Is age an issue in the presidential election?

Last weekend, the New York Times suggested that age was the new "combustible" topic enflaming people's biases and prejudices in the presidential election. The others are race and gender, as we've seen.

Said author Adam Nagourney, the issue is not just candidate John McCain's age but the voters' age as well.

"Many boomers, as we all know, cherish and chase youth, and many of them, not surprisingly, could be found at Mr. Obama’s rallies this fall, the political equivalent of a 50-year-old man wearing a baseball cap backward. Yet, at a time when many Americans live into their 80s and beyond, those who are beginning to contemplate their first Social Security check can simultaneously embrace the belief that they will remain active members of society for years, even decades, to come. For these voters, Mr. McCain may seem as much a barrier-breaker as either Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton."

The same day, an article by geriatrician Greg Sachs, MD, professor and scientist for the University of Indiana Center for Aging Research, welcomed the controversy.

"I see this as an opportunity to help encourage greater education of the public about aging, health, and memory issues in particular." And those issues, he pointed out, don't just arise every four years but are with us always.

It's easy to merely dismiss concerns about age affecting performance as "ageist." But Dr. Sachs reminds us that, contrary to the beliefs of a youth-worshipping society, age brings with it greater diversity. It's not all old people who tend to be alike: young people are more similar in health and ability. With older people, you just can't generalize about anything. Especially not health.

Aging carries real concerns. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease are found increasingly as people grow older. And so are alterations in brain and cognitive function. The latter is not an easy problem to address, as routine screening for cognitive impairment has yet to be found cost-effective.

Still, Dr. Sachs suggested, "perhaps older people who hold important positions affecting the lives of many others ought to have a more comprehensive evaluation on a regular basis."

Seems like a reasonable suggestion. For all of us, the ability to do the job should be the measure of suitablity, not age, race, gender or other factors.

What do you think about age and ability? Share your thoughts on this or other aging-related topics with us.

When is SeniorCare ending?

A reader asked for SeniorCare's end date. That information might be available this week, according to a radio interview with Governor Doyle last week.

More information from an article in the April 18 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "After a meeting Wednesday with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said they were hopeful that Leavitt would grant Wisconsin a six-month extension for the SeniorCare prescription drug program."

They're asking for a December 31 date, giving the state time to craft a plan that "matches or exceeds any wraparound program in the United States," according to Governor Doyle.

What the new plan won't have is the ability to negotiate with drug companies for discount rates. This substantial limitation appears to be non-negotiable.

I'll be attending a SeniorCare Town Hall Meeting Wednesday, April 25, with 5th District state senator Jim Sullivan and will let you know what I learn.

If you live in the 5th district and want to attend, the meeting is at 3 pm, West Milwaukee Community Centre, 1345 S. 47th St., West Milwaukee.

Image and reality

I've been doing a lot of research in preparation for the Milwaukee Aging Consortium's Expanding Housing Options Issues in Aging Summit tomorrow morning, February 2, at the Italian Community Center.

And I'm pretty sure that the ads we always see of a handsome silver-haired couple in their spacious downtown or suburban condo/senior apartments don't represent the average situation at all.

In 2004, the Milwaukee County Department on Aging and E jj Olson & Associates created the second edition of The Face of Aging in Milwaukee County. You can find versions on this page.

Looking through the glass of statistics at how the 65+ group lives in Milwaukee County:

Only 5% live in nursing homes.
Nearly a quarter of housing units have at least one person age 65 and older.
One third of people in this age group live alone.
Three out of four who live alone are women.
People of color are significantly less likely to live alone than whites.
Forty percent have disabilities. This is higher than in the rest of the state.

Alone and female: it's a big group. Anybody building for them?

Do programs like Family Care encourage dependency?

A reader commented on Family Care and other programs like it:

Even though I see a lot of effectiveness with the program, I see first hand the abuse. The money spent on providing care for someone who should be challenged to do more for themselves.

The extensive equipment that is purchased so that the client has everything they want regardless of whether they physically need it or rather should have it.

Paying of family members to provide care even though the client should re-trained to do it themselves as well as family members who should want to care for others out of love not money.

I am hopeful but not optimistic that as the population ages, more people will realize that we need to help seniors HELP THEMSELVES so as to age more gracefully and safely.

Are too many clients being overserved, having things done for them that they could do themselves? Are we “enabling” older adults to be dependent? I’m hoping some of you will continue this discussion, because I don’t have any professional knowledge about it.

I do have personal experience with my mother, who’s now over 85, living in independent senior apartments, and needing more help to get along. She’s frail and no longer drives. Judging by this brave woman, who's always made decisions that would keep her independent and not "burden" others, elders eventually reach a point at which no amount of retraining can compensate for lost health and abilities.

And daughters like me are pressured by jobs to support their families and responsibilities to their own children. That can get in the way of expressing love through caregiving the way we might like to do it.

Why blog on aging for folks in "the business"?

One thing I’ve learned about life stages: you can understand the ones you’ve already been through. Sort of. But the ones that lie ahead of you, you can only imagine. Stories other people tell us about their experiences are one of the best ways to imagine ourselves into empathy and, maybe, brilliant acts.

A blog is a great place to share those stories.

Some of what goes on in our personal and work lives just doesn't fit into the usual categories--reports, analyses, news stories, instructional materials. It comes from the place where who we are intersects with what we do.

A blog is a great place to explore the intersections.

Sometimes, the stories around us fill us with despair. A blog is a great place to mark and honor the sadness--or to write new, happier endings.

More mundanely, this blog was created because it’s part of our communications plan to develop new ways to connect members of the Milwaukee Aging Consortium around common issues in the work we do, the people we care about and for.

Finally, in learning about this field—a new one for me, a career change--I’m turning up fascinating information, ideas, people, and programs that I want to share.

Here's a ferinstance: Milwaukee's Danceworks Gallery is opening a mixed media exhibition Walking in Someone Else's Shoes starting Friday, January 19, from 6 - 9. The exhibit is "envisioned stories and works (that) celebrate the lives of Milwaukee elders and youth. . ." It's part of the ongoing Intergenerational Multi-Arts Project (IMAP), and it will continue through April 11. The opening also takes place during the Third Ward's Gallery Night And Day.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”
--Pablo Picasso

Ready, fire, aim

For a long time, we've been talking about better ways to tell the stories of the people who work to improve the lives and circumstances of people as they age.

"We" are the folks at The Milwaukee Aging Consortium, a membership organization for those people, who range from direct care workers to housing developers.

And everyone in between.

If you're passionate about making the lives of older people in Milwaukee (or anywhere) better, here's your chance to weigh in, personally and professionally. Remember that this is a public forum, and while it's appropriate to talk about "difficult" problems, it's not the intention of this blog to be a gripe fest or a tool for bashing!


Tell us your stories about aging.
What's going on that others should know about?
Who's doing a great job?
What's being done to fill in gaps?

In February, we're holding an Issues in Aging Summit: Expanding Housing Options. What do you think needs to be done to help people stay in their homes, their communities, or better places as they age?