THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701040011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OPINION
SOURCE: By ROBERT N. BUTLER
LENGTH: 78 lines
America remains largely in denial about the implications of an aging society. This attitude is nothing new. Leo Tolstoy wrote, ``Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man'' (and to a woman).
Marcel Proust said, ``Old age is one of those realities we retain the longest as an abstract conception.''
But this country seems particularly unprepared for a 21st-century era of longevity. Since 1900, Americans have gained 28 years of life expectancy. The most rapidly growing age group in the United States consists of those 85 and over. The extension of life expectancy here and around the world has been one of the great triumphs of medicine, biomedical research and public health.
Yet we have not created productive jobs and social roles for older people. We are miles away from solving the massive problems of frailty and dementia. No more than 20 of the 126 medical schools in the United States have significant programs in geriatrics. Medicare remains a mechanism of finance rather than a way to ensure adequate health care for the elderly. And support for basic gerontological research is inadequate, given that the biological changes associated with aging are the major risk factor for the diseases and disabilities of old age.
The baby boomers are especially at risk. The oldest, including the president of the United States, have reached 50. They will begin to retire in large numbers in about 15 years. Without major changes in society, the aging baby boomers will overwhelm the institutions directed toward meeting the needs of older people.
Some of the needed changes already are beginning to appear. New business opportunities are opening up as goods and services aimed at the aging market join those intended for the young. Initiatives like the Foster Grandparent Program have given older people an opportunity to help children, adolescents and young families.
But these are just the first steps in what must become a large-scale social movement. To draw upon the strengths of all members of society, governments, businesses, unions, private philanthropies and families must unite behind a new national vision.
We must begin by rapidly building productive social roles for the 40 million retirees in this country. Too many now are wasting their talents and experience. We must, for example, enforce the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to ensure that older people are able to continue contributing to society as only they can.
We also need a way of focusing the responsibility that older people have to the broader society. One possibility is the creation of a new intergenerational National Service Corps. Such an organization could coordinate and expand programs that already exist, like the Foster Grandparent Program and Greenthumb, in which retired farmers work on conservation and beautification projects. Groups like the American Association of Retired People could help organize and promote such a movement.
As America ages, health concerns will become increasingly prominent. In that regard, possible reductions in biomedical research pose a serious threat. Current projections under the Deficit Reduction Act passed by Congress point to reductions of up to 30 percent in the budgets of the National Institutes of Health, which support the bulk of fundamental biomedical research in this country. Cuts of such a magnitude would be devastating for biomedical research in general and research into aging in particular.
Japan has addressed many of the issues of aging through its Committee of Long-Term Outlook. We need a similarly comprehensive public-private partnership in this country. The United States needs to go beyond the biennial elections and the quarterly earnings reports to confront the future status of older Americans.
No one group can take all the actions that are needed. Each of us as individuals must foster greater awareness of aging and overcome our denial of what aging means for America. MEMO: Robert Butler, director of the International Longevity Center at
the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, was winner of the
1976 Pulitzer Prize for his book ``Why Survive? Being Old in America.''
He recently received the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the advancement of
health care from the Institute of Medicine.