Blueprint for state's aging released
10/04/2006
By LAURA MCCUTCHEON The Daily Journal
Ukiah Daily Journal
"It wasn't that long ago that California was leading the nation in innovative policy and programs for older adults. However, we've fallen behind," Assemblywoman Patty Berg said Monday during a visit to Ukiah.
"We've been complacent, we've been hit by unbelievable budget shortfalls, and we've been competing with other priorities," Berg continued, as she spoke to a group of various representatives -- from, among other agencies, the local Department of Social Services, North Coast Opportunities, the Senior Center, and the Area Agency on Aging -- about the challenges of the graying population.
"Building an Aging Agenda for the 21st Century" is the name of the 26-page report, released last week, which Berg referred to as a road map for the nation's aging baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964).
"This is America's greatest population surge. The children of World War II. ... The Baby Boom will soon be the retirement boom. And then the aging boom. And all those booms may lead to a bust in California's pell-mell system of aging services," she said. "Let me tell you, this aging boom may very well put so much strain on our state's resources that the energy crisis could seem like the good old days. We may one day find ourselves looking at rolling blackouts in social services," she said, noting, the energy crisis peaked in just a matter of months, but the surge of the elderly will last for decades.
There are now 3.2 million people over the age of 65 in California, she said. In the next 15 years that number will double, according to Berg. And by 2050, it is expected to triple to nearly 11 million seniors, she said.
"The sad truth is, we're hardly meeting the needs of our existing 3.2 million," she said.
Hence, the Aging Agenda for the 21st Century, which calls for coordinated programs and services at the state level "to put an end to the fragmentation, confusion and waste."
The report also calls for the recruitment and retention of a work force that's able to serve an aging population, Berg said. "We already have a shortage of geriatricians, nurses, and social workers -- it's only going to get worse if we fail to act now."
Recommendations regarding universal health care, nursing homes, and financial abuse committed against older people -- the single biggest crime against elders of tomorrow, according to Berg -- are also addressed in the report, as are housing and transportation challenges.
For example, Berg said, "We can't just look at health care without looking at transportation," because people can't get to a doctor's appointment without it.
"But even more than those specific proposals, we're laying out a template, a road map that should last for many years. When we look at a bill, we can measure it against this report and say, Does it really help solve the problem?'" Berg said.
Baby boomers are more educated than today's senior citizens, more interested in personal choice and more skeptical of government, Berg said.
"These are the individuals who went through the Vietnam war, the woman's movement ... This is a generation, that because of being healthier, will live longer, meaning there will be more chronic health problems and dementia. The majority of the people I talk to want to live to be 100. They want the best medical care; they don't want to pay for it; and they want it now," Berg concluded.
To view the report go to www.assembly.ca.gov/Berg and then click on aging.
# # #