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The American Society on Aging‘s (ASA) annual conference in Washington, DC, will feature a “National Forum on Building a Workforce to Care for an Aging Society.”

The forum will be held on March 30 from 8:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

The program is based on the research and predictions of experts who contributed articles to the Winter 2010-11 issue of ASA’s journal, Generations. The forum will delve deeply into the policy implications, education and practice levels needed to build a workforce to care for America’s aging population.

PHI President Steven Dawson, who contributed a journal article with co-authors Nancy E. Lundebjerg and Caitlin W. Connolly of the Eldercare Workforce Alliance, is a keynote speaker.

PHI National Policy Director Steve Edelstein will present on an article contributed by Dorie Seavey, PHI national policy research director.

Pre-registration is required and space is limited. For more information, visit the ASA website.

– by Deane Beebe

Only two out of the five major contenders for president in the 2012 election responded to a brief long-term care survey disseminated by the National Council on Aging.

Among the Republican candidates, only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich responded. President Obama also filled out the survey.

The candidates were asked how the U.S. should “address its current and growing needs for long-term services and supports,” as well as how they would “address the shortage of qualified direct-care workers needed to provide home and community-based services.”

More information about the survey, including Obama’s and Gingrich’s full responses, can be found at the National Council on Aging website.

– by Matthew Ozga

The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging is conducting its second annual survey to elicit feedback on its efforts to reach key audiences and deliver critical services. The survey also asks for suggestions for resources to help improve the lives of LGBT older adults in the nation.

Anyone who completes the approximately 10-minute survey will be entered to win a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com. The survey deadline is February 6.

PHI, one of the Resource Center’s 10 partners, developed curricula and a training program for aging services providers and LGBT advocacy organizations. The Resource Center on LGBT is a project of Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) and is funded by the Administration on Aging.

– by Deane Beebe

The Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA) issued two policy briefs on the interrelationship between two critical issues facing our nation — the need for job creation and the rapidly increasing demand for a wide spectrum of health care providers trained to provide eldercare.

The EWA, a coalition of 28 national organizations, contends that investing in the eldercare workforce will also strengthen the nation’s economy.

One of the briefs, entitled Eldercare: How America’s Solution to the Jobs Crisis Can Lead to Better Care for Older Adults, reports that health care is expected to generate 3.2 million new jobs by 2018 due to the rapidly increasing elder population.

With 90 percent of people over age 65 having one or more chronic conditions, there is a growing need for interdisciplinary teams of health professionals who are trained to provide coordinated, person-centered care to help older adults live at home and in community-based settings for as long as possible.

Missed Opportunity for Meaningful Employment

Yet too few people are entering these professions and getting the training necessary to provide the kind of interdisciplinary team care that elders require — a “miss[ed] opportunity to provide meaningful employment for millions of Americans,” the brief explains.

“The direct-care workforce alone will require more than a million new employees to provide critical care to people with long-term care needs,” said EWA co-convener Steven Dawson, president of PHI, in an EWA press statement. “These positions should include comprehensive training, and offer livable wages.”

The EWA posits that attracting people to eldercare fields could generate jobs and “address our looming crisis in care.” The coalition recommends that efforts should be made to:

• provide quality care through quality jobs for direct-care workers;
• avoid recommendations that eliminate jobs, such as reducing Medicaid funding for long-term care;
• support Title VII and VIII training programs for geriatric professionals and direct-care workers; and
• maintain funding for implementation of health care workforce provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

In a second brief, Title VII and VIII Programs Preparing the Eldercare Workforce to Care for our Nation’s Older Adults, the EWA provides greater detail on the federal workforce development programs that are crucial to strengthening the eldercare workforce.

– by Deane Beebe

Direct-care workers will be among the topics at the 2011 Aging in America conference this week in San Francisco.

PHI National Policy Director Steve Edelstein will be a panelist at three featured workshops:

• Stabilizing the Direct-Care Workforce: A Policy Discussion;
• New Careers for Older Workers in the New World of Health Care; and
• Workforce Issues for a Graying America.

The annual conference, held by the American Society on Aging, gathers professionals in the fields of eldercare, health care, education, and aging for four days of policy discussion and advocacy.

The Aging in America conference also features a public policy forum conducted by the National Council on Aging.

– by Matthew Ozga

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders face additional challenges beyond those associated with the typical aging process, according to two new reports.

One report is a survey of LGBT elders conducted by the National Senior Citizens Law Center, an organization that advocates for low-income older adults.

In the survey, the vast majority of LGBT seniors — 89 percent — said they believed that staff members working in long-term care facilities are likely to discriminate against LGBT residents due to their sexual orientation.

Additionally, 43 percent said they had personally experienced at least once instance of mistreatment in a long-term care facility because of their sexuality.

LGBT Elders Suffer Poorer Health

The second report (pdf), issued by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, concludes that California’s aging LGBT population suffers greater rates of psychological distress, isolation, and physical health problems than heterosexuals.

Specifically, the UCLA report found that:

• A majority (50.5 percent) of older gay men in California live alone, compared with just 13.4 percent of heterosexuals.
• Lesbians are also more likely than heterosexual women to live by themselves (28.3 percent compared with 19.3 percent).
• Aging lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women are significantly more likely than older heterosexuals to feel psychological distress, to have a physical disability, or to be in poor health generally.
• Additionally, older gay and bisexual men are more likely to have heart disease and hypertension than aging heterosexual men.

Resource Center Could Help LGBT Elders

In the past, LGBT elders had few places to turn to for information specific to their needs. Last October, however, the organization Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) — in collaboration with PHI and nine other organizations — launched the nation’s first National Resource Center on LGBT Aging.

The Resource Center recently debuted a new section devoted to resources for caregivers.

The Center also features articles, fact sheets, videos, and other resources geared toward LGBT elders, LGBT organizations, and aging providers.

– by Matthew Ozga