: www.aaltci.org/subpages/resources/women.pdf.

From the Department of Health and Human Services: www.longtermcare.gov/LTC/Main_Site/Planning_LTC/Considerations/index.aspx#PPS.

From the Kaiser Family Foundation: www.kaiseredu.org/tutorials/elderly/player.html.

—Laura Weber Rossman

A Network for Life’s Next StageThough there are a lot of organizations that focus on women’s professional devel-

opment, until recently there was no organization for women exploring life after their professional careers. The Transition Network (TTN) (www.thetransitionnet work.org) fills that gap. The TTN was founded in 2000 by Christine Millen and Charlotte Frank—two women who were ready for a change and knew they had many productive years ahead, but didn’t have role models for the next life stage.

Today, TTN is a national community of more than 7,000 women with a variety of professional backgrounds. It offers peer support groups to discuss transitioning and many other issues, educational programs and volunteer opportunities. The TTN is part of the positive aging movement, showcasing members as role models for life after age 50 and presenting programs on career and life transitions. The book, Smart Women Don’t Retire—They Break Free, a collaboration of the TTN and Gail Rentsch, shares member transition stories and expert advice on finding what’s next. For more information on the book, visit the TTN website.

—Betsy Werley

Five Tips for Would-Be Mentors1. Mentoring is a two-way street. Mentees can teach mentors—if a mentor is

open to a mentee’s special areas of knowledge. My mentees are much more experienced than I with technology and social media, so I ask them for advice.

2. Bring your whole self to the mentoring relationship. Build trust by sharing information about your background and extracurricular activities, and learning about your mentee’s life. Tell your mentees about your work challenges and how you address them.

3. Go the extra mile. Mentees can sometimes feel awkward about reaching out to mentors. To make a mentoring relationship work, be proactive and accom-modate your mentee’s schedule. One of my younger mentees, struggling with family issues, computer meltdowns and school pressures, was non-responsive for two months. When she reappeared, she said she was grateful that I had kept in touch.

4. Define what’s most relevant to your mentee. Set goals and focus your ad-vice. While you may be a Mississippi River of wisdom, sometimes a mentee can only handle an 8-ounce glass.

5. understand that your role is limited. Support your mentee even if you don’t agree with all of her choices. You may have a different risk tolerance and more confidence in her abilities than she does. My 42-year-old mentee, feeling uncom-fortable about her prospects, didn’t take what I thought was a perfect next-step job for her. She then found a more suitable job that led to her desired promotion. We talked through the situation, I accepted her reasoning and we moved forward.

—Betsy Werley

Older women want to share their wisdom—if only our society would

give them the respect and appreciation they deserve.

AGING TODAY16 March–April 2011

By roBErT G. STEIN ASA PrESIDENT & CEo

Despite com-plaints that fre-quently surface in our media streams about self-absorbed generations—Mil-lennials are ego-centric, baby boom-ers are the Me Generation—I see many people, across all generations, who are serving the greater good. Cali-fornia’s new governor, for instance. No one can deny that Jerry Brown is pas-sionate about fixing what ails the Gold-en State, working tirelessly (if some-times quirkily) toward that goal, no matter how many legislative hurdles loom or how large the deficit may be.

I’ve observed the same passion in the people I work closely with every day in the field of aging. Their commitment to the cause of supporting and serving el-ders is strong and whole-hearted. When-ever I pick up the phone to garner sup-port for ASA’s mission, programs and projects, or to discuss new ideas and plans with someone who already has a full plate, I’m usually welcomed with enthusiasm and heart.

getting the word oUt

Our ASA members, a dedicated community of professionals, are deter-mined to get the word out about where

ASA UPDATE

With special public policy and other programming by NCOA

REGISTER NOW!Aging in America 2011

Annual Conference of the American Society on Aging

San Francisco, April 26-30

WHAT’S NEW

WHAT’S IMPORTANT

WHAT WORKS

HOW WE CAN DO IT

Make plans now to join the largest gathering of a diverse, multidisciplinary community of professionals in aging, health care and education to learn:

Robert G. Stein

A Commitment to the Causewe stand—whether it’s on healthcare reform, ageism or new medical moni-toring technology. They know that the more they do this, the more help they provide to the millions of elders in need of services and support. They make sure elders have a voice.

As these professionals navigate Capitol Hill, or work in the trenches writing and amending policy, they put the pressure on our ambassadors of older Americans to do their best. This is active engagement that doesn’t end at 5 p.m. When you love the work you’ve chosen and care deeply about the population you’re committed to serving, the work doesn’t wear on you, but spurs you on. When every day you can say you may have en-

hanced the quality of life for older adults, when you know innovation can potentially save a human life, it’s a powerful motivator.

