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NATIONALLY REKNOWN SPEAKERS TO ADDRESS TOPIC OF AGING Next Monday, March 15, Calvin will be hosting a conference of nationally reknown speakers addressing the issues of the aging populace. The conference is being sponsored by Calvin’s Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics in partnership with the Calvin College-Grand Rapids Community College Consortium on Aging and the Older Learner Center of Grand Rapids Community. Speakers for the conference include two nationally renowned speakers, Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil and Dr. Robert Binstock. Panel discussions will be led by James K. Haveman, Jr., director of Michigan Department of Community Health and Lynn Alexander, Director of Michigan Office of Services to the Aging. According to Corwin Smidt, executive director of the Paul B. Henry Institute, “This is an important public policy issue for our society and at this conference we will hear from two of the top people in the country.” Torres-Gil is the chief advocate of the Clinton administration on aging, and played a vital role in defending Medicare and Medicaid during the budget debates in 1995-96. He is a professor of social welfare and policy studies at UCLA, and an associate dean in the School of Public Policy and Social Research. Also, Torres-Gil has served as the first Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Binstock is the Henry Luce Professor of Aging, Health and Society at Case Western Reserve University of Medicine, and a former President of the Gerontology Society of America. Also, under President Johnson, he served as director of a White House Task Force on Older Americans. He has written 19 books and 175 publications on politics and policies affecting aging. The purpose of this conference is to look at new ways that will better serve the aging populace without depleting U.S. funds. The aging populace are the people born directly after World War II. The previous generation was relatively small because of all the lives sacrificed in the war. Now, with the majority of the baby boomers that will begin to retire in 2008, there will be many problems which America must face in dealing with retirement and Social Security. There are now fewer workers to support the growing number of retirees, which poses a greater threat regarding health care and retirement benefits. Should the retirement age be postponed? At the present time the age of retirement is 65. However, this age is thought to have been derived during the presidency of Roosevelt, when the average life span of a person was the age of 65. Now, through technology and better living conditions, the average life span has increased. Now the longer lives which people are living contribute to the problem of a longer time on Social Security. In addition, with our modern culture, retirees have a greater expectation of the retired life than those who retired 50 years ago. However, if people were to retire after the age of 65, there will be fewer jobs available to those in the working force. The conference is not meant to be a scholarly conference. It is aimed toward those in the working force who give managed care to the aging populace. There will be proposed alternatives to the current arrangement and thinking through what will be the best solution. |
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