I was extremely proud to attend the fifth White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA), December 11-14, 2005, held in Washington. The first White House Conference on Aging took place forty-three years ago under President John F. Kennedy, who stated, "adding years to peoples' lives through the magic of science and medicine, however impressive, was an insufficient ambition for American society." He said our objective must be to add "new life to those years."

I was humbled by the responsibility that I was given. Going into the conference, I assumed that the expertise of 1200+ delegates representing fifty states and officials from several foreign countries would be held in high regard. Not so. Every minute throughout the conference was finely orchestrated by the policy committee to avoid "outside noise" from the delegates.

The President and members of Congress selected seventeen people who made up the policy committee. Their responsibility was to write resolutions in response to pre-conference meetings held around the country during the previous two years. Our job as delegates was to review the seventy-three resolutions, choose the top fifty resolutions, and work on implementation strategies. Attending a national conference, I was ready to listen to other points of view. My first priority, however, was to push for action on resolution 52: "Educate Americans on End of Life Issues."

The conference was filled with the hustle and bustle of carefully coordinated programs that left little opportunity to interact with other delegates and to know what their issues were. One of the presentations featured Secretary for Health and Human Services Mike Levitt and Dr. Mark McClellan, PhD., from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Their description and explanation of the newly-created Medicare Part D prescription program and the ease with which people would be able to enroll brought groans from the audience!

Although I don't regularly wear my clergy collar, I made sure to wear it during the conference as a reminder to delegates of the importance of spirituality. My hope was that when they saw my attire, it would remind people that spirituality is part of living. I became known as the pastor who was passionate about "end-of-life" issues. As gerontologists and other health-care professionals spoke on research for "preventative medicine" and life extension, I spoke out by saying "healthy living" was just halfthe story. If we are going to talk about healthy living, then we must bring healthy dying into the conversation, too.

We will all face death; there are no exceptions. Instead of seeing death as a natural part of life, however, our society has stigmatized the words "death" and "dying." We are uncomfortable talking about our own mortality. We need to be prepared in our lives for the entire journey. Why do we see every elderly death as a failure by our medical community, families, and even our churches? Educating our children in health class would help to destigmatize the shock of saying the words "death" and "dying." That includes legal and financial decisions, end-of-life palliative care and spirituality; all components to the concept of healthy dying. Many people don't want to face these issues. When they approach their own final days, however, most will wish they had reassessed the spiritual journey along the way.

Many delegates felt a great disappointment that the President of the United States did not show up at this conference. President Bush was the first President not to do so. But we indeed had a charge to keep. Each person who attended this conference was very passionate about his or her own areas of expertise and issues. These delegates were unique to the previous conferences: they represented the first wave of "baby boomers" and are accustomed to having their say on important issues. They knew they must go back to their respective communities and tell the story of how "we the people" need to become more active in shaping our own futures. We must not expect the government to "fix" everything.

Perhaps some of the disappointments during this conference will be used to encourage us to become leaders in the areas that we are passionate about. What a novel idea; to take responsibility within our own communities and make them better places to live. Yes, government has its place, but we the people need to step forward and create an environment that embraces the senior population and sees them as a valuable part of every community.

As a member of the New York delegation, we voted to continue to meet and lobby for needed legislation to ensure that the White House Conference on Aging establishes policies that will add "new life" to longevity.

The Top Ten Resolutions
2005 White House Conference on Aging

1. Reauthorize the Older Adult Americans Act within the first six months following the 2005 WHCoA.
2. Develop a coordinated, comprehensive long-term care strategy by supporting public and private sector initiatives that address financing, choice, quality, service delivery, and the paid and unpaid workforce.
3. Ensure that older Americans have transportation options to retain their mobility and independence.
4. Strengthen and improve the Medicaid program for seniors.
5. Strengthen and improve the Medicare program.
6. Support geriatric education and training for all health-care professionals, paraprofessionals, health professional students, and direct-care workers.
7. Promote innovative models of noninstitutional long-term care.
8. Improve recognition, assessment, and treatment of mental illness and depression among older Americans.
9. Attain adequate numbers of health-care personnel in all professions who are skilled, culturally competent, and specialized in geriatrics.
10. Improve state and local based integrated delivery systems to meet twenty-first century needs of seniors.

Return to Fall 2006 Center Sage "Contents" page.

The Rev. Carol Jubenville is Executive Director of The Community at Sunset Wood in New Hartford, New York. Having dual roles in administration at a retirement community and as pastor to this population, she says her quest is to help with spiritual formation for her senior population. Her motto is "let no one be without a church, for we are the church." She may be contacted by e-mail at sunsetwa@dreamscape.com.

This article appeared in the fall 2006 issue of Center Sage

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