Getting to know each other and our various specialties can also be enervat-ing. If you’re joining us, take a moment this year at our Aging in America Con-ference to meet some new-to-you members of our community and be in-spired by their ideas and presentations.

Maybe it’ll be this year’s Mind Alert Award winner, who succeeded in com-bining a childcare center with an elder daycare center to great effect for both populations. Or perhaps you’ll run into someone on the frontlines of caregiv-ing, someone whose passion began very personally but has extended to years of service for others in like situa-tions. Or possibly it will be a researcher who’s constantly crunching numbers and other data to make sure the true story is told about American confusion over healthcare reform or the state of financial stability in the cohort of sin-gle, older-than-age-65 women.

asa BUiLds inspiring ‘virtUaL’

CommUnities

Every such meeting can inspire hard-er work on your cause. And then there are the advantages of “virtual” meet-ings. ASA also builds collaboration and community through weekly online learning gatherings—our web seminars.

On March 10 we offered a practical and pragmatic seminar on “Sibling Wars and Parent Care.” Led by Fran-cine Russo, author of They’re Your Par-ents, Too! How Siblings Can Survive Their Parents’ Aging Without Driving Each Other Crazy, clinical social worker Steve Barlam and geriatric care manager Rona Bartelstone, the session taught participants how to become more sensitive to complex family dynamics, and provided potential interventions to help adult children reach resolutions.

In May we’ll offer a web session on the inspirational “Art and Science of Lifelong Learning Programs,” presented by Ruth Flexman, the Statewide Osher Lifelong Learning Coordinator for the University of Delaware. There are also upcoming web seminars on long- distance caregiving, medication moni-toring, in-home care during a recession and patient-doctor communication. Any one of these seminars could be of value to our members and the public, but when viewed as a series, you can see we’ve tried to cover all possible topic areas across the aging spectrum. You’ll find the full lineup on our website at www.asaging.org/webseminars/.

pLanning For the FUtUre

The field of aging is becoming in-creasingly complex. When you factor in politics, our ability to access re-sources is often threatened—which is why every chance we have to improve our knowledge base, and to pass that learning along to our members and the field of aging at large, is a chance we should take. We need to assess how to most effectively manage for today, while at the same time plan for tomor-row’s new host of challenges.

Our Fall 2010 issue of Generations on the Future of Aging went a long way toward addressing how best to plan for tomorrow. With stories on housing, transportation, retirement and encore careers, plus a look at how healthcare, medicine and our diverse population will look 50 years hence, it’s an invalu-

able planning tool for our community; I hope you will use this issue’s ideas to ensure the sustainability of your organi-zations. And, inspired by that issue of Generations, the 2011 Aging in Ameri-ca Conference will feature a National Forum on the Future of Aging on Fri-day, April 29, in San Francisco. For more information on the Forum, visit www.agingconference.org.

The Winter 2010−11 issue of Gen-erations, which covered 21st century workforce challenges and opportuni-ties, was also an eye-opener to the plethora of needs that will face us in the near future as America’s aging pop-ulation increases. And in the Spring, Generations will highlight the com-plexities of healthcare reform and how the legislation can affect the ability of older adults in our country to age with dignity and a good quality of life.

asa memBers: oUr gUiding Light

But before you see the Spring Gen-erations in your mailbox, you’ll see the May–June 2011 issue of Aging Today. With that issue—and with all of our is-sues to come—you’ll see evidence of the expert guidance and commitment from our members who have stepped up, ever committed to the cause of serving older Americans, to help us cover all the bases with new knowledge crucial to our field.

The May–June issue of Aging Today will focus in on healthcare reform and feature stories including a Q & A with nurses directly involved in the drafting of the ACA, a look at how IT can con-tribute to saving reform (and cost-sav-ings in general), thoughts about the legal challenges to reform (both imme-diate and in the pipeline), and reflec-tions on chronic care—and how the practice of medicine may have to change its ways.

This thorough and well-crafted issue was guest-edited by ASA board mem-ber (and former ASA Award winner) Bob Blancato, and we hope it inspires you to continue on with your cause.

And a final word on cause and com-mitment: March is National Profes-sional Social Work Month, and we ac-knowledge and thank these hardworking and compassionate professionals in our field. Over the years, ASA has been led and guided by social work profession-als—a group that includes past Board Chairs Jeanette Takamura and Robyn Golden, our current Immediate Past Chair Cynthia Stuen, our current Trea-surer Jed Johnson and so many others. It is their continuing mission—and ours here at ASA—to serve elders to the best of their ability, doing the work that they love so well. v

When you believe you may have enhanced

elders’ quality of life, when you know that a new idea or innovation can potentially save a human life—these are powerful motivators.

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