Month: June 2015

Dr. Joanne Lynn

Caregivers and the White House Conference on Aging

This year’s White House Conference on Aging will be unique. Instead of being shaped by legislation directed by Congress, it has sought broad public engagement. During the past year, issues and ideas important to older Americans have been gathered at listening sessions around the country and through comments submitted on the event website, whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov.

The White House Conference on Aging is eager for individuals to view and participate in its webcast on July 13. Viewers are encouraged to comment and ask questions via Twitter and Facebook.

Caregiving affects all four of the policy areas that will be discussed: Healthy Aging, Long Term Services and Supports, Elder Justice, and Retirement Security. The conference recognizes caregivers’ stress, their need for navigation of services, and the financial hardships they endure.

Organizations and businesses taking new actions around caregiving and other issues of aging are invited to let the White House know at info@whaging.gov.

Policy Briefs can be found at:
http://whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov/issues/index.html

Webcasts of the regional forums held earlier this year are online at:
http://whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov/happening/index.html

Portrait of Howard Gleckman
Dr. Joanne Lynn

Howard Gleckman coverage of the Family Caregiver Platform Project

Forbes’ contributor Howard Gleckman has a good analysis of why the Family Caregiver Platform Project is positioned to make an impact this political season. Here’s a key quote:

There is no shortage of organizations that advocate for older Americans or causes that are important to them. There are disease-oriented groups, trade associations representing senior service providers, and even groups that lobby explicitly on the needs of caregivers.

But these outfits are focused on ongoing political advocacy. Altarum does not lobby and is not pushing a specific agenda. Rather, it has in mind a one-time, grass-roots initiative aimed at achieving a single goal: Getting caregiver issues on the radar in political season.

You can read the full story at Forbes.

Quote Dr. Joanne Lynn

Jim Lee, MS

“Family caregiving delivers enormous social and economic value to both the recipients of the care and society as a whole. A society is judged on how we treat our children, elderly and infirm. Our health care system focuses on and compensates medical procedures, while overlooking caregivers’ substantial efforts to provide comfort and facilitate recovery. It is essential that policymakers understand how policies regarding employment, benefits and social supports effect caregivers’ ability to serve these non-medical needs.”

“Every political party can support the goal of supporting families in their time of need. Let’s set aside our differences and join together to craft policies that will improve care and lower financial burdens in a sustainable way.”

Jim Lee MS
Vice President and Director, Systems Research & Initiatives Group
Altarum Institute

Quote Dr. Joanne Lynn

Ira Byock, MD

“Families are the backbone of care for ill people, including patients enrolled in home health or hospice care. Nowadays, caregiving takes a toll of family members’ work life, finances, as well as their emotional and physical wellbeing. It is as if family caregiving itself were a serious diagnosis.”

“Our policies must deliver family caregivers from anonymity and support the vital work they do.”

Ira Byock, MD
Institute for Human Caring, Providence Health & Services, Torrance, CA
Active Emeritus Professor, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Author of The Best Care Possible